It's just kid talk.

As I alluded to earlier, the boys (particularly Owen) are constantly asking what Jer & I are talking about. We've started tell them that some conversations are just meant for adults, which has become 'it's just adult talk, Owey.' Well, Sunday while we were driving along the tables turned. We started listening to the boys and asked 'what are you talking about?' Walter quickly responded with 'It's just kid talk.' I guess we deserve that one!

The torch came by our house last night!!! It was so exciting! We enjoyed the pomp and circumstance before it arrived and really enjoyed seeing it run by. What a neat experience. The games are coming indeed!

Today we enjoyed a beautiful sunny day down by the sea...and at the skate park. They love it. Owen loves watching the others do their tricks and after a bit tries a few of his own. Walter loves watching his brother and doing whatever he does.

Senor Heat

This adventure was largely encouraged by me and Jeremy has been so supportive along the way. He's totally embraced it all, while I've dragged my heels a bit here and there, thinking 'what have I done to our family?' 'will our families ever forgive me for taking the boys away?' 'how will we ever live so far away from our wonderful friends?'. He's listened to me worry telling me its going to all be just fine, and consoled me when I've cried in the grocery store because it was closing within 5 minutes of arriving, and helped me feel (almost) confident driving on the left side of the road. Thankfully, one of his dreams has come true with all of this; we are now part owners of a racing dog. He has always loved horse racing and dreams of one day owning one. Yes, this isn't quite a horse, but it is a racing animal...and a really wonderful animal, a dog. We haven't broken the news to Griffin, and he still is #1 in our hearts, but we are also really loving getting to know and love our race dog, Senor Heat. The boys and I have been watching him train every week and yesterday was his big racing debut. We all went to watch his debut (he took 5th), along with one of Jeremy's coworker's and some of his family. His coworker (who also owns Senor Heat with us) owns a couple other dogs, one of which also raced last night and won! He invited us out for the victory photo and the boys were wide eyed for sure.

We are really settling in nicely now. We've been here for just over 6 weeks now, we've been in our house just over 3 weeks, we have a car (and I even drive it with the kids in it), we've had a real playdate at our house, our office has a pile of paperwork nagging me just like in MN, I've made soups and even a batch of cookies. Its feeling really great. Today we took a drive over to see some of the amazing salt cliffs this area is known for. We started at Birling Gap and enjoyed hiking along the cliffs with amazing views of the Seven Sisters. We also made our way to Beachy Head and ended the day in Eastbourne for dinner before coming home. The cliffs are just amazing. Jer and I held on to the boys hands really tightly however, as they are up to 530 feet high and there is no railing or any barrier. We decided that was the true definition of a cliff. Freaky...and really windy!

O checking out the cliff (have no fear, Jeremy is 2 inches behind him!)

Making sure Mom doesn't fall off the cliff!

It's like I have a smiling tongue!

It was a HUGE morning for Walter today...he lost his first tooth!

After his morning crumpette, he decided he was still hungry and opted for an apple. Owen told him that was a good way to get a loose tooth out and within 5 minutes there was a commotion at the dining room table. Walter's tooth had fallen out! He's been talking off and on all day about what it feels like, what it will be like to have an adult tooth, wondering when he'll have an adult tooth and checking out his new grin in the mirror. He told me "It's like I have a smiling tongue" after he realized he could stick his tongue through the new space in his teeth!

We had a great day out and about in Hove and at the sea yesterday. We scootered/walked to the sea with a few pit stops along the way. At the sea, we headed toward the skate park where the boys practiced their x-treme scootering skills. Owen was quite proud of his jump to a wheelie move, which landed him on his bottom. He's been talking about it still today.

Thank you Auntie Kindi!

Care package #2 arrived Friday...more presents for the new 5 year old! This time it came from Auntie Kindi, who somehow knew Walter's new bedroom is full of robots. Walter happily dug into the gifts and was enthusiastic to share with his brother! (Beaming heart, indeed!) Thanks Kiki!

Wow, they really do say 'Cheerio' here!

We received a delivery today, more plates & silverware, as the six of everything we originally were supplied with were pretty much lasting us through lunch. As the delivery man left, he said "Cheerio" and right away, Walter said this. The delivery man and I both laughed.

I tell Jeremy nightly that its nearly impossible to lure the boys out of this house. At first I thought it was the space after being in a hotel. Then I thought it was the newness of the toys from home. Now I'm thinking its just plain old fun. My boys have always been project boys and we have been really filling that love. I also think that I'm much more present here as there aren't many other distractions. In addition to our arts and crafts we are doing, we have also been playing board games, building legos, cooking, and we are continually rearranging little bits here and there. Here are a few photos of recent projects.

Sculpting the new creepy hand bank.

Giving the snowman an orange mohawk.

Our 99 piece jigsaw puzzle.

O's favorite scary monster. 

W's favorite scary monster. 

Dad's favorite scary monster.

Mom's favorite scary monster. 

O's triceratops sculpture.

It was way over 25 stories high.

We finally bit the bullet...or maybe swallowed an enormous bullet...and insured our new right sided steering wheel car. I can't even bare to tell you how costly it is to insure it, but will tell you it cost more than we paid for the car. Ouch.

Moving on, Jer bit another bullet and decided to actually drive it! On Sunday, he drove us up to Devil's Dyke and we enjoyed some time in the English countryside. It was great to get out and do some exploring on our own time and schedule. From this point, you can see the Isle of Wight, Ashdown Forest (the home of Winnie the Pooh), another forest known for dragons, and many other beautiful sights. We walked deep into the dyke and then the boys took a billy goat inspired trail back up. Once I was reunited with them, Owen told me it was 'way over 25 stories high'. (His point of reference is a 25 story high roller coaster he was on on New Years Day in Dallas!)

Can you find the boys? I promise they are in there somewhere!

Thank you Grandma & Grandpa!

Our first care package arrived from the good ole USA on Friday; one full of goodies for the boys. Many of the goods inside were for Walter's birthday, but as good grandparents know, there were things inside for the non-birthday boy, too. The boys had a great time with all of the projects and I honestly couldn't get them to go to the park with me or anything that day. We were home all day playing and doing projects. Thank you, we love you!

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.