Missing England (and NOT missing England)...

With our move approaching faster than I ever thought possible, I have been trying to soak in all that England has to offer. ;o) Even though being away from our family has been extremely difficult, the past 2+ years have been an absolutely wonderful experience that we will never forget. The people we have met, the things we have had the opportunity to see, and everything we have experienced as a family will be etched in our memories forever and ever.

I was recently looking at the journal I started keeping when we first moved here (since I wasn't a blogger yet) and got a chuckle out of the things that occurred on a daily basis that were quite a bit unusual from what we were used to in the U.S. Terminology was about the biggest hurdle we had to overcome (and we're still learning new words). The weather was absolutely gorgeous the week we came to England in 2006 for our house-hunting trip...boy was that ever deceiving! England has lots and lots and lots of rain and mud. Some days are nice (maybe 2 or 3 weeks out of each summer). ;o) The first time that the girls and I went to Tesco after Mike went to work and Brett went to school, we walked around for about 3 hours just attempting to take it all in and figure out what everything was. (Honestly, I still can't believe the eggs aren't refrigerated.) And after over 2 years of living here, I still don't know what everything is. ;o)

With that being said, I wanted to document the things that I will miss about England as well as the things that I will NOT miss about England. ;o)

I will miss...

• the families that we have met at both Caterpillar and the Air Force Base
• the children, their families, and the teachers at Elton School
• the children and the teachers at Warmington Playgroup
• our house (I still can't believe we have been living in a house that was built in 1625 before the United States even existed)
• being able to stay home with Kendall & Kameron
• being able to take Brett to school and pick him up every day
• Brett's celebration assembly every Friday afternoon where they recognize children for good work and say a prayer to end the day
• school uniforms
• the children’s English accent -- I absolutely love "mummy" ;o)
• having people come up to us in stores and around the country asking if we are American (now we're just going to blend back in with everyone in the U.S.)
• Hovis Invisible Crust Bread (I know this one sounds silly but it is absolutely fabulous!)
• the ability to travel to so many destinations without having to pay an arm and a leg for the trip
• Tesco
• double trolleys
• not having a house payment -- we are homeowners again on Feb. 3!
• mail dropped off in our front door
• mother/child parking spaces (this really needs to come to the U.S.)
• roundabouts -- I love these! Unfortunately I don’t think they will work in the U.S.
• London
• Stamford -- beautiful nearby town (although this is where I had my first teeny tiny accident -- darn small roads!)

I will NOT miss...

• driving on the wrong side of the car
• driving on the wrong side of the street
• tiny little roads that only one car can fit through
• people parking their car on the street -- I mean, literally on the street where other people have to wait to get around them if there is another car coming
• shopping on the weekend where everyone in the Peterborough area seems to be at the exact same store at the exact same time -- crazy to say the least!
• rain
• rain
• rain (yes, I know I put this down 3 times...with good reason) ;o)
• mud
• more mud
• having to pay to park at every car park
• motorcyle drivers that believe they own the road and zip in and out of traffic
• traffic backups that basically stop traffic for NO apparent reason at all
• trolleys at the grocery stores that don't have locks on the back wheels -- so all 4 wheels just spin around freely and make it very hard to steer
• teeny tiny washing machine and dryer
• having no air conditioning (granted there was only about 2 weeks each year that it is needed -- but nonetheless)
• NHS -- it worked okay for us while we were in England (and the hospital in France was great when Brett bit through his lip and needed stitches) but anyone who says that publicly-funded medicine should come to the U.S. is crazy and really needs to experience it before making that decision

Mike purchased our plane tickets yesterday -- so it is now official ... we will be moving back on February 22. We are so incredibly thrilled to be moving back to our family; however also tremendously sad to be leaving our friends and "extended family" here. We love you all!!!

So much to do, so little time...

The last few weeks have been quite a whirlwind for our family. With our upcoming move back to the Peoria-area, we have been attempting to get everything finalized in England and set up in Peoria. (Honestly, I don't remember having this many things to do when we moved to England.) ;o)

We are now on the countdown to when we move our family back. We have made arrangements with the movers to come on February 12 to begin packing all of our belongings up. While I didn't realize we purchased that many new things while living over here, we were about 10 cubic metres over our limit for the sea shipment -- so Mike has been working hard taking down bookshelves, etc. to attempt to make up some space (as the movers don't disassemble items -- they just place them in the truck to be shipped). The movers will be here for approximately 5 days (not including the weekend). Following the movers, we have the cleaning crew coming on February 18 until 20 to ensure the house is spotless before we do the "final" checkout of our house. We will either be travelling back to Peoria over that weekend or on the following Monday.

In England, half-term at the schools in the nearby villages is February 16-20...so Brett's last day at Elton School and Kendall & Kameron's last day at Warmington Playgroup is going to be Friday, February 13. I am already dreading the last full week of the kids' school and especially the last day where we will have to say to goodbye to all of the friends the children have met. All of the children and their families were so welcoming to us when we moved here 2+ years ago and made us feel right at home.

In addition to having to say goodbye to all of the friends we have met at the children's schools, we also have to say our goodbyes to the people that have been our "extended family" while living over here. We have met an absolutely amazing group of people -- both with Caterpillar and the U.S. Air Force. The ties and bonds that have been created will never be broken and we will look very forward to hopefully all of them moving back to the Peoria-area so we can reconnect and be close again. We have decided that this will not be goodbye -- but an "until next time."

(If any of you own stock in Kleenex tissues, you may want to increase your shares as the next few weeks approaches...)

A home for our family

Being notified in early December that we would be moving back to Peoria in March/April was a bit of a shock (as we were kind of expecting summer 2009), but seemed to work out very well for us. Since we lived in Peoria and then were transferred to England (and didn't live in any other places in between), we aren't provided with a house-hunting trip. So on our home-leave trip (which falls in December each year), we decided to make the most of it. Arriving in Peoria about 10 days before Mike worked out well as I was able to view a good number of houses with a realtor and narrow it down to a select few. On December 23, my Dad and I drove to Chicago to pick up Mike (in the horrendous ice/snow storm) at O'Hare International Airport. (Unfortunately, they didn't have any flights coming direct from Chicago to Peoria on that night.) We arrived back in Peoria around 2 a.m. on December 24, went to sleep for a few short hours, and then met our realtor at 8:45 a.m. to start viewing my chosen few. With Mike having the beginnings of jetlag and me not having much sleep at all (which is most definitely not a good thing), I wasn't sure how the day was going to unfold. Much to our surprise, we were able to keep right on schedule and went through my final 5 houses before lunchtime. Mike and I enjoyed a quiet lunch together with just the two of us (where lots of caffeine was consumed) and decided on our top 2. We went back to the realtor's office after lunch and had him write up an offer. After several times of the realtors going back and forth (oh how I hate dickering!), we all agreed on a price. So, YAHOO -- we are now the proud owners of a house in Germantown Hills.

The house is located on Countryside Street in the White Oak Lake subdivision. It is situated on an acre of land, has 4 bedrooms, a good amount of space, and an inground pool in the back. We are all thrilled to be moving back to the Peoria-area and can't wait to receive our sea shipment with all of our belongings (it will take about 45 days after we leave England to arrive in Peoria) so we can start putting our new house together.

Here are a few pics...


(Sorry this isn't as clear as I would like -- it is a photo of a photo ... what can I say, it was winter when we viewed the house and the pool was covered with snow and ice.) ;o)

Christmas Holiday

I know it has been quite awhile since I've updated ... so please bear with me as I update with several entries. ;o)

The children and I flew back to Peoria on December 13. I was very naive in thinking the children would actually sleep on the 9-hour flight to Chicago. What was I thinking?! They were too interested in playing video games and watching movies and television shows on the screens in front of them to even think about sleeping. Finally, they slept for 30 minutes on the flight from Chicago to Peoria (as that plane was boring and didn't have any of the fancy gadgets that the big planes have). We made it safe and sound but thoroughly exhausted!

We spent the next week or so going to doctor and dentist appointments and visiting with friends and family. Besides the snow and major ice storms, everything went very well.

Mike joined us on December 23 right in time for Christmas. We questioned his arrival a bit as there were horrible ice/snow storms that day and many flight delays and cancellations, but thankfully he arrived without any issues. We had a fabulous time spending the holidays with our family and are now anxiously awaiting our return to Peoria (post on this new adventure in just a bit).

Christmas Eve -- making reindeer food for Santa's reindeer


Photos from holiday visits with our family (sorted in date order)

Dinner with Holli and Stacey -- wonderful friends I made in England (Stacey lives in Bloomington and Holli still lives in England)

New Year's Eve -- 3 party animals (that were in bed by 9:15 p.m.) ;o)

Photos from January 3 when we returned to England ... gifts from Santa (notice the robes and slippers that the children had on -- it was freezing in our house as we had NO hot water and NO heat)! (Update -- the AGA was fixed on January 5 so we were able to get hot water and the pump on the boiler was fixed on January 6 so we now have a warm house ... YAHOO!!!)

Christingle Service and Christmas Tunes

On Monday, December 8, we attended the Christingle service performed by the children at Brett's school. While this is the second year in a row that we attended this service, to be honest I really didn't understand what the true meaning of the service was. So, I looked it up and thought I would share with any of you who might not know the true meaning either.

The story of the first Christingle...

On Christmas back in 1747 in a town in Germany, a pastor sat at home thinking of how he could explain the love of Jesus and what Christmas really meant to the children in the church. He decided to prepare an simple symbol to help make the message of Christmas easy for them to remember. He gave each child a lighted candle wrapped in a red ribbon, with a prayer that read "Lord Jesus, kindle a flame in these dear children's hearts". This was the first ever Christingle service.

Many years later, in 1968, Christingle services were introduced to the Anglican Church in Great Britain and the custom spread quickly. Each year there are more and more Christingle services in England and Wales, although today's Christingles are a little different.

The Christingle consists of:
* an orange representing the world
* with a red ribbon around it representing the blood of Jesus
* fruits and sweets are skewered on 4 cocktail sticks which are pushed into the orange representing the fruits of the earth and the four seasons
* a lighted candle is pushed into the centre of the orange representing Christ, the light of the world
* and tinfoil around the base of the candle to reflect Christ's light and goodness

It has wonderful meaning and I honestly wish that schools in the U.S. would adopt some of the practices and services that occur in the U.K.

In addition to the Christingle service, Kendall and Kameron wanted to share some of the Christmas songs that they learned in Playgroup.

The kids and I are currently in Peoria for the Christmas holiday (and loving every minute of it) and are awaiting Mike to join us in just a few days. Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Fayre and visiting Santa

This past Saturday, I volunteered at Brett's school's Christmas Fayre. I worked in the kitchen (I know, this is really hard to believe!) and prepared tea, coffee, mulled wine, minced pies, and biscuits to sell. The FOES (Friends of Elton School) group that I am a member of -- which is basically a PTA for the school -- raised a good amount of money that will go towards helping the school. Well, I know why I don't like to work in the kitchen much -- I was absolutely exhausted when I got home! ;o)

Craft decorations the children made after the Christmas Fayre

On Sunday for my birthday, we decided to take the children to the Baytree Garden Centre in Spalding (thanks for the suggestion, Jenny!) to visit Santa. It took us about 40 minutes to get to the Centre; however once we arrived we were very pleasantly surprised with the setup. The area leading to Santa's Grotto was decorated with "snow-covered" trees, decorations, animated figurines, and a sleigh ride (for all of us!). ;o) It was absolutely freezing that day but we were lucky enough that the area was covered so we weren't getting soaked from the rain pouring down outside (I guess it is better than snow, right?!). It took us about 40 minutes to get to Santa but once we arrived, the kids had a great time talking to Santa and telling him the things they would like for Christmas. They each received a nice present from him as well as a Christmas tree (we still need to plant them outside). Mike and I had to explain to Kameron before we went into see Santa that her first request couldn't be made -- as Santa doesn't have enough room in his sleigh for a REAL pony! Oh my goodness, leave it up to Kameron to ask for something like that! ;o) After visiting Santa, we went to the area where Santa's reindeer were staying. We picked up two carrots for each of them to feed the reindeer. Brett and Kameron enjoyed feeding the reindeer; however Kendall preferred to just toss her carrots into the cage where they were staying as she wanted nothing to do with the reindeer. Following our visit with Santa and his reindeer (please look at the photo below of one of the reindeer decorations in Santa's Grotto -- hee hee!), we headed to Frankie & Benny's (an American-Italian restaurant in Peterborough) where we enjoyed my birthday lunch/dinner. We had an absolutely fabulous day and the only thing that could have made it better would have been to be able to celebrate my birthday with my entire family. Only 12 days to go until we are back in Peoria!!!!!! ;o)

The kids loved the snow-covered trees!


Standing in front of the nativity scene (not sure if you can see in the photo but the wisemen are "politically correct").


Obviously they don't realize that this reindeer's name is Donner -- NOT Donna! ;o)


Sorry this photo isn't too clear ... we don't have a scanner so I had to take a photo of a photo. We weren't allowed to take photos in the room with Santa so we relied on the photo they took for us.


Getting ready to feed the reindeer


Brett and Kameron enjoying feeding carrots to the reindeer.


We conned Kendall into standing close enough to the gate to get a quick picture to prove she was there!


Enjoying my birthday with my three little blessings.

Our trip to Mid and North Wales

Last Friday, we headed to Corwen, Wales, to a wonderful little bed-and-breakfast for a weekend getaway. Last year, we visited southern Wales so this year we decided to see sights in mid and northern Wales. We stayed at the Bron-Y-Graig hotel which was built in 1888. It was very child-friendly and from the sights we were planning to see over the weekend, this was a perfect location for us to stay.

Sideview of the Bron-Y-Graig

Throughout the weekend, we did "drive-bys" and saw several different castles -- Conwy Castle, Criccieth Castle, Harlech Castle, and Dolwyddelan Castle. The weather wasn't the best but it did seem to stop raining just about every time we wanted to get out of the van (except for when we visited Caernarfon Castle). ;o)

Beautiful rainbow we saw when driving through the hills of Wales

The main castle we visited was Caernarfon Castle in north Wales. The castle was built in 1283 for military purposes as well as to house royal families. The first English Prince of Wales was born in the castle in 1284. The castle became a bit more famous in 1969 when it was the setting where Prince Charles became the Prince of Wales.







Village pub near Caernarfon Castle

On Sunday, the main sight were saw was Pistyll Rhaeadr Waterfall. It was a beautiful waterfall in a great setting. We stopped into the cafe and were planning to get some ice cream before we started our long trek home; however once I walked in and saw Beethoven (absolutely HUGE dog) laying by the fireplace and smelled the horrendous smell of wet dog, I decided that we would just buy some canned soda and water and hit the road. ;o) It is definitely a good thing we did that as when we walked out of the cafe to take another look at the waterfall before leaving, we saw two black animals that I thought were cats and Mike thought were ferrets. Well, we were both wrong ... they were HUGE black rats that were running around. Ugh! It is a good thing I hadn't eaten anything in the cafe as I would have lost it on their patio. ;o) We had a great weekend getaway and are now looking very forward to our trip to Peoria for Christmas!





Kendall isn't very keen on dogs so she was in Mike's arms during this picture. ;o)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! It is very difficult living in a country that doesn't celebrate the holidays that we have all become so accustomed to. Today is simply a normal day in England where Mike heads off to work and Brett goes to school. The girls would normally go to Playgroup as well; however I wanted them to stay home with me today so we could spend time together.

We all wish we were in the U.S. celebrating Thanksgiving with our family. Besides spending time with our family, I will also personally miss enjoying the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and pumpkin pie (and for many years, I have missed my Grandmother's mincemeat pie as it was absolutely phenomenal!).

While we won't be celebrating the holiday today as we would like, I would still like to share with you several things that I am thankful for.

1. A wonderful, loving husband
2. Three beautiful children that light up my life and make everyday a new adventure
3. A loving family that we can't wait to see in December (only 16 days to go!)
4. Friendships that we have developed both in the U.K. and in the U.S. that will last a lifetime
5. Loved ones that are no longer with us but are our angels that watch over us
6. Our health
7. The opportunity of living abroad which has provided an unbelievable experience for our family

While these are just a few of the blessings that I count every day, I know we are truly blessed. I hope everyone takes time to count their blessings not only today but everyday. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

'Tis the season...

'Tis the season, right?! Well, not quite yet I guess...but we decided that with our next two weekends being packed full of travelling and volunteering at the Elton School's Christmas Fayre and then with the kids and I travelling to Peoria on December 13, we wanted to enjoy putting up Christmas decorations together and be able to enjoy them for awhile before leaving. So.......we decided that we would put up our Christmas decorations today! I know, I know, most people don't normally put their decorations up until right after Thanksgiving (which is what we would do in most years); however we made an exception to our "unspoken rule" this year. The weather was in the mid-50s this weekend and fairly nice to so we unboxed our decs from the shed and enjoyed putting everything up together. It really got us all in the mood for the holidays and now we can't wait for Christmas to arrive!!!! (The kids are REALLY hoping and praying for snow in Peoria during our stay there in December. I would really like to see their prayers answered; however I hope my prayer overwrites theirs by just a bit as I have requested that the snow doesn't arrive until we all get there safe and sound.) ;o)

Viking Brett

This past Thursday morning, we attended Brett's class assembly. Every term at the Elton School, each class learns about a specific group of people or things and then prepares an informational performance regarding the topic. This term, the topic for Brett's class (Year 3 & 4) was Vikings. After working for several weeks with Brett to memorize the songs, poems, and specific lines for the performance, I became a bit nervous as to what the assembly would actually consist of (since the jist of the songs and poems were that the Vikings stole from people and fought horrifically -- not necessarily a happy-go-lucky group of people). Anyway, we worked to memorize all of the lines and borrowed a Viking costume from our friends, Holli and Drake (thank you so much!). By performance day we were ready to go (okay, so Brett was the only one in our family performing but I was excited for him so I felt like I was performing, too!). The assembly turned out great, Brett did wonderfully, and we were pleasantly surprised that the information provided to us by the children was very informative and shed a bit of light on what Vikings were all about.

Honestly, I still have NO idea how this photo turned out black & white on our camera.