22June2008: Day 28: Church and a Birthday Party

Teri wrote the last two posts, so I'm back at it now. Today started early with me getting up to go to an 8:00 am service at All Saints Maidstone. It is a huge perpedicular or parallel style church. There were only about 10 of us there, but I hung around after and talked with someone who knew a lot about the Church. We walked around and I took some snapshots, which I included below. Apparently this was the church of Lawrence Washington, who is the great great grand uncle of President George Washington. What is interesting is the family crest. If you take a look at the picture, it shows this stars and stripes, so it was the Washington family crest that likely inspired our flag.

As I was talking with the gentleman the captain of the bell ringers came in and he said I could come up into the bell tower and watch them ring the bells. It was amazing to see.
Here is a picture when they were getting started and there were 6 people. They apparently run these chains of ringing that can take up to 3 hours to run through every combination of bell ringing. They have 10 bells, so each combination of run is changed by one bell in timing until all combinations are run out. So, the first run is bell 1, then 2, 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, and then the next one would ringing bell 2,1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10...look at the page in the book. I took a snapshot of one of their music books. They are not allowed to look at them while ringing so they have to remember the order. It was pretty amazing. The captain was in London the day earlier ringing the bells for 3 hours. I heard on the news that people are complaining because people can't go into their gardens because the ringing is so loud and goes on for so long. I had no idea that this was what the bell ringing was like. They travel around to other churches ringing their bells as well...I think they called it "ringing the changes". I walked around the church and saw some very old graves from the 1700's.

I'm going to try to upload a movie, but I'll post what I have now and if you don't see the movie, then it failed.

Later that day we went to a birthday party for the child of the coworker whose wife Teri has been going to play group with. It was great to see Makenna really enjoy herself running around and playing in a bounce house and a ball pit. She really liked the ball pit and pretended to swim in it. Then there was this guy dressed up in a lions outfit that came and once she got over her initial fear she kept running and pulling his tail.

Anyway, we are moving tomorrow into the new house and we may not have any internet available until July 1st. Teri is not looking forward to it either, since there will be no cable until then as well. Oh well. I will try to do some updates at work so that I don't get too far behind. But, we are all packed and are very happy to get into the new house. It is much bigger and closer to what we are used to. It should be very nice and we can't wait.

21June2008: Day 27: Stop & Smell the Roses

The pictures are from one of the two castles we visited today. The first castle, Walmer Castle, on the east coast (near Dover Castle from last week,) also had grounds with a lot of different plants, trees, and flowers growing. Makenna notices flowers whether in pictures or for real and always makes a scrunched up nose face as she sniffs. So we thought it would be nice to actually catch her smelling a real flower and especially these huge roses that they had on the grounds.


Walmer castle isn't as "grand" as some of the other castles we've visited but it dates back to the 16th century and is another one of Henry VIII's many castles that he had built. One of the differences with this castle is that it has no high walls for protection. They say this was due to gunpowder being more widely used as a means of attack and therefore having higher walls would've only given attackers more of a target to hit. I think something funny about this castle is that it was built due to threats from Spain but by the time it was finished, the threat was over. So what they did was actually build a house like structure in the castle. So as we were touring it, it was like being in someones house with rooms with windows made from the areas where cannons used to sit within the castle. (A good site to see some better pictures is: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.14948/chosenImageId/1)

Also, interesting was that the Duke of Wellington died at this castle in a chair, which they still have. He was the guy who defeated Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo so he was well known and respected. There were many different types of things that were made of his image such as coins, mugs, busts, etc. But the real interesting thing they had of him was a "death mask". When he died, they actually took some sort material and made a mask of his face. They now have it displayed inside the castle along with all these other types of replicas of him. It was very eerie. They had obviously removed his false teeth as his mouth was sunken in on the mask.

The second castle we went to see was Deal Castle. Again another one of Henry the VIII's castles to defend the coast against Spain and France. It was built in 1539 but really did not come under fire until the Second Civil War in 1648. Again it was built to handle heavy artillery from all sides as it has six semi-circles with an outer wall of the same shape. So to look at it from the top, it looks like a flower.

Nothing else too interesting about this castle, in my opinion, but we did happen upon both castles today in the midst of getting ready for weddings. So Walmer Castle clearly posted that it was closing early due to a wedding, whereas Deal Castle let us walk around in the chaos of them getting ready. They had a huge pig on a spit being roasted, and they were setting up tables outside on one of the turrets where guns used to be (and a replica of a gun is now). They also had a DJ and speakers inside one of the rooms of the castle and more speakers outside. They also had a lot of furniture that I'm pretty sure wasn't around in the time of Henry VIII. Chris said how it looked like someone brought in their furniture from their house. So it took away from the ambiance of a castle in my opinion but it would've just been empty rooms otherwise. It's kind of neat that you can rent out some of these castles for just such an occasion.

20June2008: Day 26: Kentish Lady River Boat

I've been wanting for some time to take this River Boat ride on the Medway and since it's pretty cheap (5 pounds) for an hour trip, I figured today was the last opportunity for Makenna and I to try it out. I was also hoping to go to an animal park that they'll stop at on request but it wasn't going to work into the schedule today. So we walked (okay, I walked, she rode in the "pushcart"), downtown to pick up the boat. It was an okay trip. We sat inside the boat as I figured safety over viewing, but it had large windows to see out of and on the half-hour trip up the Medway they talked about the different buildings and sites along the way and a bit about it's history. The one that really caught my attention was about this castle but it's not open to the public as it's privately owned. I was like, how cool to own your own castle. There were also a lot of boats, yachts, dinghy's on the river.

Makenna did fairly well on the trip. I was prepared with a couple of cookies to keep her rants and raves down if needed - and it became needed after about 15-20 minutes. She really wanted to get out and walk around but for obvious reasons, I didn't let her wander. So that frustrates her.

We then walked back home but made a stop at a hair place so that I could get my hair cut and talk about how awful my hair has been since moving here. I know this part might get boring but let me tell you, it's been very distressing to have my hair turn to "straw" practically. The beauticians said that my hair was actually quite soft and that it's most likely due to the water here (which is what I figured), as they said it's very hard water. They said that when they were in NYC just a month or so ago, they noticed how soft their hair became from the water. Plus they mentioned how they loved it in NYC as it was so cheap. Imagine that, we think NYC is expensive (not including the "hot" deals you can get on the streets), but compared to here they know they are getting more for their dollar so to say. They were very nice and Makenna enjoyed them too as they gave her two biscuits (cookies). She repeatedly said goodbye to them as I was getting ready to go. She knows how to pour on the charm when needed. Even when she knows she's doing something we repeatedly tell her "no" to, like climbing the stairs here, she will climb a few steps and say "hi" real innocent like, repeatedly- that makes you smile and makes it hard to say no.

Well, then we just stopped at the park on the way back to the house. She actually climbed the steps to the slide all by herself (different slide from yesterday). She did really well. I'm so impressed with how much she learns so very quickly. She sees the other kids climbing this tire ladder or climbing up the slide the wrong way and she's off trying to do it too. Even with words, she will mimic you very quickly now (so note to all our foul-mouthed friends - NO MORE SWEARING Around Makenna!). Tonight Chris was driving on the wrong side of the road (for a very small amount of time) and when I mentioned it to him, he was like "Hello" and right away Makenna says "hello".

19June2008: Day 25: Can't move in yet!

Got a call today and found out we can't move in until Monday. Something about the money clearing in the bank. So, we are going to meet the agent at the house at 9:00 am on Monday. Kind of stinks as we are really looking forward to getting out of here. I guess one more weekend is fine.

Teri went to play group with my coworker's wife Rebecca and had fun. Makenna was pretty good. Apparently, she had Teri in stitches because Makenna was trying to sit down on this bucket to eat her cookie and every time she would step back as she was starting to sit and kick the bucket back. She kept on doing this and did this squating backwards walk, always catching her self as she kicked the bucket back out from under herself. Pretty funny.

Other than that, it was a pretty light day for activity. Work was just a bunch of meetings and discussions on how to get the team organized, but I think it is coming together. There is a lot of work that is starting to come in and it will be busy for a couple of months.

I also found out today that work is going to reimburse us for bedding. They has specifically told us that we didn't need to bring towels and bedding because it would be provided in a fully furnished rental, but they were wrong. So, they agreed to pay for it, which is nice. Nothing is cheap here. A quilt and two sets of sheets and 4 pillows was the equivalent of $240 at a warehouse store. I would have thought it would have been no more than $100 back home. I don't know how people survive here. It is funny, but engineering salary's are actually lower than back in Binghamton. Crazy.

18Jun2008: Day 24: Chris is on Travel

Teri was doing the blog the past few days because I was in a town called Warwick on business. This is a really ancient town and there were a number of timber houses that were all bowing that were going on 400 years old. Warwick has a beautiful Castle and Cathedral that the Marketing person I was with really thinks we would enjoy. There is a lot of open fields and nice country in that area and it reminded me of home. Warwick is about 2 hours away from here and traffic can turn that into 3 or 4 depending on the time of day. We made it back in 4 hours though.

Anyway, it looks like we might be doing a demonstration program with them in time, so I will likely be going there a lot. Teri pretty much sat around the house today. I got home around 4:00 and tried to put Makenna down for a nap, but she was totally not having it. We worked with her helping pick up puzzle pieces she likes tossing all over the place. After a couple of times back to the naughty step, she finally got the picture and did pick them up. We are trying to teach her to pick up more and I think she is learning.

17June2008: Day 23: Mote Park Take II

Well, Makenna and I went back to Mote Park BUT this time.....I actually drove! I was very nervous all morning about actually going this far (probably 3-4 miles) but it meant going through downtown Maidstone and changing lanes and going around, round-abouts (like our JC Circle but less controlled). I finally prayed for the 5th or 6th time and then got Makenna in the car and off we went.

We stopped to feed the ducks first, although all you see in this picture is geese. She finds this quite hilarious to do. Except this time, one of the stupid geese actually came up to her and took the cracker right out of her hand. This obviously freaked her out a bit. I think it nipped at her finger. I told her she either has to eat it quicker or throw it quicker. As you can see in the picture, it looks like she still hasn't grown much hair since we left, but you'd be surprised - she actually has more. It's just so blonde that it's hard to see.

After that, we drove back up to the playground area where we stayed for quite some time. She climbs, with the help of mommy, up the planks and over the bridges and then down the slide. I'm trying to get her to do it more independently but she feels she still needs my help. What's funny, that we've found, is that when she falls she just sits or lays, depending on how she fell, and she'll just hold her hands up. She can't touch the ground with her hands. It's funny to watch. She'll whine and if she's fallen forward, she'll lay her forearms on the ground but she can't get up that way so she'll put her right hand down but there's something about her left hand that it just can't touch the ground. Not sure where this "phobia" has come from. So today, she fell on the trampoline area they have and I made her get up herself. She wasn't too happy about it but she did it.

Other than that, she just walks around the playground area and doesn't really seem to want to try too many things. I got her to explore a little further today by going into areas she doesn't normally want to go in, or on playground equipment she avoids. I was able to get her to sit on this thing that spins for a bit and when she got off, she was obviously dizzy.

Oh, then one really funny thing is that she saw this little boy in a Fred Flinstone type car (where you use your feet). She immediately went up to him and followed him as he went up and down this area with his car. He stopped when he realized she was following him and he asked, "Do you like my car?" Her reply was "Yes". He asked a couple more times and each time she said "Yes."
So not only does she have a thing for clothes but for guys in cars. GREAT! We are in sooo much trouble! She finally grew tired of him though (Good thing - his car wasn't that great).

Well, then it was time to drive home. That, unfortunately, did not go as smoothly. I missed this turn I was supposed to take so I had to go another route and that led me down a street that had curbs that jutted out. That would've been okay if it wasn't for cars coming the other direction. Needless to say, I ran over a couple of the curbs before I got the hang of it. I'm hoping that these tires are durable and I don't have a flat tomorrow (I checked later this evening and they look okay). It's just that you're so used to judging the left side of the car because you sit on that side, that when you're thrown to the other side, it's like the width of the car gets distorted. I was just glad it was a curb and not a person or another car. I guess I'll get more practice tomorrow as I'll get a chance to have the car again and if it's a nice day, I might try an animal park that's not too far away. So I better start praying now.

16June2008: Day 22: Boring Day

Well, no new and exciting trips for us today. Makenna and I walked into Maidstone and did our usual shopping. Just bought a few essentials really. It was a perfect day for walking as the humidity was low and the sun was shining. So I didn't have sweat dripping off of me by the time I got the the shopping center. It was a good day to get a couple of loads of laundry done too.

On a good note, it looks like we will be moving this weekend into Gillingham. So that will give Makenna and I new scenery when we go out walking. We'll have to go into the shopping areas and check them out. I know there's a park not too far down the road - like 2 minutes - and it's bigger. So that will be good. The first thing we have to do is buy her a ball. She tries taking other kids balls when they fall near her and since "football" (soccer) is such a huge thing here, taking one of those is like asking for a death sentence.

I did also take a small "side" trip as we were walking home from downtown. There's an area called "subway" and I had asked some ladies from church where that leads to. They told me that it isn't a subway as in transport, but just takes you under the road, like an underground path to the other side or along the Medway to walk along the river. So I tried it. I think it is quicker to just cross the street the old fashioned way.

15Jun2008: Day 21: Cathedral and Leeds Castle

So I got up this morning leaving Teri and Makenna to get ready to go to a 12 century church called St. Margarets. Unfortunately, I got there to see no one around. The notice said they had a 8:30 am service, but noone to be found. I wandered around the grounds for a little while and noone showed up. Oh Well. I took this picture of the Church. It has an old cemetery all around it.

I got back to the house and asked Teri if she would like to go to the Cathedral today and she agreed. We drove to the Rochester Cathedral. They were having a special service where they were instating a new Cannon for the Cathedral, so the Bishop was there. and he did the Sermon. He isn't as dynamic as Matt and I really didn't get much out of it., but it was interesting enough. Of the three hymns I only new one. I think it would have been better if it wasn't a special event. Unfortunately, we got there so early that Makenna wasn't happy about being there for so long so shortly after the service started she started fussing and Teri was escorted with Makenna to the Crypt where they had activities for kids...so, they pretty much missed everything. Then when Communion was starting they let the baby's back in and I took Makenna up for a blessing. We had to move to the Choir after communion and there was no seating and Makenna immediately wanted to move around and we never really recovered. I took her out of the Cathedral and walked her around and then went back in right at the end of the service and then we quickly left. She was just so tired. We went home and she slept the moment she was in the car.

Around 2 we went off to Leeds Castle, which was more a residence than an actual defendable castle. It has been protected by various ladies throughout the ages and is set out on a beutiful lake with increadible grass grounds and ducks and swans everywhere. There were even peacocks, and we caught one showing its plume. Makenna had a breakdowan again during the tour, so I took her out while Teri went through and then I went back in when Teri was done. It was basically a richly decorated residence and was inhabited by its owner up until the 1970's. Once we got out of the Castle we got Makenna some chips (they call them crisps here - chips are french fries) and she calmed right down and we had an enjoyable walk out with her running in all directions.

The tickets we have apparently are good for 1 year so we are going to go back soon and do the shubbery maze (it's called something more impressive, but I can't recall.). There were a lot of people having picnics and it was one of the best days weather-wise we have had. Sunny and cool, but not too cool.

14Jun2008: Day 20: Dover Castle

Today we drove down to Dover Castle along the coast and the White Cliffs. It was interesting to get a tour through the underground tunnels that were used to defend against Napolean as well as in World War II. They were greatly exapanded during WWII with a hospital and many communications command posts. There was a lot of Museum type things there, not as much as the Tower of London, but still well worth the trip. Here is a picture of the Castle and the White Cliffs. You can see the windows going back into the underground tunnels cut into the cliffs. One other interesting fact was that there was a third level that was planned to be used as a Nuclear bomb shelter, however it was poorly planned because the lime stone is pourous and water would have seeped the radiation down into the shelter had there been a nuclear attack.

There were also tunnels that were used back to medievel times and Teri and I walked through them individually, because we couldn't take Makenna. It was somewhat spooky walking through a place that has been around for 1000 years and where people had died. There is nothing like this level of History in the States...it is very humbling.

Dover Castle was used by Kings back to Henry II. Henry VIII used it for only several days at a time because during his time it was considered outdated. After he broke from the Roman Church, he went there to inspect the fortifications because France and Italy were threatening war. When he went there they would have to build up all sorts of fake ceilings and wall coverings to meet his standards. It did have a nice Chapel in it as well. But it has been a fortress protecting against all agression from the main continent since 1200AD. The Romans put a light house there and you can still see portions of it from that time dating back to the 1st century.

There is a church there called St. Mary's in the Castle (I'm standing in front of it with Makenna on my shoulders to the right). It has held military services since 1000AD. It fell into ruins at one point and used as coal storage, but was rebuilt in the 1700's. Unfortunately, we could not get into it. The roman light house was right next to it and while it was mostly ruins, it still was an impressive building for its height. Mostly it was made of flint and motor. Flint seems to be a widely used building material in these castles.

There is a lot of gafitti in the Castle from various prisoners that have been held there. I sat next to one and took a video of it and it was data 1709. I was sitting on a step right next to it and able to touch it. It wasn't covered at all. Anything like that in the States would be a national treasure behind glass and alarmed. Here is it everywhere you look and it is almost taken for granted.

Makenna had only one meltdown, so she did pretty well. She actually ate two whole apples...from the top down. We had to pull the stem out of her mouth because she was eating that as well.

The trip wasn't as exhausting as the Tower of London and barely anyone was there, so it was a very relaxing day. Dover is ony 50minutes from where we are right now. You can pick up a ferry or the tunnel as well near there, so it is the main gateway to Europe.

13June2008: Day 19...not much

I've been trying to write these things in the third person, but it is too hard. For the most part it is Chris writing these things (Teri did one a couple days ago)...so just assume it is me and I will have Teri say that it is her in her posts.

So, nothing exciting happened today, but we did get our pin for both our credit card and our debit card, so now we are able to get money...well sort of. We went to Costco and bought a whole bunch of food and some sheets and a duvet (comforter) and pillows for the new house. We went to pay and I could not remember the pin! Luckily I had used the card earlier to get cash, so we just happen to have just enough money to pay for it all.

I just looked online and my paycheck in the US didn't get posted. I thought it was weekly, but maybe it is biweekly. They also haven't given me my health benefits forms yet (we're still covered)...it seems that I have to remind people to do everything over and over and they don't do it immediately. I can't believe it takes much time to put the forms in the mail... It makes me think that if I don't know about something and can't remind people, then I will miss out on something important. I'm going to sit down with the HR manager once we are settled. He wants any lessons learned from this process. I'll definately give him an earfull.

Makenna was good and I kept her happy by carrying her around the store one my sholders. She really is tough to carry that way because my head is alway bent forward a little, but it is easier than carrying her in your arms.

I'm actually writing the Saturday morning and we are going to go see the white cliffs of Dover and Dover castle: see link http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.14571

12Jun2008: Day 18: Minor news

We found out that we will be moving into the new place on or around the 18th. So another week here. Other than that, Teri went to the dancing and music thing with Makenna again with the wife of Chris' co-worker. Makenna got tired early.

We went on a long walk with Makenna in the evening and ended up carrying Makenna on Chris' shoulders which is the first time we tried that and she seemed to really enjoy that.

More or less, uneventful day. Except it was cold. Tomorrow is supposed to be the same. Apparently, you guys back home are experiencing a heat wave. I guess I'm happy it is not the same here because we have no fans or air conditioning.

Say happy birthday to Stephanie for us and also Brittanie coming up. Sorry we missed your party. Have an extra bite of cake and ice cream for us.

11June2008: Day 17: Attitude Adjustment

Today was a boring day for Makenna and Teri, they hung around the house most of the day. After Chris got home Teri actually took the car by herself for an event at her church. She made it safely out and back without a problem, so hopefully, Teri will be less nervous about taking the vehicle while Chris is a work. We are going to be moving close to a coworker, so we are hoping perhaps he could share rides and Chris could leave the car with Teri.

Attitude Adjustment. There is a little thing here called the attitude adjustment which is really just going to the local pub for lunch, but it sounds much more mysterious when you call it that. Anyway, one of the guys on the team became a grandfather for the first time, so we celebrated at lunch today. It was good to get out of the office for an hour and mingle with the people I work with. They suggested we should have a July 4th party at our new home and I like that idea, so we'll probably do that as a house warming thing.

Work is pretty much the same as over in the states. I'm just beating fires back and helping people to understand the system better. Next week we are going to visit the customer and try to knock down a bunch of issues. So, that should be interesting.

The coworker we are going to be living close to has given us a bunch of toys for Makenna and she was so excited about that. He also gave us a bunch of towels since we are not going to have any in the new place. He's a good guy. His wife is the same age as Teri and is into ballroom dancing and teaches it. So, who knows, maybe we'll sign up for some lessons and be able to do more than just a box step!

10June2008: Day 16: Mote Park

Well, today Makenna and mommy walked into Maidstone then from their took a taxi to Mote park, as Teri didn't want to get lost in trying to walk there herself. Plus from past experience she tends to walk into areas she's not supposed to, like along highways that run out of sidewalk. She did ask a bus driver if their are any buses that go to the park but he said it would still be a 2-3 minute walk. So since she'd have no idea where she was going once she was dropped off - Taxi it was. It was only 4 pounds.

The park was huge! It had a lot of open grass land and paths to walk/bike along and other areas she didn't see as she only really stayed around the playground equipment. They had about 3-4 areas of different playground equipment. Each area was different in that things got tougher (harder to climb, bigger, etc.,) so it was almost broken up into sections for different ages. Of course, kids could go anywhere they like. They also had a sandbox type area, but they steered clear of that as mommy didn't want to walk with a ton of sand in her shoes.

What's interesting is that all their playground areas are gated. They don't allow animals (dogs) in the gated areas to keep it clean, and the ground is all rubberized. Like recycled tires, so it's very spongy like.

Makenna, in this one play area, found a little seat that had a steering wheel and lever, as if shifting. She really enjoyed that and kept saying "home" as if she was driving us home. She wasn't much for the other areas really but liked walking around. We sat and ate the lunch that mommy brought, and then played some more. Then they went down to the river or lake, she's not sure, and Teri brought crackers assuming that there would be ducks there - which there was. Makenna laughed quite a bit when mommy threw crackers at the ducks and they all came scrambling to eat them. Unfortunately, there are a lot of geese also (like we don't see enough of that back in the states), and Makenna doesn't have the greatest of throws - yet - so the geese would practically come up and get very close to her hand or feet as that's where the crackers were, so mommy had to shew them away so they didn't bite at her hands.

Then they took a taxi back to a store called Lidl (which is like our Aldi's). Then from there, walked home. It might be the last day at a park this week as they say rainy weather is coming. It was also nice enough day for Teri to do one more load of laundry to hang out - Yeah! (Little things like that excite her if you had to go through what she do to get laundry done around here).

9June2008: Day 15: Electric Car

Chris' work is sponsoring an electric car - really a electic soap box car. It is being built with a class of 11 and 12 year olds. They and their teacher have welded up a frame and integrated two lead acid batteries and an electric motor provided by the racing officials. The race is next Thursday and Chris found out today that his work is supposed to be helping them. So we travelled down there today and gave them some ideas and took back some information to help us figure out a speed control. It is their first time in the race and they are competing against schools that have done it for the last 4 years and are entering 4 cars. The goal of the race is to see how far the car can go on two car batteries with one change out of batteries in a 4 hour period. Last year the winning team when something like 130 miles, which Chris thought was amazing (but it does take much to push a 60 lbs. kid around I guess).

Chris traded in the car for a larger car that is diesel today and he likes it a lot better. The last car was tiny and got poor gas mileage. It didn't fit much more than us and Makennas stroller and a large bag. This one can fit all that and probably 3-4 bags more...it is much more comfortable. Teri drove for the first time yesterday back from Church with the small car, but this is a standard and she is even less happy about driving it. Oh well. She will have to do it eventually because she is getting tired of not being able to get around.

Teri walked down to downtown Maidstone today while the house was cleaned and did some shopping. Makenna slept the whole way. It was a very hot day today, the hottest that we have been here, so she managed to get laundary dry.

We walked down to the park this evening and Makenna ran around trying to copy this little boy that was climbing and jumping off of things taller than him. Makenna walked up a slide the wrong way and almost got away from us because it was so high. We eventually coaxed her to slide down.

No news about the house rental today, hopefully tomorrow. The shippers called last Friday to tell us that our shipment had arrived and Chris forgot to call them back today. We're going to try to get them to hold the shipment until we are in the new house so we don't have to move it.

8June2008: Day 14: Second Full week ends

Chris went to St. Michael's today for their 8 am service. There were only about 10-15 people there. It was so High church that he though it might be a Catholic church, so he asked the lady in front of him before he wen't for communion. (In fact, I read their literature later, and the priest is basically saying that they teach the Catholic faith). They said the Hail Mary full of Grace thing that he had never heard back home. The priest Fr. Paul Gibbons, was from the Ukrane (or at least vacations there) and was apparently heading back there this week for a vacation. So there won't be an 8:00 am service for the next two weeks. The church is part of the Forward in Faith movement that is traditional orthodox. He was very dissappointed with the way the Church of England was heading and is upset that they have to spend time away from the things that are really important. There were some nice people there that offered to meet with us during the week. I probably won't do anything there as we are hopefully moving up to Gillingham next weekend.

His church was very beatiful with amazing stained glass and painted murals. (I wish I had brought my camera.) The stained glass along one side was the old testament saints and the new testament saints were along the right hand side.

After that we went to Teri's church in the area. There are nice people there and all very young with young children. Their service is very different, basically, three people chosen weekly give talks on various topics, with hymns in between and somewhere through there you have sacrament. (It is more like a meeting than a the worship service that I am used to). Then there is an hour of sunday school and then an hour specifically for men and women split.

We were out by 1:00 or so and it was a beautiful day, but Chris was still tired from the day before so we went back home and rested for much of the day.

7June2008: Day 13: Tower of London

Today we got up and got everything ready and then walked down to the Train station about 1 mile away to head into London to see the dreaded Tower of London. When we got to the train station we spent 15minutes trying to figure out what train to get on and how to make the transfers. But, once we asked for help, we understood it well enough, though it is a bit confusing how to interpret the arrival and depature times. So we got onto the train and Makenna was good until I made the mistake of responding to her request for a cookie. Teri said "don't do it, you'll spoil her." But, Chris said: "what can one cookie hurt" and handed it over to the cutest smiling happy child you would ever see. She gobbled the cookie down in about 2 minutes and then the finger comes up: "Un mo", "Un mo", which is "one more" in Makenna-speak. Chris said: "no, no, honey, you've had enough". And BAM, NUCLEAR MELTDOWN!!!" We spent the next 15 to 20 minute hearing her explode into ear piercing screams and cries. She completely broke down so much so that Chris didn't even think she was awake. Chris had never seen her so distraught. Of course, at that point we could not give it to her because she would learn that that is how you get things, so we suffered, along with everyone one in our car and I'm sure the two cars in front and in back. A nice lady behind us said "Don't give into her, but she is going to be a great singer with those longs...this is good practice.", which made us feel a little better. Other people were yelling out "Oh, give it a rest!" Oh well. She finnaly calmed down, but wimpered all day practically. Every once in a while giving out a pathetic "ooky" when she saw the bag that we had them in. We figured out that if you break a cookie in half, then when she gives the "un mo", you give her the other half and she thinks she is getting two. So, I think we figured out the trick. Hopefully, that will work for a couple more weeks until she realizes she it getting the short stick.


So we got off the train at London Bridge, apparently some rich oil tycoon bought it back in 1969 and moved it to Arizona. The London Bridge he bought wasn't as impressive as the Tower Bridge, so people think he really wanted the tower bridge, but he denide it. Here is a picture we took:

We started walking around and stumbled into Southwark Cathedral, which is beatiful, but no where near as much art and such as Westminster or Rochester. It was still nice on the outside too:


Anyway, so, the tower of London. What an amazing place. Crowded! Wow, there were a lot of people. Apparently, it is even worse on Sundays. I tell you, the only people that are equipped for that type of crowding are the Indians. I'm sorry if any Indians are reading this, but I had more Indian people pushing me in the back than I care to have in a lifetime. They were literally pushing me to move forward into the people in front of me. And, whenwe didn't respond, they would literally squeeze around us bodily forcing their way through, and then 20 other small women and men would follow them. If you left any space in front of you between what you are looking at and yourself, there a 5ft tall Indian would squeese themselves in blocking your view of what you were just reading. (I tell you they were like Gnats! So, I'm sorry if this seems ethnically rude, far from it, they impress me. I haven't met an Indian that isn't the nicest person in the world when you get them out of crowds. We Americans are just not used to working with crowds I guess, so, kudos for the Indians for figuring out how to make it work! ) Also, they make good food. Indian food is very popular over here. Every place serves Indian food. You go out for Chinese, there indian food is. You go to a place called New Orleans...there Indian food is...again, Kudos to the Indians, they've even budged the line onto the menus of ahead of ribs. Wow!

So back to the Tower of London. It has the crown jewels, which were incredible. I don't think I've seen that many diamods and gems of that size in all my life. And the Gold! Incredible. They had this punch bowl and ladle that were 3 ft around and 3 ft tall of Gold! Not sure if it was solid gold, but it was huge! They had these 2000 lbs doors locking it all up, but you could stand within a foot of it behind glass. It is amazing they can do that. (I'm sure laser beams come out and vaporize anyone who tries to take anything.) They had the Second Start of Africe on one of the crowns and it was 3 inches in diameter easy. HUGE. (I can't imagine being the person who carve that, one slip and CRACK, oops...sorry Queen.)

The white castle is there as well, the oldest castle apparently, made by William the Conquerer or some person. (I'm so bad at history) Anyway look it up online if you want to know for sure. Inside was Armor and weapons going back to his time and the largest collection of old flint lock riffles, blunderbuss, and pistols anywhere we have seen.

We got a audio tour headset and it guided us around to the places where various people were held prisoner. Where King Henry VII killed of two of his wives out of the 5 or 6. They showed us traitors gate where a boat could come in quietly and drop off prisoners. This place has been around since 1060AD or there abouts. Amazingly ancient. They had ravens there as well that they have clipped the wings of so that they won't fly away. They eat chicken and other meats. They say that they started showing up there because there were so many executions and the birds are carion eaters...say no more. Anyway, apparently there is some supersition that if the raven ever left the White palace that the castle would fall and so would the monarchy. So, ravens have always been kept there.

(By the way, you might see that I have shaved part of my beard and went with a smaller beard. I did this when I first went to work, but not sure if I like it.)

We headed back in the evening and Makenna was ok on the way back but squirmed quite a bit to get out of the seat and walk around. We got back around 8:30 and grabbed some Chinese food (that we picked out on the menu in between the Indian food), along the walk back to the house. We were so exhausted when we got back, we went right to bed after eating. Our legs were very sore from all the walking.

6Jun2008: Day13: One more look at the house

So today I got out of work at 2:30 and drove up to Gillingham where the new house will be at. I took about 20 minutes, but there was some congestion at some spots. Overall, it would be better if I were closer, but the house is very nice. The back yard is very nice as well. Makenna will really like exploring it. It is all enclosed with a high fence, but there are a lot of trees and such around. Nice little park. The landlords have agreed to put in a dryer and another king size bed. The bed they have in there is only about 6 inches wider than what I would call a double from home, but apparently, that is what they call a king size here. Whatever. I think they are full of it. Since the single is the same size as back home, then I would be suprised to see a double that much smaller than what the king is. We'll get used to it I guess. They are going to buy a widescreen tv as well for us. We will have to buy sheets and a comforter, but we're not paying for the heat so, I'm not going to spend much on blankets, just keep the heat up at night. It doesn't get that cold here anyway.

No pillows though either, so we'll have to buy some of those. If anyone is coming over for a visit bring sheets and a pillow if you can.

Hopefully we can move in next weekend. Work has a van I think we can borrow. The items we shipped are apparently in customs, so hopefully we will have that next week.

We finally got access to some cash and we now have a checkbook for out accounts here. Crazy thing is, they have to mail us a pin. You would think we could just get one online, but no.

The coworker's wife who Teri went with yesterday called up again today and Teri went out for lunch with her. Unfortunately, when we move to this new place it will be more distant from them, so it may be harder for Teri to keep that relationship growing, but another coworker lives right across the street where we will be moving and she has a 4 and 6 year old, so hopefully we can get together with them sometime.

Tomorrow we are going to travel into London on the train to see the Tower of London. Hopefully, Makenna will be good and I'll get some good pictures and footage to put up.

5Jun2008: Day 12: What can you say about Thursday.

Actually, today was a busy day for Teri. She was picked up by the wife of a coworker and they went to this kids thing. There were about 50 kids entertained by two women who sang and played keyboard and danced for the kids. It was pretty crazy with that number of kids and Makenna was a bit tired and cranky by the end, but Teri enjoyed the other contact with adults.

The agent contacted us today and said that the first place we liked along the river was definately not going to be available until July 10th at the earliest, so we have decided to go with the other place. Chris is going to take one more look at the place tomorrow to check out if there were really towel and sheets and stuff or not and take a look at the garage. The house is quite large so we will hopefully feel at home there and the yard out back is very secure. So Makenna should like playing out back.

Anyway, tomorrow is a short day at work. I've been staying a little late this week as we have had some problems, but things should be better next week.

The naughty step technique is starting to work with Makenna. Teri doesn't like how Makenna likes chewing on her shoes (yuk!), so she told her not to a couple of times today and when she didn't listen Teri, put her on the step and only had to put her back once. Makenna cries and whines when she realizes she has to stay there for a minute, so we know we are finally getting through to her. Hopefully, she will start understanding better "no" when we say it. Right now she just smiles, which unfortunately is very cute and makes us smile which takes a lot of the force off of the "no". Anyway, she's getting to know it better now...we hope. She is too cute.

4June2008: Day 11: Decision

Well, we decided on the second place we liked because I found out that a person who sits next to me at work lives a couple of doors down and there is a nice Church of England just down the street with child care and lots of other services including a gym nearby for Teri. We are still holding out for the off chance that the place we wanted as Teri's first choice, but I don't think they will be able to pull in the date into June because their son is still in school until July 4th. Both of us are sick of this small place we are in, so spending another 3 weeks here would be really bad.

I still don't have a corporate credit card nor any money given to me over here as an advance and that has gotten the people on the US side fired up now because I'm asking for reimbursement, so I think there is going to be some complaining on their side for me. The US side gives the UK people a AMEX card the day they arrive and it is bad form that the UK side is making me wait. I don't understand the hold up, but they are going to get to the bottom of it for me hopefully.

Teri took Makenna to a park today and met a person that told her about some activities around here. She also called one of my co-worker's wives and she is going to come over and pick Teri and Makenna up tomorrow to take them to a play session somewhere.

Makenna was really good today, so Teri was happy. Apparently, Makenna has picked up some new things from the TV because Teri came home from the store today with some yogurt and dropped one on the ground. Makenna was there and she said a perfect Homer Simpson "Doh!", which made Teri laugh hysterically. I guess we have to be careful what we are watching and saying now. I said "Dang it" the other day while driving and she spend the next half hour trying to recreate it. She couldn't quite get it completely together, but she got attitude right.

We are holding 3-4 flash cards at a time up now that have pictures of animals and different houshold items and we are able to ask her which one is the "vaccuum" or some similar thing and she can point to them pretty well now. So, she is really impressing us. She seems to understand us more and more and we are asking her more complicated things like: "get the remote and give it to mommy" and she is doing it. Kids are pretty handy for lazy parents!

Anyway, it is late...good night.

3Jun2008: Day 10: Holy Expensive Batman!

Ok, today was an eye opener...£16.50 to wash clothes...and really not that many. So, the equivalent of $33.00 to wash clothes. Ouch. Chris thinks he can expense it since we are not in permanent housing, but wow! How do people live here without a cost of living adjustment like Chris has? We complain about the cost of things, but really Chris' company has been very generous with us, so we don't think we will actually lose money, but we certainly aren't going to walk away with extra in the bank.

Anyway, we looked at 5 properties today, one was just part furnished (didn't really have enough for us to live in it), another looked like the people just one day decided to leave a couple of months ago. Strange. There was even jars of change around the house and drawings from their children on the fridge. The agent said that no one was living there, but I don't know if that was really correct. Anyway, they didn't have a bathtub, and they had a pond in the back yard so that one was right out.

There are three that we would consider. The first one we saw is along the river Medway in an affluent neighborhood. It is really nice and close to the Cathedral and all the good stuff in Rochester. The only problem with it is that it isn't available until July, other than that it is perfect. We are trying to talk with them to get it earlier, but they have a child in school so, we don't think it is likely. Next there was a place slightly farther from work, but it was a nice home. The family has moved to Australia and are renting out their home as an investment. It was nice and close to a park. Teri liked this one second over the first one we saw. But, Chris likes the second one better because it comes with a grounds keeper service to do all the weeding and grass mowing. They are also very flexible and we can ask for things. They are going to provide a wide screen TV and a new bed already. But, it didn't have a dryer and we will probably want to ask for that, some linens, bedspreads, and cable connection for internet. The last place that we liked was very close to work and was very modern. It was missing some things we would like to have, but would serve fine we think and we can rent some items I'm sure, but it is way up a hill and Teri wasn't so sure about that if she is going to be pushing a baby stroller.

We think we are going to follow up on the first one and see if they will pull in their date at all, if so, we may just wait for it. But, the second one is very tempting if they come through with agreeing to a dryer, queen size bed, linen, and installing cable if they don't have it. Oh yeah, the first place has a king size bed, so that is a big plus. Apparently, we have some real pull with landlords because my work is paying the rent and it is more or less guaranteed and regular and landlord like that.

2Jun2008: Day 9: work day

Today was a work day for Chris. Teri and Makenna had an exasperating day. Makenna decided to just be fussy all day and wore her mother down quite a bit. Nigel at work gave Chris his wife's number for Teri to call to get her some adult conversation, but Teri hasn't called yet. Hopefully soon because Teri is missing that type of contact. Chris told her to contact her Church as there are many mother's there that greeted us last Sunday. Several of them had just moved into the area as well, so they are all somewhat in the same boat. Teri wants to wait until after tomorrow as that is our first day of home searching.

The Agent has setup 6 house visits tomorrow and we are excited to get going. Hopefully, we will find something we like and be able to move right away, but we shall see. Most of the places are up north in Chatham and Gillingham which are closer to London, but people had advised us to stay away from there because it is not as nice of an area, but these homes seem very nice. I think any town has its good and bad areas. Maidstone is probably one of the best in the area, that is where we are at right now.

More tomorrow.

1June2008: Day 8: Tonbridge Castle

Today we got up and went to Teri's church which is right down the street. There is a Church of England church right down the street as well which is called St. Michael's, but it has several services throughout the week as does the Cathedral in Rochester so since her church only has one service on Sunday we went there. At the Cathedral, there are evensong services after work at 5:30 during the week, which Chris definitely has to see. Chris was planning to go to the 8:00 am at St. Michael's, but he forgot to get up today. (Stupid)



We don't know if we are going to be permanent in this area and we are going house hunting with a service work lined up for me several days this week. We will likely be here at least two more weeks even so.



We went to Tonbridge castle today. It is smaller than the Rochester castle, but it has been repaired and is more touristy in its interior. Mannequins setup with chain mail and sitting on the toilet (seriously), stuff like that. The have several videos through out the tour and a recorded tour you rent for £6 each. It was very interesting and only took about an hour, which was perfect for a Sunday afternoon. They were having some sort of sword fighting activity in the courtyard and a jester juggling. Here are some pictures:





Here is some odd bit of trivia...we don't think the Brits use ice! We haven't found ice cube trays, nor is there ice at gas stations, even when we were at the Dickens festival yesterday, they didn't have cold drinks with ice, just bottles and cans in tubs with a big chunk of ice, if you were lucky. We don't understand it. Their soda machines at Costco didn't even have an ice dispenser. Chris went to the grocery store yesterday and couldn't find ice trays (actually the freezer doesn't have a place for trays anyway) But he did find plastic bags that are broken into compartments and you fill it with water at the top and the water flows down into little pockets. Then you tie it off at the top and throw it in the freezer. Chris is drinking a glass of juice with ice right now, the first ice he's had since we've been here. Anyway, it's strange. I had a friend at work from Yugoslavia who didn't put ice in his drinks ever and I always thought it was odd, but apparently, it is normal for over here.

Makenna was good all day even falling asleep during church after we soothed her by rubbing her head with a little piece of felt from a book she has. Teri said Jared did that at Church back home and it calms her, it put her right to sleep here. She was great at the castle and enjoyed yelling loudly in the one big chamber inside the castle and hearing herself echo.

It was really nice here again weatherwise. Two days in a row...we'll see how long it lasts.