Days 3 and 4

So I think I might be cut out for this van life afterall. I hope my mother and father don't get their hopes up that I might be turning into a vanny. It's incredible what a sociable life the great outdoors is when you are in the sunshine and a campground. We've met a great couple who've travelled down from Alaska on a long roadtrip, they left in January, that coupled with my current read about a couple that take a year to convert a bus and travel the US has got my head spinning with my next adventure. Even Mr Beehive is happy with this, but we think it may have to be in the retirement plans....


Anyhoo, so, days three and four have seen us heading further south. Where did I leave you? Oh yes, we were just north of Monterey having travelled along the "best coastline ever" - hmmm, well, leaving Monterey we travelled around a hundred or so miles further south to Sainta Margarita, believe me this most definitely was the best coastline ever! Our faith has been restored. The road winds for miles along the edge of the Pacific. Every so often there is a mail box and a house half hanging off a cliff. There are no roads that come onto route 1 for miles. It started me thinking how on earth you'd get your grocery shop in there, but I guess if you wanna live in a house like that, you probably don't care much about the need to get your groceries from Safeway or the need to socialise with other humans!


We've seen a ton of interesting places like this, not just on the edge of cliffs, but that are just in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do.....ever......but then, your outlook on life is different from a gal coming from the East coast just outside of New York City - did I just say that?!! Not that I need Prada, but I do need to know that the nearest doctor or vet is not over 50 miles away.



The highlight (in fact the saving grace as we'd been in the van for over 3 hours yesterday afternoon) was finding Elephant Seals on the beach just along the coast at one point. It was stunning. Huge colonies of them were basking in the evening sunshine.

Our campground last night was out the back of beyond in bear country (nah! still haven't seen any, but we're holding out for a possible sighting in Yosemite). After the kids crashed out in bed, Mr Beehive and I lay out under the stars for a while. I have seen some pretty amazing skies, in Africa and in the South of France, but this one really took the biscuit (or cookie!). It was so black and so full of stars. I think after glass of wine number 3, conversation took a spiritual turn and got a bit deep until there was a rustle in the bushes behind us and we decided that if we were to view bears, doing it inside the van might be a little more preferable.



Today we've crossed the San Andreas Fault line into the Kettleman Hills, across the San Joaquin valley towards Visalia. We're pretty much in "One horse town" but the view we got coming across the plain of the Sierra Nevada rearing up with it's snow capped peaks was worth every part of this trip. Unfortunately for the $34 we're spending for our "luxury" site, the view is now obscurred by the one horse town's only factory. However, there's a pool, we've arrived in light, the temp is in the 70's so we're kicking back and enjoying the afternoon.

Deep Fried Artichokes. They grow locally and this is apparently a breakfast delicacy!!

Fields and fields of artichokes next to fields and fields of ripe strawberries (in March!)

Monterey Aquarium. The Kelp Forest and lots of jellies. There were a couple of superb octopi, but as the sign reported "Please do not flash the octopus". We couldn't even see for taking pictures as we were laughing so much!

Cannery Row, of John Steinbeck fame!

See those four tiny dots in the water? Sea otters! The coastline at one point is a refuge and there are hundreds of them dotting the waves.

Just a small sample of the road, that went on and on and on and on.................

Big daddy Elephant Seal! He was a bit of a brute really, we saw him scaring the females into submission so he could take their warm spot in the sun - bully!

Younger seals.

More seals!

Getting all artistic!

Sun set over the Pacific. Pretty cool to think that only a few days ago we were on the other side of the States next to a totally different ocean.

One Horse Town! This was the only store apart from the USPS store in which on a Saturday morning at 10am "mail is not up yet!"

The road is loooooooooooong!

Such a movie scene!

Heading south - in pictures!

These are some of the biggest pine cones we've seen so far. Think Cadbury's easter egg size and you'll be right! I was like a kid in a sweet shop when I found them! So we are currently stowing three on board in bags because they are about as lethal as goodness knows what!

These birds make an impressive image in the sky. There's nothing too amazing about what you're looking at, it's only a turkey vulture (and we have plenty of those in CT!), however, there is something pretty cool about watching them circle the sides of mountains in Napa Valley!

A view across the vineyards of Napa.

Campsite number 2. LMB collecting wildflowers for our breakfast table!

Petrified wood. This stuff was cool. A complete forest that was covered by the volcanic ash of Mt St. Helena just seven miles to the north. This has some of the largest trees that have ever been found and it's a totally different colour to the petrified wood we saw in Arizona which was a darker red. It's impossible to believe that this isn't actually wood, but the wood cells have been replaced by minerals.

Old Faithful Geyser, just north of Calistoga. This is one of three old faithful geysers in the USA. It erupts currently every 10-15 minutes and shoots up to 60ft in the air. Apparently it's if the frequency between the eruptions gets longer rather than closer together that you need to be running from the spot!!

The season we're here the vines are just beginning to bud. Farm workers do everything by hand with the vines. It's pretty anal, but the end result is nice - thanks guys!!

Okay, so this is the dude that drives the bus that wears the hats that only mad dogs and english men wear!

A view down to Lake Beryessa.



A view of San Francisco from the Bay Bridge.

Alcatraz! I was impressed with this little gem (photo that is!) as it was taken from the van window at high speed with other cars and suspension work in between! Talk about luck!

The coast road to Santa Cruz. Never trust an American who says that this road is "the best and not to be missed". Unless we did it wrong, it was pretty impressive for about 20 minutes, then you actually move away from the coast and the drop is not there. I think they need to visit some of the coast of France and Europe! We're holding out for today though!

Man make fire! Man eat meat. Man stab himself with barbecue tools again! *sigh*

Of course, what is best with the embers of a campfire than toasting marshmallows. It is at this point that I will confess to never having done this before. Seriously! It's a rite of passage that I somehow missed!

Where there are boys and bubble wands there will be the next Sith war!

So for today we're off to the Monterey aquarium which we have been advised (by the same lady who advised the coast road!) is the best and not to be missed....... so watch this space!

Brady Bunch hits the road

Well, kind of Brady bunch meets the Mystery machine!!

We're out of CT now, and on our travels again. We arrived in California on Tuesday afternoon ready to pick up our winnebago for our tour. Winnebago is probably the wrong word, think cross between a tranny and a campervan and you'll probably be closer to the truth. However, it works, although there has been a light on for the last 200 or so miles and the book tells us not to worry unless it's been on for three cycles (quite what defines a cycle, we have no idea, we're wondering menstural or pedal form?)

Our original plan was to go from Oakland (outside of San Francisco) up and through Napa for a few days, across to Lake Tahoe and then down to Yosemite. However, being fluffy lightweights at this camping malarky, one night without a hook up (for those of you not aware, that means without mains electricity to run the heating and lighting so thus relying on our generator which can only run for a couple of hours) we were like icicles in our sleeping bag by around 3am the next morning. It's not that warm yet during the night in California in Spring.

So, quick diversion via Walmart to buy cheap sweatshirt for sleeping in (of which this was a task in itself as the Californians are all hard by mid March and longsleeved anythings are for the grockles obviously and cannot be found in the local store!) we decided to opt out of spending the next three nights at this same campground and venture on to fluffycampsitesforsofties.com We also decided that two days in napa with smalls in tow would probably be about as much as they would allow us - unfortunately wine touring with smalls is not the best way to go about it! So we are now on a change of plan and are heading south - like the swallows - to find warmer climes and hook ups!!

We intend to be in Monterrey tomorrow evening, basking in warmth!!

Hopefully if the wi fi is all it's cracked up to be, I might be able to add some photos to this - well, that and the hopes my battery doesn't die and I can find the camera cable!

From Napa with love xx

Displacement is a four letter word

Waaaahhh! I feel like stamping my feet and having a big meltdown somewhere right now. This so so hard. We are now in final days before the children finish at the school and we are then alone for a week before we leave for Ca.
The house feels like an oddly weird, but familiar stranger now, there is barely any furniture, our life has been wrapped up in paper and placed in boxes and removed. I feel like a part of my soul has gone with it. I feel totally and utterly displaced, neither really belonging here any more, or belonging in our new city.

Days are up and down, I have never felt this way about leaving somewhere before. When we left the UK, it was exciting, we didn't know what to expect, we had no preconceived ideas, then moving onto the States we hadn't really had enough time to form the bonds with Belgium that we have here.

Last night the boys did their school presentations. It was a lovely evening for them, I was so proud. But it really brought home that in less than three days now, we won't see some of these wonderful families ever again, the boys won't get the opportunity to continue through this amazing school and graduate from middle school having had one of the most diverse and organic educations that I have had pleasure to be a part of.

This morning I was given the opportunity to just sit and observe the families coming in and dropping off their children in some of the primary classes. It was absolutely amazing. I have been doing this for four years, but today, for some reason, I saw it in a completely different light. It brought my own memories of bringing the children when they were younger to the same classroom doors and our own "farewell for the day" rituals. Now we have the biggest and hardest farewell of our lives.

I am excited, of course, I don't remember who said "when one door closes another one opens, but we are so busy looking at the one that has closed that we don't actually see what is ahead of us" or something like that. It might have been Helen Keller... Anyway, I can really see how it can be easy to get so embroiled in living through the past that you forget to live in the present and look forward to the future. I need to help the children focus on what is to come but not to forget what they've had.

It has been one of the most amazing adventures of our lives. It wasn't exotic. It wasn't always wonderful. It was inspirational though and I am so grateful for what it brought us.

What else can I say?

I may not post now until we return to the UK, bookmark me and I'll be back!

Love in the time of Malt Vinegar.

I'd like to say that peace has resumed now the packers are gone, but whilst writing this I can hear LMB and Master Beehive the younger at loggerheads upstairs which, in a house with minimal furniture now, echoes!

The rental furniture company brought the furniture yesterday, which was interesting to say the least, as at one point yesterday there were 8 burly men inside my low ceiling-ed, twisty corridor-ed farmhouse!

"After you",

"No, after you",

"No, I insist"

"But I insist more!!"

So, now my house resembles something probably far more suited to Mrs Hannigan's guest house for slappers on Blackpool seafront* but it works for the short time.

I've been gradually collecting the bits that were forgotten by the movers which now have to go in our airshipment. Fortunately they aren't too big, a table lamp, a step stool, some oddments and......my bottle of unopened malt vinegar. I can't believe they left the malt vinegar. That vinegar travelled all the way from Cape Cod to be in my kitchen in CT and it is going to the UK by hell or high water!! You can take the girl out of the UK, but you can't take the UK out of the girl - I like my malt vinegar on a nice haddock and chips!

Okay, because I know you're thinking "you can get malt vinegar in the UK", but you can't get it here, so the search that ensued last year when we found a restaurant that was offering it up with chips (yes, you read that right!) meant there had to be a source......somewhere....a supplier.....a spare unopened bottle in the restaurant (not really ;-))

So, now this precious bottle (still unopened you note) is sitting here on my counter top, looking at me, rejected. Not so worthy as to make it into the sea shipment.

Still, never mind, I think with the Blackpool decor, satin effect slightly smoke scented quilted throw with matching pillows (that I am too scared to use for fear of them spontaneously combusting on me in my sleep), and thin sandpaper towels that give you that freshly exfoliated feeling every time, it'll feel just right at home. All I need now is a bag of greasy chips and a styrofoam cup of mushy peas. What a night!

*disclaimer - Mrs Hannigans is not a real guest house and I apologise to all slappers if it appears I am insinuating that you would hang out in Blackpool, which of course, I am not.

The one with the mouse, the sticker and the windscreen wash.

Sit down for a second and you'll be packed. Put down that glass of water - it'll be gone, with the contents. Start to fill a form in and it'll be whipped away from under your nose along with the pen you were using. It's almost as bad as living with your mother!!

Yesterday saw most of the house packed and loaded onto the truck and headed to the warehouse to await reloading into the container.

In the evening, after it had all gone, I noticed a large hole in the wall where a bookcase used to be and an equally large pile of crumbled plaster. Master Beehive the younger was somewhat freaked out by the fact he could see into the wall and proceeded to "borrow" some packing tape to cover it over.
We hypothesised over what it might have been - over zealous movers with a pole? or was it there before we put the bookcase in front of it? However, later that evening I was teaching in the now very creepy house with not much furniture and lots of echoes and we hear crackling and rustling of packing tape. I think we now know what has enjoyed our wall for lunch, I only hope that in his desperate bid for freedom he isn't now firmly attached to the inside of the packing tape!

I have sorted out boxes of things, baking stuff for school (sugar, flour etc that haven't been opened yet) a box of dry goods to put in the parent room for people to sort through and help themselves, only to get back from Yoga to find them in box number 128 (drygoods)!! and god only knows where the windscreen washer fluid has gone that I left on the table yesterday to take to the car - probably in box 129 *sigh*!

So due to the keeness to pack everything in their sight, including full bins of garbage and toilet plungers (believe me, after the great toilet flood of Monday morning, I have no desire to see that plunger again for as long as I live!). I have gone around with my stickers today, putting "do not pack" stickers onto the things that have to stay. What I hadn't noticed as I dropped the kids off at school this morning was the one I sat on that firmly parked itself on my butt.

Not that it really matters if my hide is left behind!!

A comedy of errors

1 foot of snow,
No caffeine in the house,
One flooded bathroom thanks to American U bends and Little Miss Beehive's enthusiasm to unblock it herself with the plunger (the dining room only had water dripping through for about half and hour in four places!)
No snow plough up the drive because of the removal truck, so 800yards of self ploughed driveway otherwise there's no getting out until May.
Five burly packers
One broken lightbulb
and
talking apes - we're watching George of the Jungle - sums up the sanity in here!

The one with the large spanner, the works and some interesting word play!

Agh! 6 inches of snow are forecast for Monday - that could mean no school. It could mean no school and no packers. It could mean no school, no packers and no clear route to take doggy to respite for the week. More likely it will mean no school, no clear route to take doggy and ........packers arriving! That's about the half of it at the moment!

So today we've cleared out most of the electrical equipment, been to get the small Beehives' haircut and by 3.30 we decided to share a movie and some copporn (according to Little Miss Beehive!).

Ah well, with the "minor stresses" in our life right now, some copporn might be just what the doc ordered, alright officer??

Wheeew - and pause for breath!

Whoa, where the heck am I on this roller coaster right now?!

It's been manic- okay, rephrase that, it's been more manic than normal!

Mr Beehive is now working full time in Scotland and we are awaiting the imminent arrival of boxers and men wot pack to go with them.

It's been a rough ride for the last three weeks, all of them were sick the first week that Daddy left - nice timing guys, bringing me to my knees mid week. Then my mum came out - that wasn't rough at all - a blessing most definitely, but the leaving brought the tears - from the children.

Master Beehive the elder has been a troubled soul for the last few months. Part of this is down to the change in his school environment since September, he has a new teacher who, naturally, has new and different ideas and he is feeling the aftershock of the implementation of this. I am saddened by this as I no longer watch my happy child go into school and instead see this dejected, fallen character trudge his way up the corridor as if I've sent him along the green mile!

I'm putting lots of this down to the move and some of it down to this teacher shift and perhaps a small personality clash. I think the beauty and curse of Montessori is that you are with the same teacher for three years. If the child bonds well with this teacher, as MB the elder did with the previous teacher, then when there is a change - they can be hit hard.

Then, this weekend, daddy flew in for 48 hours and surprised them. It was a fantastic weekend, we just mooched as a family all weekend, went to the IMAX to see Grand Canyon, went to the aquarium, played chess and read books and basically had a fun fun time. But, weekends always pass so much quicker when one is having fun.......so this week, we are back to the drawing board again.



Things are picking up speed with trying to cram everything in before we leave. I'm teaching twice a week and fitting in hair appts, opticians, dentists, friends and all sorts.

Sorting clothing is the hardest - we need to pack for snow in Lake Tahoe, warm spring in San Francisco and Napa and then presumably wet and dreary in the UK and we only have two suitcases between us!! Working out what we're going to need three weeks from now when we have 54F one day and then snow and ice the next is proving challenging!

Oddly, we've moved so many times, you'd think we'd be dab hands at it. I've moved twice pregnant and once with a very small baby across continents too........I have to say, hand on heart, it is far harder, doing the shift with an older child. The depth of his thoughts and the release this is manifesting in quite defeats anything I was prepared for.

I'm cooking a big pot of chicken noodle soup right now - it's meant to be good for the soul. I hope it reaches out to my sad boy at the moment!

The final countdown

Doesn't that title make you want to release your hair and start banging your head around? Problem is, I had actually a completely different song in my head with a different tune, only couldn't remember the name of it.......or any of the lyrics, so.........Europe it is! It makes for hard googling when the only help you can come up with is "la la, la la la la"
Well I suppose it's pretty apt coming from where we're coming and .........well, going where we're going!!

I love nights where you just put the world to rights. Tonight a friend and I put the world to rights over cold pizza, the wrong salad and beers out of a Sigrid Olsen bag! Not bad eh for a pair of middle aged thirty somethings with staaaaaaayle? Shame we couldn't have put the salad right, warmed the pizza and not drunk as much as we did, but.........well, these things are best left alone n'est pas?

We are in week six before we leave week, which is seeing yet more children off school, this time, to coin a phrase, with "attics and basements" - delightful for those of you contemplating lunch or dinner. I did actually make it out of the house yesterday for nearly a complete day, on my own, without children, however, it appears today that I was to pay penance with a yakker in one toilet and a squitter on the other! I think I really p******d off the guy in the white suit somehow.

Our airshipment, which left our home on January 30th, has just, yes, JUST, left the USA. It has been sitting, uselessly, in a warehouse in Jersey, doing.........well, nothing really for the past 11 days. No one saw fit to let us know this, Mr Beehive has had to go out and purchase the items (cutlery, pans, linen etc) needed from the airshipment, hence the fact they actually were in the airshipment in the first place..........oh well for customer service. I wonder if our pizza had been sitting in the same warehouse in Jersey? Wouldn't surprise me in the least! Anyhoo, Mr Beehive has been turning up the heat and being quite a tiger in his approach. I saw disgruntled words in an email this evening that made my hair stand on end!! I suppose the moral is, never get between a man and his milk pan or bottle opener!

Mother of the Beehive comes out tomorrow (hopefully) I don't think I got her destination wrong when I booked her ticket mwahhahaha! The children are all desperate to see her and have a year's worth of games and puzzles to keep her amused. I, on the otherhand have a year's worth of eyebrow waxes, massages, coffee shops and bookshops to amuse me - and her I hope!

Well, it is 11.18pm - that's well and truly past my bedtime, it's a weekday and I am fueled with good convo, bad pizza and excellent vino. Tomorrow is.......well, another day........so, with that I bid you a good night!

The great thaw of 2009!

Well that's the end of week one. We've marked a whole week off our chart, now only 6 more until we see Daddy again!~


What have we done this week? That's a good question. Mostly hunkered down in front of the fire, trying to shake off the shivers and aches, watched most of the Harry Potter films and the little Miss has learned she can move one eye without the other *sigh*!! Everytime I need to be serious or stern with her, she looks at me and moves her eyes independently with a big grin on her face. How can I stay mithering?!! Not to mention know which eye I am actually directing my disdain toward, accompanied by:

"I can seeeeee you mama...........there's two mamas" think Jack Nicholson with blond pigtails!

(or not if you'd rather!!)

...... she's hysterically funny, and she knows it too!

The leurgy started with the Little Miss last Monday, she was off Monday, Master Beehive joined her Tuesday (and there was a snow afternoon). He was off Tuesday and by Wednesday it'd brought me to my knees along with Master Beehive the younger (HE hadn't brought me to my knees, the leurgy had - well, at that point anyway, the first point happened by about 4.55pm!).

LMB was back in by Thursday as was Master Beehive the younger, however, he lasted 2 hours (I'd obviously misread his illness which had been mysteriously disguised as the running-around-the-house-like-crazy-kalooha-the-day-before symptoms!) oops *1 badmummy point. So I kept him off on Friday despite my hunch that he was really okay now - and picked up his work that he needed to finish from school mwahahahaha!!!

Today, Sunday, Master Beehive the elder has had a sleepover. What a delight! Normally I hear cringing stories about sleepovers that make me want to avoid them until the kids are at least 40! Stories of crying, homesickness, late nights (or rather very very early mornings!) too much sugar, too much noise, too much - agghhh. Well, this is the second sleepover we've had here, different children, one for each boy......they were asleep by 10pm and even allowed me to make a phone call this morning and enjoy my morning coffee without surfacing! And the manners!!! "Fank oo Mrs Patterson, yis Mrs Patterson, fanks Mrs Patterson!" *aaaahhhh* I think we'll do this more often!!!

Finally, for those of you with snow......remember this........what is wonderful and beautiful to start with......ends in slush and water, loooooooooots of water. You will find buried, that which was on the ground two months previous.

Today, I am going turd fishing! The dog poo I missed before the snow fell, then the ice, then the rain, then the ice, then the snow......oh and then the snow.........has finally drifted to the surface with the thaw.

Now, I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to need to wade knee deep in canine sewerage? Would one of the kid's rock pool nets do it, or am I going to need serious block and tackle. My fear is the fall out if I scoop the schmuck in a net- will it be like trying to seive a chocolate mousse? I've tried a spade in the past and that's just found me racing around the yard after a lump or two, cursing loudly and I'm probably likely to slip on the piles waiting for collection, which doesn't put pretty pictures in my head right now.

.......it's a real doggy doo dilemma - I'm sure archeologists didn't have this problem after the ice age!

Sponsor my tush!

Despite playing host to the leurgy today, I'm intending to run the Race For Life in Edinburgh in June this year - it's a long way off lol!!It is in aid of Cancer Research. It's a charity I have been a long time supporter of and affects one in four people everyday.

It's a small thing I feel I can do for something that can have such a devastating impact on people's lives and families. Since living in the States, Mr Beehive and I have had several friends and colleagues affected by this tragic potential killer and for that reason, it's time to get my lardarseup and moving.
So please sponsor me, either because you support the cause or because you'd like to see me with a firmer and smaller tush - either way, I don't care!! No donation is too small, and if you feel you'd like to do similar yourself, please go to www.raceforlife.org to find the closest one to you.

If any of my dear American friends would like to contribute, I will be happy to lighten you of your dollars but am not sure if the race for life link will allow you to sponsor me in dollars, in which case, mypaypal account might be better for this, you can contact me personally or leave a note at the bottom of my blog. You can click the link below to send your kind donations directly to my fundraising page.
Thank you all so much.

Snow Day!

We've had a snow day here today, so we decided to work on our display of Washington board. Whenever we come back from places the boys have tons of tickets and leaflets and a few postcards that we put into their scrap books. The books are looking really impressive now as we started them when we arrived in the US and have been fairly good at keeping them up. We have all the places we've visited, Arizona, Cape Cod, Mexico, Canada etc. This time, we decided this time to do a board as well to go in our school room in the new house in Edinburgh, to remind us of our times here.
I was in charge of "the glue stick" and the boys were in charge of concept, design, layout and production (I always manage to get the menial tasks ho hum!)


I love how Master Beehive the younger has spelt "Air and Space"



Master Beehive the Elder decided it was imperative to write at least half a page on being a spy!

Little Miss Beehive and I chose to make bread for lunch and at the same time experiment with some Rye and make a pumpernikel. Unfortunately it came out a little solid so we might build an igloo with it later this afternoon! The bread for lunch was tasty enough though! Not to worry, just a few more weeks and I will be back in the company of my breadmaker!!!

The snow that fell today has been totally fantastic for sledding. It has a thin layer of ice over the top so the sled course has run the whole length of the garden!

Oh and of course, eating snowflakes, which were, by this point, more like rain.

Washington D.C and awesome adjectives!

Why is it, the gems are always discovered just as you are about to move on?
This weekend we discovered DC! I know, we've only been here four years and in the final four or so weeks, are on a frantic tour of all the things on our "101 things to do before you leave list", this list, I hasten to add is separate to the "redirect the mail, pack boxes etc" list!

So, here in pictures is our weekend:

First stop - Breakfast with Barack!


Washington Memorial taken from the Lincoln Memorial, across the reflecting pond. Don't be fooled, look closely at the pond and you'll see the real temperatures we were contending with!!! I always wanted to see this exact picture in the flesh. It's the scene in Forrest Gump where Jenny runs through the pond to meet him at the Vietnam vets service (I think!) anyhoo, I had images of this place being all green and grassy - forgetting that just last Tuesday there had been hundreds of thousands of people tromping the grass flat at the inauguration (and hundreds and hundreds of port-a-potties were still remaining in rememberence of this event!!)




Mr Lincoln

....and the very second inaugural address. I love this, it shows the vastness of this piece of stonemasonry.

We found Connecticut!!

The Washington Memorial

The White House from the top of the Washington Memorial. Pres. Obama's landing pad for the 'copter!

The. Declaration. of. Independence! W O W !! Look really, really closely and you'll see John Hancock's siggy - central about two thirds of the way down...........I did say look really, REALLY closely!!! It is nearly 250 years old, not just another example of dreadful snapping!

Not photographed was the Holocaust Museum that we visited. They have a truly moving exhibition specifically for children so we decided to go and learn about that too. We didn't visit the rest of the museum as we felt the children may have been a little disturbed by it at the moment.

And then in the midst of all the sandstone .... a gothic inspired cathedral, that was only completed 20 years ago ?!

One very tired and extremely cold girl atop an open top bus (yes, I know, January, but there's no such thing as cold weather, just bad clothing!!!) at the end of day one!



Day Two - TeamBee ready for the off!



First stop - the National Air and Space Museum. We managed to lose 3 hours here easily. Our favourite parts being the cool computer imagery that we could play with that showed satellite images of the world and we could zoom in on specific places and see the landformation and then see a night image and areas of population etc. (that was very cool, and I am beginning to sound like my eldest son!!!!!!!!), the simulation ride of a fighter plane taking off from an aircraft carrier and the hands on exhibition for the kids about Flight and Air!

The genuine capsule from Apollo 11!

The Hubble Space telescope (well, a full sized model!)


Three hours later (and many, many more photos) and we're back on the bus again: This time, the Pentagon from the Arlington Memorial bridge.


A hopeless photograph of Arlington Cemetery Va. There are literally hundred upon hundreds of white tombstones in this cemetery many for war veterans and others for the likes of Glen Miller and Matthew Henson and of course, the eternal flame lit by Jackie Kennedy for her husband John. This is an appalling picture and in the spring the whole place is awash with cherry trees, a gift from the Japanese.

Aha! The Ford Theatre, whereupon John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln on April 14th 1865 during a performance of "Our American Cousins". Apparently he waited for the funniest moment hoping that the shot would not be heard.

He was then taken (Lincoln, that is,) to this house here opposite the theatre, whereupon he died later the next day. There are quite a few gruesome tales to Washington to appeal to the macabre of mind!

The National Archives, home to the Declaration of Independence, the 1297 Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.

Okay, so the intermission here is where we went to the International Spy Museum (no photos allowed............well, we were all spies for the afternoon!) - what fun that was. We all had to assume the identity of a spy and go through a "mission". The kids got to crawl along air ducts and try out bugging equipment etc etc and learn about some of history's most well known (they obviously didn't quite get it?!) spies. There are more spies in DC than in any other city in the world! Whether they are all there at one time remains to be seen, and I bet none of them look like Daniel Craig *sigh*

The US. Capitol complete with scaffolding still in place after Tuesday!

The Freedom bell outside Union Station.

We rounded off the weekend by going to an Ethiopean restaurant last night. It was a great experience, loved in particular by Master Beehive the younger as we were not given silverware but instead instructed to eat the foods from the platter with flat rolled bread (injera), therefore, for the first time in his life, he was allowed to eat his dinner with his hands without my nagging him to use his knife and fork - bliss!!!

All in all, the weekend was, according to Master Beehive the elder, "frickin' awesome." !!

Our first homework alongside our scrapbooks will be learning new adjectives to describe weekends of fantastic experiences!!!!!!!!!

We're losing the plot!

Move + age + distance = lots of stress.

I wonder if Einstein figured that equation out?

Okay, so for the next few weeks, I may blather on about boxes and sticky post it notes and dates, but stay with me, I promise sanity will be resumed somewhere around the summer equinox 2009!!

So yesterday, after flapping and worrying and assessing quotes I finally got the dog sorted. One phone call - that was all it too - all those delay tactics I was employing which increased the worry as to his welfare and it was sorted with one quick phone call to a nice guy called Mark and an extremely large dent in my credit card. Naturally, when he gets over in one piece, he can have a week's respite, then he is off out to work to pay for it - the dog that is, not Mark!!

Secondly I have to say that i am pretty sure Mr Beehive is losing his marbles. Yesterday he took my car keys to work and then proceeded to insist frantically that they were on the peg that I was staring at whilst talking to him on the phone *sigh*. Following that, in the evening, I showed him the list I'd made as to what had to go into which air shipment and explained he'd have a proper suit box for his suits.
I rushed out to a meeting at school - when I returned he'd filled suitcases with his suits and coat hangers? He insisted I hadn't told him, despite remembering the part about the printer we'd discussed IN THE SAME CONVERSATION???!! Worried? Moi?

Finally there was *the visit*. Blimey, it was like being visited by Aggie and wasserface from that cleaning your disgusting pit show. We were visited by eversuchanicelady from the relocation agency, who went around my house with clipboard and pen surveying everything.

"Is that going?" she asks pointing with her pen at my son's box sculpture that he is really proud of.
*gulp* what do I say?
"er.......yes"
"hmmm" is the response
Oh dear - I guess that has lost me marks?!

Anyway, her *conclusion* is that we have too much stuff. Well, I knew that. We came over with 2 small boys and an 8mth old baby. We're going home with 2 larger boys and a 4 year old who has since aquired more than the crib and few cloth diapers she came out with.

The cull has started :-(( I have donned my glasses, clipboard and pen and in my best Robinsoncowellesque manner am deciding on a rating system:
Age:
Usefulness:
Ability to be reassisgned to new home without disturbing the feung shui
Ergonomically pleasing
Ease to be replaced (and cost too!)
Whether it was aquired on a whim.

You get the picture?


You old green sofa, are tonight's biggest loser........

Oh, but please don't worry, it doesn't include children, dogs or husbands.............

















just yet ;-))

Skiving!

I'm hiding!

Don't tell anyone I'm here.

I'm supposed to be detoxing the house and beginning packing. We need to sort stuff into 2 different airshipments, one to go with Mr Beehive, the other to go when we leave for California and the rest will go sea shipment. Sounds easy enough, but believe me, I have no idea what to put in which pile. Do you know what you will need 8 weeks from today?

Yesterday I rug doctored carpets and today my cabinets are getting a face lift and detox! I really know how to live the high life. I've taken all my out of date medicines and suncreams to the chemist to dispose of and have tidyed everything up. I hate to tell you how much haemmaroid cream I found - darn those pregnancies!!

We have band aids and dressings for every eventuality,apart from maybe complete amputation, nd should you decide you require a Barbie plaster over Hello Kitty or Spongebob over Spiderman we can accomodate all your fashion requests!!


So:

Cupboards detoxed: 4
Binbags filled: 5
Boxes packed or moved: erm.......well the movers will do most of it........but probably about 5?! Is that good? no! I thought not!
Coffee drunk: 2 cups (and one was caffeinated *oops*)
Clients that have finally gone into labor: 0 .......... still!
Time spent shirking my duties: well, 30 minutes so far......
Likelyhood I'm going to be discovered? - probably a 75% chance!!!