Our House

Our house was built in the 1950's and is on the site of what used to be a market garden.  The house has an amazing garden with multiple sheds that were used for the nursery.  Though the house address is on road, it is somewhat enveloped into a more contemporary housing development on another cul de sac.  John's parents live just down the road.

Our house

Greatest garden ever

Finally, the perfect fridge for Anna

Cartwheels at the garden sheds

Our First Couple Weeks in England

When our taxi van pulled up the road, the neighborhood kids were waiting for us.  Actually, they were waiting for Michael and Anna, who were a mile behind us in the grandparents' car.   We met a girl and three boys, all of whom live in the close.  As soon as Michael and Anna arrived, the kids started playing in the backyard.  Our back garden (as it's called) has a tire swing, regular swing and a zip line.  There are also 3 sheds, an open/covered "shed" that used to store coal, and a vice that was used for sawing logs to heat the house.  Lots for kids to do in our garden!

Watching the neighborhood kids zip line in our back garden when we first arrived.

Two of the kids have since rang our doorbell every morning and afternoon-- it is quite funny to be that popular.  We live very close to other houses in a little cul de sac so it's easy to just pop by.  One even  brought toys for the kids to play with.  John and I like to play Jenga.

The first couple weeks, we bought a car, cell phones, school uniforms, stuff at Ikea, went to the bank and got bank cards.

4 generations of John's family have bought uniforms and clothes at Cain

We love eating at Tesco (i.e., Wegmans East)

Our cart from Ikea.  How cute is that?

Michael and new friend playing in our back garden

Flying to England

I think this photo about sums up our journey:

You Say Goodbye, and I Say Hello

It was hard to imagine moving away for the year after our long, hot summer.  We still had work and the kids had camps, but we also hung out with my family and good friends, ate outdoors, swam, waited for the ice cream truck, went to the Creamery and Kiwi Yogurt, visited the fish at Fuji & Jade, made movies with Steven, went to Legoland...

This was a big summer for Michael.  He learned to swim, ride a bike, do some basic martial arts, play some piano (Ode to Joy!), join us in Scrabble on the front porch, cook with Velveeta at camp and sing the Christmas Tree song (invented by him and Ryan in camp).  He occasionally ran over excitedly to play with the kids in our neighborhood, and also formed some real friendships this summer, regularly hanging out with his buddies and playing all sorts of imaginary games.

Anna graduated from preschool this summer.  After 5 1/2 years of going to the same place everyday, we had to turn in our fob and say goodbye.  That was hard.  When her teacher said that she's known Anna her entire life, I felt a pang.  Anna also did a lot this summer.  She could confidently scooter and ride her bike with training wheels, showed us her tidy penmanship and coloring skills, and could upper jab and wash dishes like the best of them.

Before we left, our friends planned various get togethers for us, made us cards and gave the kids presents for the airplane.  Michael's friend even threw the kids a very special bon voyage pool party.  The kids got to hang out with buddies over ping pong, swimming, and a gourmet spread!