No Place Like Home....s

Hey! I'm gonna blog.

Lots of things have happened since I blogged last. Here's a one sentence synopsis: We moved to a new house, had visitors for a month, visited America, then another visitor.

To get the ol' bloggin ball a rollin again, I thought I'd do a Britland vs "The States" list. See, there were a lot of things we were looking forward to in America. Space, fountain drinks, space, food, space, oh, and friends and family... Once we got there, though, I was looking forward to some of the Britishy things I'd left behind. So here they are, all organizationally layed out for you and whatnot!

God Bless American...

* fountain drinks * road space * Mexican food * mountains *

smoke-free beaches with sunshine * boating * junk food * hot dogs

* campfires * Old Navy * friends & family * country music *

exchange-rate making everything on sale for us people who are paid in pounds *

campfires * lack of inhibition * Slurpees and SnoCones *

Reeses anything * stores that stay open past 5:00 pm * SUVs and pickups *

weaponry (pocketknives, bb guns, etc) *

Good Old Britishy...

* roundabouts * cheese * chocolate * Indian food * public transportation *

accents * politeness * wellies * rain on the conservatory roof *

markets * healthy eating * spunky old ladies * friends *

international holiday destinations * history * villages * London

* Caramel Digestives * teapots * Lush bath ballistics * footpaths * countryside *

Primark * double-decker busses * the kids saying Britishy phrases *

overall Britishy-ness *

It looked all cute and in different fonts and sizes, but then it all went away, because sometimes blogger hates me. Enjoy anyway!

The Super-Kick-Butt-Awesome, Very Good (British) Day

This post can be the yin to the last post's yang. (?) We had a great weekend, and so we thought we'd post about that and a few more of our good times. Our "brilliant" times.

A week-ish ago we thought we'd give the boys a break from all the errands and boringness, and went to a carnival. Or, here in Britland, a "Fun Fayre". There's that "y" again, jumping on in to all sorts of words. Here's a pic or two. Cap'n Jack's favorite was the bumper cars, or "dodge'ms", I think they called them, and Stinker liked the trampoline-bungee cord fun.

This weekend we went into London. There were some more car-related detours along the way, but they went much better than the last ones. We drove Jimmy D's car to the dealership to pick up my car. Then we left both cars there, making extra sure that they would not be sold or locked behind a gate when we returned, and took a double decker bus (!!!) to the train station. Except... we needed to be at the underground station instead. So, back onto another double decker for a 30 minute ride through town to the tube station. I was a little worried the kids would be frustrated at the long ride, but I guess riding on a double decker bus never gets old. I had fun people watching. I love the variety of people you find here. The closer you get to London, the more languages and accents you hear everywhere. I love how no matter where a person comes from, we're all really the same. This seems to be especially true about parents with their kids. You can see a woman in a hijab (the head scarves Arabic women wear) telling her toddler they aren't going to buy the candy today, a dad speaking Chinese (maybe) putting his baby's hat on his own head to get him to smile, or someone with a French accent picking up his kid's socks and shoes after the kid had bolted to the sandbox. Also interesting: there are British rednecks, and we found British oh-no-you-didn't z-snappin' ladies at McDonalds.

Back to our trip- we saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. One tower we passed was almost 1000 years old, and had a moat. It was the tower where some king stored his jewels and stuff. Yeah, aren't we educated? Who cares- it had a real moat!! We also wandered through some great parks along the way. The British Folks are serious about their "green spaces". We had promised Stinker a Happy Meal, so we trekked halfway across London to get to a very crowded McDonalds. I told him to enjoy it, because McDonalds really isn't worth that kind of trek. Or, in my opinion, any trek. When it was all over, I asked the boys what their favorite part of the day was. They both said riding the double decker bus and the tube. Here are some pictures from that day's adventure:

At a tube station, Cap'n Jack pulled out his camera to take a picture of two Bobbies. They were very nice and let the boys wear their hats for a picture, too.

Eating overpriced ice-cream cones at Westminster Abbey.

This poor guard's hat tipped over his eye during some marching, and he can't move to fix it! I kind of feel sorry for him, but mostly just enjoy mocking him.

Buckingham Palace, as seen from (maybe?) St. James Park.

Well, there you have it. Half-term holiday (I feel so Britishy saying that!) is next week, so we plan on having more fun trips to fill the gaping hole left from no school. I am also adding Jimmy D as an author to the blog, so be sure to watch for his posts. I'll try to change my blogger account name to Phyllis so you know who is posting. Right now it's Peanut Gallery, so if you see that, it's me- Phyllis. (And Phyllis is really me.)

House-hunting trip picture-rama

Hello, all. My brain is overloaded- we are home from our house-hunting trip, and now I am overwhelmed with the insanity of packing up, figuring out school things, timing our packing and shipping schedule, blah blah blah. I am still excited to be going, though, don't worry. Just a tired kind of excited.

Since my brain is such a jumbled mess, this post might be, too, but oh-well, here you go!

We were staying at the Grosvenor House (but say it like Super Grover with an "n" and without the "Super") which is right across the street from Hyde Park. We were too busy to actually see Hyde Park, well, at least closer than from across the street, but we will someday, right? On Saturday and Sunday we checked out areas we were interested in, on Monday we house-hunted, on Tuesday Jimmy D had a trade show and I was forced to sleep in until noon and then go shopping, Wednesday we house-hunted some more, Wednesday night we debated and then debated some more over which house to choose, Thursday Jimmy D went into the office and I took the train to check out the area where the house we chose is, and then Friday we flew home. Phew!

Here are some pics for an overview. I will do some little posts tomorrow with details when I take breaks from the chaos.

Jimmy D headed to the Ministry of Magic:



The biggest lamb-i-est burrito in the world from Cafe Naz in Brick Lane: (mmmmmmm)



A very good summing up of our first night there- the rose they gave me as we left Cafe Naz, my umbrella, all against the backdrop of the Picadilly Line Tube Car:



Poor Jimmy D was ready to strangle all the "car-hire" places in Greater London for closing at noon on a Saturday.



The place that was finally open was right in the busy center of London. Here we see Jimmy D realizing we were both, quite possibly, about to die. Or maybe hit a few people or cafe chairs at the very least:



See? This was the intersection about 30 seconds after we started driving. Run, people, run!!



Ehh he he he he heeeeee:



Here's the Tube. We giggled every time the polite Britishy automated female tube voice told us we were on the train to Cockfosters. Juvenille, but c'mon, you'd giggle too, admit it:



These, my friends, are the most exclusive part of our new house. Closets...er... wardrobes. Not a common thing there:



This is where you could be killed with a candlestick if you visit us:



The train station, umm, maybe at Chelmsford?:



Each morning at the hotel's fancy schmancy breakfast, the waitress looked shocked and amazed when I didn't want coffee. I guess all Americans are supposed to want coffee. When I also passed on tea, they would be at a loss for what to do next. So I had hot chocolate every morning, and that seemed to make it a little better since there was something hot they could pour for me. Plus, hey, hot chocolate for me:



Here is Regent St, between Oxford St. and Picadilly Circus:



One day while coming back to the hotel I ran across Narnia. Well, sort of. Right off a busy shopping section (Oxford St.) there is a tiny gap you can go into that opens up into a whole separate shopping street. It's called St Christopher's Place.:



The train from Liverpool St (Jimmy D will take this train to work, and we will use it to get into London) goes right past construction for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Here is the Olympic Stadium and the venue for the Swimming competitions:





And finally, here is a shot of Jimmy D, moments after stepping off a plane back home at the SLC airport. He was panicked to discover that there is no Mt Dew in the UK. If you visit, you have to bring some or we won't let you stay with us:



Okay, it isn't all that late, but I am exhausted, so I'm going to bed. More tomorrow, maybe, probably, well... we'll see...?