The last week (a bit late…)

Last weekend we were lucky enough to go and see another baseball game.  My friend Tracey had reserved a suite, like a private box at the top of the stands.  It even had air conditioning, which was very nice in the intense heat.

We stayed for most of the game, and the kids had a good time.  They were all nice and tired, and Seb fell asleep on the way home.  Nothing like a late night over a long weekend.  

Sunday we went out for some ice cream, then to the pool, then a BBQ at home.  Nice and relaxing.

Monday was Labor Day so everyone was off work and school.  We decided to check out the Bacon Labor Day festival as Simpsonville City Park.  It was well advertised and looked like fun.  We got there about 12.30, and they had already run out of food.  The queues were stupidly long, and there was little mention of bacon anywhere.  They did however have a pretty good car show, always a winner with my boys.  All sorts of different cars, old, new, military.  There was also a stock car, which the boys had kittens over.  The owner was nice enough to let all 3 have a seat in the car.

                                     

                                     

They loved it, it was the highlight of their day.  We felt a little let down by the festival. It was billed as being awesome, and so was not.  Thank goodness for the car show.  We went up to Simpsonville and got some lunch, then headed to Home Depot.

In our last trip to Costco, I had bought a massive bag of floor.  I wanted a decent container to store it, and had an idea for a big bucket.  I found what I wanted.....

                              

Everyone went back to school and work on Tuesday.  Sebastian had his first lunch at school.  He did really well, and ate most of it.  He will now be having lunch there on a Monday and Tuesday.

This still gives us our afternoons together.  We have been to the pool, and caught up with friends.

                             

He is also still off all day on a Friday.  This week we went to Gravitopia for their kids under 6 jump.  This is $8 for an hour 9-10am.  There was only 5 kids and 5 adults.  Perfect.

                             

Then it was shopping at Walmart.  I spied a few presents for Christmas and Isaacs birthday.  Not long now!!!!

After lunch we headed into Greenville.  I wanted to check out the main library.  I was not disappointed.  Their kids section is massive, and although there is plenty for Sebs age, there is even more for kids Oliver and Isaacs age.

Seb loved playing with the castle and the people who went in it.

                              

It took him about 30 minutes to find the computers, which is unusual.  But there were so many other things to get his attention that he wasn't there for long.

                             

They have a play room at the back of the kids area which he also enjoyed.  It was the perfect way to kill an hour before we had to get the boys, particularly in the heat.  I will definetly take him back, and I intend to take the older 2 one weekend soon.  

He had such a good time, and was so please to get this book, that he fell asleep in he car holding it while in car pool for his brothers.

                             

Yesterday we checked out Trains, trains, trains at the Mauldin Cultural centre.  This is an exhibit of model trains that comes once a year.  The boys loved it, even better it was free, though we did make a donation.

We want for lunch at Chicora Alley in Mauldin.  Our friends the Withers recommended it.  We were the first there for lunch at 12, though there was someone drinking at the at the bar.

The server, Corey, was very good, attentive, and not too in your face.  We all went with soft drinks. The boys choose chicken tenders for Oliver and Seb.  We ordered a grilled cheese pitta for Isaac.  He was much dismayed about this, as he wanted normal bread, and boy did he make his feelings known.  Paul went with a burrito, while i opted for the Chicora burger. Sen decided to split his drinks cup, making a large mess, but the staff quickly cleaned it up and got him a new one. We did not have to wait too long for our food, we could even see the chefs in the kitchen. 

After all Isaacs moaning, he loved his pitta cheese sandwich, and the other w were sold on their tenders.  I had opted for sweet potato fries with my burger, and they were delicious.  Paul loved his burrito, especially the beans not being too processed inside.  Everything felt super fresh. 

There was clean plates from 3 out of 5.  The check came.  A pleasant surprise, one child eats free for every adult eating on a saturday.  This made it very reasonably priced.  Pretty sure we will be back at Chicora Alley sometime soon. 

Photo drop

I am feeling a little lazy, I have found a new zumba class, so have been going twice a week.  Yet I am very aware I have not done a post for a while. Think it is everything we have to do to get ready for the UK in like 11 days time.  11 days, eeekkkkkk!!!!

So I am going to put in some photos for the last few days.

Paul got round to blowing the leaves in the garden over thanksgiving weekend.  Seb was a complete contrast to last year.  He was running around with his brothers fighting the leaves with their swords and shields from legoland.  

We went to the zoo that same day.  The boys love feeding the goats leaves.....

I have been in the hairdressers twice in the last week.  I attempted to take Seb to a specialized kids hairdressers, but they were closed.  I bit the bullet and took him to Great Clips, where the rest of the men in this family go.  Seb was awesome, climbed in the bolster in the chair like a pro.  He accepted the cover over him quite well.  The hairdresser got his front first, before he started getting too anstie. My iPhone managed to keep him contented till she had finished.  She was even able to use the clippers.

Paul had a Tesla for an evening.  I have never heard such a quiet car.  It is awesome, and surprisingly spacious.  Here is the touch screen centre console

It is over double the size of my iPad......

Paul had his annual office Christmas decorating competition at work. His pen are defending champions, so it was very important they maintained their crown.  A lot of planning time and effort went into this.  Here is an example of how Paul spends his working days

Needless to say, they defended their crown, and plans are already afoot for the competition next year

We got our Christmas tree on Saturday, so the boys got to choose a new decoration each.  Paul spent Saturday putting the lights outside.  There is a competition in our subdivision this year for best decorated houses.  I am not even sure what the categories are!  But I have been spending a lot of time crafting with the boys.  Isaac and I have made cinnamon smelling tree ornaments, which the boys have painted in preparation for teachers gifts.  We have made copious snow men and Christmas trees, with more to come this week (thanks Pinterest!).

We brought the tree in to the house on Sunday, and spent the morning decorating it, and the rest of the house.  It was nice getting out all the ornaments and decorations from last year, particularly the home made ones.  Sunday was definitely a pajama day, it was horrid.  Today would have been too if the boys didn't have school.  It has been rainy and cold all day.  Good preparation for 11 days time!

Today Seb and I met Paul at the mall for lunch.  Paul got some presents for me, with my guidance.  We had a look in some shops

Seb had great fun in Gap admiring himself.  He was dancing, and talking to him self.  It was very cute.  We have never seen him do something like this.  He was even giving himself kisses.  So cute. I think we need a full length mirror, so he can do this at home.

Busy week this week.  I have a diabetic eye exam, the a diabetic appointment, followed by Isaac's holiday show.  He has been singing Jingle Bell Rock around the house for about 2 weeks.  It is just about starting to send me loopy....

Here are some photos of our festive house to close

Don't forget.....

The Expat Blog writing competition I have entered goes live on the 16th December.  I believe that you have to leave a comment on my piece of writing on their website (must be at least 10 words, and there is a monetary prize for the best comment left!).  Comments can only be posted for 5 days, so I will need as many of you as possible to share my link and get your friends to do the same.  I believe there will also be buttons to like my piece on twitter and Facebook.

I need your help.  As soon as I have the link I will post it here, on Facebook (personal and blog pages) and on twitter.

I look forward to reading your comments!

100th blog post

Wow, I cant believe I have made it to 100 blog posts, in just over a year...

I feel like I should say something significant, but right now my mind is a blank.  I won't bore you with what we have been up to this week (that post is coming soon....).  Instead, I think I will just put in some photos from the last 100 posts.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog I *mostly* enjoy writing it, it lets me get a bit of perspective on what is going on in our little lives.

Heathrow airport, off on our look and see

My lovely Netmums ladies, I miss you guys 

My first car

Experiencing Mice on Main

Cutie Pie

Getting kitted out for baseball

Gappy Gosling

Paul and Uncle Tony

One of our first trips to the pool

Chilling in Orlando

Insider knowledge

I know I only posted last night, but this is how it seems to be going:  days where nothing happens, then I get loads of info at once!

I sent all the forms for Olivers school today.  They have already processed his application!  I now need to get Mr Ancell to fill in a Teacher Recommendation form, then send this along with his birth certificate.  They also asked if Oliver spoke German (no!), so he does not need to be in the German for native speakers program.  Paul then received an email from the Clarity testing people wanting to check out when we are in South Carolina, so they can arrange the test.  Have looked at their website, and it doesn't seem to be an academic test, more a test to see if his abilities match those of a 1st grader.  I have no worries about this, he read a whole page of Harry Potter tonight....

Paul had a good chat with a collegue today, who went out on the ex-pat scheme a couple of weeks ago.  So he has given some good guidance on where to live, the look and see (kids may get bored, thank god for iPods) pushy real estate agents  (stick to what WE want, not what they want us to have).  He also gave Paul his address, looks very nice!  He commented on how HOT it is, after all our rain, I am really looking forward to that.  He has a large communal pool, tennis courts, baseball field, basketball courts and a clubhouse with a gym.  But they are currently living in an apartment complex while they wait for their container to arrive/house to be ready.  Apartment pictures look nice, lots of good facilities.  The container picture looks scary though, how much of our lives are we going to be packing up???  When do we do that?  Do we live with little furniture in our house???  Another unknown....

He also warned that the HR department in Oxford need to be pushed, as they are really busy.  We also need to be prepared to pay deposits for utilities (up to $1000!!!) on our Look and See, which we knew about.  We will also have no credit rating when we go out there, apparently it is like being 16 again!  It is also going to cost us about $1000 at the embassy when we go for our visa's, and he advised to not take the kids, as it can be a LONG wait.  Will have to see about that one when we get our appointment.

They also discussed cars, typical men!  Paul's grade will enable him to get a X5 for nothing, as an ex-pat we also get a second car.  We keep the cars for 14000 miles, thats about 6000 more than Paul has his here.  When you collect your first car, you have to place the order for the second one straight away.  Paul wants to get a 6 series convertible for himself, but we are not to tell them that I will be driving the X5.

Pauls collegues child was due to start school in the UK this September, but given that they don't start till the September after they are 5 in the states, is starting next year.  He did give some details on which kindergarten she is going to, so going to look that up in a minute.

That was enlightening reading, and certainly brightened my day