Day 4

It's been 4 days since we landed and in some ways we have accomplished a lot- and in other ways, well, lets just say it will take time.

What have we done since we landed you ask? Here is a brief list and some pictures to describe.

1) Thursday we focused on unpacking the air shipment while the kids were passed out on the couch. We then learned that the local supermarket delivery service does not take US credit cards on line as they are considered "high risk".  That meant hiring a taxi to get me to the store to get food and more importantly beer and wine.  We were all tired but faired mostly well despite the time change.

2) On Friday Mark and I had to go to our bank branch in Marlow to sort things out and find a way to get a car or two.  Alyssa watched the boys all day (12-6).  Thank God she could join us on this trip here.  There are so many things that are taking longer than we thought and if she wasn't here, I can't imagine doing these tasks with the kids. We did get our things in order at the bank (after 2+hrs) and then went to a car dealership to buy two cars.  This took so much longer than we expected.  Our cars won't be fully ready to drive off the lot until the end of the week.  In the meantime, we have the clown car as a rental- and we are actually thankful we could get a car at all as everything was booked. All 5 of us getting out must look really funny though.  It is very small and learning to drive here with two toddlers yapping, screaming, crying, etc. away in the back has been interesting.  In any case, we believe we are doing "OK" with the driving.  We are getting the hang of roundabouts. Still there are some where I am outright terrified because it really doesn't seem to be the right way to go- yet it is.

3) On Saturday we took the kids to Higginson Park in Marlow.  Probably the best park I've been too.  I say this because there is a café right there- next to the play structures.  You can get snacks, lunch, etc. There are even bathrooms.  This means I don't have to bring my portable potty and figure out where to dispose of it's contents. Also, the entire play area has a soft rubber ground and is completely gated.  It was fun and the weather was great.

Here is Oliver playing on the ship.

Lots of slides!

Auntie Alyssa looking very chic in Marlow.

The park is also located right on the Thames. You can walk along the river for quite a while I believe and there are boat tours offered daily.

After the park Alyssa and I went to the grocery store for more food.  One of the biggest surprises here is that they do not have cream for coffee- no half & half, no dairy cream period. It's just not something the English put in their coffee.  So we are learning to drink coffee with milk and sugar. It has been fine so far.  BUT if I had known I wouldn't have cream for awhile, I would have certainly appreciated it a bit more before we left.

4) Today we went to Odds Farm Park in High Wycombe. It was about a 25 minute drive (yes we are getting adventurous).  It was a very good size petting farm with lots of play structures.  We witnessed our first sheep race, has any one ever seen a sheep race?  We also took a tractor ride around the farm.  I wasn't able to get any good pics on my phone of that trip but you can trust it was fun.

Overall the boys have been doing ok- considering all that we have done in the past month.  They are not sleeping through the night yet (I sound like I'm talking about them during infancy). They wake up around 10-11 and think it is time to get up.  All normal but it takes them awhile to get back down. And then they want to sleep until 9:30 am.  We actually woke them up this morning so that nap and bedtime could be more normal.  I'm sure it will all come together.

Tonight we are going to the pub down the street for an early dinner. For those who are wondering, we still do not have our Vonage set up yet.  It seems to be a little more involved than I expected.  I still have my cell and won't be giving that up until I have a new cell AND Vonage in place - so we are still completely reachable.  We have also been skyping and that is working fine.

Of course more to come later and I hope everyone has had a lovely, lovely weekend.

Cheers!