This is our first entry into our blog. Maybe it will be fun for the kids to write, though currently we are struggling with thier journals, so maybe not. Elizabeth is here, maybe she would like to write her thoughts.
Elizabeth:
At church on Sunday we were talking about what we miss about our homes. Someone said they missed food. The Pastor said, "I am pretty sure we have food here." I thought that was funny.
I skyped Dad.
Today I went to a World War II boat/museum. I pretended I was the captain and the boys turned all the wax dummies into fried chicken.
I like Queen Victoria. I want to be her for Halloween. Queen Victoria was queen of England. I like her name. Queen Victoria had 9 children. I saw her crown jewels.
The Tower of London had a bloody tower. I liked it because there was a mystery in it. The mystery was about 2 boys who disappeared in the tower. They were princes. They think that thier uncle killed them, so he could be king. That is where it got its name.
I have been throwing stuffed animals out the window in our apartment. We live in an apartment. I like to crochet. I am thinking about making a crochet rope.
We went to the mews. My favorite carriage was the golden carriage. There was only one Windsor Grey horse out. There are also Cleveland Bay horses but we didnt see any of those.
Living in England is awesome.
For my part:
We arrived early Monday morning. Elizabeth and Jacob didnt sleep at all on the plane so they were a little nuts when we got here. We had to walk a little to the apartment and I didnt know if we were going to make it. We did. The nice land-lady drove me to the super market (yeah) and I brought back lunch, we ate and took a nap.
After nap time we walked back to the store and explored a little. We tried to watch a movie, but apparently DVDs from the US dont work in UK DVD players. Bummer.
I tried to take a shower, you do not just turn it on like at home. There are different buttons, 4 to be exact. I didnt quite figure out the buttons during this shower, so it kept getting way to cold and WAY too hot. I now know the top button turns it off. The three buttons below, I guess I dont know for sure, but I just push the top one and it works. The dial adjusts the temperature. You never touch the knobs on the tub.
The next day (Tuesday) I already had to go to work. Lena took the kids to the city. (Lena is matt's cousin who is helping us for a few weeks before my mom comes). Lena is a real adventurer and I am so happy she is here. She took the kids into the city, but they mostly went to the visitors center, rode the tube and walked around. That night we cooked (Ravioli, the kids favorite). Then we tried to do the dishes, unsuccessfully. The dishwasher was hard to figure out. The second time we went to the store we bought laundry detergent too, the washing machine also not easy to figure out. Did you know detergent goes in a drawer? At least the land-lady left the manual for the washer, so that helps. We can wash fine, but it takes forever to dry! I dont know if that is normal or not.
Wednesday I worked again and the kids went to the British Museum. I went to work for 11 hours. They seemed to like the British Museum but Lena said the got bored quickly. I thought it was funny that they said it shouldnt be called the British Museum since it was more about Egypt than Britain. They liked the mummies.
Thursday was the tower of London for the kids and work for me. (notice a theme?) The liked the torture equipment. They also talked about a Bloody Tower which was where two young princes and brothers disappeared. They were locked in after thier father died by thier uncle, then they disappeared. (probably killed, hence the name).
Friday they let me off work early (yeah) so the kids worked in the morning on school work and when I got home we packed a snack and set off to the town. We got off by Wellington Square, which honors the Duke of Wellington which is one of the most famous war heros (he defeated Napolean). We then walked to Buckingham Palace and then to Hyde park to find a playground. We walked a long time in Hyde park. I had packed a snack and we ate it in the rose garden (beautiful). We walked and walked, it was a big nice park. FINALLY we got to a playground. It was closed for repairs. We were tired by then and it was getting dark so we tried to find somewhere to eat more. We found a cute little resturant and I let the kids order american food, so we ordered a hamburger, fried chicken and pepperoni pizza. They liked it that they all came with "chips" (french fries). We drug ourselves home.
The next day we all slept late and then took a shuttle from the hotel to downtown arranged by my work. We walked again to Buckingham palace, We saw the Royal Mews, which was the stables and housed the carriages at the castles. We then took a big bus tour. I dont know if i woudl recommend it, it was hard to hear, and not too entertaining, though we did get a good overview of the town. We got off at St Pauls Cathedral, but it cost a lot of money to get it, so we mostly stood in the entry. We took the tour bus to the Tower of London. We bought nuts from a street vendor, they were yummy, warm sugared things. We got on a boat from there and took it back to Westminster Abbey. and Yes on the tour bus we did pass Big Ben several times, and I just laughed inside since noone was around to get the joke. Lena and I really enjoyed the boat tour. Elizabeth nicely colored (and didnt look out the windows) and the boys fell asleep. Oh well, we enjoyed it.
We walked from Westminster Abbey to St James Park and played in a playground for a long time. Then we wallked back to meet the bus. We took advantage of the supermarket there and got some grocerys that we didnt have to walk a long way to get. Then we came home and had pizza before going to bed.
Sunday we got up and went to church after a round of showers. There is a baptist church by our house (by the grocery store). It was an intersting service in that it was very international. There were people from Brazil, Africa and the middle east. There was a woman from Switzerland. And those are just the people I know. I thought it was interseting that the Pastor preached about Ruth and Naomi and being in a strange country and the things you need. The kids were excited that after church they had snacks (tea and cakes). The tea had milk of course. They kids added lots of sugar. After dinner and a nap (only by Mom) we decided to walk and explore for nearby parks. (see Elizabeths part about trowing stuffed animals out the window). We found a great big park which had dads and kids playing cricket. That was fun. We played there for a couple hours and then walked home via the grocery store (and ice cream). The night was rounded out by card games and talking to Dad via Skype on his birthday. It has been a busy week.
Jacob has finished his journal for the day so I will type what he wrote:
Today I went to a tour of a ship. We stayed in it for a long time to see how it all worked and we saw the guns. It was fun. It was fascinating. It was cool.
We saw the London Dungeon and the London Tombs. A guy handed us a flyer for the London Tombs with the bloody butcher on the front (more like idiotic people) We tried to find the nearest trash can.
The neighborhood is different. It is crowded on the streets. We have a few playgrounds one is near the house and the other is farther from the house but close to the grocery store and resturants. The house has 1 kitchen, 1 bathroom, 2 bedrooms, 1 table, 5 chairs, 1 TV, 1 heater, 1 couch, 9 pine cones in a bowl and lots of air molecules.
(I dont know where he got two bedrooms, maybe he means two rooms.)
Paul is last:
Paul wants his own blog and doesnt want to add his here. I said, not today.
Well that should catch you all up on where we are so far. Hope you enjoy the update.
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