Our Days in the UK

A few weeks ago, before the flu (I think I'll start measuring time with BF and AF...) I took the kids to the Museum of Oxford and Oxford Castle while Eric went to a few meetings. I had originally intended to only go to the museum, but it turns out to be slightly, well, smaller, than I thought. And what I mean by that is it took us about fifteen minutes total to go through the one and a half rooms of exhibits. The interactive exhibit about the old Jewish quarter of Oxford was unfortunately not working. If it had been, that would have been a nice addition! Rebecca did enjoy the small hat dress up corner. She sort of hammed it up, in fact: And a final curtsy from the royal princess (in Croc boots, of course)! So, after putting all these hats on we were pretty much done with this museum, and I still had two plus hours to kill before Eric would be finished with his meetings. So, I made the executive decision to head to Oxford Castle, which was fortunately right down

Eric has been speaking only Spanish to the kids since they were born, so they both understand pretty much everything (even if they reply in English). We're used to being a (passively) bilingual family. But I didn't think we'd need to learn a new language when we moved to England! While we understand most of what people say to us, there have been some moments of misunderstanding. Today at rock climbing class, for example, the teacher told Rebecca and the other kids to "queue up" behind him. Rebecca looked at me like he was crazy--"Q up?" I could hear her thinking. I translated and she fell in line. A few weeks ago, before the flu took us all down, we went to Village Coffee Hour at the church. The nice woman who runs it offered the kids a biscuit. They looked highly skeptical at first until they realized that biscuits were chocolate chip cookies, rather than something that goes with gravy and mashed potatoes. Snack foods are especially tricky...Frenc

I'm joining in the Homeschool Day in Our Life link up at Simple Homeschool today. Since we just moved to England from New England, got sick, got sick some more, and then had the Epic Family Flu Experience, we haven't had very many days that have come anywhere close to normal recently. In fact, this day I'm documenting is the first relatively normal day we've had in months, as luck would have it (with an emphasis on the "relatively"--we still have more boxes to unpack!) So, while this day has gone smoothly and has been blessedly filled with routine, had I written this post just a week ago, it would have involved me curled up feverish on the couch with the kids recovering and using their iPads pretty much all day, and Eric cooking bacon and eggs for dinner (again). Just for full disclosure. But now we're finally healthy, so here is our day: 7-7:45 am: We all wake up at about the same time. In my ideal world, I'd wake up before everyone to write

We don't usually do too much to celebrate Valentine's Day, but this year I wanted to do a bit more because I felt like our Christmas was so rushed and chaotic since the movers came on the 27th. So we got a little more enthusiastic than usual for Valentine's Day this year. First, we made decorations. We didn't get any special supplies, but we made a heart mobile with white paper, red tissue paper, and a stick from our stream. It looks pretty with the sun showing through the window. We made and painted tealight candle holders from salt dough: We also made a heart garland with some of our extra packing paper but I don't know where the picture of that went. For Valentine's Day breakfast I made pink smoothies (with kale and spinach added, but they still turned out pink!) and whole wheat homemade "Pop Tarts" shaped like hearts.  Here's the table all set for breakfast. These are the "Pop Tarts" filled with our

Once upon a time, a long time ago, before we all got the flu one after another, we used to go outside. One day, on a walk through the village, we saw a path marked with one of the Public Footpath signs, so we decided to see where it went. Here are the kids climbing up the path. Just below is the main street through the village. At the top, we found... the village playground! It's set against a beautiful backdrop and the village cricket pitch (I think that's what it's called?) is right next to it. In spring and summer the village cricket team plays on the weekends.  It's a nice playground, with swings, a teeter totter, and a climbing structure, a slide built into a hill (that's perfect for rolling down), a tunnel, plus a lot of open area to run around. The kids were very excited to find it, and we went back several times until the virus of doom took us all out. We're excited to go back once we're better. (Well, the kids ar

Yes, that's really a thing. Or maybe I'm the only one who didn't know about it? In any case, today is Pancake Day here in the UK. I found out serendipitously on a trip to the grocery store. I thought there must be a sale on syrup or something, because everywhere I looked there were displays for pancake mix and syrup. Then I saw a sign about Pancake Day. When I got home from shopping, I had Justin look up Pancake Day while I whipped up a batch for dinner. I figure, if it's Pancake Day, that right there is an answer for what to have for dinner! It turns out this day comes 47 days before Easter (approximately...) so it's one of those holidays that is on a different day every year. It's related to Shrove Tuesday, and the thought is that historically people wanted to get rid of their sweet and rich foods before Lent, rather than have them in their pantries tempting them while they fasted. So they made the food that combines sugar, eggs, butter, and milk, all rich

Last week, before both kids got sick again, we went into Oxford with Eric. While he had a meeting, I took the kids to the Oxford Museum of Natural History. It reminded us a lot of the Harvard Natural History Museum, and I suspect the design of the Harvard museum was modeled after the Oxford one, it having come first and all. The Oxford one is actually smaller in size than Harvard's but is packed with good stuff. Since it's free, I'm sure we'll go back many times. This time around, the Oxford Dodo exhibit was a big hit with both kids. It's the very bird used as a model for Alice in Wonderland. Justin found the story of the dodos' extinction fascinating. I didn't realize how quickly they went extinct once Europeans (and their dogs and livestock) arrived. Rebecca liked the Alice in Wonderland part of the story. They also liked all the puffer fish skeletons, the gigantic dinosaur skeletons, and the bird exhibits. One of the cooler features of this par

For the past week or so we have settled into a semblance of a normal rhythm at home which has been a relief to all of us. But before that, when the kids were down and out with back-to-back sicknesses, we had to get creative with our daily entertainment. Since we don't have most of our toys, books, or games, the kids spent a lot of time on their iPads. Here is Justin, being a total trooper with a fever and a sore throat, reading about the T on his iPad, and resting on our "couch" which was made up of camping mattresses and Ikea pillows. (We have a real couch now, thank goodness!) But we also managed to invent a few recipes. (My recipe binder is in the moving container along with the kids' toys.) The kids decided that, being in England and all, we should make scones. I'm pretty sure the recipe we came up with did not constitute a proper scone recipe, as it involved whole wheat flour, maple syrup, coconut oil, and whatever other ingredients I could throw toge

We are still waiting for our stuff to come so that we can complete the transformation of house into home. Right now we have piles of clothes on the floor, and stacks of papers and books everywhere, as we await our bookshelves and dressers. And I cannot wait to get our mattresses!! In the meanwhile, we have been greatly enjoying the outdoors, and fortunately have a beautiful yard and surroundings. So here is a short outside tour of our house:   Here is Rebecca, ready to take you on a tour! Justin, unfortunately, was inside sick at this time (he is better now!) I am standing in our front door and she is on the stone patio that is just outside the front door. This is a picture of the yard from our door. That shed you see has two rooms--one for storage and one for a hot tub! Just beyond it is the River Windrush, which feels more like a stream in the stretch along our yard, although it widens further downstream. Or should I say downriver. This is a closer up view of the