Day 206: Our day in the sun

Actually, our day started a bit late, thanks to our very late night (pictured). Well it was very late for the children anyway. This morning we did some chores - more blinds to put up, more boxes to unpack. After lunch we sent the girls to bed for a nap. So far so mundane.

At about 4.30pm we finally got round to visiting the local park's outdoor pool complex - something that our house move has distracted us from so far this summer. We had a great couple of hours there. Exile #3 (not surprisingly) and Exile #4 (slightly more surprisingly) wanted to be in the water the whole time - we spent most of it in a gently sloping pool that went from 1 ft 6 inches deep to just in Exile #4's depth on tip-toes with arm-bands on. There are also some fairly excellent fountains and things to play in. Exile #4 wasn't sure, but her sister loved them.

By the time we left it was nearly the girls' normal bedtime, but we decided to visit the local pub (Irish of course - why is that?) where we had a nice meal in the beer-garden. At one point Exile #2 was confused by Exile #3 whispering "That lady's got the same hairy book as you". But it turns out that she was referring to Harry Potter, and not a hirsute tome after all - although we're very much used to the local accent, we're still sometimes surprised that it has entered the family. In fact Exile #2 has now finished the book in question, so we have transferred from the group of people afraid of people discussing it to the group of people who can't discuss it. Except to each other.

Day 205: Out to the ball game

It's one...US citizen able to lay full claim to the singing of The Star-Spangled Banner, God Bless America and the like. All taken very seriously - I'm not sure why that seems strange to us, but it does.

...two...umbrellas, unused. It was a night of storms, but they were scattered and, for once, scattered themselves elsewhere.

...three...other families of colleagues that we met up with to watch the home team (The Tri-City Valley Cats) get soundly beaten, but still had a good time.

...strikes...of lightning seen at a distance, but later much outdone by the post-game fireworks - much to Exile #3's delight - she had been so disappointed that we'd missed-out on fireworks on the 4th of July. Exile #4 really enjoyed them too and E5N1 was utterly astonished by the experience.

...you're out...very late. The fireworks started at 10pm, we were sitting in the car trying to get out of the parking lot at 10.40pm - well past the children's bed times.

but all-in-all we had a great time...at the old ball game.

Day 204: Passports

Three out of five of us have passport applications in the offing. For E5N1, it will be his first and it will be a US Passport. Exile #3 and I need new UK passports as our current ones expire soon (mine 20 years after I first had one and hers 5 years after her first one - both as newborns obviously). It turns out to be an expensive business. Total cost is expected to come in near $600 for all three. Ouch. The British Embassy in Washington DC seems to be making the most of its single-supplier status - I wonder if we could refer it under anti-competition laws, but whose would apply?

Oh well, it's far from the end of the world as long as all the applications are successful. This is by far the most flattering of the three photos we're submitting - yes really! Go on have another look, what colour are those eyes?

It's much more interesting finding someone to countersign the UK applications here - the options for two-year-acquaintances with professional qualifications and British passports are rather limited here. If absolutely necessary you can substitute a foreign national, but the two year rule would make it quite difficult for us at this stage. Fortunately, there are advantages to working in a group of highly qualified ex-pat engineers.

Day 203: Blessing ahead

A couple of evenings ago we were all out in the garden and the girls were playing on the bouncy-bounce (castle) when suddenly children were appearing out of the wooded area at the bottom of the garden. They all came and made polite conversation, introducing themselves and each other and welcoming us to the neighbourhood. Eventually one of them commented (polite but leading...) "So, you have a bouncy-bounce?" "Yes, would you like..." there was no need to finish the sentence - by this time they had all thrown off their shoes and dived in. Then seemingly without transition there were only four of them left and they were saying polite goodbyes. I think there were 7 of them in all (plus our two - E5N1 was asleep) aged between 6 and 11. The average level of self-assurance combined with manners in children talking to adults is really extraordinary and seems like something from another era, or maybe from no era to have ever occurred in the UK.

This evening was our church leadership meeting. One of our number has joined in by telephone the last couple of times and this evening we were using Skype and a Polycom Communicator USB conference phone which seemed (as far as we can work out) to have worked out well for him hearing us, but we still had sound problems in the other direction (due to his microphone we think) so we're halfway there. The meeting was good and we're continuing to get to know each other as we discuss the look-and-feel of our new church through the various documents (legal and otherwise) that describe it.

I must just give a little plug to my friend Dave's site funkypancake.com - his style has inspired quite a bit of the photography in this blog although his production values are much higher than mine. How could I resist this sign?

Day 202: What Katy did?

After work today we had the pleasure of baby J's company while T & S went to do a five-hour road-safety classroom course - a prerequisite of applying to do a driving test. Their reports of their evening are not particularly encouraging. Interestingly, they asked what would have happened if they'd turned up with the baby and were told they would have been turned away. Interesting. E5N1 has yet to see a bottle (actually he had a good look at J's today) so whether that is a realistic option is unknown. We certainly went to some trouble to persuade Exile #3 to accept a bottle from time to time when she was a baby, but we never bothered with Exile #4 - she had her follow-on milk in a cup and never used a bottle at all. Oh well, we'll work something out I suppose.

Anyway, we had a very easy-going time and Exile #2 was able to spend a large part of the evening at the supermarket - joy-of-joys! At this time of year the post-dusk noise outside is quite amazing, the insects (and ...?) make quite a cacophony. Whether these bush-crickets (or katydids) contribute is unknown, but this one paid us a visit (to the kitchen window) this evening and earned itself a starring role.