"Just another manic monday..."

All of us took a sick day today. We have all been feeling a bit overwhelmed, each in our own way. Sam and Sara watched a movie about a dad and a dog last night and both cried themselves to sleep over missing their Dad and Koda. And then that escalated into friends and family and neighborhood and soccer teams and the trampoline...How can one person (me) take on all their emotions and my own? Only time will tell I guess.


Kirt was in the States a couple of weeks ago and has been there since last Wednesday and the week in the middle he was really busy at work so the kids are having Dad withdrawals.


We had another fox sighting in our back garden. The kids seem to think if we could turn her into our pet they could survive without Koda for a bit longer.


Sara made the first team for the middle school. The 7th graders on the team are very strong, the 8th graders not so much. The problem here is that as an 8th grader you can make the JV team, so any good 8th graders get pulled up. Although the middle school A team scrimmaged the JV team last week and beat them 5 - 1. Yikes! The JV coach has already been talking to Sara. The bad thing (bad from my stand point only) is that she is playing goalie. I keep talking to the coach about letting her play on the field for at least half the game, but he keeps brushing me off. Then, in last Thursday's game she took out a girl (in the box) who was heading for her goal and had to be the recipient of a direct penalty kick on goal. The score was tied 2-2 with less than a minute left in the game. Sara made an awesome block and then scrambled to pick up the ball and the girl came in and kicked the ball out of her hands/body and into the goal. The other side cheered wildly while Sara still lay on the ground in tears and pain. The Refs whistle blew and he called a foul and announced "no goal". It was our turn to cheer. Sara slowly dragged her injured self up, wiped away her tears and cleared the ball out of her goal box and the final whistle blew. A very dramatic last couple of minutes. As I was leaving the field her coach quietly remarked "see why I don't take her out of goal?". I think I lost my battle...


When Sara's team has home games Sam and I go to the Sports Center. The Sports Cafe is open on game days. We order cheese toast (grilled cheese) and sweets and do the days homework and then go watch the game. It's a pretty fun thing for us to do together. Trey and his friends pop in when they need something. The sports center at the school is awesome. It's where the workout/gym is, the indoor courts, the swimming pool, dance studio, etc. Sam has swimming on Thursday's for PE. Its pretty cool for them to go to the locker room and change and shower. It's great to have all these facilities on campus.

We're heading to Scotland this weekend, Edinburgh to be exact. Kirt will try to meet us there if he is back from the states by then. But the kids and I leave friday after parent teacher conferences. I'll let you know how that goes.

Football Decision (still up in the air)

Sam has still not decided which soccer team to be a fan of. We've been to two Arsenal games and we get to sit on the Club Level in the firm seats. We straddle the half way line and get free sodas! Woo hoo! We're definitely Arsenal fans when we're there (sorry Rich). It's hard not to get into the spirit when the passion is all around you. The kids and I went into the city last sunday to see the production of "Lion King". It was fantastic! It was very fun for me to watch the reactions and emotions on the kids faces as they were entertained. The sets, costumes, music, and sound effects was awesome. After the show we walked back to the train station across Waterloo Bridge singing "I Just Can't Wait to be King" in the rain. It has a fantastic view of all the famous London sights. The kids are so comfortable in their surroundings. They know how to find the train we need to get home and how to get tickets and navigate the underground. It's very cool to watch. On the way home we had a group of rowdy Chelsea fans by us on the train. They were having a great time singing and clapping. The kids loved it. Some one said that they should quiet down and they teased Sam that he was an undercover cop. They started pointing at him and singing "you're a Billy in disguise". One sat down and chatted with us about where we were from and why in the world we would choose to move here from there. They taught us some "Blues" (Chelsea) songs and gave us some laughs. Sam is now thinking of cheering for Chelsea. It doesn't take much to influence him. It was great fun for the ending of a great day.

Driving in the UK

As much as I complain/comment about the driving issues here in this country, there are just as many (okay, not quite as many) times when I think, Wow!, stop and photograph this lane or question if there comes a time when you don't get a thrill when you go down it. Though I frequently get tired of the british guy (Tim) on my navigation device when he says "go right on the roundabout, third exit"--I love roundabouts (and I love Tim). They are the most efficient mode to keep the traffic moving and no, the new ones they put in in Leucadia do not qualify as roundabouts. I will struggle with all those stop lights back home. The lights here are also efficient. You get a yellow light on both ends of your light. Yellow before red for stopping and then yellow before green to get you going again. It's brilliant.

Everyone here is so friendly and helpful. Sometimes it takes a second for me to figure out if they are being sincere or making fun of me. I have learned that you say "sorry" here if you bump into someone or need to get by. Saying "excuse me" is considered rude. Almost like if you were saying it with an attitude.

So I am adjusting to the driving thing. Although I will drive around and around until there is an easy spot to pull into. We stopped to get petrol (gas) the other day and the kids were anxious for me to maneuver myself into certain challenging spots and I replied that I was going to wait patiently for just the right place, to which Sam replied, "this is going to be a loooong year". They all seem to be getting a kick out of me driving. I'd like to see them try it.

I do have to say that I enjoy watching other Americans go to get into the left side of the car to drive. I just don't enjoy it when I do it. Luckily my arms are usually full of "stuff" so I'm pretty smooth at acting like I was just putting things down on that side. Although Trey usually lets me know that I'm actually not that smooth.

Although I am adjusting to it I am not looking forward to taking my drivers test. It's crazy to be nervous about something that you've been doing for more years then I care to count right now. But I have heard horror stories about the experience. Luckily my US license is good for 12 months so I just have to complete it before then. I'll keep you updated...