Woodbury Island Adventures: July 2015

Monday, 27 July 2015

We have beds!!!!

On Thursday July 23rd, our sea shipment arrived. We were beyond excited as this meant that we got to sleep in our beds again and not on air beds. After a month of air beds we were more than ready. The workers from the packing company in the UK were very friendly, helpful and polite. They let my little worker bee help and even gave him a shirt because they wanted him to come work with them. He loves to help and worked all day with them. They opened and unpacked every box, which was overwhelming for me after they left and I had piles every where. All my friends know how much I love piles and things that are not put away. :) We had a few damages from the way the packers here in the US packed our stuff. They put boxes of books on top, anyone in their right minds know you don't do that. That resulted in boxes crashing down and falling into things. Also the way they packed the container the people in the UK opened it and things starting falling out. It was an interesting, overwhelming and tiring day but when we climbed into our beds that night it sure felt good!

Container arrived!

Workers holding things in while they figure out a plan.

Our crushed boxes.

Our inventory board that we had to mark off. As they unloaded boxes they called out numbers and I had to mark them off.

A little taste of home came in one of our boxes. We weren't suppose to pack any nonperishable items and the US workers accidentally packed this box. Apparently customs didn't open this one. We didn't have any broken seals so I think they opened the container and saw that things were going to fall on them and shut it back up. :)

Our kitchen pile. :s

Our little worker bee, Colin, in his Sante Fe shirt.

Monday, 20 July 2015

Regents Park & STOMP

Yesterday we took the train into Central London and took the tube to Regents Station. From there we went to look around a small portion of Regents Park. The flowers were beautiful and it wasn't very crowded. We met up with a couple that Randy knows from the US. He is from another financial company but Randy works with him and has went on a trip with him. They moved their family from NY to London when there kids were around the same ages as ours. Once their boys graduated from school here they moved back to the US and lived in CO for a time, back to NY and now in London for a couple years again. They are very nice people and the wife said that she would love to show me around and answer questions that I have. She said she remembers this time in her life and wished she had someone to lean on who had gone through the same. Once the kids are in school I will go into Central London and take her up on her offer. After having lunch with them they walked us down Regents Street. They close off the entire street for the month of August and part of it was closed yesterday, all I can say is WOW! Any of my girlfriends that want to come on over I have the place to shop, eat and hang out! Also on Regents Street is a place called Hamleys Toy Store, Britain's oldest and the largest toy shop in the world. It is 7 floors with more than 50,000 toys. We were only in there for 40 mins and saw 1 and 1/2 floors. The kids can't wait to go back, their mom either. :) We then took the kids to the theatre to see STOMP. They have never been to a professional theatre. The boys greatly enjoyed it and Abby did until towards the end when it got really loud. By the time we got back home we were all wiped from all the walking and just a long day out.

Regents Park

Regents Street and outside of Hamleys Toy Store

Regents Street

Friday, 17 July 2015

A Little Bit of Papa

About 2 1/2 years ago Randy's Dad, Papa, bought the kids a trampoline and set it up while they were at school so they came home to a surprise. It was something they all wanted but we never bought one for them. So of course Papa couldn't see them keep asking and us "not making their dream come true." So he approved it with Randy and I and bought one. They were so excited when they came home and saw it. That is a memory they love, Papa was known for surprises. The kids always said the best part of getting gifts from Papa was that he always got things you wanted but then threw other things in there that he thought you would like. Papa left this world 2 years ago and the kids constantly miss him and talk about him. When we were going through things at our house in the US to take, sell and store, the trampoline was a big discussion. Well, we ended up selling it to some good friends of ours knowing that we could get it back when we came back if we really wanted. Yesterday the trampoline from "Papa" arrived. We bought the kids a new one, telling them that that is what Papa would have wanted. The boys and I spent all morning putting it together, sure made me appreciate Randy's Mom and Dad doing it the first time. They played on it for hours yesterday and it was fun to watch.

Kaden being a crazy man!

Any of my friends know I have always wanted a hammock and they make fun of me on the way I pronounce it. Well, my hubby surprised me too yesterday when this came for me! Now I can relax while the kids jump off some energy. Well, if the sun will ever stay out. ;)

Thursday, 16 July 2015

Cultural Training

Monday and Tuesday this week from 9:00a-3:00p consisted of cultural training for our family. The kids were in one room with a trainer and Randy and I were in another. The kids trainer was sweet and just wonderful! She played games with the kids and was very interactive. They learned all about England, the Magna Carta, the Union Jack (England's flag), sports, royalty, how to understand the English and some of the words they use. We learned that we don't say pants here. They call them trousers and pants are underwear. :) Many words are different and it is kind of fun to see. Here are a few we learned.

Trainers = Sneakers

Toilet/Loo or Water Closet = Bathroom

Chips = French Fries

Crisps = Potato Chips

Swimming Costume = Bathing Suit

Drawing Pin = Thumbtack

I will ring you = Call you

I will call you = Stop at your house

Candy floss = Cotton candy

Biscuit = Cookie

Rubbish = Trash

Come off of it = Calm down

Randy and I were trained in Social & Cultural Etiquette, British history and government, daily living and culture shock. Randy was also trained in how to handle and work with the British. They are very different from Americans. British use a lot of humor, it is expected at all times. They use is for entertaining, a cover for embarrassment and aggression, it is frequently self-deprecating and irony is often used. They are people that do not like conflict and will not directly tell you they disagree. They use things like "you might like to think about it." They also will say things like "Randy it would be great if I had that Friday afternoon." They won't dictate, they hate to be dictated to and so they will suggest but that is there way of saying it is due Friday afternoon. It is against the law here to leave your kids home without a nanny if they are under 14 years of age. The British do a lot of small talk, like weather. They are hard to break through to get to know but once you do you are great friends. We learned that you NEVER talk about Politics, which is okay for me, and Religion with anyone. Those are two no no topics, we will have to pray hard for opportunities to talk about religion. They say sorry all the time, you bump into someone and you say sorry. You are in their line of walking, you move and say sorry. Their personal space is at arms width and you don't cross it. When you are invited to dinner at someones house you always bring expensive chocolate, a bottle of wine or flowers and not white flowers because they are for mourning. So much to soak in, Randy and I had a headache after we were done Monday from information overload. My favorite illustration was that of an iceberg. At the top of the iceberg were things that we could sense with our 5 senses like food, clothes, language and behavior. At the bottom of the iceberg under the water were things we could not sense but resulted in the top things, like tradition, values, politics, religion and history. We come to a new country and we expect them to act just like us but our icebergs are different. We hold different religious views and have a much different history then they do, etc. It made so much sense and can be used for any person of different culture. Those two days were very much worth our time!

The kids made posters of things in Iowa (US) and then things in the UK as part of their cultural training. They also made a flag, courtesy of Abby.

Typical Sunday Night

Here is a typical Sunday night in our house. We get Pizza Express and watch the sermon from home! We want to keep up with the studies back home.

Concentrating on Pastor Troy's message.

Windsor Castle

On Sunday we went to Visit Windsor Castle. Which is the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world. It has been the family home of British kings and queens for almost 1,000 years. It is an official residence of Her Majesty the Queen. Her flag flies from the Round Tower when she is in residence. Which we we got to see since she was there. Although, Abby thought we would get to see her then. We took a self guided tour around where we got a head set and listened to a guide and the history. We could not take any pictures in the State Apartments or Queen Mary's doll house. It is the largest, most beautiful and most famous dolls house in the world. Built for Queen Mary by the leading British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens between 1921 and 1924. It has real running water and the books are real paper, everything was real and really neat to see.

Waiting to get our tickets.

The Queen's flag flying on the round tower.

King Henry III Tower

Grand Entrance to the State Apartments. We could not go in this way of course.

Randy and kids in front of the Round Tower.

Garden underneath the Round Tower.

Guard in front of the Queen's Residence.

Equestrian Statue of Kind Charles II. Behind is Kind Edward the III Tower.

Randy and kids in front of Queen's Residence.

Left is the entrance to the State Apartments and on the right is the Queen's residence.

Guard Colin, King Kaden and Princess Abby.

St. George's Chapel, we did not get to see because it is closed on Sundays and that is when we were there.

Colin and Abby with a Guard

Tuesday, 14 July 2015

Legoland

On July 9th there was a tube strict. Why do I say that, because that affected Randy's ability to get to work. Thus we took advantage of it and surprised the kids with a road trip. They had no clue where we were going, in fact Colin did not want to get dressed and leave the house. They were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at Legoland! I was completely amazed at the things there. The art work they had around was completely made out of Legos. They had entire countries made of Lego's, it was so fascinating! Not to mention the rides and all the moving Lego's on the different rides. If any of you know me I took TONS of pictures so I shared several of my favorites.