One Year

Yesterday was the anniversary of our arrival in the UK. It really has been a whirlwind at times, and seems like it has been much longer than one year. Here are some highlights (and some not so fun parts).

-Moving around 6 times in 6 weeks before we found our apartment.

-Having the kids start school a couple of weeks after we got here. Not knowing the unspoken details on uniforms (although the school was very forgiving), and just the huge transition for the kids starting school in a different country.

-I heard from another expat about moving to England from the US, that you're in a place where everything is just slightly different. That's spot on for me. Things are largely the same, but it is an adjustment. Converting measurements and temperatures, different words and phrases, and trying to find your regular ingredients at the grocery store, just to name a few.

- First holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Bonfire Night, Christmas, etc. Learning new customs (especially from the kids) and trying new things.

- Adjusting to not having as many visitors as we had in Colorado. Matt's mom visited in the fall, and we currently have visitors (yay!), but that's it so far. I think it's been rough on all of us to be so far away from friends and family.

- The beginnings of travel. So our only big trip so far has been Barcelona, but we actually have a couple more trips booked, so there will be more coming soon.

- Starting to make friends here. As an introvert, it's easier for me to stay in and do nothing, but I have worked on pushing myself. I'm taking it slowly, but it's coming along.

There's so so much more that has happened than just those things, but I wanted to keep it brief. It has been incredibly difficult at times, but if I knew then what we would have to go through, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I'm so grateful for the opportunity we have here, and am so glad that we can share this with the kids. Now let's see where this next year takes us!

Bradfield Brewery

When we went to Whitby, Matt had a delicious Farmer Stout from Bradfield Brewery. The shops near us don't sell that type of beer, so we made a day of driving to the brewery to buy some, and to see what else they had.

We thought we would visit the brewery shop, walk around the town a little, and then eat in a pub Matt found online. It didn't exactly go as planned.

The drive down was pretty uneventful. Clara slept most of the way, and Miles and Lily played I spy and generally got along. (Side note: Matt asked if we should bring the DVD player. I had said no, because it wasn't a super long drive. I lived to regret that statement.)

We arrived at the brewery and visited the little shop. We viewed the different beers, but nothing really spoke to us besides the Farmer's Stout that we knew we liked. We bought two cases (12 bottles in a case), and a variety pack just to try the others.

We weren't there very long, especially since the kids were restless after the drive. I actually spent much of the time outside with them so they could burn off some energy.

Looking through the door of the shop

Clara's favorite part was the field full of sheep.

Love views of the English countryside!

Now, above I had mentioned walking around town, but there was nothing nearby. I mean nothing. So once we had our beer, we went straight to the pub for a late lunch.

The children were not very happy about having to sit still.

Matt and I each ordered the "pie and a pint." I got the steak and ale pie with some kind of light ale, and Matt got the steak and Stilton pie with the Farmer's Stout. The food was good, too. I wish I had ordered the same beer as Matt, but hungry children had me flustered. Oh well.

Clara ate more tomato sauce than anything.

Once the kids had eaten, they were ready to move around, and they were not quiet about it. I ended up taking the two bigger kids outside while Matt paid the bill because I didn't want them disturbing other diners.

And then we had to put them back into the car. The first bit of the ride home was bearable enough, but after a while they were just done being in the car. So much of the way home was filled with fighting and children yelling. It was terrible, and we definitely won't be driving back just for beer anytime soon.

Also, once we got home, we realized that instead of picking up two cases of the Farmer's Stout we like, we picked up one random case of something else. It was a disappointing end of the day, but we're trying to appreciate the adventure we had instead of dwelling on the bad parts. Not every trip can be a great success, but I'll leave off with a few more pictures. We will definitely be savoring this beer!

View from the pub

This is a two lane road, speed limit 50 mph. This is one reason I don't like driving.

On the motorway. Apparently the country is separated into the North and the South (just like Westeros).

Day in the Life - Summer 2017

It's time for another day in the life post, this time hosted by Liz at ellie and addie. If you don't like long posts, you can scroll through the pictures or just skip this one.

Friday, 21 April

6:55 Miles wakes up, and I convince him to climb in bed with me. I'm exhausted and feel like I'm getting a cold, so I skip the workout I was planning on doing. I don't feel guilty at all.

7:07 We get up and head downstairs. I make coffee, and we snuggle while Miles watches a show.

7:35 I hear Clara singing in bed and go upstairs to get her. Parts of our conversation:
"Daddy sleep well?"
"Why Daddy work?"
"Lily sleep well?"
We join Miles in the living room.

7:47 Lily comes down, and we have family snuggles.

8:09 I throw a bowl of nilla wafers in front of the kids (mom win) and shower. I don't hurry.
The weather is supposed to be cool and rainy. Darn, I wanted to take the kids to the park.

8:35 I have my make up on, and I'm dressed and back downstairs. Clara needs a new nappy. Once I've changed her, she says, "Please trousers," so I get her dressed. She wants to zip jacket herself, so that takes about 8 minutes.

8:50 Clara and I go back downstairs, and I get a proper breakfast ready. Waffles for the kids, cereal for me. Lily isn't hungry.

9:20 I take the kids upstairs to get dressed. Lily wants to wear matching leggings with me.

She is bold with pattern mixing

A few months ago, Miles came up with the idea of 100 day socks. He wanted to wear the same socks to sleep for 100 nights. Maybe a little stinky, but we made a countdown calendar and made sure he didn't skip any days. And upon waking today, he completed his 100 days! I ask him how he wants to celebrate, and he says he wants to have a Star Monster party and play pass the parcel. (Spoiler, the celebration doesn't happen today.)

They've been mended more than once

9:40 We all go back downstairs, and I start to make a grocery list. The kids color and play, and I break up several fights.

Throwing a fit because I won't make this into a slide for her

10:00 Someone asks to play Snapchat, so we do that for a few minutes. I only have an account because the kids love these funny faces.

10:15 I go back to my grocery list, which mostly involves browsing Pinterest.

11:00 Matt gets home from work. I decide to finish my list later.

Clara is coloring Lily's hair

11:15 I'm not feeling great, so I take some ibuprofen while Matt makes me an egg. The kids watch TV.
I eat my egg and toast, sit around and look at my phone a bit.

Noon: We decide to leave house.

12:30 We're finally all ready and head out the door. It's still gray out, but barely drizzling, so we bring our umbrellas and hope for the best. And it hardly rains the whole time we're out.

We go to a charity shop and the bank, and then just walk. We end up having a coffee at a grocery store, and grab a few things while we're there. We are so exciting.

Every time we leave the house, Clara says, "I walk bit."

The love walking on walls

3:30 We come home, and I'm beat. I relax on the couch. The next day I feel much better, so I think my body just needed rest. The kids watch TV again.

Someone skipped their nap today

4:15 Matt goes to the kitchen to make dinner (a big salad, and random freezer bits for the kids). And since I was talking earlier about the couch and comfort food, he valiantly goes to get me fish and chips.

5:00 Matt is home. We all eat dinner.

5:30 I make tea and put on my jammies. Matt and I talk in the kitchen.

6:10 I really started slacking on my Duolingo progress, but I'm trying to get back into it. I do my French for the day. We also just got Rosetta Stone on Prime day, but haven't started that one yet.

6:15 I'm back on the couch. Sometimes it's nice to have a lazy day.

6:45 We put jammies on the kids, and of course they ask for one last snack. Then it's upstairs to brush teeth & do the bedtime routine.

7:45 All three kids are in bed. Matt and I play on our phones in our room.

8:20 We go downstairs to watch a couple of episodes of the Blacklist. It's on a new streaming service we got so we can watch Game of Thrones.

I think I took this between 9-9:30

10:30ish I go upstairs to go to bed. Matt stays downstairs to watch more TV.

Keeping it Real - First day of summer break

This was my first day home with all three kids, and it almost went swimmingly. We had a little picnic lunch in the park (which makes it sound much better than it went, but it wasn't too bad). I had the kids working on learning. They got a little TV/tablet time. Then I tried to make dinner.

The meal I tried to make was a bit more involved than I normally do (it was a cauliflower lasagna). In the middle of my prep, I gave Lily a small pot of applesauce, and I didn't notice when she took it into the living room. Then she came running to the kitchen shouting about how Clara took her applesauce. And of course, it was all over the sofa (which we can wipe off, thank you Matt). I got everything cleaned up, and stripped Clara's clothes off, and went back to my cooking. And a few minutes later, Lily was back shouting about more applesauce. Apparently, Clara took another pot from the cabinet and tore through the foil, this time getting it all over one of Lily's books in addition to her clothes and the sofa. So I cleaned it up again.

This is dinner on her face; I didn't take a picture of the applesauce. She still needed a third outfit change though.

By this time, my lasagna noodles were all stuck together and ruined, so I had to improvise and make new spiral noodles for a casserole. As I was doing this, I turned around to a new mess on the kitchen floor. I threw my casserole into the oven and ran all three children upstairs for a super quick bath. And I opened a bottle of wine.

This was by far the hardest part of the day, and it's why the house looks like this. I'm not even worried about it.