He Moves...Finally!

It finally happened. After establishing the rule of "abolutely no one gets anything for Jeb if he screams for it", Jeb decided it was time to move. It's not a normal crawl - it's the army crawl or what they call the "SAS crawl" here. No matter what you call it, I'm glad! Jeb gets around pretty well, but it's not unusual to find him lying in the hallway with his head down and crying - it's just too far to crawl from one side of the house to the other! He is pretty impressed with himself, as you can see in the video. He'll do anything to get to his trains and cars. Check out his cheeky little face as he stops to pose for the camera!

Memories of Scotland

Well, it's been nearly a week since we returned from Scotland and we are still thinking about the fun we had!

I'll start at the beginning - a ten hour drive in mostly rain ending up in Appin, Scotland around 8:00pm. It was pitch black as we drove down the single track road to our desitination - but the sat-map stopped. We kept going and the road ended into what looked like a driveway - 1 mile later we rounded the bend to see not only our farmhouse, but at least a hundred red deer looking at us. The stags were all gathered in our front yard. We asked the caretakers if this was a deer farm - no, they are wild. We didn't see that many deer again that week, but there were about 8 stags that were always around.

The week was full of hiking and we were always in our wellies - though it only rained one morning for us, the sunshine-filled week that we experienced was preceded by 3 weeks of straight rain. So, that leaves mud...and cow manure (we were on a working farm), deer poo, and chicken poo. Every little boy's dream. I sank up to my ankles at times, but Jacob took the brunt of it by sinking up to his knees. Boy, did Aiden think that was funny! (Jacob got the last laugh by finding a deer antler the same day near the spot where he sank!) Our hikes usually didn't last too long, but always brought great views. Our longest hike was up the glen (scottish for "valley") when we completely lost track of time and realized we had hiked for 2 hours one way and it was lunch time. Jeb was upset and Aiden was beyond tired. I ended up carrying him halfway back! In all, Aiden was a trooper hiking at the wee age of 3.

Our excursions outside our farm included a day trip to the Isle of Skye, which gave dramatic views that the kids could have cared less about and about 8 hours in the car (thank goodness for the car ferry ride!) and Loch Ness. Aiden put it best: the monster was sleeping the day we visited. It was still pretty cool to visit the 1400 year castle.

As always, we had some funny moments. How can we not, it's us after all! Here we go:

1. I read the guest book where we stayed on our first night. About 10 entries referred to a ghost that lived there and that he was nice, but loud. I was scared all week - went to bed around 8:30pm since Tom left every night to go on a walk.

2. Cows mooing like crazy! Why? The calves got taken to the market. So sad! But, the market was terrible and they didn't sell - calves back the next day and cows headed back to the hills.

3. When we booked our house, they referred to it being inspirational for the book "Kidnapped" which is about a man that was murdered. When I asked the farmer's wife about it and said, "it's a novel right?" She said, no, they brought his body right back to the house next door! I nearly flipped! (turns out it was 300 years ago!)

4. Aiden fell in the river. Funny after the fact I guess. I obviously wasn't there.

5. Jeb feeding the chickens. He loved it. All the boys did. The chicks began to sit on our kitchen window waiting for us. Hopefully we didn't overfeed them!

6. And finally, we must always have a bathroom story! Once again, 20 minutes from home, Aiden announces that he has to go. Out comes the water bottle. He was hesitant at first, but it worked like a charm with Jacob commenting that he thought maybe he needed to go too...

Beautiful trip, even better memories!

Halloween, well kind of...

Halloween isn't a big celebration around here, but we decided to still get dressed up and carve some pumpkins. As class rep for Jacob's class, I organized a trip to the local farm. The only caviat was that the kids had to dress up and carving was a must. Well, I forgot my camera! But, we did have fun. Many of the adults had either never carved a pumpkin or had done so only once. Many eyes were on Tom. We had such a nice time and it was a nice way to celebrate the holiday, even if it meant no trick or treating.

One Year in England

Well, a year ago today we flew out of the states to begin our new life in England. My, how time flies. So, as we look back at our experiences and things learned over the past year, Tom and I have put together our Top Ten List of our first year here...


10. Seeing Jacob in his school uniform for the first time
9. Experiencing a true European Christmas whilst in Belguim
8. Seeing 'Wicked' in London's West End
7. Bi-weekly grocery delivery (how did I ever live without this???)
6. East in the Lakes District with long lost cousins. We awoke to snow...complete with bunny tracks!
5. Sitting in a London Park, people watching
4. Legoland on the 4th...Tom's dream finally coming true. Would we ever get out of miniland?
3. Being okay with 3 inch spiders in my house (this has taken a bit)
2. Hanging out with our British friends and having them say, "I keep forgetting that your American" - perfect compliment and acceptance!
1. Wonderful travel memories from the top of England down to Switzerland. Thank goodness for the Eurotunnel and Leapsters! And the van...I guess!


Not bad for a move that we never thought we'd make. Ahh, the memories!

Then...

Now.

Saturday at the Trout Farm

It was a beautiful autumn Saturday this past weekend, so we decided to head to the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds are what you think of when you think of England - old stone houses with rolling hills in the back garden. We visited the town of Bibury, which is home to a Trout farm which raises over a million rainbow trout. We had so much fun! We were squealing with excitement over feeding these fish! How great to spend an afternoon outdoors with fish!

You Know You Live in a Small Town When...

Well, I always thought that growing up in Hudsonville gave me a small town experience. No, I think Beaconsfield takes the cake. You just never know who is watching as I have found out in the past few weeks.

I went to a new playgroup with Jeb a few weeks ago and starting chatting with a woman. She looked at me a few minutes into our conversation and said, "Don't you have two older boys?" Surprised, I said "Yes, how do you know that?" Her reply, "Oh, I've seen you in Sainsburys (our grocery store and the place to be seen) before with all three." I froze. Images flashed in my head of me in Sainsburys with all three boys...was I yelling at them? where they running around? why would she notice us? She said not to worry, she has 5 older brothers, so when she sees a woman with boys, it brings back good memories. I chose to believe that we looked like the perfect family when she saw us!

But it doesn't stop there! Just yesterday, at my usual playgroup, I met another American. After talking for a while and explaining that we moved almost a year ago, she said, "Oh, I've heard of you...you're the one who came with three kids when your youngest was 4 weeks old." Now, that is just crazy. I'm learning that you always act proper in this small town of our - you never know who is watching or who is talking!

Stop the Rush and Just Enjoy

Last night as I laid in bed I thought of my three, jet-lagged, boys who had to be woken each morning this week for school and how it would be just my luck that Saturday would be the day they got back on track. Do I know them or what?! Yep, 6:45am Aiden was yelling at Jacob because he thought he took his blankie. I guess it makes sense that he thought that since earlier in the week (when they couldn't sleep at bedtime due to jet-lag), Jacob tried to reach Aiden's blankie from the top bunk unsuccessfully and plummeted to the floor headfirst. After checking for no major injuries, I had a bit of sympathy, but not a whole lot. But I digress...

Back to today. With the two boys up we started the days preparations for a trip into London. Our plans centered around Buckingham Palace and the final day to visit the state rooms. We'd pair it with the changing of the guard ceremony. But, as Tom discovered late on Friday night they only do that ceremony on even days. Today is the 27th. Details, details...they seem to be my demise this week. At any rate, I went to a plan B: The Transport Museum.

Again, with the two boys up and shortly there after, three boys up, I made lunches while pushing the boys to change clothes, throwing Cheerios at Jeb and in the end helping Jacob with his homework. We sat down to breakfast after having to wake the one remaining male in the house, Tom. And we were out the door to the train by 9:00.

I never realized how peaceful a Saturday morning can be (despite my overly excited boys). It was a bit cool and foggy, but beautiful. So many spiderwebs on the hedges as we walked and for the first time, I was thankful for spiders and what beautiful creations they make OUTSIDE THE HOME!

The day went relatively smooth. The boys didn't enjoy the transport museum as much as we thought - the manequins in each train and bus scared the daylights out of them (kind of crept me out too!) And the palace was amazing to see...the recommended viewing time of 2 hours was cut down to 45 minutes for us, but it was still great!

The best part of the day was sitting in Green Park. A warm, sunny fall day is hard to find in England, but we got it. The boys played their little hearts out and then we collected leaves and chestnuts from one end of the park to the other. It's moments like these that you want to package up and keep in a box forever. Funny what kind of memories are made when you stop...