Update

Good golly, it has been 10 days since i last blogged, this could be epic.....

Ok, so last Sunday we went to Lake Greenwood State Park for a picnic

 

It is a beautiful place, lots of walks, and you can swim in the lake (once it gets a bit warmer of course).  The boys had fun walking and playing in the park.

We met up with some English friends on the monday.  That was fun.  They are currently on their first visit back to the UK since moving over here, so I hope it is going well for them.

Oliver in Chapel

Tuesday we went to Roper Mountain Science Centers butterfly garden with our friends.  There were not many butterflies yet, but we were able to walk around.  They have a good sized pond, with lots of turtles, who were ever so friendly.

Hmmmm

Then on the Wednesday (cant believe it was a week ago....) I went in to the Chapel at Oliver's school to hear him read.  Paul had managed to get the whole day off, which was handy.  He read beautifully.  I saw hime practicing first, and I must say the main event was much better than the practice.   In the afternoon I headed to Greenville Technical College to resit my exam.  I think it went well.  I wrote for 2 hours and 45 minutes of a 3 hour exam.  I even filled my answer book, for the first time ever in an Open University exam.  Fingers crossed, I have nailed it, I am hoping  I might even get above 55%, which would give me a grade 3 pass, which equates to a 2:2 in this module for my degree classification.  It would certainly help to bump up my average....  Oliver had another baseball game that night, which we all went along to.  saw something on the field we are not used to seeing....

Thursday we met up with a new friend Christy, and her boy.  Turns out Edmund is only 2 days older than Isaac.  They all played very well in the park, with each other and the other kids who were there.  Oliver had yet another baseball game, but with a later start, so I went on my own.

Friday I met up with a friend for coffee in the morning.  She is a baseball mum, English, but has been over here for 22 years and is married to American.  It was nice to chat and Seb was good as gold.  Seb and I then headed to the park to meet up with our friday morning group.  This was fun, they are a lovely bunch of ladies.  We collected Isaac from school, headed home to have lunch, but Seb was a nightmare.  He still really needs his morning sleeps.  He didn't eat his lunch, so I put him up for a sleep.  Isaac and I spent the afternoon playing.

We did not do much over the weekend.  The big Costco shop was required (ouch, but we haven't been there in 2 months).  Then some lunch.  The afternoon was spent with the boys doing their activity book, coloring and playing.  It started raining at some point in the afternoon, and did not stop till 10pm Sunday night.  Sunday was a pajama day, which everyone enjoyed!!!  Apart from Seb.  I had intended to try and keep him up all day, but he had other ideas.  He ended up going for a sleep about 2, and I had to wake him at 4.30.  We had a yummy roast which again, everyone enjoyed.

Monday, Seb was not well.  He was burning up and very lethargic.  I have not seen him be that ill for a while.  We cancelled our plans for Monday.  He seemed a bit better on Tuesday morning, but still not himself, so we cancelled our plans again.  I kinda wish we hadn't, as by the afternoon he was much brighter almost back to his usual self.  Oliver had another late baseball game last night, his team lost for the first time (at his age, they do not keep score, as 'everyone is a winner', but his team mates always score the games).

Sebastian only woke up this morning when the other 2 went up to brush their teeth at 7.15.  He is definitely on the mend, and we have kept our plans for this afternoon, as long as it doesn't rain....

It seems to be school activity week this week.  Tomorrow Oliver has a play at school.  Friday is Isaacs International day.  This would appear to be a day where the school celebrates everything international.  The kids are welcome to go in traditional dress from their countries.  We do not have anything like this, so I think Isaac is going in his Liverpool football kit!  They also welcome you to bring a national dish, so I may attempt to make some scones on thursday night.

Big news..... Sebastian is going to be starting at Isaacs school in the Autumn, well, August.  He will do Monday and Tuesday mornings.  As he is not 3 yet, we will have to pay for him ourselves, but it is actually cheaper than Isaac's preschool was in the UK.  It is also the time he would have started in the UK.  At the same time as Seb doing these 2 mornings, Isaac is going to start doing 'lunch and learn', where he stays till 2.45 on the same days, and gets to do fun things like Spanish!  I am going to have some time just me......  It is going to be weird.....

Another presidential debate........

Not long till the election over here, cue another televised debate. It is sort of interesting to me, but its politics, and it gets on my nerves a bit. So here I am!

Things are still going well. Friday after I got Oliver, I got paul. He had the joyous news that his car will be ready on Monday. So we celebrated by buying a lawnmower. We went to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays, which was yummy, despite the fact the boys were nightmares. Had a few beers after the boys had gone to bed....

Paul was wonderful and let me have a lie in on Saturday morning, as he wanted to watch the Formula 1 qualifying. I needed that lie in..... Paul then proceeded to play with his new toys, and cut the lawn, took a good 45 minutes, it was quite long.... The rest of the day was just spent pottering around the house. Seb and I were the only ones who left the house, and that was to go to the supermarket. We fed the boys early, and we had some yummy ribs for dinner.

Sunday we all awoke early. Typically during the week when we have to get up at 6am we have to wake the boys, yet at the weekend they will quite happily wake up naturally at 6am. Chris came round on Sunday morning, unfortunately Kathy was unwell (hope you are better now x). Was nice to meet him, and chat about life out here. They came out a month before we did. Sunday afternoon we went to one of the many parks in Simpsonville. It is another good one, with a large park, basket ball courts, a water park, a bmx track and lots of football pitches, which were really busy! Sunday league football is alive and well in the Deep South. We then headed to Walmart to get some shopping and other bits and pieces. I did my first roast, a yummy chicken. The chickens out here seem really small....

Monday we awoke to take paul to work for the last time. I then drove on to Oliver's school. He went in straight from the car in carpool. He had a bit of a wobble, but he went in ok. Isaac went in fine, he seems to be really enjoying it. He was telling me about their chickens today..... Seb and I headed home, got him down for a sleep, and I began revising for my afternoon exam. Paul got home about 12.30, we had some lunch, and I set off. Took me a while to find the right building on campus. Greenville tech college is huge.... Exam was in the dental department. I got there with 15 minutes to spare, logged in on a computer outside the room, then headed in to a cubicle room, to show my i.d. And I was handed my paper and shown in. I went to a table at the back, and made a start. I think the first part of the exam went ok, but the second half I could only answer one of the 3 questions really well. The other 2 I tried, but I am really not sure about them. I left the 3 hour exam after 2 hours 10 minutes. I just didn't have anything else to write. I foresee an April resit coming my way..... I headed home feeling a little disheartened..... Luckily paul had done an ace job with the boys, so I didn't have to worry too much about them. So we fed them, and sent them to bed. We relaxed had yummy pizza, and quite a few beers. I felt drained, but was able to relax in front of Dancing with the Stars', loving that program!!!!!!!

Today was the first day I have taken Oliver straight from home to school. We left here at 7.37am, and got to school for 7.55am, perfect. Straight from there to take Isaac, and was home by 8.25am. Not bad..... I headed into greenville to go to a meetup at Falls Park, with some people I met online. It was nice to meet some people, and chat to adults. I don't really get that with school or preschool, although I am sure the schools have social things at the beginning of each term. Have missed this one, but I hope there will be more in the new year.

Oliver's proper uniform arrived today. I am going to try and get different photos on here, as he has different jumper/ tshirts etc.....

Went for my first American Zumba class tonight. I was late, it was in the YMCA gym. I walked in, asked for the Zumba class, and they sent me straight upstairs. It was quite good, a real good work out. At the end, I went to the instructor to pay her. Turns out, you are supposed to be a member or a guest.... Whoops..... No one questioned me, so I got out of there as quick as possible. So my Zumba class was free this evening....

So that's it for now.... I have no Uni work till at least April, thank goodness. Am looking forward to settling in, exploring and generally having a good time. I need to meet more people. I always used to use Netmums, but I have not found an equivalent out here yet. Think I may have to start frequenting more parks or something... Suggestions quite welcome...

The Presidential debate is quite interesting. Paul made a point that Romney seems to have an agenda, whereas Obama just wants to make his country better.... Lets see what the commentators say in the morning......

Manic monday

The day started with Seb sleeping till 6.30am, huuuurrrrrraaaahhhhhh.  Oli woke about 7, and we had to wake Isaac about 8, because as usual we had loads to do.  We went down to breakfast, got back to the room.  Paul loaded the car with all the crib bits, and we set out.

We stopped at Walmart on the way.  This was our first experience of a Walmart, and paul needed some tools, and we needed some bits for the house.  My god the place was massive.  Puts the French hypermarkets to shame.  I reckon you could get 4 Littlehampton Tescos into the building.  We picked up the bits we needed, we could have got a lot more, but we were in a hurry as we had to meet our realtor at the house at 10.30.  We tried to drive there without using the satnav.  We almost did it....

Arrived at the house about 10.20.  Davrie the realtor turned up, we had a good chat, she gave us loads more info and paperwork and set off on her way.  Paul went about making Seb's cot and one of the boys beds, while I loaded the dishwasher with loads of the stuff we got in Ikea.  We had our first meal in the house, lunch, sandwiches and crackers with fruit and crisps.  Time was tight, as paul had to be at work for 1pm, and had realised he had left loads of paperwork stuff at the hotel, including the details we needed to pay his cheque in at the bank.  So we set of for BMW

I dropped paul of then headed back towards Greenvile.  On the way paul text to tell me he had the door key for the house.  I was heading to Target, a big store in the hope of picking up some more bits for the house.  I got there, and realised I had forgotten the hotel keys.  So I couldn't get in to the hotel or the house.  Just as I was getting the boys out of the car, paul texted me asking him to call.  Called him back he needed picking up.  Turns out there had been a calendar malfunction.  While he thought the appointment with HR was 1pm, it was 1pm UK time, and 8am USA time, so he had missed it by 5 hours.  He was able to reschedule most for tomorrow, and some for the 1st November, so it wasn't all bad.  Plus he got his cheque.  We headed back to the house to pick up the bank details, and I drove is to the bank.

Grace at Bank of America was her usual charming self, paul was able to deposit the cheque and get a temporary bank card.  I in the meantime had waited outside in the car.  Seb was asleep and the other 2 were on iPods.  It was lovely and quiet, and I fell asleep.  Paul had to wake me as I had to go in to sign for my bank card.  Unfortunately we have to wait for tomorrow for the funds to be clear.

Nevertheless, we headed to Rooms to Go to check out the sofa we had seen in August.  We ended up buying it and an ottoman for a very cheap price.  The boys were an absolute nightmare, they really don't dig furniture shopping....  We have managed to get delivery arranged for Wednesday, only downside of this is it will be anytime between 7am and 10pm.....feeling buoyed we headed to Target, in the thought of getting some electrical goods.  Half way round, we decided to put this off  till at least tomorrow when we have more idea what else we need/want.  We then headed to World Market in The hope of ordering the table we had seen on Saturday.  Paul went in on his own (the boys had had more than enough of shopping by now), and came out to say they had everything we needed in stock!  We can pick it up tomorrow morning!!

We went to J Peters, 50 metres from our hotel for dinner.  Yummy 14oz rib eye steak for me and paul, and the boys pretty much finished their chicken tenders.  We came back to the hotel, and the boys had a relatively normal bedtime.  Paul has been doing paperwork bits ready for tomorrow, an I have been sorting the suitcases for things we can take to the house.  Think we have 2 big ones and 1 little, all ready to go.

Tomorrow paul is headin to work for 8.30 in the morning.  I am going to take my time with the boys, take them to breakfast and let them doss around the hotel for a bit till paul comes home.  We are supposed to be getting our first car tomorrow, so hopefully that will be available in the morning.  Would be easier to transport the dining room table using 2 cars.  We are also hoping to order the tv, and possibly get the mac, blue ray player and other wonderful electrical goods.....  We also have to make a big order to ikea for delivery.  We are going to get our bed and all the bits for the office on there.  We would never get everything we want in the car!!  Think we are planning on spending most of the afternoon at the house, making the furniture, and trying to settle in a bit more. As I said earlier at least one of us has to be there all day Wednesday. Not only is our sofa coming, but our airfreight is arriving!

Forgot to mention, they have found me somewhere local to do my exam on 16th October! I am calling the exams office tomorrow, just to be sure, as I thought I had a deferral....think that's an exam I am going to fail.....

Will try and update tomorrow, am pretty knackered tonight, and I might have an exam to revise for.....