Sunday, July 29th - Our Last Day

It's so hard to believe that our "glorious" week is coming to an end. After spending a great weekend with their host families, everyone met at Timperley club for a day of fun. They were a few games played, although I think everyone was more about having fun then having competitive spirit. Although that quickly changed once it came time for the girls against the boys. Once switching sticks and the boys realizing that they had to play with the girls rules it became a free for all. We won't talk about the score, just a lot of laughter on the field and many memories made for all.

The night ended with a farewell party at the Larkhill Centre. Everyone mingled, ate pizza and shared many memories of the week. Tomorrow its back to good old Westminster!

Friday - July 27th - Matches at Brooklands

Another "glorious" day in England.   This morning we all met at Brookland, which for most girls was only about a 10-15 minute drive.  Thankfully no bus today.  The girls only played one game, combining the U14 & U16 teams and they won 11-5.  So now they are all off with their host families to enjoy some time off.   It will be exciting to hear what they all did and the places they visited.  The boys are still playing right now so I will not have scores until later.  Here are a few pics of the girls game. 

Thursday, July 26th - Hathersage Pool & Matches at Sheffield

First of all, I want to thank all of you parents for giving us such wonderful kids.  I didn't say much about the 4 hour bus ride home yesterday (it should have only been 2) but the one thing I will say is that the kids were just amazing.  They were so good and occupied themselves with talking, singing and playing games. 

So today we loaded them back up on yet another bus, they call it coach here.  Some kids did get to drive with their host parents.  We drove thru beautiful scenery with hillsides of sheep.  At 10:30 we arrived at the Abbeydale Sports club.   The kids were able to enjoy the heated pool (it was working this year)  however the "glorious" sunshine came out again..  Some kids played basketball and then we ate lunch packed by our gracious hosts.  Thank you to all!
After lunch, back on the coach and headed for Sheffield.  The girls did had a great warm up and were ready for another great day of lacrosse.  Only one game was played so we combined both teams.  Our girls won 16-2.  The boys did play 2 games.  U14 won 16-7 and U16 had a hard fought match that ended up with us winning 17-6.  I'm sure you will hear about this game.  It did get a little aggressive at the end when the score was 8-6.  I think our guys got a little upset and just went in and took the other team out.  That was my take on it.  As you see the guys never let them score again and scored 9 goals.  Great Job! 

As for the trip home tonight....NO TRAFFIC!!!!!!!!  That's all I can say.  Hopefully everyone is at home now getting ready to eat dinner at a resonable time (8:30pm) as I am.

Wednesday, July 25th - York

Another great day in England!

 The Tour met at the Timperley Club this morning at 8 AM and took a coach to York. It was about a 2 hour drive with a quick stop at a rest area to use the loo. Upon our arrival in York, we found parking for the coach and walked through the old city to the Jorvic Center. The Jorvic Center is a educational experience about the Viking inhabitants of York in the early 1000's. After that, the kids spent the afternoon exploring the Shambles, which is the old village of York. Some of the groups had an fun session of picture scavenger hunt...I'll let them explain...and others went to climb the Minster Cathedral's 270 steps.

Around 4 PM, we made our way back to the coach and started for home in Timperley. The motorway was closed due to a fender bender, so we took the back roads home. A quick 2 hour excursion on the motorway turned into a 4 hour cruise home through the beautiful countryside of England. You might want to ask about the Little Chef stop.
 

Tuesday - July 24th - 2nd Matches

I am  going to apologize right now because its been a very long day and I will not be posting a lot of pictures.  The girls went shopping at the outlets at Cheshire Oaks.  Anytime you involve girls and shopping they are happy, so need I say more.  Then we headed to the Oxton Club to play Oxton (Wirral).  We were told that they are the toughest competitors in North England.  After an aggessive, hard fought match, MDX was able to win in the U14's - 14 -8.  The U-16's ended up losing 15-7.
The girls matches were away so we were not able to see the boys.  However, they ended up with 10-8 - Knights for U16 and MDX wining 12-6 for U-14.

Monday, July 23rd - Manley Mere

Today we all met for a great day at Manley Mere.   Once arriving we saw all of our British friends who are now lobsters from the “glorious” day that we had yesterday.   I have to admit some of the tan lines are amusing.  My host Debbie has an imprint of her watch.  Many others have bright red cheeks, flip flop marks and V’s on their necks.   But everyone was back out again today for yet another beautiful day.  You will see by the pictures that the kids had a terrible time.  Ha-ha.  They ran the trails, rolled in the mud, went paddle boarding and kayaking and even built their own raft, that yes, did manage to float with all aboard.   Yet another great day in England! 

I am only able to upload a few photos to the blog as it takes a LONG time.  Sorry.  Many more are posted on the face book page.

Sunday, July 22nd - Opening Matches

After a good nights rest everyone met at the Timperley Clubhouse for a "Glorious" Day of sunshine and lacrosse.  When the big ball of what we call Sun came out, we had to explain to our new British friends what it was. They were just amazed at its brightness and heat, in fact, I think it got to us all because I still do not have a clear answer on the score of the 2nd boys game.  But I can tell you, everyone played well and had a great time.  The U14 boys decided to give an old fashion spanking, winning 12-0.  As for the U16 boys, pick a number that you like and add 3 for Timperley. Timperley did win by 3.  We think it was 12-9.

 As for the girls, we only had 2 games today instead of 4.  Thank you to 4 of our new friends from Heaton Mersey as they helped fill in our U14 team. The game was hard fought but ended in a tie of 7-7.  The U16 team won 12-6.  Everyone enjoyed a picnic lunch packed by their host family and then all went on their way to enjoy the rest of the day.  Many of the girls are headed to the One Direction concert tonight, so that was the big talk at the matches.  Hopefully they will have some pictures to post.  Enjoy the pictures from today and don't forget to check the facebook page as well.

We have arrived!

  We arrived  a little later then expected but welcomed with open arms from everyone at the Timperley Club.  After lots of hugs and warm welcomes everyone headed out with their families for a first great day in England.  As I write this at almost 1 in the morning I am hoping that all kids are fast asleep and getting ready for their first round of matches tomorrow.  I promise we will get some pictures posted tomorrow as well as some updates on the matches.  If you have a Facebook account please go to the Maryland Express Lacrosse Page for more postings.   Thanks to Mark & Bob for creating the account in some extra time we had at the airport last night. 

5 days until we leave! Look for all the tour updates here.