It's Saturday!

I finally feel like I'm recovering from my "vacation". Cash and I are now waking up at a more decent hour (6am is much better than 4am), I still feel tired but it's a lot better. We are heading to Las Vegas today to meet Evin's sister Carylie. We found a truck for her to drive, so she's flying in from Reno and then driving it home. I promise I'm going to post pictures from my trip. I just got them downloaded from the camera a few nights ago but I've been catching up on house and other chores. That's all for now.d

Back in the USA!!!

I'm so happy to be home, I'm not so happy that I woke up at 2am. Cash woke up about 3am and has been watching tv. We have also had some bowling matches in the office while trying to keep quiet because Evin is sleeping and has to go to work this morning. We got home about 8pm last night, the flights went well. It was sad to say goodbye to my dad in Houston but I'm happy he's got a good job in Austin. My dad and I had some interesting times at the airport. We also didn't have internet or phone access while in London. The highlights of our stay in London was Natural History Museum and the huge dinosaur bones that I couldn't capture in one picture, Portabello Road Market/Notting Hill and Kensington Gardens. The lowlights were 3hrs in Heathrow airport on Sat night just trying to check in for our flight and find out where we needed to be on Sun morning,the price and problems of having to depend on public transportation. It was a good thing we spent this time on sat night because we would not have made it to our flight on time. Heathrow airport is the most confusing unaccomadating that I have been to. I actually had a guy refuse to help me with my oversized carseat bag because it is against their policy to lift bags! I confirmed this was true, it is against UK law because if they hurt their back while on the job guess who pays! UK government. I also called for a help bus by following the instructions on a sign to be told that I have the wrong dept. and was told to find an information desk. I'm just glad I was traveling with my dad because there is no way I could have done it myself and would probably still be wandering around that airport like all the other people we met and saw! One more thing I have to say is good old Costco is not good in England, we got in the door with no problem, wandered around and found some items to purchase. At the checkout my Costco amex card worked for my membership info, when I tried to pay they said they didn't take American Express, when I tried visa my card it didn't have the right chip and wouldn't swipe. We didn't have enough cash to cover the purchase, so we tried the ATM which wouldn't take our card either because of this new UK chip, we had Dollars but they didn't want anything to do with them. I verified that Costco was an American Company which takes my Amex and visa card in the USA, they gave me some story about Amex costing them more to process through Amex UK . The manager was not willing to give us any options or help. My dad really wanted the stuff so we went back to town and got the dollars exchanged, at least they held our cart for us so we didn't have to go through the store again. Maybe I am wrong but doesn't Visa boast that anywhere you see the visa sign it is accepted, I have learned my lesson. The USA must be a lot more accomodating than other countries which is why we live here. I'm proud to live here and will not take that for granted. If anyone has any complaints with this country, I suggest you travel to another country. No country is perfect but I haven't found a better one yet (I'm open to suggestions though!). I also want to mention that Evin didn't understand my addiction with the sunday paper and threw away my coupons last Sunday (he also didn't see the recycle bin I have for the newspapers). I did make it home in time to save yesterdays papers, so if you see a crazy lady at Alberston's muttering quiet but harsh words to herself it's just me wishing I had those coupons. This blog is too long but I missed some days last week so I had to catch up. Will post pictures once I get unpacked. bye for now.d

Shopping Day

Today I get to have some shopping time to myself (a very rare occasion these days).  My dad is going to take Cash swimming this afternoon and I am getting dropped off in town to browse around.  This may not seem like a big excursion to anyone but me. Cash has been very good this trip but he gets tired of walking and wants to be carried which makes me tired. Apparently my dad said the spud man is keeping his eye out for me.  We always used to get a baked potato with toppings from this vendor and somehow he remembers me. We also went to my brother's friend's mom's house whom I haven't seen in 20+ years, she looked familar and seemed to remember me. Driving by my old house, school & swimming pool is so strange, the road, house, yards all look so much smaller. My uncle is coming over again for dinner but I've yet to see my Aunt Anna and cousin Alina, they are very busy people whom I can't get on the phone. Well I'm still trying to keep these posts short. Oh we found a Costco close to here and we are going to go check it out this morning. Talk later.d

Shorter blogs

I'm going to try to keep my blogs shorter. I am hoping to take Cash to the park today, we had indian food with my uncle Slavko and Aunt Gail last night. It was so good, I'm not sure what the meals were but we had a little of each. My granny doesn't feel up to going out these days and since it's cold we don't try to talk her into it. She's 88 next month and has still never owned a washing machine, she doesn't want one either. No microwave or toaster at her house. Granny does have satelite tv (only because someone else got it for her), It's almost a choice to live simple,  people here still hang their laundry outside to dry and they have a lot more rainy days than I have in ST. George.  I'm amazed at how well my granny's take care of themselves and their homes. I can only hope to be like them when I'm their age. Oh yeah I'm trying to keep this shorter. Anyway, I had better go. Talk later.d

Family

Hi everyone who's blogged in today (made that up myself, does it make any sense to anyone but me? usually never does!). We have made our way north to Warrington which is by Manchester which is by Liverpool (anyone got a map yet?). I think my dad has dreams of being a truck driver. He covers distances that most people wouldn't. We drove through snow and rain on Sunday night but made it safely after 6 hours of driving, Cash was really good, I think we wore him out at the party so he slept most of the way, I'm sure glad I brought my huge reclining car seat. People freak out here about the snow, it's crazy. Personally I saw more snow at Pine Valley reservoir when I was there tubing a few months ago! We won't make it to Ireland this trip (poor me!) Our time is running short and I didn't want to make Cash suffer a 24 hour rush there, rush back part of the trip. We had an awesome time at the surprise party last saturday. I took lots of video footage and pictures. I'm sure they won't invite me back again. Lot's of shy people not wanting to be on camera. Granny I'm sure was overwhelmed. I can't count the number of cards and presents she got, we even forgot to give her some and found them unwrapped the next day. What exactly can you get an 84 year old that has 14 children? Well my dad suggested a Frankie Howard DVD that she could listen to because she doesn't see well anymore. My granny is amazing, her doctors, dentist, church, grocery store, etc. is all about one block away.  She walks somewhere almost every day, she still goes to keep fit (excercising for seniors). We also got her a simple cordless phone so she doesn't have to get up and rush to the phone. Each of her daughters has a specific day to call and talk to her, she's got her monday girl, tuesday girl, etc. It's great, she's almost got too many people worrying about her. I will post some footage later but she actually played mini golf with Cash in her hallway, she hit the golf ball better than me! We played pass the parcel (present) at the party, my dad rigged it for some reason and gave out some very nice presents. I have never seen so many funny people in one room, I can just imagine how their life was growing up. I'm sure you loose your sanity at some point in time. The biggest surprise of the party was my Aunt Carole who walked in the door about 1/2 hr after us, she had called my dad, said that she had gone back home and wouldn't be able to make it to the party since the airports had closed and cancelled flights. She somehow managed to show up at the airport sat at 4am and demand to go to her mum's party. I'm pretty sure they figured out not to get in her way. She had to leave her husband and three grown children there but at least she got to come. My cousin Tommy talked my ear off and said Cash was the best kid he's known (maybe I should have him over to babysit or nanny for me!). I want to wish Evin a Happy Valentine's Day because I won't see him until the 15th, I also want to remind him of my Valentines present, to have our master bedroom toilet fixed and the lid back on since it started acting up months ago. The things you think of when you've been married for almost 12 years! Anyway, Uncle Edward (Eddie) was the hit of the party with the kids, he's the eldest at 65 in June. He had a few too many drinks (or is just normally like this, I'm not sure) and was crawling around on his hands and knees. I sent my dad after him when he went outside like that. His son had to gather up all the stuff falling out of his pockets. He was also dancing but I don't remember there being much dance music. Granny didn't want to go home until the party was done (I'm the same way unless Cash gets tired). We are planning to take Cash swimming today, I sure hope the pool is warm. I went there as a kid but for some reason I don't remember caring about the temp of the water. Cash is so excited about everything. We didn't get back to stonehenge because of the weather and I didn't even take a picture last week! Lesson learned, take pictures everywhere. I didn't get any pictures of the driveways I was explaining about. You'll just have to go visit my granny's town to see them. We also missed out on Monkey World (Cash is still asking to go there even though he doesn't really know what it is, if it sounds good it must be good). We were afraid to get snowed in there and not make to my other Granny's house. We are heading to London Friday morning and hope to go to the Natural History Museum and some other things but we'll probably have to ride the tube (subway) to get to most places. Well I had better go for now, hope this blog didn't bore you and wasn't too long. I have to tell Cash that his best friend Marli got a dog, he's been asking for a Red horse and a blue dog for his birthday (or is it the other way around). He also amazed everyone with his throwing abilities at the party.  He didn't break anything but he did jump on Dave's leg one time (who just had surgery last week!). I was so embarrassed but he handled it pretty well. Bye for now!D

Granny's birthday

It snowed for Granny's 84th birthday. We had plans to go out for dinner but it was too snowy. We ended up ordering chinese and bringing it back to Granny's. The best chinese ever, well so far. I can't even tell you what we ate because we had so much variety. We have plans today for the big party. Not everyone has made it into town because of the weather. As I speak the slush has turned to ice on the roads and most people can't drive in these conditions. My dad however has gone out to run errands, I'm sure he'll help someone out along the way. There are two houses that most everyone is staying in. We checked them out yesterday. One is a 6 bedroom 5 level house, I'd say about 20' wide and 40' deep (from what I remember), think skinny and tall townhome style with one parking spot in the rear.  We couldn't park out front and couldn't find the right back door until we counted houses from one end. It's nine house in from one side and probably at least 10 from the other side. The private alley is just wide enough for a car with brick walls or tall bushes on either side. Believe it or not some have a one car garage back there also. I'll take pictures next time.  The other one is also huge but not as many levels. It has a little larger road to it but no through street, the road is covered in ice and you have to do a 6 point turn to get back to the street.  There is a 3 car garage area to get turned around but it's on a slope. My dad went back late last night and the power had gone out so he took them leftovers over there. Hopefully the power is back on today, it's a neat part of town called Upwey, there is a wishing well there also (big attraction apparently).  There is also no cell service there, it seems to be in a small valley. Cash wants to slide down the mountain in the snow. I don't really want to climb that high but maybe my dad will. So my dad and his car got pushed out sideways by some of his siblings on the iced side road last night to get back to the main road. I'm glad I didn't go with him, Cash had a busy enough day. Some of the family members that were coming from Ireland have been delayed, the bristol airport was closed and reopened but cancelled a lot of flights, they are hoping to fly into stanstead but it is further away and at least a 5 hr drive. I think they are determined to get here though. My uncle Edward made it over from Ireland but he got the ferry and drove his car over by ferry. It's a more expensive option but it works if you don't want to rent a car. It's also longer than by air. There are 3 siblings not able to make the party but it should still be a lot of fun. My dad got some pictures to download onto his computer but for some reason there was a problem with blogspot uploading so still no pictures. Lots more to tell but I better get ready before my dad comes back and finds me slacking off. We are hoping to leave tomorrow in between this storm and the next one, we are heading north to probably colder weather. Cash want to go outside so he can throw snowballs at me so I had better go. Talk later.D

The Beach

We went to the beach today, I wish I could post pictures but it will have to wait until I get home.  I forgot my camera cord and my card doesn't fit into the laptop slot. We were all dressed like we were out in a snow storm with hats, boots and big coats.  Cash enjoyed it and didn't want to leave. My dad and him made sand castles, we walked into the water a little but not enough to get wet. Cash especially enjoyed knocking the sand castles down.  It was so windy and cold, I couldn't believe it.  We are due for some more bad weather this weekend.  The family will start arriving on Friday and we are trying to keep the party a surprise for Saturday. My dad and I have been trying to make all the plans, we will be taking Granny out for a birthday dinner on Friday to an Italian Restaurant.  Cash actually found the place while we were wandering around town this afternoon. He saw a balloon and I asked my dad to see if they would give us a balloon, they graciously got one for us. We thought the place looked nice. We went out and a few minutes later the balloon got loose from the string and away it went.  I wish you could have seen the look in Cash's eyes.  My dad seemed to think we could just get another one on Friday. Knowing how Cash loves Balloons, I suggested we ask for another one.  We were given a balloon, we promised we'd be back to eat on Friday. The second balloon made it back to the house but has already lost it's air. Cash would like a balloon for his birthday among other things, I'm going to surprise him with more than one.  It's amazing what kids love and how they can fall apart over something so meaningless to us. Well that's all for now, I had better go see what my dad is doing to the downstairs bathroom. He's already done the oil change on the car and many other odd jobs. It keeps him out of trouble though. By the way, I already checked out grocerysmarts website for this weeks grocery coupon savings and it looks like I'm not missing out on any killer deals. Lucky for Evin because I'd have to give him a crash course and send him to the store with the coupons (I can imagine him cringing while reading this). Talk to you later. Diane

It's raining

It's raining, it snowed last night but has now melted. Good old English rain. Cash wants to go to the beach, I'm trying to delay that trip but mostly because I don't want to freeze. We did find a kids golf set, soccer balls and sand castle building tools so we played in the back yard yesterday. Well this will be a quick post since we are getting ready to go to town, we also had a few rounds of golf in the hallway this morning. My dad is being the handyman around here. He's fixing stuff in Granny's house. I don't think he can sit still for more than two minutes but we are enjoying each others company. Well I had better go get bundled up for our trip to town. It is approaching11:30 am here and 4:30am? in Utah. I still feel jetlagged but it's getting better. talk later.d

We made it to England

We made it, just in time. If any of you have seen the news for England. It's snowing here, today the airport had the two runways closed and one plane slid off the runway! It hasn't snowed like this in 18 yrs, thanks to Russia for the weather. We landed at Heathrow yesterday morning, met up with my Aunt Jackie who delivered us our car. It is bitter cold here, I didn't want to leave the warmth of the airport but at least our car was warm. The roads were clear for our trek south to Granny in Weymouth's house, it was about a 2 hour drive. We made a pit stop at Stonehenge, Cash was asleep and it was freezing outside so we will probably stop on our next trip. I guess you can't get close to it anymore, it's not quite the same experience as I remember long ago. We are pretty far south so it's sunny now but close to freezing temps still. My dad wants to swim at the beach and Cash wants to build sand castles so I'm hoping it warms up a little. I haven't taken any pictures yet and I forgot my cord so we'll see if I can get any downloaded. Last night Cash wanted to go home. I tried to explain how far we were and the things we could do here which didn't seem to help. He spent a few hours awake watching movies and eating goldfish crackers. He then fell asleep and I had to wake him up at 11am local time. We are trying to adjust to the time change of 7 hrs ahead. My dad who seem to adjust fine, who also has no problem driving on the other side of the road. Me sitting on the left with no steering wheel is freaking out about the small lanes and windy roads. Uncle Roy and Uncle Jonathon (so far we've seen 3 of my dad's 14 siblings came by last night as I tried to keep myself awake.Well I had better go, Cash is hungry and is demanding food. I'll post later.D