Thursday, May 3, 2012

Movin' on Up...



to a deluxe, detached, 3 story house in the UK (sung to the Jefferson's theme song, please). The move is complete and we are in...even the king size bed made it up to the 3rd story master bedroom. Thank god. It feels so good to sleep in my bed, with my sheets and with my husband (sorry May, you squirmed too much!). The only thing that didn't make it up to the master bedroom was our big dresser, so currently all of our foldable clothes are down in Pete's office (on the 2nd floor). Not very convenient.

So far the house is great. While I waited 6 days for Internet/broadband to actually work, I had lots of time to unpack everything, put it away and then tweak it all over again. We actually have a lot of room and a two car garage to store all the stuff we don't have room for in the house. I would say the worst part of the house is the kitchen...it is small and doesn't have a lot of counter or cupboard space. But, that is what the garage is for-storing all my kitchen stuff! Other than that, the living spaces are big, have lots of closets and some character. As you can see in the pictures below we just need to hang all of our art and pictures!

It really is ISSAQUAH IN ENGLAND. Cul de sac, neighbor kids out playing and being loud-just like home. Across the street is the Loddon River (which is really high right now due to all the rain we had in the last week) and the Loddon Nature Reserve...2 rivers, 5 lakes and trails galore. I am in heaven...I just wish I had Stella to run with me! 5 minute walk to town, grocery store and the train station. 1 minute walk to 2 pubs and about an 8 minute walk to and from school. Pete is taking the train to Microsoft and I am driving the car only when I really need to go far.

How many Latvians does it take to unload a container of household items?

I don't know how that truck got in and out of here-it was HUGE!


My office...waiting for a bigger desk and good office chair
 (below)
The SMALL kitchen...only one person allowed in it at a time, please.

Laundry room! Small but SO DAMN happy to have a dryer!

Smallish dining room...good for 4 people only (cuz that's the number of chairs we have)

Conservatory-kind of a random room. Gets cold in cold weather and steamy in hottish weather.

May's room (and the guest room). Has its own full bathroom.

Pete's home office (with clothing dresser in it)

Kid's playroom/Xbox/movie room

Henry's room

3rd floor master bedroom with our HUGEASS bed. Don't think for a minute that we BOTH haven't hit our heads up there.

View from 3rd floor skylight-you can see the river/lake behind houses.

Master bathroom


 Lounge (really the living room/family room)

 More lounge

Other side of the lounge...only place for this couch to fit.

 
The kids are adjusting to full-time school just great. They both have made friends, had friends over and met the hood kids. Henry is playing baseball for the Windsor Bears (only had one practice due to rain), chess club and street dance (both after school clubs). May is searching for a gym, going to sewing club and street dance. Next week the school's outdoor pool opens and the kids then start swim lessons for PE 2x a week. Swimming is a big deal-they have inter-school contests/meets and house contests/meets which all culminate with a huge swim GALA in July! The last day of school is July 20 so the kids are making up for their 6 weeks off.

CLOG DANCE UPDATE: Apparently, Henry did not clog dance but learned to Cossack dance. So think Russian dancing, with lots of deep knee bends and kicking. He was SO sore afterwards. Oh and he didn't get out out of FLASH (family life and sexual health) class...apparently Year 6 does it this term...can't wait to see how the Brits tackle that subject!

It is another Bank Holiday on Monday so we are headed to the Isle of Wight which is south of us by about 90 minutes. You take a car ferry over and there are loads of beaches and lots of walking, rock collecting, looking for shells and tide pools. I think it will be similar to the San Juan Islands except you get to reserve your car spot on the ferry so no racing to get there to get on! We are staying in a converted barn with sheep, horses and border collies.

The following weekend my good friend Laura is going to be in Paris on business, so I am going to train down for the weekend and play!!

Cheers!

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