Killing time

Hiiiiiiiiii

Its been a while since I posted, almost a whole 2 weeks!!!! I have been busy....

Did the yard sale at Laura's.  Made some money, but it was such a stinking hot day that everyone was down the beach (who can blame them!!!!).  After the yard sale we went to the Gosling's in Stamford-in-the-Vale to start depositing "stuff".  Stopped at grandads bike shop on the way, boys love a good ride, and got rid of my bike.  They will be selling it as second hand, so if you fancy a very cool Schwinn Cruiser at a reduced price, pop to Cycle King, Oxford!!!!  Was nice to catch up with the Goslings, it was very hot so we took the paddling pool.  Had a BBQ.  The boys decided after the BBQ to go in the paddling pool naked, then run round the garden with the water pistols trying to get daddy and uncle Tony.  Very humourous.....

Me and the boys went to see my dad yesterday.  We had a brief coffee and biscuits at dads, then took them to Aldershot Military Museum.  They loved it!!!  Then on for Grandad's favourite food, McDonalds!  Was nice to see him, yet hard to think there are not going to be many more times when i can drive an hour up the road to see my mum or dad....

My boys like tanks!!!!

Also had a night out with the school mums.  Was good to get some yummy food, that I didn't cook, and have a nice natter and catch up with the ladies....

Got the cat to the vets last week.  He was very helpful, scanned her microchip, and offered a bit of advice about the move.  Passed the microchip details on to Worthing Cat Welfare Trust, and they have already sorted out changing her microchip to our address.  Thanks Geoff!

Finally had the boy hepatitis B jabs done last week.  They were really good, and didn't cry.  Next one is 12th September....

My residential school assignment is done, just need to print it when I come home.  Got my results for my last psychology assignment.  I am happy to say, with one assignment to go, that I have already passed the continuous assesment part, just need to ace the exam.  That would be my first exam in the States then on the 16th October.....

We have officially booked our leaving do for the 15th September.  Dropped a bit of a clanger though, as it is the Goodwood Revival that weekend!  Realy looking forward to it, hopefully lots of people will come to say good bye and enjoy a few drinks with us.

We are off on our look and see on Saturday.  It has come around soooooo quickly.  We are nearly all packed.  Seems strange to be packing everything into closed bags, I am so used to just flinging things into the car, and unloading them at the other end.  We are pretty much done, just need to add some things tomorrow night.  We need to be up about 5am on Saturday morning, so we are going to wake up, pack the car, put the boys in the car in their pyjamas, and hope they keep sleeping most of the way to the airport!!!  It is exciting, yet slightly nerve wracking at the same time.  How are the boys going to be content on a plane for 8 hours, especially Seb!!!!

The provisional house list arrived in Pauls inbox last night at about 9.45pm.  Cue staying up late, and drinking too much whilst "researching" the list.  There are 3 that look good, one is particularly good, just need to check the garden.  I am very excited!!!!  Have 3 preschools to look at next week, Oli has a test to do, a school visit, we need to go to the bank, Paul has to have a meeting at BMW, there is so much on.  We are going out for lunch on Sunday with some of Pauls work collegues who have recently moved out there.  Really looking forward to having an insiders view BEFORE we do anything official.

Tomorrow might drag, I hope not.  We have a Netmums picnic, if the weather holds, so that will help the time pass.  I will bath the boys in the morning all ready to go, then Picnic, then dinner, then bed for boys, Zumba for me (my 3rd one this week, I love it!!!!), finish off packing, and off we go.....

Will try and post from the stated, depends on internet connection.  We have so much to learn....

Much Love xxxxx

Terms and conditions

Well, we made it back from France in one piece.  The rest of our holiday was nice and relaxing, just what we needed.  Once we have downloaded all the photos, I will add them to the blog.

Whilst we were driving back from Portsmouth, we did a list of things to ask International HR, about look and see expenditure, moving costs, visas, cat costs, flights, all sorts.  When we got home at 10.30pm, Paul had an email from IHR giving lots of details, but far too much to take in after 15'hours travelling.  We went to bed that night very tired and with heads spinning......

Paul went in to work on Wednesday morning.  He received an email from America HR, saying that they required more details on his current job for his visa application.  He went in about 10, had his phone call with international HR at 1, then stayed till usual time working on th info for the visa, despite the fact it is shut down and they are not making any cars!  Luckily he got it all done and emailed that day.

So the contents of the phone call.....Paul was on the phone for an hour and fifty minutes!!!  Not sure where to start.....  Ok, with me.  I get given a lump sum just for going plus a nice sized training allowance, which should be more that enough to finish off my OU. We know they pay for school and preschool for children over 3, so that's Isaac sorted.  Our rental allowance is more than we thought, with variance for un/furnished.  As we have a large family, we have a large container to ship our stuff, if we so choose to.  If we don't want to, we are given an allowance to furnish our new place.  Paul has chosen to have 30% of his wage paid into his UK account to enable us to pay off our credit card debt.  This can not be changed during the contract term, so if we pay off our debt, we can start saving for a deposit for a house when we come back.  We also get a cost of living allowance (COLA), so we should not notice a drop in income.  This is pretty much equivalent to the 30% being paid to the UK.  We also get a flight home for every 12 months Paul works put there, so that's a minimum of 3 flights in the contract term.  It is possible that we can have 2 named airports to fly into, so we would have Heathrow and Paris, so we can go back to France in 2014 for our summer holiday.

It is getting so close now.  This time in two weeks, I will be in bed ready to get up about 5.30am, to get to Heathrow for our flights to America for the first time.  So exciting.  The boys are looking forward to going, Isaac keeps asking when we are going, think he wants to go now!

We have so much to do before then!!  My good friend Laura is having a yard sale next Saturday, and has kindly offered me space on her yard.  We are going to spent this weekend sorting the shed, the junk room, the understair cupboard and the big cupboard in our room into piles: one for sale, one for storage at the in laws and the other for the tip.  It's free listings on eBay this weekend, so lots of stuff will be going on there, anything that doesn't sell will go for the yard sale.  We are planning on going up to the inlays next weekend on an impromptu visit to start storing things.  Need to start getting through it, we don't have much, but a lot of what we have we don't really need.

I also need to get my residential school assignment finished before the look and see, I am motoring through it, just hope it is right.....  It is due in 4 days after we get back from the look and see, so as long as it is done in a good rough format, I should be done.  I think I will get it done, and think I will pass it ok.  Also need to start doing my psychology assignment.  Again, that's not due till 6th October, but september is going to fly by.....

I called up the place we are looking at for our leaving do.  Looks like they will have space for us on our date.  So if you are local, or not, keep the 15th September free!

France - Sponsored by Desperados

Eveing all,

We are still in France, about half way through our holiday, but thought I would update anyway.... 

We had a good crossing as usual, but on a different boat.  We got into Le Havre at 8am, off the boat quicker than ever.  The drive of 389 miles was a very speedy affair, and we arrived at Bonne Anse Plage at just gone 2.15pm, the quickest we have ever done it.  We had one stop, and the boys were great and slept most of the way.  We were even able to get to the pool that Wednesday afternoon, as it was sooooo HOT!!!!! 

The first couple of days were very hot, with a visit to the pool everyday.  It then cooled a little on the friday, starting cloudy then clearing by 4pm, cue more trips to the pool.  We have been coming here at least once a year for 5 years, and the pool has been something else this year.  They haven't changed anything, but it appears Sebastian is a natural water baby.  He has no fear, is not afraid to put his head under, and even tries to swim.  It is brilliant, was a little nerve wracking at first, but once we got him some armbands he has been a little adventurer....

We did the zoo on Monday, it was fab as usual.  The boys really enjoyed it this year, even Oliver.  They loved the goats (Pat the Goat), the giraffes, the wolves, the meerkats and the elephants.  Paul has taken too many zoo pictures, as usual.  And I even got to see some black swans.....

We made it to the beach yesterday, another hot day with wall to wall sunshine.  It was so nice to go, makes it really feel like holiday.  I love the beaches here, despite the massive jelly fish.....  Oli was in the water loads, his confidence has come on leaps and bounds.  Isaac was not too keen, but Paul made a wall to ty and stop the tide coming in.   As it got nearer, Isaac got more interested in the water, and was at least paddling by the time we left.  We spent a good 4 hours on the beach,  an achievement for us with 3 children to keep entertained.  Thank goodness for Nanny, she has been a life saver, don't know how we would manage a holiday like this without her. 

It was the night market last night, so no entertainment.  Seb didn't sleep much yesterday, so he had an early night while we took the other 2 for an ice cream (have eaten loads of those.....).  Oli decided he wanted a tatoo done.  He waited really patiently while he chose.  He decided on a skull and crossbones, when the gentleman asked him which colour, he chose gold!!!!  We managed to persuade him for black and gold, I failed to mention it is all glittery.....

The weather has been quite grey and pants today, so we took the boys to Marennes for a McDonalds, a lovely holiday treat.  Its nice being able to sit outside, while the boys played afterwards.  The weather for the rest of the holiday is not looking too great, but fingers crossed we get typical weather, where it is cloudy till about 2pm, then starts to clear up.  We all (adults)  got a bit burnt at the beach, so would like hot weather, just not too intense, lol!!!

We go home on tuesday, driving all day, ferry at 5pm, should be back home by 11pm.  Paul is back in work on Wednesday, which is not usual, but he has an important phonecall with International HR to set out the terms and conditions on the America job.  In theory he starts 2 months today, thats a scary prospect..... I wanted to post from out here, cos if I waited till I got home I would have far to much to say...We go for our look and see in 24 days time, eeeekkkkkkkkk