Corrs Abroad: June 2011

Greetings family and friends!! It has been too long. Getting hooked up to the internet has been a lot more complicated than we ever could have imagined. We still don't have our phone line and internet connection but we now have an aircard (pay as you go) we can use until they get us hooked up.

A lot has happened in the past few weeks. First and foremost we have moved into our house and we absolutely love it!! We are within easy walking distance of the High Street where we do most of our grocery shopping. All of our immediate needs can be met there which is nice since we still only have the one car. As long as I can try and time it so that we miss the never ending rain showers it is quite convenient. The children are learning a lot about pedestrian safety as am I. That sounds silly but it can be quite perilous at times and cars don't stop if there are small children close by since that is always the case. Kate and Harry have become very obedient when crossing the street and both immediately put a hand on the stroller so that everyone stays together. Yes, even Harry is intimidated.

Kate has started school and she absolutely loves it. She gets there at 10 of 9 and stays until 3:10. We walk most mornings which takes us about 15-20 minutes. One morning I called Christopher home from work because the rain was coming down horizontally and I couldn't bring myself to walk all 3 kids almost a mile in the mess. When it is really raining we drop Kate at school and then I take Christopher to work. When I say "drop off" I don't mean we pull into car pool line and she goes in. You actually can't drive onto the school grounds. Everything is gated to prevent this. Everyone is encouraged to walk if possible and if not you must park on the street nearby and walk your child to their classroom door. There you wait outside with the other parents until the bell rings for them to go inside. I'm actually not sure how many children are in Kate's class but I want to say around 25. I was just a little nervous about her going into a class so large not knowing anyone but Kate took it in stride and it didn't phase her a bit. After the first day she told me she couldn't wait to go back. Harry is still at home with me for now. There is less than a month left of school so I will probably hold off on enrolling him until the fall. There are tons of preschools around and I will probably go for the one that is a 5 minute walk from our door. Joseph is doing well and spends a lot of time in his stroller. He doesn't mind at all and just rolls along wherever we take him. He still doesn't sleep through the night but every night I have hope that this will be the night! He has started eating cereal and taking more formula so maybe that will help. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Last weekend Christopher and I had a big day out when we attended Royal Ascot. http://www.ascot.co.uk Ascot is about 7 miles from here and is know for its top notch racecourse. We were lucky enough to be seated in a box where with 27 people we were catered to by 3 servers. There was never a lack of food or drink at any moment. We were also given the special privilege of having a pass to the Royal Enclosure. There is a strict dress code for this and women are required to wear a certain style of dress with a hat and men are required to wear morning dress complete with a top hat. It was quite something and I had fun shopping for my outfit. When we went to the enclosure to see the horses we got a glimpse of the queen as she presented a trophy. We also saw her and Prince Philip arrive in their royal carriage as well as walk to their box which was just below where our's. It was a really fun day.

I will try and post pictures later today. Cheers!