Sooo...

Sorry, I've neglected this place lately. I don't know why. Just haven't felt motivated I guess.

Repatriation is Hard. I think it is, in many ways, more difficult than originally leaving the states for Wales. This move we have six people "homesick" for the old place. Yes, even Miss Mousie and the Tiny Goddess have mentioned wanting our "old house" and our "old car".

But life goes on. We are settling in here and starting to build a community. And before you say, "Oh but you are so outgoing, you're good at that sort of thing." Sure, being outgoing helps (and don't think I don't force myself to be outgoing. I have to force myself to put myself out there.) I'll repeat it here again, community building is a skill not a talent. Yes, like any skill it comes easier to some but it is still work and hard work at that.

The children are doing well. The boys still would "rather be in Wales" (their words). But they do like it here and are making friends. We live in a nice neighborhood where we can bike to the library and walk to parks and shops. Near our house, in our neighborhood, is a great nature preserve and wetlands. We consistently see blue herons, swans, ducks, seagulls, and cranes there. I've also seen bats and deer.

We found a lovely homeschool group and enjoy our local Quaker meeting. I'm even teaching the Explorer and the Tiny Goddess' First Day School class this month.

The leaves are changing colors, the weather is bright and sunny and cooling off. I'm enjoying the autumn breezes and sights and trying very hard not to think about winter.

All gone to look for America...

I have a lot I still want to post about, but very little time to put my thoughts into words these days. We are leaving for America tomorrow, as in very early. We leave the house at 4:30 am British time. Can I say that we are not morning people. Not at all. We fly from Cardiff to Amsterdam (ok, side note, who can tell me the rest of the song I learned at camp that goes, "Amster, Amster, shh shh shh!" Seriously, you give me the lyrics and I will send you a present.) We will spend five and a half hours in the Amsterdam airport. Yikes! Luckily, it is a large airport with a museum in it even. I hope that it's not too stressful. It was either that or have an extra plane to take. As it stands, we will arrive in America at 6 pm their time. Please don't ask me to decipher how long we'll be in the air, those kind of temporal discussions give me a headache. (I feel a bit like a time traveler, though. It brings out my inner Trekkie.) So our plan is to keep the kids awake for two hours at least once we land and get to bed by eight. We'll see. I'm not looking forward to the flight. I still have nightmares about the one we took over here during the Big Move. So we are packing 3 outfits a piece and bringing extra luggage in our suitcases to fill with Things We Cannot Get Over Here. I'll give a list once we fill them. I'm also bringing over things like gluten free goodies for my sister, lemon curd, and hot cocoa (Cadbury makes this fabulous hot cocoa!), as well as various gifts we've accumulated for people. We will be dressed in our traveling clothes, aka tie dyed t-shirts. No, it's not very Duggar family of us. (Not that we don't love the Duggars! We are certainly not dissing them one bit and wearing matching shirts in public with a large family is brilliant. That's why we do it.) Think traveling clothes like in the Sound of Music! Let me tell you that the tie dye t-shirts in a busy airport are a Good Thing.

So I know both of my readers are asking themselves, "What about Funny Thing Thursday? I can't live without it!" Not to worry. I am going to set up my blog to automatically post it for next week and here is today's Funny Thing Thursday:

Funny Thing Thursday