A Giftastic Beginning to Life in England

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of changes, and there have definitely been ups and downs.  Moving to a foreign country is certainly exciting, and while we are enjoying it, moving (anywhere) with kids is complicated, messy, and overwhelming at times. We still have to do the day-to-day business of raising them, only everything seems a lot harder because we aren't familiar with our surroundings and we can't call in our reinforcements.  But for the most part, we are settling in quite nicely and embracing the differences in life here.

I had so much fun doing the GIFs post a while back that I decided to do another one about our first month in England to give you an idea of what life has been like:

Our exhausted arrival

I am in a fog of jet-lagged exhaustion and NOBODY is sleeping.

One word: duvet.

Everything is great and we get go visit a castle.

Then homesickness strikes again.

How I feel when I meet fellow Americans over here.

Jellybean, every single time she tries to walk outside in wellies. 

What I imagine the neighbors in our flat think about our loud girls.

So we have lots of tea parties.

I have to institute this policy with cooped-up, cranky, fighting kids.

Trying not to sound like too much of a hick.

And then trying to understand other people's accents.

The British eat everything with a knife and fork.  I feel like I look like this in comparison.

We finally get to move out of the flat and into our house!

But I can't figure out how to work the freaking appliances.

Then I sort it out and am all about my new kitchen.

We keep forgetting to buy a bottle opener. Luckily Clint's a little more skilled than this.

Driving on the left side of the road.  The driver's seat on the right side of the car.  Roundabouts...with stoplights.  Wait, what?

Clint and I get to go on a date and we are giddy with excitement.

And then some black pudding is served with Clint's dinner.  We find out what black pudding is made of (fried pig blood and fat, anyone?).

We don't understand how they came up with this dish.

How we feel when the sun finally comes out!

Sightseeing/traveling with kids...there is no such thing as being too prepared.  Snacks are important, yo.

The girls on any given day, no matter where we are.  Giddy little destructive minions.