Mom, I found a REAL anemone!

Today started out rocky for me. We were going to The Montessori Place to meet up with Owen's classroom and go rock pooling, something we've all been really looking forward to, but before we actually got to do it, I hit a new country, foreigner wall...hard. I needed to figure out how to get buckets, extra clothing, lunches, snacks, water, sunscreen, two car seats and the three of us down to school. At first I thought I'd take the bus but then realized I wasn't an octopus and couldn't carry it all, so decided I'd call a taxi. I tried to call one, but my temporary cell phone was out of minutes...so I tried to 'top off' my minutes over the phone, but they wouldn't take my credit card (let me tell you, you will soon have a chip in your credit cards and be required to enter a pin every time you use it...they've been doing it here for a few years and when you use a card without one here, they are generally clueless on how to 'swipe' your card...but one complaint at a time, right?), so then I try get online to order a cab online and our temporary internet won't let me in. I fought back some tears and somehow carried all our goods up to the local 'One Stop' a couple of blocks away. Eventually, I ended up topping up my minutes, getting a cab and getting all of us successfully to school on time. It all worked out in the end and always does, but I can tell you I really was missing my iPhone and my minivan this morning.

With the yuck behind us, we were welcomed at school again with lots of excitement and eagerness to share nets and cookies and all sorts of fun. We made our way to Ovingdean Beach and spent a beautiful, hot, sunny day exploring the rock pools. Walter even went swimming! It was great to see the boys both connect with the children and Owen's future classmates. Owen was particularly fond of all of the anemones that he found and loved touching them.

Want to have a snail race?

We are in our new house it feels great. There is space to run around in, there are fruits & veggies in the fridge, and there are snails in the back garden. Lots and lots of snails. Yesterday the boys asked me to come see all snails they had collected and I walked out expecting to find ten at the most. Let's just say my hair stood on end when I opened my eyes for the big reveal. There were at least 50, maybe 70, I'm not sure but I am sure they were really slimy and are much more fun to look at when there is one or two. Needless to say, the boys have been naming them, feeding them, bathing them and even racing them.

We moved in on Wednesday evening and spent the day Thursday settling in. In the evening, a coworker of Jeremy's and his family stopped by to welcome us and brought us a couple bags of British foods. Its been fun to try some of the staples, but I must admit I haven't had the nerve to try everything yet.

Friday morning we woke up nice and early to start celebrating Walter's birthday. He had the choice of when to open his gifts and he choose right away, so they hauled the gifts into our bedroom and Walter opened presents while Jer and I wiped the sleep away from our eyes. Later that day, our shipment arrived from Minnesota, which Walter thought was so excited, and we spent the majority of the rest of the day unpacking and organizing more. I felt terribly guilty that I didn't have a cake for Walter and that we didn't have any really special thing happening that day, but he was happy as can be. We did walk to the local grocer that day hoping to find a cake but didn't have luck. He was so pleased to choose to have a doughnut as his 'cake' instead and he also asked for a pizza and movie night, which we did.

A surprise birthday gift from a local cartoon channel arrived on our front door. (Owen is a great big brother!)

This weekend we continued to settle in and took some time for exploring our new city, too. Owen really wanted to try his scooter at a skate park, so we found one next to the sea and took the bus down to it. We walked along the sea and through the city streets home. It is a lovely place to be.

How come so many Europeans smoke?

We hear this questions posed by both boys a few times a day. My answer just doesn't seem to suffice, which is generally 'I'm not sure' or 'They always seemed to have' or 'Maybe they don't realize what a bad decision it is' - come to think of it, I can't blame them for asking it over & over again! It is one smelly thing about Europe.

Well, after 19 days in a hotel, tomorrow we are moving into our new house in Hove!!! Jeremy tops us though, he's been in this place for 50 days! Seriously, it will be so great to have space, settle in and best of all, eat real food! We've found ourselves skipping meals as we are so tired of eating out and spending all sorts of cash on dining out. Seriously, it will be so, so appreciated.

Since we will be settling into our home on Friday (our stuff from home will arrive that day!) the boys and I decided to do something special in honor of Walter's big 5th birthday today. We got out the kid's London map he received from Great Grandma Donna & Great Grandpa Bruce and he got to pick out where ever he wanted to go. He chose the London Aquarium, so we headed there after breakfast. It is right on the Thames, just across from Big Ben and the House of Parliament. It was an absolutely perfect day out and with the sun shining, it was a great way to see the big sights. After going through the aquarium (which the boys loved!), we walked along the London Eye and the Jubilee Gardens where we watched a few street performances. After, we walked along another bridge and made our way back by double decker bus to Victoria Station, where we caught a train back 'home' (aka, #475 at the Arora International Hotel!). Again, I found myself pleased to not be rushed in this huge, beautiful city. We'll be back and explore more soon. Here are a few photos from the day...Walter was a bit on the silly side today:

Pretending they are swimming with the sharks!

For now, we are so jazzed to be moving in! If I haven't said so already, it will be great to get settled and make real food. :)

Is that the 'y' shaped country?

Alright, brag time...the other day at a train station, we met a man from Somalia. He asked us where we were from and we told him Minnesota. He smiled and said "I'd fit in there well, I'm from Somalia, they have the largest population of Somali people in the U.S. in MN." We talked for a while and went on our way. As you learned in my last post, Owen later was processing the conversation and wanted to talk more about why there were so many people from Somalia in MN, etc. We talked about war, about refugees and the general location of Somalia in Africa. After some thought, he said to me "Is that the 'y' shaped country?" I honestly had no clue what shape it was and told I didn't know but we'd have to look on a map soon. Well, this morning, we pulled up google maps and sure enough, Somalia is the 'y' shaped country. Pretty impressive if you ask me! (Here's a photo of Owen showing us the Africa puzzle map at Sunny Hollow in 2009...see 'y' shaped Somalia on the Indian Ocean?!)

Of course, I will tell you it is one of the wonderful things about a Montessori education. Not only do the children work with maps of the world, but they also learn their shapes, major landmarks, capitals and I'm sure so many other things I'm not privy to.

Yesterday, the boys and I made a trip down to Hove to visit the boys' school. It was so great to meet the guides, the children and many parents! We were welcomed with many smiles and eager handshakes. The boys both got to go in their respective classrooms for a tour from their future classmates. They were happy and confident in doing so, which made me at ease. It was really wonderful. Owen's guide, Stephanie, invited him to join the class at a couple of upcoming going-outs (Montessori's version of a field trip). The first one is a day at the sea rock pooling, which I thought was their phrase for rock climbing. I learned its not, instead, rock pools are areas by the sea that when the tide is low, there are small pools of water left behind, full of creatures and sea life. They will spend the day there catching creatures and exploring. The next one will be in the English country side, but I don't remember where. What a fabulous welcome!

What do you mean?

We graduated from the infamous 'why?' question when the boys were about 3/3.5, but nobody ever told me about "what?" "what do you mean?" and "I don't get it mom, what?". Owen is really trying to understand EVERYTHING he hears and he wants to hear EVERYTHING you talk about. Its made our reunion here a bit challenging to have any sort of full real adult conversations. It also shows me its another stage in our life as a family; its always changing.

Today the boys and I decided to get out of Crawley and go into London for the day. We hopped a train after breakfast and headed toward Victoria Station. Our first stop was Buckingham Palace, which was blockaded as they were cleaning up from the Diamond Jubilee extravaganza. We caught a small glimpse and decided to come back another day for the changing of the guard and all the other sites.

From there we headed to Hyde Park (which is enormous) and spent a good chunk of our day playing at the Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Park. It is inspired by Peter Pan and the boys had a great time climbing to the look out, exploring the ship and building sand turtles and crocodiles.

After a late lunch, we took the tube toward Piccadilly Circus and the famous Hamleys toy shop. There are 6 floors of toys and we looked at them all! Of course, we couldn't walk out empty handed, I couldn't resist.

After making our way from the toy shop, we took our first double decker bus ride along the designer shop lined streets back to the train station. I told Jer he was lucky the boys were with me...I could have done some serious damage! :)

I am starting to understand the draw of London. I'm also grateful that I will have many opportunities to explore it even more. There is just so much to see and do.

I can't wait to go back to Minnesota and say 'Trousers'.

The boys and I did our house hunting tour yesterday. We have narrowed it down to the following two: Queen Victoria & Goldstone Way. (Please feel free to weigh in with your opinion!) We will go see them again tomorrow, this time with Jeremy, before we make our final decision.

At the first stop we made, it was raining and while we were exploring the green space for the boys, we got a bit wet. At the second house, while we were waiting for the showing agent, I commented in the car that my pants were wet. The agent said to the boys "Be sure you don't say pants in school, you need to say trousers" as it turns out, pants are underwear here.

Today at lunch we were talking about all the funny names for things here and Walter said "I can't wait to go back to Minnesota and say 'Trousers' to my friends" He thinks he will really trick them with that one!

Here are a few photos from our final MN good-bye...good bye to Sunny Hollow & to Grandma Joanne, Uncle Moogs & Auntie Kindi.

And here is Walter signing his passport at the airport to make it official!

Double-Decker!

Well, we are here! We arrived at Heathrow Saturday at noon, after flying through the night. The boys did wonderfully on the flight; Walter fell asleep 2 minutes after take off, Owen after a couple of cartoons, and they both slept until I woke them up for landing. We were met at the airport by Jer and lots of hugs and kisses. It was wonderful.

Saturday we spent the day exploring Crawley. Sunday, we trained down to Hove to see The Montessori Place (the boy's new school!) and explore the city and sea. The whole day as we walked around, Walter would yell "Double-Decker!" whenever he'd see a double decker bus.

Sunday we went down to Haywards Heath to a co-worker's home for a BBQ. The boys had a blast playing with some other children and running around the garden.

Monday we spent the day in London, where we focused our efforts on London Bridge and the Olympic Park. While we were there, there was not one mention of a double decker bus...the novelty has already worn off!

Tomorrow the boys and I are being picked up and taken to Hove to see some house options. Fingers crossed for a great option that is available soon...I'm not sure how much longer they will let us stay at this hotel when things like this are happening in our room: