Our first Sunday. Our ward is actually a pretty good size. I think we have an average of 140 people in Sacrament mtg. There are about 25 kids in the primary and everyone has been really, really nice. The Bishop came over after our first day there to our home and visited with us for an hour or so. He also brought us some yummy Galaxy chocolate and then invited the kids to come to his office the following week and he would have a special chocolate treat for them there also. He knows a way to a kids heart!
Owen is the only boy in his primary class and I think there are 2 or 3 other little girls and there are about 4 or 5 kids in the Nursery with Ellika. She did really well the first week because there was only one other little boy. But since then it hasn't gone so well. And last week she got kicked out. The nursery leader brought her to me and asked that I bring her back in 30 minutes. I understand where the leader was coming from but I felt bad that she kicked her out. Hopefully things will improve.
Brian started work on the Monday after we got there so it was just me and the kids. Every city here has a High Street (just like a Main St.) where there are shops and grocery stores etc. So we walked up there and wandered around and found the library. This was especially nice because I could get online for short amounts of time.
Can you believe that we have three strollers and not one of them is in England yet??? That's maybe something that should have at least been in the air shipment! But our friends Mark and Darcy that were already living here let us borrow this stroller until ours come in the sea shipment. We would have NEVER made it without it. We walk everywhere and Ellika isn't quite ready to keep up yet. She likes to walk some of the time (actually run) but then gets tired. We've had to work on her not wanting to be carried all the time. Her options are walk or get in the stroller. She's been knows to throw a fit with what she considers her limited options.
The apartment was really nice to have and great because it had furniture, but it was a little small. Thanks to Adrienne, the kids had some fun things to keep them busy and not going crazy in the small space. They loved the coloring and the water paints and all the other crafts from their fun baskets. Thanks Adrienne!
So we got to England on a Thursday and we went to Owen's school the following day for Owen to see the school, see his classroom, and meet his teacher. There it was determined that he would come in to school the following Tuesday for a half day and to pick up his uniform and he would start full time that Thursday. Talk about jumping right into things!! This is the front door of his school when we arrived on Tuesday for his half day. I think he was mostly excited to go, but a little nervous. When the teacher came to take him upstairs he at first said he didn't want to go. But he still went with her. She offered him a mid-morning snack and they headed out. I was so proud of how brave he was even though I could tell he was nervous.
More painting!!
More walking. Every time we walked to the High Street we would pass all these cats. The kids thought they were fascinating and liked looking for them. There is one sitting on the window sill. The weather was actually pretty nice considering it was the beginning of March. This day it happened to be a little colder. Again, I have no idea what the temperature is ever because it's all in Celsius. I guess I should figure that out sometime in the next three years.
And here is just a view of where we were walking. The day we arrived Brian was able to pick up a car for me to drive at Ford and then the next day we drove about 30 minutes away to pick up his car. So the plan was for me to follow him home. I was a little nervous since I hadn't driven yet, but figured it would be ok because I would follow him and I had the GPS set. (which is called a Sat Nav here by the way). So we take off and about 10 minutes into our trip Brian goes off an exit off a round-a-bout and I couldn't get over because I felt like there were cars in my way and we got separated. So I took the next exit and with many, many prayers being said in both cars, I followed the GPS home. I was also especially grateful that I remembered the code to get inside the gate. I think Brian was more relieved to see me at the apartment that I was to have made it there. He was pretty sure he had lost me forever.
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