Looking to the future

Monday 19th December

What to do when you have two small children, an inordinately large house with nothing in it, a husband who still can't see (see earlier posts) and your biggest resource empty packing boxes - well it's obvious - look to the future and build an escape vehicle. So today we have put in place plan B - the boxes are no longer and instead we have a 2.5m (8ft to our US readers) rocket to entertain ourselves until the rest of our toys arrive. Still under construction are the control panel and external equipment but to get an idea think Wallace and Gromit. It has been a constructive use of the first 8 boxes - when the next 277 arrive we will add on the launch pad, the boosters and the space station. At least we now have an escape route if it gets even more hairy. PS everyone felt strong enough to bring the tree in from the cold so it was decorated today too.

Lights, lights and more lights (for those of us that can see)

Sunday 18th December

Well the pre-booked spectacle of Christmas lights at local Longwood Gardens (http://www.longwoodgardens.org/) was beginning to look like a bit of a waste of money as M hadn't actually been able to open his eyes for the previous 24hrs (see earlier post), but as the day wore on he rallied enough to join us for the visit. The gardens, lights, tree houses, Christmas trees and wreaths in the conservatory were an amazing sight (even wearing sun glasses). Some personal favourites were the wreaths made from gingerbread maple leaves, the "silver" Christmas tree made from live aloes and cactuses and the lantern lit walkways as it grew dark. Next year we will go earlier to enjoy the gingerbread houses too. Americans sure know how to decorate for the holiday season. We hope that the eyes continue to recover.

Decorating disaster

Saturday 17th December

So today we headed off to deck our halls with boughs of holly (and mostly the front garden with lots and lots of lights) but at the first stop M encountered a seasonal hazard and managed to poke himself in the eye with the Christmas tree. Harmless enough you would think, but not in this case. First stop the first aid station in Home Depot (B&Q to our UK readers), next stop Frazer pharmacy, third stop the "minute clinic" in Paoli and then Immediate Care minor injuries clinic in Berwyn - prognosis a scratched cornea with 0.5cm (3/16th " for our US readers) diameter chunk removed....... Well looking on the upside now we know how to access emergency care, get a prescription (and even get the prescription refunded when you have found all the right insurance cards). The tree remained netted for the rest of the day as a punishment! A family Christmas memory to treasure.

We've arrived

Tuesday 13th December

Well we flew yesterday and landed safely and today we have arrived at our new home. It's HUGE! The slippy floors are good for skating (don't tell the owners!), we've chosen our bedrooms and unpacked our air freight shipment, and we've been playing table tennis in the basement (thank you to the owners for letting us borrow their table!). The best bit was the jacuzzi bath ( it brings a whole new meaning to our Friday night bubbles). The house currently stands out from the crowd as it is somewhat lacking in Christmas lights but we can rectify that at the weekend.

It's behind you!

Saturday 3rd December

The new theatre has opened in Canterbury (http://www.marlowetheatre.com) and this year's pantomime is Cinderella - it was a must do for our family before leaving. We all enjoyed it very much, especially the dancing and singing - the "strictly come dancing" scene was one of our favourites. I loved the ugly sister's costumes, and the man with the "prediction" was great fun. Go and see it if you get a chance! Very well done to Evolution Productions (http://www.evolution-productions.co.uk/home/4535036066) for yet another fabulous Christmas treat and all the very best of luck with your forth coming addition - we hope that all goes really well.

It's the BIG goodbye party ......... Boing

Saturday 3rd December

This afternoon it was off to join 27 of our lovely friends for a great big boing at the local trampolining club (http://www.aire.tc/). We had lots of fun jumping around and we played lots of fun games. Our favourite bits were dodge ball and skipping. Then it was time for tea, we chose chicken nuggets and chips. Our cake was decorated with balloons and the ice fountain fireworks were spectacular. Thank you very much to the staff for all their hard work in making it such a fun afternoon and thank you to all our friends who made a special effort to join us - it was lovely and we will miss you all. Photos to follow when we have our computer back again!

Back to the US Embassy

Tuesday 29th November

So back to the US Embassy today to have my VISA status changed so that I will also be able to continue working whilst we are living in USA. These visits to the Embassy are a bit like a game of snakes and ladders - one step forward, two back - but after a slippery slide down a snake soon after passing go (evicted by security due to a pair of cheap and cheerful headphones in my bag as apparently these are classified as an electronic device) it was plain sailing. Many thanks to everyone who helped to prepare my application. I hope that my passport comes back swiftly so that we can leave as planned in a couple of weeks.