1st Day of 2nd Grade

Yesterday was Allie's first day of school. She was "excited and nervous, but mostly excited." However, once we got to the school the nerves took over and the tears came flowing. I wasn't sure if I could get her to calm down, but she did eventually. I don't blame her one bit. This is her 3rd school in one year. She is our little social bug though and I know she'll be fine. She came home with a smile on her face. She said she didn't really make any friends.......yet. She will though, that is why she was so excited to get back in school...........she was ready to start making some friends.

Blake picked some flowers to give Allie when she got off the bus. Yes, her bus is a Coach bus. She said it's soooo comfortable! She has almost an hour ride so she thinks she'll fall asleep some days.

 

Avery starts Kindergarten next week. She says she's ready and won't cry. We'll see about that! Hope she's right though! Her teacher is coming over tomorrow for a meet the teacher sort of thing.

I Passed!!

I was so nervous about the driving test. I didn't want to fail........and I didn't, I passed!!!! We also drove an hour away to look for a car. That meant if we found something I would have to drive back.......for the first time off base. We did find something (and old beater car, not really any point in getting anything nice here because the roads are so small, parking spots are tiny........it's just bound to get scratched and dented). I'll post pics later. Still haven't taken any. I was nervous for the long drive home. We only have one gps so Derek had it with him and I was to follow. There are SO  many roundabouts, we got separated in less than 5 minutes!!! I didn't know which exit off the roundabout he took and I obviously chose the wrong one. I pulled over and luckily we already have our new cellphones so I was able to call him. However, he couldn't give me any directions because I had no idea where I was. Thankfully, all of the cellphone plans over here come with unlimited data and so I was able to use gps on my phone, typed in a city, and told him to meet me there. Whew!!! Driving on the wrong side of the road is definitely different but I think I'm already sort of getting used to it. Now we just need to decide if we are going to get another old beater car for me to drive while we're here or if I'm still just going to drive my nice, new hybrid that we bought and are having shipped over. Not sure I want to risk doing anything to it!

A Peek at our new Digs

Probably my favorite room

might actually top our last master bath. LOVE the shower.

Also love the family bathroom

The kids love playing with Otto, the dog, every time we go visit. Probably one of the best & cutest dogs ever.

Peterborough

With school starting next week we HAD to get a car purchased before Monday. We've been searching for one ever since we got here but the homes took priority over the car. We didn't really care what it looked like, just that it ran good and wouldn't cost us too much! We finally made a decision and drove an hour to Peterborough to get it. While all of the paper work and stuff was being done we went into town and grabbed a bite to eat and walked around the Cathedral.

Beautiful Ely

As you can imagine we've been doing a lot of house hunting. We found a house in this beautiful city of Ely. The city had a nice European feel and wasn't too big (it's actually the 2nd smallest city in the UK). Keep in mind though, that most 'cities' are actually a lot smaller but they are called villages, not cities. Anyway, we just loved it and started scouring the internet for homes in the area. We even went back and walked around to see if the letting (rental) agencies had anything else that we couldn't find. No luck. The one house we looked at was old, outdated, had a bit of a funky smell......which most homes here are like that, but the house itself didn't have a European feel to it. It was basically like any normal 70's style house you would find in the states. There were some nice things about, mostly location. In the end, we just didn't know if we would be happy living in that house for three years. We have chosen a house and Ely will only be a 15-20 minute drive away. We can deal with that!

 

 

 

Ave Babe is FIVE!!!

A week late in posting this but we've been very busy. Can't believe our little bug is already five! AND, she'll be starting Kindergarten in two weeks. Crazy stuff! She can be a handful but we love her dearly and love how she is always making us laugh. She really can be such a sweetheart too! While we did celebrate her birthday in Texas we had to celebrate on the 14th too. Would have loved to do something England style but it was just a day or two after getting into our room here on base. We kept it simple with one of her favorite meals, chicken nuggets, French fries, and green beans. We also surprised her with an ice cream cake (that tiny thing was $30!) and a present. :)

 

 

A full day in London

The next day we didn't wake up until 10:20. Derek rushed to breakfast with the girls. Then we got ready for our full day in downtown London! It was a little overwhelming at first trying to figure out the tube and the buses but we figured it out and made it back to our hotel later that night. And, the girls are mastering the British accent. Pretty funny since they said they wouldn't talk at all when we got here because they didn't want to talk like them!!

First stop, Hyde Park

Rose Garden

We went for a paddle boat ride on Serpentine Lake

Then we went across the bridge (pictured above) into Kensington Gardens

random view from the bridge

Peter Pan statue

We waited in a long line to get into this park, Princess Diana Memorial Park, it was at capacity. It was a fun park....just very crowded.

Kensington Palace (where Princess Diana lived)

 

Then we jumped on a double decker bus to Buckingham Estates.......I mean Buckingham Palace. :)

 

of course we sat on top.....and we've seen so many of these the regular size buses are now "tiny buses" according to Allie and Avery.

standing at one of the gates

 

Next we went even further into the heart of London......right during rush hour. It was a mess. People rushing everywhere and they had no concern for anyone around them. Luckily we quickly found a McDonalds we could sneak into for a "quick" dinner. I say "quick" because it was pretty crowded itself but it was better than being outside in that madness. After we ate we passed by Westminster Abbey.

 

While there we had a great view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament....and we continued to get closer.

"Look kids, Big Ben.....Parliament." Can anyone name the movie?

The kids couldn't keep their eyes off of the big ferris wheel, aka the London Eye. So we got our tickets, saw the 4d movie and then got felt up so we could go to the front of the line for our ride. :)

inside

A fun playground we found while on the London Eye...and then played at for a while after we got off.

After leaving the park we decided we were up for one more stop that wasn't too far away, Trafalgar Square. Blake decided he was done for the day though.

Lots of statues in Europe, mostly of boobs and naked babies.

As we were walking back to the tube to get our ride home we realized I wasn't in many pictures so we stopped at the infamous red telephone booth and snapped a quick picture of me.

 And that pretty much sums up our day in London! There is still a lot more to see......but we have plenty of time to do it, with plenty of people that say they are going to come visit! And we WANT tons of visitors!! :)