Reunited

After 6+ months, Penny finally qualified for her PETS passport and made the trip.  She arrived yesterday and we were all happy to see her.  Of course, some more excited than others.  Owen did not want to leave the room until he had to go to bed.  AJ was not nearly as enthusiastic at first, but now she is all he talks about:  "Penny, ball, in, mouth, broke, ball",  "Whoa, Penny, fast",  "Penny, go, night-night, hmmm (his word for blanket because when you smell it smells so fantastic you go mmmm)".  Now all I need to do is find a way to keep him from driving his monster truck though her water bowl and all will be well.

Really

I am out of excuses.  Truth be told we have now had Internet for 4 weeks, but when I say 4 weeks that sounds like a long time, in our world, it seems like just yesterday. 

So, I guess I was delusional to think that we would move to England and I would have time.  Seriously, I thought that I would be able to hop on a train to London and see a museum with AJ.  You probably have no idea how crazy that idea really is.  First, why would I think that I could take AJ on a train?  Like he would morph personalities on the trip over?  Like somehow we were going to skip 18 months to 2 years all together?  Second, I'm not sure who I was thinking would pick up the kids from school, clean the house, pay the bills and do the laundry, but apparently it wasn't me.  I did plan on going very Euro and grocery shopping at the local market everyday, but waiting 2 hours for that minuscule washing machine to complete a cycle was not on my agenda.  Really, what was I thinking?

Actually, I know what I was thinking, I was thinking that life here would be like a big vacation, with lots of museums, walks, trips and adventures.  If you can imagine, I wanted things to be more foreign. I thought about small cars, better yet, bicycles, a cozy little house, local bakeries and shopping the markets, but was that unrealistic.  Life is, for the most part, the same here as it was in Michigan.  So, for me these past 2 months have been a mental coming to terms if you will.  

So, other than my psychological idiosyncrasies, things are going well - really well. The children love school, Sam likes his new job and we are pretty much settled in the new house. We still have paintings to hang and furniture to buy, but I think the same can be said for the house in Michigan. So, keep that in mind, and here is our life looks like in the UK: 

The Kitchen

Eating Area

Play Room

Powder Room (or Cloak Room as they call it) - Now I know you don't really care to see a bathroom, but I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that there are no toilet paper holders, mirrors or electrical outlets in any of the bathrooms. Keep in mind this is a new house - hunh?

Living Room

Dining Room

Laney's Room/Guest Room

Kids Bath 

AJ's Room

The Other Side of AJ's Room

Our Room

The Boy's Room

The Other Side of The Boy's Room (the Lego tent - my latest attempt to control the clutter)

Same furniture, same toys, same messes just a different house.  Although the stuff is pretty much the same, I hope that we walk away from these years changed people with our eyes just a bit more open to the differences and similarities too.