Spiderman!

Light and dark

England has a lot of daylight hours.  We are realizing this when we wake up to a bright and sunny day, then look at the clock and realize that is just after 5 in the morning.  Of course all this sunlight is an effective alarm clock for the kids, who are usually awake sometime around 6.  In the evening, it doesn't get truly dark until about 10 - its shortly after nine right now and still quite light out.  Fortunately the kids don't have trouble falling asleep with the light.  I do love all the windows in this house, but I think I need to add black-out curtains to the shopping list.  The kids (not to mention Brad and I) really don't get enough sleep and its starting to take its toll.

Speaking of lack of sleep, I am still recovering from my two later-than-usual nights with our visitor.  On the second night she was here, we went to London to see Wicked.  It was as good as I expected, if not better.  I actually didn't know what to expect.  Of course I knew it was a prequel to the Wizard of Oz and had to do with the Wicked Witch of the West, but I didn't know anything about the actual story.  So the whole thing was full of surprises for me, and I loved it.  I also love that you can buy ice cream in the actual theatre at intermission.  I had chocolate.

First visitor

We have our first visitor this week.  A friend of Brad's from working in Harrisburg is in Europe on holiday, and has made a two-day stop at our place.  Its been fun having someone else around, and for me it means two nights out in a row!  Last night we went to dinner at a pub in town, and tonight we are taking the train to London to see Wicked.  I am very excited for that!

This past Sunday we went into London (the family) to go see Dragon Boat races.  This was quite a trip from home - the train to London, two underground trains, then another train called the Docklands Light Railway, or the DLR.  We basically started out northwest of London and ended up southeast of the city.  The DLR is a driver-less train, and we got lucky on the way there and got front row seats for the kids.  They had a great time looking out and pretending to drive.  I think that was really the highlight of the day - getting there is half the fun (at least!)  The Dragon Boat races were interesting to watch - long thin boats with a big drum (and a guy beating it) and a dragon head on the front.  Across the water from where we watched was the London City Airport, thus we had the added bonus of seeing some planes take off and land.  The also had inflatables for the kids to jump on, and apparently some good Chinese food, but we had  stopped at a restaurant on our way and weren't hungry for more than ice cream. 

Here is a photo of the kids sitting at the front of the train.

TGIF

Another week is over.  I'm definitely ready for the weekend!  Our plans include some shopping for more house stuff (like hooks and pillows - exciting) and maybe a trip into London on Sunday.  

Today Ben and I had a busy day going to cooking class and then to the model village down the road.  He is getting quite comfortable at cooking class.  The first thing he said to both teachers this morning is that he will be getting a new toenail.  He squished his big toe in the bathroom door at our apartment over a month ago, and its close to falling off.  He did pretty well with the cooking, though he doesn't seem to like getting his hands messy (but he loves to make rock and dirt cakes in the back garden).  He also isn't very interested in trying what he makes, but I always enjoy it!

After cooking we went to the model village to see the trains and play at the playground there.  He spent a longer than usual amount of time looking at the trains and everything else, then had a good time at the playground.  We can't go there without having a popsicle, and its usually the same one, a strawberry Mini Milk.

While playing outside this evening, Susanna found a little snail in a pretty shell.  She enjoyed holding it and examining it, and watching it move around.  Here are some photos for your enjoyment:

Pretty snail.

Snail doesn't like being put on the leaf.
Leaving a trail of slime.

Such a gentleman

Over the past week or so, Ben has taken to occasionally opening the car doors for Susanna and me.  He is very sweet about it - opening one of our doors first, then his own.  He has been very independent about opening his own door for a while, both when getting into and out of the car.  I'm really not sure where he got the idea to open doors for the ladies, but I love the chivalry!

Rainy day

Today is one of the rainiest days we've had since moving here.  We all got soaked taking Susanna to school despite our rain coats and wellies.  I took the back way to school (Single Track Road) without even considering the possibility of the road being washed out until I was about to turn onto it.  Fortunately it was fine and I didn't even get stuck in the mud when I pulled into a ditch for another car to pass.  I am starting to like this back road (this one in particular) - not too many dangerous 90 degree turns, and its just like driving through a forest.  Sometimes I do have to back up to let other cars or trucks pass - I can't believe some the big trucks that drive these roads - they barely fit!

Back to school

Today Susanna went back to school.  I think she was glad to go back and play with her friends.  She seems to have had a good day and came home very tired.  Ben was axious to go pick her up all day.

Yesterday was Open Farm Sunday in England, where various farms open to the public.  Each farm has its own list of activities and displays.  We picked a farm called Hill Farm about 45 minutes away in Oxfordshire.  It was a really nice drive through little villages with lots of thatched-roof houses.  At the farm, they had food samples (actually from a supermarket!), a vegetable lottery game (the kids both won some carrots), and some animals to look at.  Ben loved the mama cow with her two babies, and Susanna like the baby lambs.  It wasn't quite as exciting as Oregon Dairy Farm Days, but it was a nice little activity on a Sunday afternoon.  

We've been here for nearly two months now - the time has certainly gone fast.  Ben seems to be getting much more settled here... maybe staying in the same house for over a month now has helped!  He still mentions old friends once in a while, but also talks a lot about new friends he's met.  Susanna continues to do very well - her adjustment seemed much quicker, perhaps because she could actually understand about moving and leaving her friends.  She still thinks about old friends and makes pictures for them occasionally, but she is also getting better with the names of her new classmates, which is nice to see.  We haven't gotten her involved with any extra-curricular activities yet - at this point, going to school all day is probably enough for her.  In the fall, we'll see what she's most interested in and start looking for classes for her.

Here are a few photos from yesterday:

Ben's favorites.

Three-day-old lamb getting a snack.
Something familiar.