Halloween fun

Our English Halloween celebration ended up being pretty fun, and not entirely different from what we're used to, anyway.

For starters, I didn't have to decorate my house at all - we have enough spiders and webs to scare anyone!

This afternoon Susanna had a friend over to play, and then I took all 3 kids to a Halloween party at Ben's school.  The party was great!  The room was well decorated with various crepe paper, balloons, etc.  They had games to play, dancing, and plenty of sweets.  They had a bowl of jelly (Jell-o) for the kids to stick their hands in to find little plastic critters - the girls loved this!  They also had dinner, which I loved.

After the party, we went to another friend's house for a quick trick-or-treat.  We weren't sure if it would be worthwhile to trick-or-treat around our neighborhood.  I've heard that some people do it, but not everyone, and I figured it might not be very fun if we went out and didn't find anyone giving out candy.  (And I feared that we might ring someone's doorbell and they would have no idea what we were up to!)  

So my friend called with the idea to meet on her cul-de-sac and trick-or-treat at the houses there, plus the cars of whoever else came.  It worked out great - its a quiet street so the kids could run around with no worries about traffic.  And the kids got enough candy to make it fun, but not an entire pumpkin-full, or anywhere close.

And I was just grateful that we had something to dress up for on Halloween!

Here are two differences I noticed today:

• Candy corn was referred to as "skittles".  Actually, I only heard this because we had some candy corn stickers...  I'm not sure I even saw any candy corn in the stores.

• Most kids here dress up as something Halloween-related - pumpkins, cats, vampires, witches, etc...  Ben dressed in his Philadelphia Eagles uniform and was one of the few non-Halloweeny kids the party.  There were no princesses at all!  I suppose that isn't even considered an option.
  

So, we had lots of fun and the kids were, of course, exhausted.  Though I do have to say that we sort of missed trick-or-treating with our old neighbors in Brownstown...  We hope everyone had (or has) fun tonight!

Happy Halloween!!

Holiday in pictures

This is the view from the top of the Round Tower in the center of Copenhagen.  While at the top, it became very windy, and I knocked my glasses off my face while putting my bag on...  They skittered right along the platform in the wind and I was sure they were going to fall off the tower.  Fortunately, they got stuck in a drain that goes around the top of the tower, and getting them back was as easy as finding someone to unlock a gate and go between the two fences surrounding the top.  I felt very lucky!

This is the way to the top of the tower.  It is mostly just this ramp, with two short sets of steps right before the top.  It was amazing how quickly Ben could get to the top of this tower when he could barely walk on a level surface most of the day!

Ben learned about historical Danish cooking at the Danish National Museum.

Ben teaching school in the Danish style.  I can't imagine what his students did to cause him to make a face like that!
This is in Nyhavn, which means "new harbour" in English.  We were waiting for our boat tour of the canals and harbour.

We braved the cold one night and had dinner outside.  We were the only ones.  It was actually a nice night and the heaters under the table umbrellas made it quite tolerable.  They even had blankets on the chairs and the kids enjoyed snuggling in them.

Waiting for the train after our trip to the science museum.

Greetings from Copenhagen!

We are in Copenhagen right now on a little holiday from England. Susanna has the week off from school so we decided it was a good opportunity to visit another country.

So far its been lots of fun. The kids love everything about travelling - going to the airport, going on the plane, going to the hotel, being in the hotel... its all good until its time to WALK somewhere! It took a day or so for them to warm up, but they're doing great now.

Copenhagen is quite child-friendly. The Danish National Museum has a great Children's Museum within it, and they spent two hours running around there. My cousin lives in Denmark with his family (on a job assignment like us) and we met up with them at the museum. Ben and Susanna were very excited to meet their little cousin who is almost 5 and they had lots of fun together.

Today we went to a fabulous science museum called Experimentarium. Lots and lots of hands-on exhibits and we didn't even see them all. Its so nice to go to places like this were the kids can just run around and have some fun.

Its fairly chilly here - a little colder and drearier than good ol' England... Ben doesn't seem to mind at all - he all but refuses to put on his coat!

We haven't tried any real Danish food yet apart from breakfast at the hotel. It is a nice buffet including cereals, fruits, yogurt, breads, cold cuts, veggies, and some rather fragrant cheeses. I now undertand why cheese has a reputation for being stinky!

We have one more day to enjoy Denmark before we head home to England. Not sure yet how we'll spend it but we have a few ideas. Three days is hardly enough time to figure out a new city and really enjoy it (especially with two little kids) but I think overall its been a really nice trip!

For my bunco friends...

Tonight I went to play Bunco with the local American Women's Club.  They also play once a month on a Thursday night, but as I suspected, the way they play is a bit different.  

There were three tables of four ladies and three dice at each, but one person keeps score for the entire table.  Each person has a large index card and we made punches (with a hole puncher) for buncos, baby buncos, and wins for each round.  So you don't keep track of  your own points at all.  And after you roll each number and determine who wins and who loses, one team moves to another table.  So if you play three full rounds, you could sit in 18 different seats instead of just three.

There were winners for most wins, most buncos, last bunco, most baby buncos, and, of course, biggest loser.  Since points are not tracked individually, they are not part of determining winners.

But, as in Lititz, there was lots of food (and a bit of drink)!

And I have to add that they start at 7:30, which is clearly an ideal time to start bunco : )

A three-year-old never forgets

Today we had to run a quick errand after returning home from school.  Since I had to pay for a half-hour of parking, I figured we could also run into the small grocery store and grab some yogurt for tomorrow's breakfast.

We quickly chose our yogurt and saw that there were two lines open - a regular one about three people deep with full baskets, and a quick check out.  I headed for the quick check out with my one item and Ben immediately got upset and started insisting on being in the other line.

I started to give in to avoid the tantrum, but the  regular line was so slow, and the quick line emptied out, so I went back to the quick line despite Ben's protests.

Then  it finally occurred to me (I must be having a slow day!) - a few weeks ago Ben got a cookie at the regular check out, and he recognized the lady working there and was hoping for another cookie today!

Once again, I am just amazed at how much a 3-year-old notices and remembers!

Language barrier

One of Ben's favorite things to do when we're out and about is visit the restroom.  Or the bathroom.  Or the toilet.  Or the loo.

Today I returned to his swim school toward the end of his lesson and was quickly informed that my son was in the bathroom for the second time so far during his half-hour lesson.  He decided he was done when I turned up, but then quickly went back for a third go.

He went yet again when we were back at the swim school this evening for Susanna's lesson.  One of the teachers overheard him ask for the potty and asked me why we call it that.  I explained that its just what we call the toilet for little kids.  Then while I was waiting for him, the other teacher came out and she too asked about our terminology.  She said that when he asked to go to the potty during class she didn't know what he meant.  She figured it out quickly enough by his gestures and sent him on his way.

After being here over six months, we are still discovering little differences in our language.  It amazes me how many differences there are between English and English!

Spicy!

We went to Wagamama (once again) for dinner tonight.  Ben just loves this place.  

He gets a basic kids meal - breaded chicken, sticky rice, and shredded cucumbers.  

Brad gets the same thing every time - chili chicken soup that is pretty spicy.  I try to mix it up (though I do have a favorite) and tonight I picked a different soup that was also quite spicy.

There was a little mix up with the server and Ben's meal wasn't ordered, so he had to wait a little longer than the rest of us.  (Their standard procedure is to bring meals out as they are ready, so it wasn't a huge difference in timing.  Everything on their menu can be cooked in about 3 minutes or so...)

So while Ben waited, he started in on Brad's soup, asking for bites, probably eating more than Brad at that point.  Then I offered a bit of my good and spicy chicken, and he immediately changed his focus to my food.  After several bites of both of our meals, his meal came and was quickly devoured.  Then he helped his sister with her plain chicken (still working on getting her to love this place), and then went to work on his father's leftover soup.  He was even eating the red peppers out of Brad's bowl!

And he washed all the spice down with sparkling water!

Needless to say, we are very impressed (and entertained) with his sophisticated taste buds!

Pumpkin carving

Today we went to the local farm park again.  Some of Susanna's school friends were meeting there today, including her best friend, so we went along too.

We spent a lot of time at the play area.  All the kids from her class were dressed up (its called "fancy dress" here) and they had fun running around from place to place.  There wasn't much walking going on today!

All the kids who came in fancy dress got to carve a pumpkin for free.  It was nice to do that somewhere besides in our house!  Somehow it seemed a lot easier and less messy than it does at home.  I'm not much of a pumpkin artist so Susanna got a nice basic smiley face on hers.  Brad helped Ben with his.  We brought somes seeds home and roasted them - didn't last long in my kitchen!

It was fun to get dressed up for Halloween.  I'm still not sure what we'll do on the actual holiday.

Ben in costume - Sportacus - he suddenly LOVES Lazytown.

Susanna really wanted a witch costume - a very pretty, sparkly witch!

Mansize

The tissue one the left is a regular one... the one on the right is mansize!

Promise Party

Today was Susanna's Promise Party at Rainbows.  It was actually for all the girls who are new to the group this term.

It was her official initiation into Rainbows, and involved sitting together and saying a "promise:"

I promise that I will do my best 

to love my God and to be 

kind and helpful.

So the new girls said their promise, then the older girls officially welcomed them, and then they ate cake!  Ben was excited to get some cake for himself.

Susanna likes going to Rainbows, but she is still pretty attached (physically) to one of her best friends, K, who is in her group.  She is starting to learn the names of the other girls.  There aren't any others in her class, but there are a few in the Year 2 class at her school.  Other girls go to another school in town.  Each term, the girls who turn 7 move up to Brownies, opening spaces for new girls to join.  So its quite possible that more girls from her class will join in the next term or two.  Hopefully as she progresses through this term she will become a bit more confident there and truly enjoy it.

Three Little Pigs

Yesterday we went to London for a show - The Three Little Pigs.  It was, of course, meant for kids.  It was Ben's first theatre experience (Susanna had previously been to the Ephrata Playhouse) and he enjoyed it very much.  The show was about an hour long and had only two actors, along with piggy puppets and a variety of props.  As you might imagine, a lot of fluff was required to make this story take up an entire hour!  Lots of silly humour - chases, dances, etc. - it was as much fun watching Ben laugh as it was watching the show!

After the show, we went to the Princess Diana Memorial Playground.  As it was a beautiful day (for October in London, or October anywhere, really) it was rather crowded, so we had to stick close to the kiddos.  There was a huge ship, some teepees, and some other climbing/sliding structures.  We didn't stay long, but it was definitely worth the visit.  

Today has been more relaxing...  Susanna had a Craft Day for Rainbows in the afternoon, so we couldn't venture far from home.  After dinner we went out to practice bike riding - Susanna is getting better at riding on two wheels... now we have to work on getting Ben to understand the word "stop"!  He make me a little nervous - with all the hedges its hard to know too far in advance if there might be a car.  I'm not sure how much more bike riding there will be before spring - with weather getting colder and days getting shorter there won't be many more opportunities.  

The weather

I guess the weather is supposed to be a big topic of conversation in this country.  People do talk about it.  I try to come up with other topics as talking about the weather makes me feel a bit, hmmm..., American, I guess.

I still don't mind the cool, rainy weather.  I like being bundled up in jeans, boots, and my new wool coat.  In fact, I'm pretty sure its colder inside my house than outside, especially in my bathroom (a whole different subject...)

Ben, on the other hand, is still firmly in "summer" mode, going out in a t-shirt most days (but he does wear long pants, or trousers, as we are slowly learning to call them.)  I offer him one of the five coats/jackets in my station wagon every time we leave the car, and he always refuses.  If its chilly enough that I have my coat on, I at least carry a coat for him, to save anyone the trouble of callling the authorities about my negligence.  Maybe he'll be one of those guys who wears shorts in January.

In contrast to the past week or so, today was beautiful - I was almost hot in my jeans and cardigan.  The next few days are expected to be in the 60's and sunny - we will have to go out and enjoy.  

Every nice, sunny day must be treated as the last of its kind.

Apple (and pear) picking

Today we went apple picking.  We found a farm through a website called pickyourown.org (which is for the U.S. as well.)  The farm we found was about 20 minutes away.  Just a small farm not far outside London, but it felt like we were out in the country.

They had lots of different apples to pick as well as pears.  The kids had a lot of fun checking out the fruit on the trees and picking off the best ones.  We stopped on the way home for a pub lunch.  It wasn't exactly the most authentic of pubs, but the food was pretty good.

We didn't fill Ben's container, but we still have more than enough apples now!

Making a good choice.

Maybe they're better if their higher up...

Lots of fruit at child-height.

Six months, or 25%

We have now lived in England for six months.  I can't believe its been that long - it's gone so fast!  With our two-year assignment, that means we are one-quarter of the way through our time here.  I feel like I just moved in!  Before we know it, we will be trying to figure out where we are moving back to (who knows...), then finding a good place to live and good schools for the kids (not necessarily in that order.)

When we arrived, it felt like we'd be here forever, and now we realize its not so long.  Time to get serious about getting out there and seeing stuff.  We should start this weekend!  Too bad its going to be sooo cold...

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

And we still have weeks to go before Halloween!

All the shops around here are starting to get their Christmas merchandise on the shelves.  Lots of candies, tins of biscuits (cookies), mince pies, Christmas puddings, chocolate Advent calendars, cards and decorations.  All the food items look so good - I want to try them all!  I know its just because they're different from what I'm used to, and for some things its just the different packaging that makes them look exciting.  I haven't bought anything yet - I will at least wait until November!

I found a website that lists lots and lots of Christmas markets throughout Europe, including the U.K.  We are thinking about a quick pre-Christmas trip to visit one on the Continent.  We will definitely visit one in England, either in London or another smaller city somewhere.

I am so excited to celebrate our first English Christmas!

Spiders: a matter of perspective?

My  house has a lot of spiders.  Some days I kill 3 or 4 in my house.  Other days I'm feeling more generous and I just leave them alone.  When I look out my kitchen window, there are always a few with webs on the window or in the bushes just outside.  They seem to hang out for days and days...  maybe they are nursing their little spider eggs.  I don't know.  

Whenever I mention  the spider "problem" to people, they say, "oh, there really aren't a lot of spiders here."  So I am left to wonder, are these people used to a lot of spiders already, or is it just my house?  I know most houses have the occasional spider or two, but I really think mine has more than its fair share!