Updates

We've been busy here in the UK.... although I am now realizing that we could be even busier if we were take advantage of everything thing there is to do here. I actually stress myself out about it way too much. I feel a lot more pressure to always be doing something here than I ever felt in NC!!

We went to Chinatown during the Chinese New Year. It was, quite simply, beautiful to see all the paper lanterns hanging across the street. Of course, the fact the paper lanterns had advertising on them was a little disenchanting. I guess Tony is in a great profession since it seems sponsorships have truly taken over the world. I mean, come on, sponsoring paper lanterns during Chinese New Year, would you ever have thought it???

Isabelle being funny while waiting for the bus at Piccadilly Circus.

London has a fantastic Science Museum. There are lots of things to see and touch. My kids could spend hours here. Luckily, like most museums in London it's FREE so we usually only stay for little while but come back often.

We also went to the Royal Air Force Museum. The kids loved it!!!

Logan is becoming quite the artist. He truly loves to draw and color and can spend lots of time doing it. He already has his first accredited piece of work. His school used a picture he drew of Rudolph as the cover for their Christmas card that they sent out to all the parents. The back of the card states Artwork by Logan Fowler. Of course, he didn't see any revenue from it but every artist has to start somewhere!

He recently went for a full day evaluation at The American School in London. I was more than a little worried... he's a 4 year old little boy being asked to go into a strange classroom, with kids he doesn't know but who know each other, to determine if he is a qualified(???) candidate for their kindergarten class next year. I have no idea how one would decide that a 4 year old is, in fact, qualified. Make sure he doesn't fall asleep, kick the sand or pee on himself??? Or did they quiz him on numbers, letters and his knowledge of Mother Goose???

While I waited in the office to pick him up, the administration person who took him to his classroom, told me she asked Logan where he got his Scooby Doo lunch box. His reply, "The lunch box store of course". She said that was the best answer she had ever heard. About this time, Logan comes into the office and another women says to him that she needs to go to the lunch box store to get a cool lunch box.

Here was his reply:

"Yeah, I went in and looked at the first one but said That's too Big. So I went to the second one but thought That's too Small. Then I went to the third one but it was Too Fancy. Then I came to this one (as he points to his Scooby Doo) and said It's just Right."

We are suppose to hear within the next few weeks if he gets in or not. I've put all my proverbial eggs in one proverbial basket so if he doesn't get in I have a lot of work to do in a small amount of time. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Logan working hard on his latest creation...

Here are two pictures he drew all by himself, colors, words and all.

A car train...

A garden...

Isabelle is truly a great student. She is reading well above her grade level and loves to write. I'm trying to talk her into creating a journal with moments she remembers from each of our trips/adventures. I think it would be really interesting to look back and read her "blog". We had a Parent/Teacher conference last week. According to the teachers, she generally tries to be a peace keeper or fixer of all problems (which she totally gets from her Dad) with her other classmates. Her teachers both say she is the most chilled, laid back kid... she doesn't get bothered by much. Uh? I'm not sure who I send to school everyday but I wish she'd come visit us some day : )

She has really come to LOVE animals. Every week, she checks out at least two books that deal with all things animal. Most of the time they are about dogs but since she has figured out we can't have one here the books are all about Fish!! I'm seeing our first goldfish in the near future.

She also loves the Rainbow Fairy books and the Junie B. Jones books. I read to her sometimes at night and I have to say Junie B. is not the nicest little girl in the world. She really dislikes her classmate May and calls her all kinds of names. I guess we have left behind the innocent (and boring to a 6 year old) Cat in the Hat books that I love!!! Izzy is all about the chapter books.

My pretty, funny little girl....

Supporting her school....

On a serious note... I am so thankful that my children are healthy, thriving little beings.

I would like to take a moment to ask everyone to keep my friend Emily and her cause in their thoughts and prayers. She is the director of Cookies for Kids Cancer foundation (www.cookiesforkidscancer.org). Liam Witt, the child whose family started the foundation, died a few weeks ago at the too young age of 6. His Memorial Service is on Monday, Feb. 14th. Emily has continued to work ferociously and tirelessly to make more people aware of the number one deadliest disease of children.... pediatric cancer.

Em - I know next week will be hard for you and for the Witt family. Please know you are all in my prayers. Thanks for your strength! xoxo

British-ism and Other Things

Walking on the sidewalks here is like how they played Chicken with Tractors in the movie "Footloose". There is no stand to right or left, it's just pick your line and take down anyone in it unless they move out of the way. This wouldn't be a bad thing except that one person coming toward you is to your left then the very next person is to your right. It makes it hard sometimes to walk anywhere without getting seriously agitated.

There are some very annoying, sometimes even unbelievable, practices here in the UK. Some things are annoying because, generally, we Americans are too impatient. But some of it makes you just want to scream "Are you kidding me??".

Some examples:

• Go to a Burrito place (i.e. Moe's) where you watch them add items down the line. You ask for everything you want but then decide you want sour cream. You ask them to add sour cream after they have folded over the tortilla one time... but they have not rolled it up yet... and they say No. You ask what do you mean, no? They say "It's already closed". You say "No, it's just folded over. Can't you just open it up and put a little sour cream?". They say "No, it's closed". Realizing you are not going to win this argument the burrito moves to the next person who opens it to readjust for rolling up as burrito. Now it is truly closed... with No sour cream! There is no such thing as the customer is always right here!!!
• I have heard several people say "You've been UK". I finally asked what that meant. It means when your cell phone has a problem, you take it to the cell phone store. They tell you they can't help you because the phone service is in your husband's name... even though all you are asking is for them to help you figure out why it won't turn on. You call the cell phone company to change the name on the account which you can't do because it's not in your name. Your husband calls the phone company to change the name, they tell him they will TRY to do it... it's been 5 years and the name is still the same. Things like this happen so much, they decided to give it a name.
• My name is still not listed on our checking account. Why you might ask? Because apparently I can't give enough proof that I am who I say I am and live where I say I live... even though Tony already has the account open and he does actually claim me as his wife. We've tried adding me to the utility bills to prove I live here, however, see bullet point above!!! So for now, Tony is my sugar daddy who gives me an allowance every week!
• We had a leaky faucet in our shower. Our landlord had a plumber come over to check it out. He goes into the bathroom and comes out to ask me where the problem is. I tell him the water dripping down when the shower is off is the problem. He asks, what do you mean by drip? Huh!!! Seriously you are a plumber and you are asking me what a drip is?

Overall, I think I have adjusted to life here. I don't feel frustrated as often as I used to. I'm still not a fan of the food but I'm not shrivelling up either.

Isabelle continues to do well in school and enjoys life here. She recently took Irish Dance lessons. She would "practice" a lot and looked like Michael Flatley as she danced down the sidewalk.

Logan just finished up his first "football" (aka soccer) clinic. He apparently has watched some with his Dad because he made a goal and started running around the field switching between pumping fists in the air and trying to take his shirt off. Hilarious!!

Christmas Break 2010

Over the Christmas break, we, more accurately, I decided to rent a car to tour around the english country. Getting Tony to commit to this plan was harder than I had anticipated. Finally, he admitted to being "a little concerned" about driving in the city. You all know him and so you probably know he prides himself on his driving skills. Driving on the left side is a bit tricky when you have 26 years of experience on the other side.

In the end, it wasn't a big deal. He did fabulous... with the help of a great navigator, of course.

The only mishap was getting on a wrong freeway which you might think is not so bad. You just get off at the next exit and turn around, right? Not so much. The major roadways all start with the letter M and I am convinced that the M stands for MAKE damn sure you want to get on this road before doing so. After many, many miles, we finally were able to get going in the right direction.

Our first stop - Cambridge

It is currently made up of 31 colleges. We obviously didn't see them all but we did see 2 big ones... Trinity College & Kings College. It was a nice town and the grounds were beautiful. Isabelle and Logan did not much care for the second oldest University in the English-speaking world. The most memorable part for them was lunch at Burger King and a look in the £ Pound store : )

River Cam

Trinity Lane

Next day - Dover Castle

It is a great medieval fortress, created by King Henry II. Dover is also at the narrowest point of the English channel, making it the closest point to the rest of Europe. On a clear day, not sure how many of those there are, you can see France. From the castle you can also see the White Cliffs of Dover. They are said to breathtakingly beautiful. My breath was just fine but maybe it also requires that elusive clear day!

Isabelle liked going under ground to look out of a window at the English Channel. There was an exhibit teaching them how these windows were the first point at which a ship or plane would be determined as a Friend or Foe (see 4th picture down).

Logan is extremely fond of all things gun related. I was that mother that didn't allow any kind of gun toys in the house, not even so much as a water gun. It was all for naught!! He's a boy and he likes to pretend to blow things up. So as you can imagine, he enjoyed going to a castle that had lots of canons and other artillery, as well as look out posts.

White Cliffs of Dover

Funny expression... Mom told Logan to sit on the chair for a picture and just as the picture is taken a man yells for Logan to get off the King's chair.

Final day trip - Stonehenge and Bath

What to say about Stonehenge? It is literally on the side of the road. It's like driving on 441 between Athens and Macon, Georgia and casually passing the many "fruit stands" by the road. I'm not sure why I expected it to be more enclosed like a museum. You don't really have to pay to get in to see it but your pictures will have a hideous looking fence in front of the big rocks. It was awe inspiring to see this, mostly from thinking about how in the heck they did it. It was extremely cold that day that we didn't stay to ponder the question for long.

Isabelle and Logan's favorite thing about Stonehenge??? The sheep grazing all around. They spent way more time looking at them than the large rocks.

The Sheep

Trying to move a rock

Ah, Bath! It is a cute town.

The Roman Baths were neat. I can't say I learned a lot since the kids took over my headset once they figured out that someone talked to you when you punched in numbers. It's ok though because they enjoyed it. They really like the steaming water. What they couldn't understand was why they weren't allowed to go swimming in the pool.

All in all, our three day tour was quite interesting. It was nice to see something of England besides London.