February
The
The removal men came, packed up all of our remaining belongings and took them off to be stored for the next three years. Well, except the mirror, which Kiffy found still hanging on the wall once the lorries had gone. Paul & Wendy now have it hanging on their wall for safe keeping! We, well mainly Kiffy, cleaned our house ready to hand back the keys (he did a cracking job!). We stayed at Faulty Towers for almost a week. It's the middle of winter and we get a room with only a portable heater- eh? Needless to say, I wouldn't recommend that hotel! Our flight got delayed by a day. The children finish school and I'm more upset than they are- we loved their school and teachers. Paul & Wendy came up to fetch the car- in the snow we wondered if our flight would go ahead on Saturday given the problems the previous year. Yet again, Benson was one of the worst affected places and Heathrow was fairly clear!
We enjoyed our last night in the UK at Pizza Express with Rob, Jo and the girls, before catching our flight on Saturday. All in all, the flight was pretty good; Sam & Emily did well given that it's an 8 hour flight. We arrive in Washington and got the bus to our hotel, wait for 45 mins at the wrong hotel (drivers mistake) before we're taken to the correct one just around the corner.
It's bloody brassic! We have a good journey down to Virginia Beach, so glad we printed off some maps from Google. Another hotel- our fourth and last! We meet Mark and Chris who are our 'get you in' guys and Chris will be helping us over the next few days with setting up our American lives. We visit Kiffy's new work, fill out more forms, get ID cards sorted, open bank accounts, register at the clinic, have a whistle stop tour of the area and move into our new home. The amount of information is overwhelming and location disorienting- it's all so different...Our shipping arrives the day after we move in.
We spend the next few weeks setting up *everything*- I'd forgotten what it's like to set up home. Will we ever stop spending money???
The children start school. Sam and Emily really miss Smurf and Bertie :-(
March
We're finding our feet, finding our way around and meeting people. I've started driving- something which frightened the life out of me. All of the cars are so big. Others drivers don't use their indicators until it's too late- aaagghh!
Paul has started work and is finding it very different! we have some issues with school, mainly because both Sam and Emily have been placed in the wrong classes- a year too high. Emily is in pieces every day and crying herself to sleep at night, missing her friends and her old teacher. I feel so sad for her, and Sam too...
Just before Spring Break they both change to the correct classes. Sam adjusts without any problems. Emily finds it much more difficult as she's now only doing half a day. I feel this is going backwards (as much for me as for her), but it will turn out for the best and bring Emily back to her usual self.
We're still shopping for random things, I can't remember what, but it's stuff we don't realise we haven't got until we go to use it!
Grocery shopping takes hours! Bread is awful so I start making my own. We purchase a second car. Kiffy has found a classic 1985 Lincoln Town Car for sale in Williamsburg, about an hours' drive away. He's very excited about it.
April
The initial hectic period is coming to an end. I would love to be back at Benson with my friends and where everything is familiar.
We enjoy a week off school for Spring Break- we all need it. Kiffy is off for part of the week.
We meet up for the day with our old friends (and former neighbours from Salisbury), John and Katie. They moved out to Maryland just six weeks before us. It did us all good to spend some time with familiar faces and compare notes! We had a wonderful day and all of the children got on famously.
We went to our first 'official' function here- the Spring Ball. It was very interesting! There were people from all nations and once the music started the crazy dancing began- it gave us both a good giggle.
May
Already?? Yep. Time is flying by. Sam has his eighth birthday and I take cakes into school for his class, which they have at lunchtime. It's a very small affair this year. We go out for dinner on the Friday night to celebrate.
I feel rotten and just want to sleep. I miss the Battle of Britain Dinner because of it. I begin to feel a little better then begin with a terrible tooth ache. three days and a trip to the dentist later, I'm dosed up to the eyeballs and I know what the problem is. Looking forward to the weekend when John and Katie are coming to stay.
I begin to feel much better and the toothache is fading- so pleased the antibiotics are doing their job! We have a wonderful weekend with our guests. We hire a canoe which we take up to the local State Park the children all have a turn, play on the sand and in the sea. We have our picnic lunch and play some more, everyone is enjoying the weather and just relaxing. We have a barbeque at home after washing off all of the sand! On Sunday we go the local Strawberry Festival, which is more like a street market crossed with a country fair, but we have a wander around before going to Panera Bread for lunch. Once again, the children got along famously- not a crossed word between them all weekend! Already looking forward to next time :-)
I'm better, now it's Kiffy's turn to feel rotten. He's got Poison Ivy and an ear infection. Ack.
And so, that brings us to now. We had our own Jubilee Street party in conjunction with our other British neighbours at the weekend. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all! More about that soon- I need to download the pictures first!
We've still not got a tenant in our house; it's been sitting empty since January when we completed just ten days before moving here to the USA. Fingers crossed the current applicant passes all of the referencing!
I'm off to catch up on a little housework before collecting Emily in an hour!
Kerry x
