Ready for Texas

We still have no idea about when we might be moving, but Ben is ready to go thanks to this outfit his Grammy and Grandpa sent!  It goes perfectly with his new cowboy hat...  Now all he needs is the boots!

Noodles

On Saturday, the kids and I had a day out in London with Susanna's best friend, T, and her mum and sister.  

After spending the whole train ride to London eating the snacks we packed, we headed to Wagamama for lunch.  Ben ordered his usual - "spicy" soup (which isn't spicy at all) with chicken, noodles, and veggies.  He takes his time with food, but he eventually emptied the bowl, and was the only child in our group to do so.  I just can't get over his enthusiasm for this food!

Here he is getting the last drops.

And his empty bowl.
After lunch we walked to a small theatre that was doing a children's production.  It was a 45 minute play called "Theodore and Margarida".  Theodore was a bee and Margarida, a flower, was his best friend.  The kids really enjoyed it...  they got to sit right in front of the actors in little chairs and sofas, and were able to participate throughout the show.  After the show the actors held a little drama workshop where the kids learned, of course, to be bees and flowers.  

Then it was back to the train, where we had more snacks, and a walk back home.  Overall it was a very fun day!

Fiesta

On Saturday afternoon, we had some friends over for a little fiesta...  This is what Ben looked like by the end of the evening!

The next adventure

When we signed up to come to England for two years, we knew it would go fast.

Now we are finding that it might be going faster then we thought...  We have recently learned what our next destination is:

Texas!

Specifically, the Dallas area.

We are still waiting to find out exactly when we will have to move, but quite possibly it will be sooner rather than later.

So now that we've been in England for a full year and are finally starting to feel settled here, it time to start thinking about packing up and doing it all over again.  Deciding where to live, figuring out where the best schools are, packing up our stuff, and, oh yeah, dragging two little kids away from their home and friends.  

We are sad to leave here, but happy about going to Texas.  We always knew we wouldn't be going back to Lancaster and quite possibly not Philadelphia.  But Texas will be almost as different for us as England was... and the adventure continues!

Peanut butter and jelly

Peanut butter and jelly is something that every kid loves.  Or at least every American kid.  (Except the ones who are allergic, of course.)  

Mention a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in England, however, and you will most definitely get some funny looks.

First of all, what they refer to as "jelly" is what we call "Jell-o" (or gelatin if you are avoiding brand names.)  What we call jelly, they call jam.  Peanut butter is the same here, if not better.  But putting them together?  That's just crazy!

Sandwiches here tend to be simple - take two pieces of bread, butter both, and put something in the middle.  Cheese or ham or jam or something.  Usually just one thing, but gourmet sandwiches are available.

So I'm not really sure what they do with their peanut butter here.  There is plenty available at the supermarket, so somebody must like it.

But don't even think about combining it with their chocolate!

House without a name?

From what I can see, pretty much every house around here has a name.  Or at least it seems that way.

Most houses also have a number, but they didn't always have them and some still don't.  So you'd have a house name and a road, and you'd still get your post.  I suppose the detailed post codes help with this.

Most houses have nice little plaques out front with the names on them.  When we moved into our first house I noticed the absence of such a plaque.  I wondered what its name was, if it had one at all.  After getting a few pieces of mail with the word "Trevose" on it, I figured it out - that was the name!

Then we moved to another house with no name plaque.  Since I didn't notice anything that looked like a house name on our post, I queried the owner.  As far as he knows, the house has never been named.  I have to admit that I'm a touch disappointed that I live in a no-name house!

I'm not really sure what the history of house-naming is.  I don't know who gets the honor of naming houses.  Or if they can ever be changed.  But I think its a neat tradition and its great that it still goes on in this modern age.

3 day weekend

Its 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, and we are all up and ready for our three day weekend.  Monday is a bank holiday (May Day) so that means no school, and no work (well, for most people.)

Ben was up and down not feeling well all week, and yesterday evening around 6 the doctor confirmed he has an ear infection.  He also has a goopy nose, an icky-sounding cough, and a bit of a fever.  And some sort of skin infection on his leg.  

So our main activity for the weekend will be administering an assortment of medications to Ben.

Susanna has been better but woke up this morning with a cough.  So now I have two sick kids...

And Brad isn't even here!  He was summoned back to the States for a few days, which inconveniently coincide with this holiday weekend.  Its not a holiday in the States of course, so he will be working Monday.  And hopefully flying home Monday night. 

So it looks like I'm in for a fun holiday weekend!

(Okay, I'll stop complaining now...)