Winter Snow

OK, now we all know I grew up in New England and Frank in Canada...both cold places in the winter. We know Seattle, not known for its cold weather, had record breaking snow falls last year and generally has a cold snap some time in Dec. and January....you would think that a little bit of snow and cold weather wouldn't bother us.....but, let me tell you...THESE OLD HOUSES ARE NOT INSULATED!!!!

Ok the first problem is that we are heated by hot water. This seems fine enough, but once the temp. dips below the 40's, no amount of hot water gets the house warm, in particular...the floors. I now wear socks AND slippers just to get across the kitchen floor. Lest, you think it is just me...the boys now steal my slippers and FRANK puts on MULTIPLE LAYERS in order to go downstairs in the morning! For those who don't know, in Seattle, Frank, wear shorts and t-shirts year round inside and out! The second problem is all the other things for which you use hot water. Say , for example, you wanted to get up and take a nice hot shower, well, you can do that as long as the heat is turned off...so your choice is a cold shower and warm house, or freezing house and hot shower. Now if say more than 1 person wanted to take a shower in the morning, how many others need to freeze while this happens?...the answer...all of us!

Laundry is the next event, those of you with multiple children know that if a day ends in 'y" then laundry must be done. Now with this un- insulated house, I have found that if I do a cold water laundry, the water is so cold, that the detergent doesn't dissolve and the liquid detergent just congeals, so I have to do warm...but only if I turn the heat off and god forbid if someone is even thinking about taking a shower as they will only get a tiny trickle of cold water.

We are now in week 2 of weather that hasn't gone much above freezing, snow still covers our yard and we alternate between mildly warm and freezing as we attempt to bathe and wash in merry old London.

Think of us next time you take a hot shower or walk barefoot in your heated houses!

Joe Won

OK. I couldn't go to bed without adding this snippet. Having never watched any of the reality shoes back home, the schools are all abuzz with the X-Factor. So after much searching we found it and it has become a favorite of the weekend, seeing if our favorite singer will make it through. Tonight, our lad that we routed for from the start WON!!! We were a wreck watching him and will promptly go out tomorrow to buy his CD. Some of you may find it in your Christmas packages! He is this 18 yo from a small village in the middle of no-where with a voice that just blows you away The boys are thrilled and Bridget, of course, has added him to her short list of those she would marry :)

Apologies

Well, as you can see I have finally added some new pictures. After our "stuff" arrived it took me 2 weeks to get out of boxes. The last week was the worst as now there was no room left and I had to decide what to put in our attic...which I had to bring a ladder in from outside and climb into...and what we might use in the near future. Do you know how many Q-tips come in a Costco size package...enough for 3 years by my count..those went to the attic. All those throw rugs I thought would come in handy...just something I'd have to vacuum..attic. But the box of school supplies, paper, books and all important Legos made the cut for the main floor. I then spent the next 2 weeks searching for shoe racks and storage units for toys...every local person I asked said the same thing...if you find them, let me know....who knew this was to become a quest. After 2 weeks and much despair, on a road trip to Costco(where I took a friend who had never heard of it before...she is addicted and needs to go back..she couldn't believe how big it was and what you could buy...I left her for 1/2 hour in a giant pile of Hugo Boss men's jeans as she hunted for a Christmas gift for her husband..she kept saying...do you know how much these are in the stores....oh my!) but I did find shoe racks and storage units..they aren't the most beautiful, but everything fits :)

Thanksgiving was a great time to catch everyone at home cooking so we enjoyed chatting away. Here, the kids had school, activities and Frank had work, but we pulled together the littlest turkey I have ever seen(7 lbs) and all the fixings and even had apple pie for dessert.

Here the world is full on Christmas. We have had both schools Christmas Fairs..odd events and my children now know what a "tombola" is. It is a raffle, 3 chances for a pound, and you pull out 3 numbers, they either match something on the table and you win it..or not. Sadly, no one won anything and my children learned another lesson in gambling...much like the racing pigs.

School for Bridget chugs along, but for the boys it seems that it is all about the Christmas Pageant at this point. Matthew and Nick are both in choir and Nick is doing 2 readings. The performance in this week...so I will report back on that.

Rugby has continued, although cancelled to due rained out fields one week, and this weekend Bridget's team had a Christmas Party.....I was to drop her off at 2 and return at 3 to collect. At 3 Frank went for pick up, whereupon he was privy to the games that occur at an all male(but for the 10 girls on Bridget's team) rugby party.....there were no left overs, they were throwing rolls in the air toward their tables...nothing ever touched the ground.

Bridget's team was invited to be Ball Girls at a local club match(the London Welsh). The next thing we knew we were in the stands watch a Rugby game and these HUGE men...think mountains with legs...are out there playing and throwing and piling on each other and when the ref blows a whistle, I look out and see my daughter, blonde pony tail flying in the wind, running to center field to hand in a new ball...how exactly did this happen? She could get eaten alive by these men! At the end, the players were lovely, taking pictures with all the girls and invited them and us to join their after game banquet, we got a rugby ball and they all signed it for her. The boys were too busy playing their own game of rugby out on the field in the now pouring rain to be bothered with autographs.

I went to 1 of 2 Christmas parties for Frank's office..after drinks and Secret Santa at their office, I met them at pub #1...a Rugby match had just ended, so we and the rugby supporters, stood outside in the 30 degree weather with beer in hand and someone(not from Frank's office) organized a Christmas carol sing along....did I mention we were all out in the street at this point...cars would pass and the crowd would squish to the side a bit and wish them a Happy Christmas as they passed. We then moved on to pub #2, where there was food, a band, promises of karaoke, and dancing and of course, 1/2 of people standing outside on the street, drinking singing etc. We left before the full karaoke started to train home....let's just say, the trains during Christmas party season are..exciting.

We are busy with Bridget's High School applications(done I think!) and she took her ISEE exams on Saturday. The boys and I went to the Zoo and had some fun...the wart hogs were the favorite as we just finished a book called "Olaf and the Pig who would be King"..really and in the end, the pig does become King...long story.

I have tried to send out most of my Christmas cards and packages, but ran out 1/2 way through the cards...so if you get your late, I do apologize, there is no such things as 1 hour photo at least for cards and such, so we had to get creative!

I figured I better get this out and the next few weeks promise to be busy, the kids get out on Friday and I will have the job of keeping them occupied until Christmas comes. We plan to ski for New Years..hoping there's enough snow!

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday preparations , we miss you all!

Thanksgiving

This is our cute little Thanksgiving Feast..not bad for a Thursday night after work, soccer and basketball!. The rest are from the town of Birmingham. It is an old industrial town that they have renovated and refurbished the old mills along the river and canals. It has the largest Christmas market outside of Germany...we went, we ate, we shopped 'til we dropped! The large water fountain is commonly known as "The Floozie in the Jacuzzi"

Guy Fawke's and Mayor's Parade

Here are pix from Guy Fawke's/Mayor's Parade. Yes that is the mayor's chariot being drawn by some 12 horses. There are no end of odd groups that marched...yes..PEA's..the pea growers association is quite important!


Yes, this is a giant pork chop..you have no idea how big pork is here...a whole aisle in the grocery store is dedicated just to pork!
And yes, it was pouring rain..but we hung in there.

Here are B and I on Halloween Night, In the morning our truck arrived!

Can you spot Bridget and Nick? Bridget is in Blue. This is the lone with 7 loops or something crazy like that. Thankfully Matthew is NOT tall enough yet and SOMEONE had to keep him company!

Richmond Park

This is the Park that is about 1/2 mile form our house. It is many hundreds of acres of everything, trails, roads, woods. There are bike paths, horse, paths, running paths, playgrounds, huge fields etc.etc. It was a former hunting ground for the Royal families, and the animals left are protected. As a result, there are these huge herds of Red and Fallow Deer. This is where I run most days. Not being a deer naturalist, I have learned a lot through the fall! As I was coming over a ridge one day, I came upon a huge herd with 1 VERY LARGE male.(like the picture I have put in) Off in the distance was another male that all the others were walking away from. As I continued on, I came over another ridge to find a HUGE lone deer sitting just off the running path. As I got closer, he stood up and lowered his horns at me. I racked my brain from years of Animal Planet .."what do you do when deer attack?" I had no idea. There wasn't much room, there were other people in the distance, I could see the headlines..."American Gored by Deer", I knew I couldn't out run him. In the end, I just kept a steady pace, gave him as much berth as I could on the path and kept going. he tracked me with his antlers, but let me pass. The NEXT day, there were all sorts of signs posted about "aggressive deer" in the fall rutting season. According to my expert advisor(Carroll Thomas), by the time you seem a male alone in the Fall, he has lost a few battles and is NOT a happy guy. Today will be my first day running since "the cull" started. Not sure what I will find today...but I WILL stay on the main drag and not venture off into the woods!

1/2 term break and OUR STUFF!!!!!

I should take a moment to bring everyone up to speed. It has been 13 weeks since out stuff left Seattle(12 for us) and it FINALLY came on Halloween. The month of October flew by with homework and school activities and finally we had a week of for 1/2 term break. A lovely friend of Frank's offered us his home outside of Paris to use as our home base as we explored the French countryside. It was truly beautiful. We went to several WWI and WWII sites and they were most impressive!

Our first stop was VIMY Ridge, where there is a Canadian Memorial from WWI. It was a key battle that the Canadians led to take the ridge. They have left the original trenches and tunnels intact and it is amazing to walk among them knowing that on either side were to opposing troops. At places they were 20 yds at most.

Our next stop was the beaches of Normandy where the D-Day invasion took place. We opted for Juno beach where there is another Canadian Memorial and scattered across the beaches are shelled out bunkers that held the German cannons. Again, spectacular beaches, gorgeous weather and the museum in CAEN does a fantastic job of walking you through the history .

We then needed a break and spent a day at Parc du Asterix(home of Europe's largest rollercoaster) and then a day trip in Paris.

We came home to find a HUGE truck at our house unpacking into our driveway. 20 mins later, they were gone and our house was full of boxes...most importantly..they all fit!

That was Halloween morning and we were to go to a friend's house for Halloween. Now let me say, Halloween is a weird experience here. It seems there are a lot of mixed feelings about it. Frank's co-workers complained that it was too commercial. We went out, and about 1 in 10 houses gave out candy. Others answered the door, but had nothing to give, others had only 1 or 2 pieces of candy so gave those and told the others to share(there were 8 kids in our group). One gave a 2 # coin and told the kids to share. People, either have the holiday or don't but really IT IS ALL ABOUT THE CANDY!!!!!! Am I the only one who gets that? In the end, we went back to the party where there was lots of food and treats and all were happy in the end. Whew.

We are now back to school in full swing with tests and reports. Bridget is struggling with :"the language that shall not be named" (French). She and Frank sit down most nights to get through her homework. She has been dropped in to a high level French class so she doesn't even have the basics. So I went out and got us some French 101 books and we have been making a go at it. We made her navigate/read French signs, order from the menu and event try to talk to people while we were in France. I am sure you can imagine the faces we got! The boys, on the other hand, are in beginning French and have quite the little accents.

I have spent the last few days digging out of boxes....a lot changes in 13 weeks. Mainly, all the clothes you thought would still fit your children...do not! Ah well, less to bring back :)

This week is "Fireworks Night" or "Guy Fawkes Day" or " Bonfire night". We have 2 events to go to, we will see how we do this week and will report in on this new holiday!

We did a tour of the French countryside during 1/2 term break. This first set of pictures if from Vimy Ridge. A famous WWI battle site on the western front that the Canadian troops led the battle that won. Here is par of the area we saw...the sign reads warning "unexploded bombs!"
Here are the boys in a German "pill box" on one of the trenches
As part of the memorial, the Canadian's left the trenches and tunnels intact. Now, overgrown with grass, was all mud during the battle. Each side of these craters would be manned by opposing armies! As you can see...very, very close range.
This is Bridget heading down into one of the many tunnels used to supply the troops at the front. The go on for miles underground!

Here is one small herd you find as you travel through the park
We had to stop as this little guy was running across the field toward us..just to get to the other side
As I was wondering how they manage the population, there was this sign on the gate one morning

Bridget sick with "flu", this was her first day out!


Here are a few shots around Richmond Park. Some of you know about my 'deer" encounter. Here is one of the unhappy fellows I ran across. The signs came up LATER!

The toad

OK, this is the weird car we bought. It seat 6 with 1 seat halfway between the front and the back seat in the middle of the car. It is the ugliest car I have ever seen and I love it! We call it "The Toad"

Below are the promised pictures of a now 8yo Matthew

Hey, I exist! No not in the '"of course you do we weren't missing your blog writings that much", but in the I have a bank card! To catch up the last 2 weeks were filled with birthdays, Matthew's and mine. As such, there was a lot of running around trying to find out what you can do for an 8yo who has just moved to a new country, where is the good bakery for cake..since we STILL don't have our stuff etc etc etc. In the meantime, I was on a frantic search for a couch. Our beloved air matress got a giant hole from our sitting on it and I just couldn't take it any more. We finally had success, yes in another IKEA trip. By the end of which we had filled an entire panel van and our house is now furnished. Ok, most of it is still in the boxes, but progress has been made and we have a couch AND a chair...you have no idea how exciting this is!

To my existence. There are many weird things here. upon arrival into the country, you have health insurance. To access a doctor, you simply walk into an office and they check a box that says yes they like the looks of you or no and then you are done. Nothing else. I now have a Social Insurance number, like a social security number. My children have been attending school. But, I cannot get a bank card. Frank opened up our account when he was on his house/school hunting mission some time ago. Since he was the only one here, only he could open the account. Same goes for renting the house. This all seems simple and logical, however, when I arrive and we go to the bank with passports, marriage certificates, finger prints, DNA typing and try to add me to the account and get me a bank card the answer is "I'm sorry, we need a utility bill or council tax statement with your name on it". So we call the council tax people who over the phone without even checking who I am say..sure. However, when they send up the new bill, they have decided to make me ADAMS not ADAM, and now the bank thinks I am a shady character and still won't issue me a bank card, so we call the tax man again to correct this problem. Eventually it all gets sorted with the right name on the tax bill, but now there is a post office strike so my mail has been re-routed to the branch that Frank originally opened the account. No idea why, but now, 6 weeks after being in the country, I received my bank card today!!
The moral of this story, don't leave home without your tax statement or utility bill! All those other questionable documents(passports, visas with fingerprints etc...) pah on those. Only the tax people know who you really are! If any of you want to open an account, we can just call up the tax man and add you on and you are in!!!

New words "rubbish". Matthew came home with.."Mom, all my pencils at school are rubbish, I need new ones"
"chuffed"...Rodney, you will be happy to know Bridget's teacher used it in class and she had a little laugh.
"que" yes, we all now "que up for things and believe me there is no end of things to "que up for"
"bin"..the garbage can
"jab".. Bridget got her HPV immunization at school..called "the jab"
"tri" we don't really know what his means, but Bridget, Matthew and Nick all scored one on their rugby scrimmages..we think it is a point
"boots" cleats
"rubber" erasers
"plaster" band-aid
"kit"..as in your PE kit, or football kit..your supplies
Level 1-3 training "this odd little thing is training to be signed off by the Borough that you can ride your bike to and from school. They have trainers and everything.

I'll end here with some more pictures, looking forward to hearing from everyone.

It is crazy, but really these are all made out of lego's. I have tons more pictures for those who want more, but it really is impressive. We decided it would be pretty cool to have the job of building with Legos all day

This is the crazy roller coaster that the kdis went on, sadly, they are all so tall now, there was no room for an adult :(

Here we are at Lego Land celebrating Mattew's 8th birthday in style! This was the first of many water rides. The weather held and we all had a great time.

Week 3

In case you thought I forgot about you, here's week 3! As you can see by the pictures, this week was all about the Birthday girl. Yes, Bridget is now 13. I hope we are all ready for this :) Everyone was back into the swing of school, with reports, spelling tests, oh and fund raisers! Yes, the boys have to study and pass a math test on math facts and for each one they get right they get 5 points and then they collect money for a local charity based on their points. Just when I was relaxing about not having the magazine sale!

Bridget's classes continue to get moved around as they sort out what Math group to place her. A computer error placed her in the wrong class and she was quite bored, it took 3 trips to the school for me to track down the "head of Maths" to correct it. She has all sorts of interesting classes and projects including Technology, where they are designing toys, Science where she got to use a Bunsen burner for the first time. The groups had to decide whether their volcano was going to blow and whether they should evacuate their village. Bridget was the communications officer for their group and they decided NOT to evacuate...sadly, the villagers all perished.:( Interestingly, the only group that DID evacuate, it turns out didn't need to, so they got criticized for wasting tax payers money!!) She was elected to School Council and this weekend met with the teen Choir director and will be singing at the 5:30 Sunday night teen Mass. Sports are supposed to start over the next few weeks for her. Her classmate wants her to play Net Ball..we are told that is something like Basketball..I guess we'll find out!

The boys have been doing soccer on Thursday's and Saturdays and having lots of fun. This weekend was the Rugby open house. It is quite the thing here. Several of Matthew's classmates all play. We spent the afternoon watching various ages/levels play and Nick was thrilled that at his age it involves contact. Matthew was equally thrilled that at his age it does NOT! It seems if you can push forward with people hanging on to you and hold a ball, you are a star. And if you are willing to hang on to people and be dragged....this is also good...we haven't found a down side for Nick yet! It is all just training and learning and you pay 2 pounds each time you show up for a session...so they both wanted to try it out next weekend. It is co-ed and they need older girls(there's only a few and the coaches were eagerly trying to recruit Bridget)..we will see what she says next week.

Frank's favorite part about the whole thing is that there is a bar/barbeque/coffee/tea and really anything else you want over looking the field...so the kids are out playing and the adults wander back and forth from the bar. In fact the coach told us that they encourage everyone to hang out for an hour or so after the training is over so that the kids just run around like crazy and the adults socialize. It all closes when the last man leaves! I think Frank will start playing if the kids don't just to have a reason to go and visit!

After our Rugby outing we walked to Wimbeldon Common and then on to Richmond Park. It is all just miles and miles of walking/biking/horseback riding paths that wind around for ever...just glorious. We saw a deer just wandering and gave it a few apples.

The weather has continued to cooperate with us and it is again sunny and 70's. Frank is headed to Finland for the rest of the week, so I am sure we will have some adventures while he is gone. I have been getting involved at school and have made friends with several of the moms. I don't have a work-out buddy yet, but 1 of the mom's mentioned she's doing a 1/2 Marathon so I may try to get a run in with her. I've looked into my work options and of course with a bit of paperwork, everything is possible...it just depends on whether on not I can prove I speak English. Apparently, I need no less than 4 verifications on this. HHMMm..we will see how that all pans out.

Not too exciting otherwise, we talk of you often, think of you daily and hope for a visit soon!

She can still bounce

These are some of the tricks Bridget has perfected. It took some doing to capture the flip! Hours are now spent bouncing away. Can I just say it feels a LOT different the next morning than when I was 10!

The new trampoline..yes this was before all of the safety equipment was attached..it got late!!!

This was Bridget's B-day dinner
There weren't any 13 yo party hats...so we went for the mask!
In the morning she was greeted by an iPod..in green!
This is dinner at our "local", meaning our local Pub, kids are welcome, they have this outdoor eating area and that night there we Pig Races! Our pigs lost, it was a sad, tough lesson on the concept of chance :(
Since you saw how shiny and new everyone looked on the first day of school, here's how they look coming out !

Us on the London Eye

Some sightseeing from the top of the London Eye

Week 2

OK, I have clearly taxed my internet acumen (if that is even a phrase) and I realize that I am a MAC snob. I have newly added 3 pictures..we have dozens, but why only 3..well after about an hour of futzing around with this laptop(not a MAC) I have gone nearly insane with my inability to click and drag to the location of my choosing! So before I lose my writing mojo, I thought I would abandon for a brief update on our week and as promised...food!

School began and we started to see some sense of normalcy. After school we go to the library, do home work, use their internet and printer since ours is slow and the printer isn't here yet, come home and attempt dinner. The boys seem to be settling in nicely and like their teachers and classes seem on par with what they were doing at St. John. Nick already had a book report and Matthew is working through his times tables. Both are doing Mad Minutes. Bridget had a fun week following around a fellow student(Danielle) and on Wednesday had some testing to see which group she would be in. So far in Math and Science, it is all stuff she has done before so we shall see what happens. She likes her Science teacher and used a Bunsen burner for the first time! She also had French, graphics, Art, Comparative religion, PE(where of course she smoked everyone in the "how many laps can you run in 10 minutes"), Geography in addition to English, Math and Science. The schedule changes each day and we are eager to see where she end up. She likes the girls and now walks to school with a girl down the street.

My adventures have been in the grocery store. Again, as I have said we are still urban camping and we are pulling off dinners with 1 knife, 1 pot and 1 saute pan. This is no small feat. Move over Julia/Julie...I dare you to try this. Again, like the driving, I have taken some risks and put together "Pork Involtini with late summer tomato sauce", "Gorgeous Roasted Vegetable Curry" and a "Stir-Fry chicken with honey,soy and cashews". Thanks to Jamie Oliver, Sainsbury's free cookbook and the Waitrose grocery store! By Friday we had pizza.

You may ask why take on such projects? Well, all the usual foods and things I cook I can't find in the grocery store and we don't have a grill and remember that 1 pot problem. Things I can't find...Black beans,salsa, refried beans, kidney beans, you know where I am going..try to make a simple chili but to no avail. I have tried 3 different chains of stores, my last hope is the ASDA which Frank tells me specializes in canned foods..who knew? Other odd things I can't find; steak..for grilling and such, you know flank steak, flat iron steak, skirt steak..all perfect for fajitas, or just plain. I can find any number of roasts and "braising meat" which I am told is for stews and such, but no quick easy steaks. Hot dogs...again 3 stores, I found 1 that had something akin to a European style weiner, but otherwise it is sausages. This has had an interesting effect as right before we left Nick had decided to add hot dogs to his repertoire. When he ordered one at one of our outings and I saw the sausage come out, I held my breathe, but since we have been walking many miles a day, starvation wins out and it wasn't until the last bite that he commented "a little spicier that our hot dogs at home". Soy sauce, it took be about an hour in 1 store to finally find it, odd since this area is known for its Korean markets and restaurants. Chicken broth...I can find the little cubes to make it, but none in cans or boxes.

On the things I can find and don't know what to do with: LAMB..everywhere, lamb chops, roasts, legs, tongue, you name it . At the Costco there is a whole section dedicated to Lamb! Aubergines..I have seen this in several recipes, they are eggplant..many of you are laughing at my lack of French I am sure! Courgette....zucchini..again, I look at the pictures, look at the names and then hunt through the store and say..OOOOhhh that's what it is. Peas..they are served with everything, I never knew how little I ate peas until they turn up everywhere. and of course, pies..all sorts of meat pies..this week I am even going to attempt to make one....hey it's all in 1 pot right??

On the things that we've found and we most certainly know what to do with: Bacon..in all sorts of formats, thick, thin, smoked, cured, maple, bacon steaks..bacon sandwiches are a staple for breakfast and lunches at all the shops we seen. Cheese..oh my, I should have had my cholesterol checked before we left to compare, but ooooohhh the cheese in all shapes and sizes and origins throughout the UK..so far nothing has been anything but delicious . Cream and milk products of all sorts..yogurt, butter, and double cream...in coffee in the morning is a decadence beyond compare!

On that note, Frank has been diligently cooking in the background while I work away. Tonight is roasted turkey breast, roasted potatoes and green beans, in case you were wondering. I will go and enjoy before the next week begins. Next weeks installment..who knows..so many options....

Missing everyone, write us soon and of course, we'd love a visit!

Bus Ride to town

Nick and Matthew on the 213 Double Decker that takes us to town

This is our house, with Nicholas and Matthew being our stone lions guarding the fortress!

Hey..good news, after a week being disconnected from the world..we seem to have internet!! The bad news is that all of my e-mail contacts are floating around on Frank's computer and he is off at work. So the week in summary and then the most important thing..the school calendar..we only have Bridget's in, but I am thinking that the boys will be similar.

So we arrived last week in a delirious stupor. The first 24 hours is filled with transport to the new house, finding sleeping bags, blowing up air mattresses and putting everyone in bed at noon. We surface around 4 and make our way via a double decker bus(the boys want to make sure I tell you that part) into town. We hit Bridget's favorite store..the Waitrose. Whereupon we embark on a fantastic journey of the senses and piece together a crazy meal of Indian food, pasta bake something , fruit bread and cheese. We come home to 'camp" in our kitchen where we have NO pots or pans, no utensils but our 5 camping forks,spoons, knives. After some excitement trying to figure out what the stove is telling us..we put it all together. Thankfully the weather was and continues to be just beautiful...this is also good because we have no table so we eat all of our meals outside on the patio furniture! The back yard is quite nice...about twice the size of ours in Seattle with a lovely little shed in the back...more on that later.

Jet lag: let me just say that I have come to learn that there are 2 kinds of people. Those who experience jet lag, and those who apparently walk around in a chronic state of sleep deprivation, so that when placed in a situation where is it in their best interest to just go to bed...they do and are thankful for it. In my family we have both kinds of people. Friday evening..we all went to bed around 9pm....I slept soundly until around 10 the next morning, Bridget slept until about 11 and Nick racked up a grand total of 15 1/2 hours of sleep waking up past noon!!!!!!. Frank and Matthew , I am told, wandered the house in the wee hours of the morning keeping themselves company, I only know this b/c when I surfaced the next day, Frank was gone and Matthew was asleep upside down at my feet. We later found that Frank had taken refuge in Matthew's unused bed.

Beds: can I just say I believe I am now deaf from the ungodly noise that 5 people tossing and turning for a week on air mattresses can make!

The next few days are filled alternating between foraging for food that we can camp cook, trying to do some sight-seeing and trying to sort out all of the schools stuff including which school is Bridget going to and therefore which uniform etc. By day 2 we decide after spending quite some time on the lovely city buses that there are just some things that can't fit on a bus...we attempt a car.

Car: Can I just say, I laugh at triathalons, I mock 1/2 marathons, throw me a double black diamond ski hill because I have now spent the last week DRIVING A STICK ON THE HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS OF GREATER LONDON!!!! After nearly crashing and ricocheting off a sidewalk in the first 1/2 mile of driving and some pretty tense moments all around that first day...I am proud to say that by Friday, when Frank had left for Paris(more on that later) the kids and I had our last few errands to run and we hopped in the car and with Bridget as my co-pilot sign reader we took the highway, found our school supply shop AND a parking space in front and in busy traffic I demonstrated my goddess-like parking skills and took it. It was a profound moment !
One of my biggest worries was whether I would remember to stay to the left. Well, you quickly learn that it really doesn't matter, because as best as I can tell no street is really big enough to have 2 sides to it and it is one giant game of "chicken". Oddly, no one gets mad, they just move off the the side, or you do and everyone waves and life goes on. There also seems to be no rules of the road! the number of U-turn parking jobs I have seen on busy city streets is mind-boggling. Really anything goes! The pedestrians are equally dangerous..several of whom tried to shorten their lives by leaping out in front of me without any warning...at least in Seattle they do that at crosswalks..here it is anywhere. Now the bikes(do you see how the roads quickly fill up!) clearly this is where all the suicidal people come to ride their bikes...not a helmet for miles around...old people too with their shopping...has no one told them the rates of head injuries???? Oh yes, then there are the motorcycles and mopeds and delivery bikes...they ride on the yellow double line..any direction they want!! I am sure car insurance agents in England must be wealthy people!!

Highlights of the week including finding the IKEA..they are all the same, the same mind numbing maze and confusion, but in the end we ordered beds, a table and desk set up for the office and we arrange delivery. Also found was COSTCO...Bridget and Frank went on an explore one night after work and found it....they were so excited, they filled the car...the more exciting part was finding places to put all of this Costco size stuff in our proper(read small) British kitchen cabinets! We did the London Eye for old times sake, found some awesome museums we hadn't found before from the "50 London Walks with Kids" book a friend gave us. The science museum had a Wallace and Gromit exhibit(we spent almost 3 hours just in there! The went on to explore the "Secret Life of Home" which included a full collection of toilets through the ages including a life-size working model to demonstrate the inner workings on flushing...Frank is so upset he was off at meetings :( We have found several local parks all of which include some type of skate boarding park, walks along the Thames, the local pool where kids under 16 swim free. All the museums are also free and kids ride free on the buses and tube.

Our furniture arrived on Thursday and the next few days were spent trying to get the house in some order..most importantly getting to sleep in a BED! By Sunday we were in good shape and had our last sight seeing adventure before summer ends and school begins.

Today everyone was up and ready to go. Bridget has to walk 1 block to school(Coombe Girls School). We all walk her down and leave she and Frank to get her registered and the boys and I continue 5 more blocks to their school. It is surreal here on school mornings. Every school wears some version of the same uniform. Skirt/pants/white shirt/tie/sweater(called a jumper) grey socks and BLACK SHOES, only black no sneakers(trainers). So as we leave our house we must cross one street that is the main road to another school who has royal blue sweaters..we cross that line of people to be sucked up by the sea of green...Bridget's school...as the boys and I swim up stream past the sea of green, we are drawn into to navy/yellow sweater group for to block..we then get to our cross street and the seas part and the maroon tide takes over into Corpus Christie School(the boys school). Pablo would have a hey day trying to direct traffic...it is all on foot...even the few brave bikers have to get off and walk as the sidewalks are so packed with kids/parents. A rare car tried to make it through, but could not pass the sea of sweaters. By 9 am, the streets were deserted and all had made it safely to their destinations! I picked up the boys at 3:15 and Bridget had made it out early(was supposed to be 3:30) and met us at home. Whew..all had smiling faces with tales to tell, the best of which is no homework until next week for the boys as least. Bridget has testing on Wednesday to see what "group" she will be placed in for math etc. Matthew has his house name--but I forget it now, Bridget is Venus and Nick forgot his. I have been typing for so long, I am getting evil looks so I best go. I will have more details as the week progresses and am debating a blog vs facebook...I'd hate to have to have everyone sign up on facebook to look at pix(which will follow) The school schedule for everyone's travel plans: Autumn 1/2 term school's out; Oct 24-Nov 2 Christmas Holiday: Dec 18-Jan 4 Spring 1/2 term break Feb 12-Feb 22 Easter Holidays: March 31-April 19 Bank HOliday May 3 1/2 term break May 28-June 7 School ends July 21st Thinking of all of you, missing all of you...thanks for taking time to listen to me Love maggie