Rolinitis Family

First Baseball Game

2010-05-02T08:15:00.000-07:00

Bryce and Tyler had their first baseball game at the military base this past Saturday. Luckily they are both on the same team because the base doesn't have enough kids to form teams based on ages. They do however put ages 7 to 9 together then ages 10 up are on a different team. There are three teams in their age division. Our team is the Blue Torpedoes. Both boys did a great job at their first game and had a blast playing. The season runs into the middle of June so this will keep us busy for awhile and hopefully make the time fly and before we know it we will be back in the states visiting everyone again!!

Princess Party 2010

2010-05-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

Visit to Liverpool and Whales

2010-04-26T02:25:00.000-07:00

Liverpool Football Stadium

The boys favorite player Torres

Locker room for players

Largest waterfall in Wales

Wales is a beautiful country to drive through

Growing up too fast...

2010-03-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

There are days that I just sit back and stare at my kids. Then they ask me, "why do you keeping looking at me?" I reply, "because you are just growing in front of my eyes." Where does the time go and why does it go so fast? I can't believe that in a couple of months my first baby will be ten years old! Wow!!

We are going to be taking a trip to Liverpool in a couple of weeks and when we told Bryce he was thrilled because this is his favorite football team (soccer) here in England. We are going to take a tour of the stadium and he is counting down the days.

Touched...

2010-03-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

Today my son reminded me of something very important in life!!

I took the kids to school today and a mother who I don't know came up to me and asked if I was Tyler's mum. I replied "yes." She then continued to say that "your son has really lifted my sons spirits and has made him feel really good about himself." I thought wow, what did Tyler say. Apparently, this boy who is in a different class has fallen off of his scooter and has scraped up his face pretty badly. The boy was very sad about how his faced looked and Tyler came to him and said, "don't worry I know it will get better very soon and it doesn't look bad... everything will be ok." I guess the boy smiled and went home to tell his mum that an american boy named Tyler made him feel good today and told me that my face will get better soon. His mum was so kind and thanked me for having such a caring boy.

I am really touched by this and we are so proud of the way Tyler handled the situation. Like I said Tyler has reminded me of something very important in life and that is to always try to care for others and take a moment to stop and think about how they feel and possibly how you can make them feel better!

Kylie is loving dance

2010-03-08T14:33:00.001-08:00

Kylie has been taking ballet and tap lessons every Wednesday and she is loving it! Of course this makes me happy since I too loved to dance.

Dribble it... Pass it... We want a basket!

2010-02-21T06:35:00.000-08:00

This year the boys were able to play basketball on the U.S. Air Force Military Base. They were a little rusty at first but after a few practices and games they picked it up very quickly. Bryce has scored a few baskets at each game and does great at defense by stealing the ball and blocking. Tyler is having a great time with it too, although he is more into putting on his mean face, skipping down the court with a little run in between, and stealing the ball every chance he gets. In all they are having a blast and looking forward to playing baseball next!

He goes for it and.......He scores!!

Tyler is more interested in what the cheerleaders are doing!
I'm ready....Bring it on!!!
Putting a little skip into it!

Valentines Party

2010-02-17T08:23:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday we had a Valentine's Party with a lot of the other Americans here and a wonderful English couple. My good friend Becki helped host the party. We spent many hours planning games, picking out decorations, and making delicious food to eat. Becki also spent a lot of time putting special touches to the champaign glasses, creating a playlist of love songs, and freezing a ton of ice cubes with limes and mint inside of them for our mojito punch. A couple of the games we played were do you know that love song, which couple could blow and pop 10 balloons the quickest, an apple balancing game, and the newlywed game. All I can say is that we had a blast and I think everyone who attended had a good time too. Kent (Becki's husband) and Steve did a great job organizing some of the games as well and they were also good sports for doing pretty much anything Becki and I asked them to do. We truly have some great guys!!

Everyone who attended brought a dish to share so needless to say we had so much food but it was all so good!! We also had everyone vote on who they felt was the best dressed couple since we had a dress code for the party. Everyone must wear either red, white, or pink. The couple who won received a chocolate bottle of champaign. We had such a great time planning this party and also had a wonderful time with everyone who attended. I think it was a big hit!!

Yummy giant cup cakes we made!
Becki and I

Gift bags for our guests full of American sweets!!

Mojito punch
Champaign glasses
Newlywed Game

Best Dressed Couple
Apple Balancing Game

Kent instructing his game (Balloon pop)

Tis the Season

2009-12-22T07:23:00.000-08:00

Want to wish all my friends and family far and near a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

ISE's get together...

2009-11-22T12:37:00.000-08:00

Today all the ISE's who live here in England got together for a Thanksgiving feast. This is a great way for us to celebrate the Thanksgiving traditions with your typical turkey and pumpkin pie. Since this is an American holiday and not celebrated here our children still go to school and Steve still goes to work. I personally feel that they should give all Americans the day off no matter where in the world you are but that is not the case. Anyways we had such a fun time visiting with friends and the children had a blast running outside playing. There was so much food which reminds me of home when we celebrate! Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving for as we have so much to be thankful for. Also, good luck to all those black friday shoppers. My shopping buddies are greatly missed!! Love to all!!

I did it!!

2009-11-21T05:07:00.000-08:00

My photography class is officially over!! I submitted my last assignment today and what a relief! I am so happy I took the class for it has given me more confidence about my photography and I learned so much! I still have a great deal to learn but isn't that with everything you do. I'm not sure where my path is taking me next but I do know that I love taking pictures and I am going to work on my style and creativity. I don't know what my grade is yet but I'll post it when I find out. Now one less thing to worry about!

Wellies on a rainy day...

2009-11-19T05:07:00.000-08:00

A few days ago the kids woke up, got ready for school and said "Yes...its raining we get to wear our boots!" Here in England rain boots are called Wellies. I haven't bought them a pair until this year. I thought they didn't need them, its not like they go outside during recess to play in the rain. Wrong! They do go outside every now and then when it is wet or even slightly raining so I learned my lesson and bought them. Last year they needed them for not only the rainy days but for also the snowy wet days. Nobody that I know of wears snow boots here they only wear their wellies. You would think their feet would get really cold. The snow here doesn't stick around very long and they usually don't get much anyways. The kids had so much fun jumping in puddles and stomping about that it took us so long to walk from the car into school. Luckily all that got wet were the boots!

Venice trip 09

2009-11-10T03:27:00.001-08:00

This is the video we took during our trip. Sorry it is a little long. I didn't take the time to edit it. At the beginning of the video you will see a man making things out of glass. He was making a glass horse. Venice is well known for all of their glass decorations and they have it everywhere to buy. Pretty expensive though. Enjoy!

Venice Trip

2009-11-10T02:58:00.001-08:00

Last month we took a weekend trip to Venice! Loved it!! It is truly a beautiful city that is surrounded by water. The kids enjoyed taking the water taxis to get to where we wanted to go. Below are some pictures from the trip. I unfortunately don't have all the pictures I took because I accidently deleted them and can't get them back :( Thankfully Bryce was taking a ton of pictures with his camera so most of them are taken from Bryce! Thanks Bryce and by the way you did a great job!!

   This is where a lot of the shopping was.
   Masks were very popular here and the boys had to get one!
   Our Gondola driver.

   Tyler loved their spaghetti...we all did. It was amazing!
   The group of friends we went with.

   This is where the boats stop to fill up!
   This is our hotel we stayed at. Fabulous hotel and we would recommend it to anyone! It was the Molino Stucky Hilton.

Thank You!!

2009-09-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

We owe a big thank you to all of our family and friends who made our visit to the states so wonderful!! We know how busy everyone's life can be especially during the summer months but you all made time for us and made our visit very special. Thank You!!

The kids started school this last week and they are truly loving it. This is a huge change from starting school last year. Everything was so new to us and I must say that this year seems to be so much easier since we actually know what we are suppose to be doing and where to go. I have high hopes that this year is going to go much smoother than it did last year!

I will post pictures of the first day of school soon and I am going to try to post something new every week!

Father's Day video

2009-06-21T03:55:00.001-07:00

Happy Father's Day! Have a great day!

Love You!!

Year One's Wedding

2009-06-20T04:19:00.001-07:00

This last week Tyler's class performed a wedding ceremony. The year one students do this every year. This is a part of their religious education curriculum since this school is affiliated with the Church of England. Tyler played the role of an usher. The bride was Yi Xuen who is the daughter of another ISE family here. Yi Xuen's family will be moving back to Singapore in August and will be greatly missed!

I took pictures for this mock wedding for the school and here is a video I made that I wanted to share with everyone.

Bryce's 9th Birthday

2009-06-20T02:30:00.001-07:00

June 15th was Bryce's Birthday! Wow...can't believe he is 9 already. The Sunday before his birthday he had a friend party at Laser Force. This is a very fun place not only for kids but for the parents too. You get split into teams and go into this dark area full of twist and turns where you try to shoot the other team with your laser gun. Its a great game of laser tag! On his birthday he had a great day at school with friends and then that evening we took him to his favorite pizza place, Pizza Express. Then we came home, let him open his gifts and then had some of his favorite cake (angel food cake). We had a great time! Happy Birthday Bryce!!

Update

2009-06-11T02:59:00.000-07:00

I know we haven't posted for awhile and I'll work on getting some new pictures and some stuff up. I am trying very hard to get a lot of ground covered in my photography class before we head home for the states. I am learning so much and can't wait to start applying all that I am learning to my photos. The kids have been busy with school. Tyler just went on a field trip to the park which he loved and Bryce just finished a poster project on facts about water. His poster was the biggest poster which is really funny because we thought, ok you have to make a poster board size poster which he did. All the other kids brought in a regular paper size poster. I guess we Americans always think BIG. Kylie is still busy playing with her toys, reading her books, and having fun with mom during the day. Steve has been very busy with work as usual.

Bryce is going to have a friend birthday party this Sunday at Laser Force! Its a great place for the kids to go and do laser tag! I will post some pictures and tell you all about it! We will be coming home in July. We can't wait. The kids have begun their countdown!

More posts soon to come!

Stonehenge

2009-05-28T08:44:00.001-07:00

We had a great time visiting Stonehenge even though it is the middle of nowhere and all you see is this...a bunch of huge rocks. Very neat to see in person and there is so much history involved. After Stonehenge we went to the cutest town called Bath. There is on Roman Bath there which we couldn't see because we got there too late, but we will go back. We also went with some friends of ours who are also doing a Cat assignment overseas. Below are some pictures from that day!

What should I do next?

2009-05-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

Kylie dancing

2009-05-24T13:30:00.001-07:00

Lately Kylie has been into putting on some type of outfit with a skirt and demanding she wear her fairy wings that grandma and grandpa bought her. She loves to dance! I guess she takes that after her mommy!! Dance lessons here we come!

Grandma and Grandpa Rolinitis Gave Us A Visit!!

2009-05-24T12:18:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Steve's parents came to visit! They were amazed with all the differences we have to face here. They did a great job dealing with me driving on the wrong side of the road. I don't think I scared them too much...maybe at times! We took them to London for the weekend to see the sites and the rest of their visit was spent playing with the kids and seeing many sites around England. We had such a wonderful time with them! It was sad to send them back home but we will be seeing each other again very soon!

This is how England delivers mail!

2009-04-28T08:05:00.002-07:00

Here in England, one of our biggest frustrations when driving is that everyone who rides a bike rides on the road and not on the side walk. I am always having to watch carefully for either bikes riding on the rode or for parked cars that are also in the way. We also don't have a typical postal truck like you see in the states. Above is a picture of a post lady who rides her bike to deliver the mail. When I take the kids to school in the morning, I see quite a few of these bikes.

Ferry

2009-04-28T08:05:00.001-07:00

Our drive onto and off the Ferry!

Eurotunnel

2009-04-19T14:10:00.001-07:00

This is a video of us driving onto the Eurotunnel which takes you underground across the English channel into Europe.

Our trip to France, Belgium and Holland

2009-04-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

We had such a wonderful time on this trip and the Fabry's who we stayed with in Belgium were wonderful hosts. Below are pictures when we went to Bruge which is just an hour outside of Belgium. We took a ride on the canal and had yummy Belgium waffles. There was a carnival going on while we were there so the kids got to ride a few rides which was a bunch of fun for them. Here are some pictures of Bruge when we were on the canal.

Holland

2009-04-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

We drove into the Netherlands to see Keukenhof Garden which was amazing. There were fields and fields of tulips of all different colors and everywhere you turned there were arrangements of all sorts of different flowers. A beautiful place to visit this time of year!

Amsterdam

2009-04-18T01:41:00.000-07:00

Amsterdam was a place we will never return to. Everyone says you have to go just to experience it, well that was enough for us. For those of you who don't know, drugs of any kind are legal here. I'm not going to go into detail but it would be very easy to go into a store and buy anything you may want to try. There is also what they call a red light district. This is a street where woman stand in windows hoping you will pick them. I am keeping this blog clean so enough said. Like I have said before it is neat to see some of these places and experience what you never thought you would. The history goes on and on and is very interesting in deed. Below is a picture of Anne Frank's house. We ran out of time and was unable to go inside but at least we got to see where it was. We thought it was quite difficult to walk around here because everyone rides a bike so beware!

A Coffeshop we did not eat at:)

Anne Frank's House

Anne Frank Statue

Brussles

2009-04-18T01:36:00.000-07:00

On our last day in Belgium we went to Brussles. This cute town is very well known for the statue of the peeing boy. Why? I don't really know. There are many different legends told of why this statue is important. He is believed to be nothing more than a decoration on top of a fountain, where people in the Middle-Ages came to get fresh water. Already in the 15th century a fountain called 'manneken-pis' existed in the Stoofstraat/Rue de l'étuve. The official origin can be traced back to the 13th of August 1619when the city ordered the sculptor Jerome Duquesnoy to make a new bronze statue of manneken-pis to replace an old and withered one. During the course of the centuries our little manneken has often been hidden to protect him against bombs of invading armies. He has also been stolen several times by plundering soldiers and even by the citizens of Geraardsbergen, a city in Flanders that claims to possess the oldest statue of a peeing boy in Belgium.

We ate on this cute little street which was full of restaurants, one right after another.

Last Stop.....Dover Castle

2009-04-18T01:08:00.000-07:00

Our last stop was Dover Castle which is one of the largest castles in the country. They have secret wartime tunnels which was used during the war. Very interesting place to see and fun for the kids too. Also below is a picture of the white cliffs of Dover. It was a very foggy morning as we headed into Dover so the picture isn't that clear but you can get the idea of how big and awesome these cliffs look. The rest of the pictures we took were at the castle.

Baby Chicks

2009-04-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

Tyler has had baby chicks in his class for the last couple of weeks and lucky us got to bring them home to spend the night. The kids were very excited to take care of the chicks for the night and did a great job. Here are some pictures of the baby chicks.

Our trip to London

2009-03-28T04:37:00.000-07:00

Our trip to London was great! We saw the queen and a few other celebrities such as Will Smith, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, and even President Oboma when we visited Madame Tussauds wax museum. Here they had almost every celebrity you could think of made out of wax. You really had to take a second look at some of them because they looked so real. The boys especially got a kick out of some of the statues they saw like Harry Potter, Spiderman, The Hulk, and many more.

We also took the kids on the London Eye so they could see a better view of London and realize how big the city really is. We then walked around and headed to Big Ben. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm!

The next day we took the kids to Lego Land. This place has just about everything made out of legos. The rides even looked like they were made out of legos. Very fun!! Below are some pictures of a place in the park where they have built different parts of England out of Legos. They even had the Kennedy Space center. Very cool!

2009-03-24T02:38:00.000-07:00

Update:

We had a wonderful weekend in London and also in Lego land. I will post pictures and tell you all what we did as soon as I get this family under control. What I mean by that is.........all three kids including myself got a fever yesterday and we are not feeling the greatest. I guess if we are going to get sick at least we are all doing it together instead of one person at a time. This is really when I miss home because I know that our moms would come and save the day!! They are truly the best at stepping in and helping us get through rough times. Miss you and love you both!!

Tyler's Bronze Award

2009-03-24T02:15:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, Tyler brought home this letter from school stating he has achieved his Bronze award. The children at school earn house points for good behavior, being helpful at school, and doing good work at school. After you have earned so many house points then you recieve an award and move up to the next level. He is now trying really hard to achieve his silver award. We are very proud of Tyler for working really hard at school and wanted to share this great news. Bryce is also working to complete his award and is doing very well too.

Happy Mum's Day!

2009-03-20T15:15:00.000-07:00

I had a little surprise today when I went to pick the boys up from school. They gave me flowers and a card they each made for Mother's Day. Mother's Day in England is celebrated this Sunday March 22nd. Does this mean I get two Mother's Days this year since we celebrate Mother's Day in America in May? If so.....lucky me!! Thanks boys, I love your flowers and especially the cards you made.

This weekend we plan to take the kids to London to do some sight seeing, spend the night and then take them to Lego Land. Should be a fun filled weekend! I will blog about it when we get back.

A day at Ferry Meadows Park

2009-03-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to one of our favorite parks, Ferry Meadows. The kids had a great time running around, feeding the geese with bread we brought, flying a kite, and also playing football (soccer). It was so nice to get out and enjoy the warmth. Here are some pictures from that day. Enjoy!

Driving in England

2009-03-15T13:12:00.001-07:00

We were on our way home from the park and thought it would be fun to show everyone what driving to our house looks like especially with roundabouts. We are going to try to do more with video and pictures of things around England.

Spring is in the air.....

2009-03-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

Finally, we are starting to feel some good spring weather here. The tulips are growing and the trees have many buds on them. Sorry we haven't been blogging much lately. For the past few weeks we have been getting together with friends and playing with the kids. We try to get outside every opportunity we get. The kids have been busy with school, swimming lessons, and a few birthday parties. Steve has been very busy with his job lately and is doing just fine. I am always busy with the same old house chores, running the kids from here to there, and also trying to plan our visits to places we would like to see. We are planning on going to Holland and Belgium over Easter break to see the tulips. We would also like to possibly get to Italy and Scotland before we go home for the summer. Now that spring is approaching we can get out of our winter blues that we have seemed to have. Quite a few of our friends (ISE's) who are living here have been told that they are moving back home. We are very excited for them but also sad to see them go for we have only known them a short while and wish we could of had more time together with them. Overall we are still doing just fine and we will start posting more pictures of the kids and let you all know what we are up to.

First Dance

2009-02-22T13:16:00.000-08:00

A week ago, the boys had their first dance at school. This was very exciting for them for they got to dress up a bit and have a bunch of fun with all their friends. The school had two different sessions. Tyler was the first session from 5:00-6:15 and Bryce's session was from 6:30-8:00. The dance was held in the gym. They turned off all the lights and had disco lights circling the room. They also had a DJ who played a variety of songs the kids all loved. They played a few games and just danced the night away. The kids thought the dance was "so cool." I stayed the whole time with Tyler but not with Bryce. No moms stayed during Bryce's time. I don't know but I'm sure its not very cool for moms to stick around at this age. I did find out that Bryce danced with a girl he likes. That seemed to be a big deal, but you don't dare ask him about it. Only mom and dad can discuss it with him because he gets too embarrassed if asked by anyone else. On the way home when Bryce and I were discussing him dancing with the other girl he paused and said to me this is "awkward." He is growing up way too fast! Tyler on the other hand had so much fun dancing with everyone. The night was a big hit before they started their week off of school.

This is Mr. Green (the head master)
This is Tyler's teacher, Mrs. Stevens.

Military is not for me!!

2009-02-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

Ok...let me just give you all a laugh. We lately have been on this big kick about working out and getting into better shape, so yesterday my friend Liz (girl I met who is in the military here) asks me to go onto base with her to take a spin class. This is basically a stationary bike exercise class. BIG MISTAKE!! I have learned that I am not cut out for the military. The instructor can I say...kicked my butt! It was the hardest class I have ever taken. There was yelling going on... and give me another 10..... that half way through the class I didn't know how much more I could take. I did get alot of laughs out of it and the class ended up being fun, but I am soooo sore. I think I will take a break from any on site military exercise classes at least until I get into better shape.

Its a snow day!!!

2009-02-05T07:30:00.000-08:00

When we woke up this morning we couldn't believe that it had snowed! We yelled....YAY its a snow day! England hardly ever gets snow, at least that is what they told us. I'm not too sure if I believe them anymore. Our British friends who we spoke with this morning said they don't get this much snow ever year. This much snow only happens once about every 15 years. They did cancel school and of course the boys were thrilled to hear that. Steve also stayed here to work from home (poor guy has to work while mommy and kids go have fun). I know if we were back in the states there is no way they would cancel school for only this much snow, but here they have to because they don't have the necessary equipment to clean the roads. It is really funny listening to the radio and hearing the British freaking out about how much snow there is and for everyone to not go anywhere. The children around the neighborhood are so excited since they don't get to play in the snow every year like we do, so the boys were off playing all morning and afternoon having a snowball fight with all the other kids. We also made a snowman and Kylie thought that was the best thing. She couldn't believe how tall he became. I must say that it is more fun playing in the snow here than home because it is not nearly as cold here as it is there.

Look who's another year older...

2009-02-05T07:02:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Daddy!! Yesterday was Steve's 34th birthday! The kids were very busy planning for this throughout the week. They had made him cards and also baked and decorated this cake. They did such a good job keeping everything a secret until the big day. We had a great day with you and love you very much!!!!!

Baking Party

2009-02-05T06:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Kylie went to a Baking Birthday party. Her friend Addison was turning two and so they all got to make their own cookies and pizzas. Addison's mom did such a wonderful job organizing this event for the little ones. She made every child an apron which they wore while baking and icing their cookies. Thanks Addison and Corrina for such a fun filled day!

ThinkTank

2009-02-04T02:11:00.001-08:00

Last weekend we went to Thinktank in Birmingham. This is a science museum for kids which has four levels for the kids to explore. Level 0 was the past, level 1 was all about the city, level 2 had to deal with the present, and level 3 was the future. We had a good time doing some of the activities and just getting away from home for the day. Here are some pictures of what the kids did.

Bryce replacing the tire on the car.

Tyler loved to see this huge train.

Tyler and Kylie fixing pipes underground.

Who doesn't like to play with water? My kids sure do!

Frustration

2009-01-30T02:31:00.000-08:00

Some things here can be a little frustrating. First...my day starts out waking up with a head cold and not really wanting to face the day, but I do. On the way to taking the kids to school, Bryce and Tyler feel they must complain about living here. This is not the first time I have heard this. Must be the winter blues. They miss everything America has to offer. They want to go back to their house, be with their friends, and go to grandma and grandpa's house. It just isn't fair (they would say)! I give them the usually pep talk about how this is a very unique opportunity for us to live in another country and experience how this side of the world lives. Don't know if the pep talk did any good but it got them to go into school with their new friends. After just dealing with this hour of my morning I decided I needed a coke from McDonalds. Big mistake! Why you ask? Well after asking for a coke with ice (you have to ask for ice here or they will not give it to you), I took a big drink and very quickly remembered how bad the coke taste here. I'm telling myself its ok because I shouldn't be drinking this stuff anyway. I then head to Toys R Us to buy birthday presents for a couple of parties the kids are attending. Kylie and I picked out the gifts and proceeded to the checkout. I get my visa out to give to the lady. I tell her it is a swipe card (most everyone here doesn't have the swipe cards they all have cards that you insert into a machine and give a pin number). She says to me that we don't normally take these type of cards. I ask why? I mean I have been here for six months and have had no problem using this card as long as I tell that it is a swipe card. She asked for my id. I give her my Illinois drivers licence and she says I may have to get someone to approve this. At this point I really just want to get my stuff and go home. This should not be this difficult. Anyways she looks at me and just decides to push the little button on her machine and let my card go through. Then I told her that I would like to have gift receipts for the presents I have purchased. She then said we don't offer gift receipts. I asked her well how are they suppose to return the item if they don't want it. She replies "then I guess you are going to have to either give them your receipt or come back to the store with them so they can return the item. I didn't even begin to argue I just picked up the sack and Kylie and I left. I have only been gone for two hours this morning and am now frustrated. I am now giving myself my own little pep talk! You wouldn't think that living in another country that still speaks English would be difficult. Well let me tell you it is not as easy as you might think!

Esporta Fitness Club

2009-01-23T06:02:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the fitness club we joined called Esporta. The lounge pictured above is a great place to go to meet people and eat lunch or dinner. We ate dinner their this last Wednesday after the kids' swimming lessons. The gym there is very big. There is another area with more weight machines, bikes, and treadmills. There is also three different fitness studio rooms where they offer classes. I usually go in the mornings after taking the boys to school and Kylie goes to the creche which is basically a babysitting service. She honestly does not enjoy it at the moment so I might have to come up with another option for her. The best part about this place is that it is very kid friendly. They offer many different programs for all three of our kids.

A Big Thank You!

2009-01-20T03:40:00.000-08:00

We wanted to thank everyone for making our visit home to the states extra special! It was so nice to see everyone and for those of you who we couldn't see we will have to make it up over the summer when we visit again. We love being with our family and friends and as always we never want to leave you! The kids are having a blast with all their new stuff from Christmas. They thank you all for everything! It was very difficult getting back to a routine and a bedtime schedule but I think we are finally back on track. The kids have started their football (soccer) sessions again which they love and the newest add on is swimming lessons every Wednesday. Steve and I have joined a fitness club near us. We are determined to get into better shape. So cheer us on because we will need it. Thanks again for everything everyone has done for us while we were home. We love you all!!

2008-11-27T05:07:00.000-08:00

We are wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!! We are thinking of all the family back in the states and miss being with you today. Enjoy each other and don't eat too much!! Good luck in all of your shopping tomorrow. I wish I could be there to shop with you and of course Stacey I will miss our ritual Olive Garden trip(we will make it up when I come home). We are very thankful that we have your love and support. We love all of you!! We will see everyone soon....only two weeks to go!

A Thanksgiving Feast

2008-11-27T04:10:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we got together with all of the ISE (International Service Employee) families here in England for a Thanksgiving feast. England doesn't celebrate this holiday so it was nice to get together with the other Americans who do. There were about 130 of us. Each family brought a hot dish or dessert to share. It was a huge buffet line with wonderful tasting food. The kids had a seperate room where they could play with toys and run around. Below is a picture that I offered to take of the whole group. It was a challenge to squeeze everyone together so they could be seen, but with everyones help it was a success. If you would like to view it up close just click on the picture.

Playing in the Snow

2008-11-23T08:40:00.000-08:00

Let It Snow

2008-11-23T03:15:00.000-08:00

We woke up this morning with snow coming down! The kids as you can imagine were so excited. They imediately wanted to run outside to play. Tyler started screaming to Bryce "We can leave now, its almost Christmas." For some reason when it snows he thinks Christmas is near..... like tomorrow. We of course explained that we only have two more weeks until we leave, so the count down has officially begun.

Rock Star Day

2008-11-17T06:14:00.000-08:00

Last Friday at school was rock star day. The kids were to come dressed up as a rock star. They thought they were pretty cool with their guitar shirts and spiked up hair. They told us that they did a little karaoke at school and had a blast.

Of course I couldn't leave Kylie out so here are a few pictures of her I took one day after we dropped off the kids from school.

She wanted me to take a picture of her because she says it is starting to get "burr" cold. She is definitely going to be our little drama queen!

Our Trip To Paris

2008-11-04T13:14:00.001-08:00

Where should we begin? First, we had a wonderful time seeing all the sites and learning so much about each one of them. The Eiffel Tower was amazing. The best time to see it is at night when it shines a bright blue color and at the beginning of every hour it sparkles. The Arc De Triomphe was much bigger than I had imagined. When you drive down the street, all you see in the middle is this huge monument. It really makes you say wow. Although be prepared to climb many steps to get to the top. The Notre Dame cathedral was another wow. The stained glass windows and vaulted ceilings took your breath away. The Louvre was fascinating with all its wonderful works of art from famous artists and the outstanding glass pyramids. There were little cafes practically on every corner. The food was good, especially the bread. We also can say that the kids had a lot of fun at Disney. We rode a lot of new rides (compared to Disney in Florida) and had a lot of fun at the Halloween party.

Now that you have heard the good side of our trip let us fill everone in on how the other half of our trip went. It all began when our back pack got stolen. Yes you read right....STOLEN! We were at the Eiffel Tower, Steve was in line getting a snack for the kids. I took the three kids to a bench to sit and to get out the gloves. It was at night and the wind had picked up so it was getting cold. I took off the backpack, got the gloves out and as I reached over to put Kylie's gloves on her someone came by and took the bag. The bag was half on my lap and half on the bench. I stood up and yeld at Steve to come. He came and off I went running to the security. They didn't really seem to want to do anything at that time but escort us over to the police area. We explained to them what happened and they said we needed to go to the police station to file a report. They kindly escorted us in their police cars with the sirens and lights on to the police station. The worst thing that was in the backpack was all 5 of our passports! The rest was silly things like coloring books, crayons, wipes, and my wallet with 60 euros. The joke is on them I guess because the only thing they could have used was the money. Luckily Steve had the bag with the cameras and important stuff. The next day we spent 4 hours at the US Embassy getting emergency passports which are good for one year. We must now take these passports to the U.S. Embassy in London to exchange them for the regular passports we need. You would think that this would be all, right? Oh no, there is more. We then proceed to travel to Disney. Disney in Paris is the most unorganized place I have ever seen! Europeans do not know what it means to wait in line or to wait for their turn. No, they have to push people out of their way to get what they want. There is no standing in line to wait your turn to see a character....it is whoever gets there first and if they don't they will walk right in front of you and get their picture. Very frustrating!! Do remember we really did have a great holiday!

Our next obstacle was getting back home. We arrived at the train station to catch our 1:00 train, but wasn't allowed on the train because we couldn't get through customs. Our temporary passports didn't have that special page that showed we are residents of the UK....our visas. We were taken aside and they told us to wait because they had to do some investigating. Of course we missed our train, but luckily they did switch our tickets to a later train after they found out we were good to go. They also stamped our passports saying we have only 2 months to get this all fixed and if we don't within those two months we won't be allowed back into the country (UK). Now we have to get to London very quickly to exchange our passports and then we will probably have to mail all the passports to get our visas put into them. Since we are leaving in a month we don't have much time. I am being very optimistic that all this will work out and everything will be just fine.

2008-11-04T11:06:00.000-08:00

We went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower at night. We figured it would be neat to see the city at night instead of the day time, so this is looking down from the top.

We had to get a picture of Kylie with her Eiffel Tower shirt!

At night the Eiffel Tower would sparkle at the beginning of every hour. It was amazing to see something this big do that.....beautiful!

When it wasn't sparkling it would look like this.

This was just an area next to the Louvre. We did stop and eat at a cafe for lunch here.

The Mona Lisa was much smaller than I expected. It was in such a huge room and it was the only thing that actually hung on this wall. A glass case enclosed the painting to protect it.

Ok...you are going to laugh at this one. While we waited to get a picture of the Mona Lisa a big group from Japan was standing next to us. There were at least 25-30 of them. They all were dressed in their Kimonos and wore sandals with white socks. They kept starring at us and we obviously didn't know what they were saying. This lady came over to us and started talking to our children. She wanted her family to take a picture of them with her so we did as well. Then the rest of her family came to get pictures with our kids. It was like they never saw American children before. They were the sweetest people and we enjoyed our short visit with them.
You seriously would have thought that we were some type of celebrities.

This was the ceiling inside the Louvre where Picasso's paintings were located. They wouldn't allow any pictures of his work so I thought this was pretty cool.

We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe one evening.

The Notre Dame Cathedral was amazing. With its stained glass windows and vaulted ceilings it was for sure a site to see! We even went back to the hotel that night and the kids watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

This was looking down at the city from the Arc De Triomphe.

Boys standing in front of the Arc De Triomphe.

Our Visit to DisneyLand Paris

2008-11-04T10:56:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Rugby Festival

2008-10-23T05:32:00.000-07:00

Two days ago Bryce had a field trip at the Peterborough Rugby Football Club in Fengate. They were holding a rugby festival and many other schools were also there participating. Luckily this was tag rugby and not tackle rugby. In the morning the children had a coaching session and after lunch is when they had the matches. Steve, Kylie and I went to watch. Bryce was very excited to learn how to play and he even made a score as you will see in the picture when he has the ball. That of course sent him to cloud nine! The kids did a great job huddling together to form their strategies and his teacher was involved too. A teacher informed us that the U.S. is the reigning Olympic gold medal winning champion in rugby...this was in 1924 and was the last year of rugby in the olympics. When Bryce came home he told us how this is one of his best days ever.

2008-10-23T04:44:00.000-07:00

Tyler had a class assembly today and this is one of the songs he learned after seeing the play "The tiger who came to tea." They were so cute singing in their English accents. The video came out a little blurry, but you can still see it ok.

Our visit to Warwick Castle

2008-10-21T06:36:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Warwick Castle. It was about an hour and a half away and it was well worth the drive. This castle started to be built in 1068 on the orders of William the Conqueror and was completed in 1395. We were able to climb up to the top of the tower and the view up there was amazing. With the leaves changing color it was a site to see. The kids had a lot of fun playing in leaves, seeing the inside of the castle, and playing at the playground. We will definitely go back!

We were at the river inside Warwick Castle. It was beautiful!

Kylie had fun playing in the leaves.

The tower you see in the picture was Guy’s Tower. It was built in the 14th century. It is twelve-sided, stands 39 metres high and has five stories.
The first four stories consist of a central stone-vaulted chamber with two small side rooms – one a gardrobe (toilet), the other probably a bedchamber.
The fifth storey is a hexagonal guardroom. During the Civil War the windows here were enlarged so that they could take small hand-held cannons.
The walkways that run along the curtain walls meant that crossbowmen and archers could move swiftly to quell danger at any point on the perimeter.
Once in position they could pick off the enemy from the battlements. These consist of solid sections of wall, called merlons, and gaps, known as embrasures.
The tops of the towers are encircled by parapets that added a further layer to the castle's defences.

We are working our way up to the top of the tower. We had to climb over 500 steps to get there.The view is amazing!
Here is a church we saw from the top of the tower.
Bryce and Tyler are having lots of fun playing at the playground.

Crazy Hair Day

2008-10-15T01:39:00.001-07:00

Last Friday at school it was crazy hair day. The kids got to mess up their hair however they liked. Our kids had a blast getting ready for this (mom, dad and kylie did too). Don't they look like thing 1 and thing 2 from Cat in the Hat? Kylie couldn't believe what she was seeing. She they looked very funny and then she would say "I don't like it." Luckily the blue in their hair was easy to wash out that night!

2008-10-07T05:23:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

2008-10-06T06:06:00.000-07:00

This is the best suprised look that I have ever seen. He was so shocked that the tooth fairy actually took his tooth...he couldn't believe it!

FYI

2008-10-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

We just bought our plane tickets to come home for Christmas!!!! We depart December 11th and Return January 6th. Now all you grandparents can start jumping for joy.....and don't start planning our days for us just yet(kidding). We are looking forward to seeing everyone and telling you all you want to know (if we even know yet) about the wonderful country of England. We do have some expectations though:
1. Good home cooked meals
2. Not much chicken or fish please
3. Midwest Steak and Hamburgers would be great
4. Eat Out!!!!!!!!
5. Sleeping in
6. Steve and I get a date night (a couple would be nice)
7. Last but not least quality time with family and friends

Let the countdown begin!

2008-10-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

Bryce finally got his guitar that he has been wanting. He takes guitar lessons every Tuesday. Maybe he will know a song by Christmas time.
A couple people asked me what the police cars look like, well here you go. Nice and bright! Pretty much can't miss them.
YAY, the search is over! We finally have both cars. We drove an hour away to get this car. Are you surprised...Steve bought another white car. After the long hard thought process he went through to decide what type of car he wants, he decides to buy a Volvo S40. It is a very nice car.

2008-10-02T06:30:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

2008-09-25T00:50:00.000-07:00

What a great group of people we have met. We had a get together at our house last weekend and invited a few families that we wanted to get to know better. We are very lucky to have them here with us. All but one family is from the Peoria area. They are wonderful!
The guys decided to give the wii a try. I think they enjoyed themselves.
Here are the children of the families. Bryce, Tyler and Kylie had a lot of fun having them over to play at our house.
Of course can't go throughout a day without a little tea time.

I have gotten together with a wonderful group of ladies to do a book club. We meet every other Wednesday. Looking forward to getting to know them better.
This is my friend Becky. She has been very helpful in giving plenty of pointers of what to bring here before we came. Thank you Becky! This is Hollie and her daughter Gwen. They were our first visitors at the house. Kylie really enjoys playing with Gwen. They have a son who Tyler enjoys playing with. They have given us a lot of support and help since we have been here and we appreciate all they do. This is Min. I met here through the school Bryce and Tyler go to. Bryce is in the same class as her son. They are from Asia and are another great family we have met here. We have been trying to talk them into visiting America, since they have never been.
Kylie decided to try some tea and guess what she loved it! She didn't want to put it down. I guess she gets that from her mom. The cup is as big as she is.

2008-09-25T00:40:00.000-07:00

Kylie is wearing her first nightgown and she is very proud of it. She did not want to take it off the next day so I promised her that she could wear it again the next night and she finally agreed. She wants to be such a big girl!

2008-09-24T04:07:00.000-07:00

We finally have gone through a ton of boxes and feel more settled in. Here are some pictures of the house and looking at them I noticed I forgot a few ( Kylie's room for one). I will get those up later. I have been a little busy the last couple of days because Kylie is not feeling well. We think she has the flu. She is doing a lot of resting and hopefully that will make her feel better. Everyone else (knock on wood) seems to be doing fine. Steve thinks he is going to purchase his car possibly tonight. He needs to go see it first! We'll keep you updated. Enjoy the pictures!

2008-09-24T03:31:00.000-07:00

Here is our kitchen. It is a good size but miss all the cabinets we had at our last house. Had to store some kitchen items because I brought to many and also some of my pans would not fit into the smaller oven. I went out and bought a couple baking pans that now do fit!

This is a nice sitting area in the backyard. Above the table and chairs are a vine of grapes. They are just now starting to turn purple. We took a taste of one, not bad but still a little bitter.

Here is the toy room. They kids are enjoying all their toys again. Although we are very thankful that we left some toys behind because as you can see we have filled up the room with the toys we brought.

Here are the kids on their new playset. They are very happy with it. CAT hired a handyman to put it together and the poor guy did all by himself in three days. Of course I made him a cup of tea everday he was here cause thats what we do in England!

Here is our living room. We have a great TV, but still have no cable. They say everything should be fixed this week. Steve can't wait because he is missing all those great Bears games.

2008-09-23T05:41:00.000-07:00

Here is the back of the house. We have a nice fenced in area and luckily the patio was big enough for us to put all of our furniture on.

Here is the boy's bedroom. They love the bunkbeds! We still need to decorate the room in all their sports stuff.

This is our bedroom. Through the door is our walkin closet and then our bathroom.

2008-09-17T13:03:00.001-07:00

Ok...we are finally up and running with the internet! Here are some pictures that we wanted to share and we have more that will be coming. This will give you an idea of what we have been up to the past week. Boxes and boxes! They never seem to go away, although we are getting much closer and will have pictures of our house on the inside very soon. Bryce and Tyler are doing great in school. They just started football (soccer) club on Mondays and Bryce is taking guitar lessons on Fridays. School here is very similiar to the states. Although if they need to take a restroom break, they need to properly ask if they can use the toilet. The kids thought that was funny. I am getting better acquainted with the grocery store and I have found that it is better to buy Scottish beef versus British beef. Taste so much better. We are thrilled because all we have eaten is fish and chicken. We are doing very well driving on the opposite side of the street and we are getting used to all these roundabouts.
Thanks for all of your e-mails and regular mail, please keep them coming!! Our Morton number is also up and running so feel free to give us a call although keep in mind the six hour time difference and we'll do the same. It is hard to believe that we have almost been here for a month. We sure miss all of you and think of you everyday!! Enjoy the pictures and we'll send more very soon.

2008-09-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

Tyler's first day of school
Bryce's first day of school
They are dressed for success!
We are finally on our way to London. The boys are thrilled, but Kylie is ready to sleep! Luckily they all did a great job on the plane. Kylie slept most of the way and Bryce and Tyler decided not to sleep until the last two hours. They were too busy playing games and watching movies. They thought that was awesome!

This is the truck that brought our green sea container. The whole entire container was completely full from front to end. The truck was so big that they could not get into our driveway, so they had to park on the other side of the fence and carry everything around into the house. It took them until 7:00 that night just to unload. Then they came back the next day to put stuff together.

This is just a taste of what some of our boxes looked like...now

multiply this by 12 more different areas.
Anybody want to join us in unloading all these boxes?
Kylie talking on the phone and helping unload all the boxes.

Here is the car we bought. A volvo with all the extras even a navigation system built in...

which we desperately need.

Bryce, Tyler, and Kylie standing at our front door. We just arrived at the house!

Our first week

2008-09-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

Well we have made it through the first week of living in the UK. Some things have been a struggle like making sure we say trousers for pants. Their pants means underwear to them, so you can only imagine what kinds of looks we have gotten. We have gotten into our house although we are not living their yet. We have been staying at the Marriot hotel until we get our beds which should be Thursday. Can't wait to sleep in my own bed since it has been over a month since we have.
I don't want to hear anyone complain about how bad the gas prices are...we filled up for the first time yesterday and paid 65 pounds (which is $130). Enjoy your $3-$4 a gallon fill ups.
We did attempt to do some grocery shopping and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. The only bad thing is that they do not have the same brands as we do and some things were hard to figure out what they truly were. Can you believe they do not have baking soda (the arm and hammer kind that you stick in the fridge to get the odors out). I looked everywhere and not one person even knew what I was talking about.
The weather has been very nice. It has been in the 70's all week and so we luckily still get to wear shorts.
The kids are doing great! They start school tomorrow and are very excited. Hopefully it stays that way. The hotel has a wonderful pool and hot tub so we have been taking the kids their daily. We also just bought our first TV so when we are at the house the kids can play the Wii.
Tomorrow we get our sea shipment!!!!! Looking forward to seeing and using our stuff again. We won't get internet until this weekend, so hopefully we will get our Morton number up and running and I can start making some phone calls. Don't worry I'll keep in mind the 6 hour time difference. Hope all is doing well and we will try to get some new pictures up by next week. Miss all of you!!