the willman's: Can't wait to go home!

It's been a really, REALLY long week away! Granted, I can't complain too much about getting the opportunity to be in the UK for a business course that gives me credit for an MBA from the University of Manchester, but I can't wait to get home to my family. I have wrestled with the mama-guilt of leaving my 10 month old baby girl nine time zones away all week. One minute I'm working hard studying for class and the next I'm overcome with nausea wondering if Harper thinks that I've abandoned her...reality is she probably doesn't even now I'm not there other than she used to be breastfed and now it's just Daddy and the bottle! (After this week I hope to never see my breast pump again, although I've been using it so much I feel like it would be losing an old friend if I got rid of it - love/hate thing I guess).

Dan and Harper sounded like they were having fun in AK - playing over the Labor Day weekend with friends and neighbors, hanging around the house while the new boiler was installed and then going back to work/ELC for the last couple days. Thank goodness for my iPhone so we could stay in touch over Skype and Dan could email me moment by moment snapshots of my darling daughter.

All smiles in the morning!

Swinging at the neighbor's house! She loved it so much we might have to get one...

Helping to walk el Guapo before bed

Post bath beauty photo

Such a cutie when she's asleep!!

Of course, it wasn't all class, lectures, and homework in Manchester...it is a university campus after all! We had some really great experiences here including a private tour and dinner at the Old Trafford Stadium, one to Manchester United Football Club. Those footballers know how to have the best, most state of the art stadium and football pitch I have ever seen! They even let us into the MannyU player's lounge and dressing rooms! I even coerced some of my coworkers to play the foosball game in the Manchester United Museum - but me and an Irishman lost 3-2 to the all British team.

Me and my 20 second crush on Rooney (can you believe this is where he sits before games!)

The sign says it all...fend off the groupies! This was in the Player's Lounge, which happens to be where Becks and Posh first met and later on their first daughter stayed here in the creche (UK speak for nursery) during the games.