Incoming!

Knowing that we had guests coming in June (Kathy and then later, my parents), I ordered beds weeks earlier for our guest room. I got two twin beds for versatility for our guests and because we have a narrow staircase.
But the furniture store was having problems with their distributor & so 3 weeks later than promised- the beds arrived. (Missing Kathy's visit entirely!) So with just one day until the parents arrival, the beds were delivered. But as hard as the delivery men tried (and discussed and discussed), they could not maneuver them up the staircase. They just didn't fit. This didn't make any sense to me since we had gotten an office desk and wardrobes up the stairs. So when my loving husband got home from work, we tried getting the beds up ourselves. Still didn't fit. So what did Shawn suggest? Go through the window!
The upstairs window was wide enough, so we hoisted them one by one to Shawn standing on top of one of our cars, then he pushed it into the window as I pulled it through. And boom! The beds made it upstairs!

June!

We've been enjoying the summer so much, I haven't blogged anything about June yet. (But I do use the term "summer" loosely, since it doesn't always feel like your typical summer here in England.)

June was fun...
- we went to the Strawberry Festival in Cambridge (which has nothing to do wth strawberries & is more about music & hippies),
-the squadron pig roast/ camp out (we camped out on base while some of the guys stayed up all night to slow roast a pig. I didn't taste the pig, but I was happy to beat the guys at the poker table),
-and Kathy came to visit for a few days! Had a great visit- one of our adventures was the Go Ape course in Thetford Forest.
Here are some picts from our high wire fun:

Lost in Translation

Today's British English lesson is brought to you by the letter F:
Fanny- does not mean your butt, behind, etc. Nor does it describe any kind of "pack" or purse worn on the hip. "Fanny" is another word for a woman's downstairs (or as Oprah would say- her va-jayjay).

Fag- not a derogatory name for a homosexual, but the common name for a cigarette.

Keeping that in mind... I found this at the grocery store.

Usually, you see Bangers & Mash, which is sausages and mashed potatoes. But I have no idea what this is!

Show Update

Last time we went into London we saw 'Avenue Q'. It was just as great as it was in NYC. I thought there might be some changes in the jokes for a British audience... but I think there was only one change in the writing in the whole show. It was minor whatever it was, because I can't remember it right now.




We also saw Shaolin Warriors do their kung fu thing while on tour in Cambridge. But alas, I don't have a picture of that.

Denver?

Even though we moved to England, we still live next to Denver. Of course the neighboring Denver we live next to now is probably 1/200th the size of Denver, CO. But it does have a windmill! The Denver windmill also has a cute cafe on site featuring their homemade bread. The bread is probably so delicious, because they mill their own flour there.

Happy Spring

Some time has passed since the last blog, huh? Well, Shawn & I celebrated our birthdays with a party here at the house. We celebrated Easter over at Cassie & Dan's. And a couple other fun things which I will blog about....

When in Rome...

Ok, so we're not living in Rome. But we are in England, home to many many small cars, for the small roads, small lanes, small parking spaces....
So now we feel even more at ease on the road with our super cute Mini!


It needs a nickname- any suggestions?
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Side note about getting the car:
After doing a few things on base, we headed to the dealership, which was 45min to an hour drive. The directions brought us to a road that had a 'Road Closed' sign in front of the left lane. On the side of the road were warnings about the road flooding. An oncoming car came from the supposed flooded area, so Shawn (who was driving) thought we should continue on and see how bad the flooding was. The first area was just a large puddle in the road, so we continued on. The second area had water completely across the road from the swampy area on the left across to the swampy area on the right. I suggested we turn around and find a different way. So we did. We parked alongside the road right where the 'Road Closed' sign was and looked at the map. Apparently this road was the only road headed west in that area. The only other options were to go north or south to more major roads that would lead us out of our way for awhile. While we were still deciding what to do, another driver pulled up and asked us how bad the flooding was. We told him we thought it was bad enough to turn around, but he decided to go see for himself. So of course my husband, not wanting to take the roads that were (dry and) way out of our way, suggested that we wait & see if that guy turned around and came back. So we waited... and didn't see him. Shawn said we should just go back & try it again because that other guy must have made it through. My thought was that he didn't turn around and drive back because he could be stuck in the water down the road!
But alas, I wasn't driving. So we go back towards the flooded area. We go through the area where we originally turned back. It wasn't so bad. But then we get to another flooded area where we see a truck stopped ahead of us. There was no room to go around him because the water was higher on the right side of the road. Then we see that he has stopped or slowed because there is a car on the right side of the road being washed away into the marshland!! Luckily the car had already been abandoned, but wouldn't you think if you saw a car being washed off the road that maybe, just maybe, you should turn around?! Well, Shawn continued on as I squealed a weird worried/ freaked out noise as we went through the water.
Long story short- the car is fine, we're fine, but if Shawn ever tries that again, I'm getting out and walking (or swimming as the case may be).

PS... after that we also encountered another closed road that we needed to take. But that was because of construction. Shawn had no choice there! I was so happy we didn't have to take those same directions to get home from the dealership!!

Twix Travels to England!

Last month, our little Twix came back with us from the States! It was NOT an easy process getting her here. Worrying about her in the cargo hold of the plane wasn't fun either. But we all survived and she has taken to her new home quite easily.


Twix loves her new squeaky pig (oink, oink).