Quake Ready

Happy St. David's Day people of Wales!

I told you I had some plans for my birthday this year! I actually spent the afternoon and evening of my 36th birthday on a plane travelling 6,000 miles to be with my Dad for his 60th birthday.

My British chum Cat who, along with her son Arthur, joined us on the flight back to Blighty. Just so you know, BA doesnt sell champagne on its planes anymore.  Even if its your birthday. You have to steal it from business class when nobody is looking. 

We knew that there was snow due in the UK the day we were due to land, but as we traveled down through the clouds I was amazed and a little overwhelmed by the volume of snow and traffic building up around Heathrow, which closed an hour after we landed. Somehow we made it back to Surrey with my father in law, coming to an abrupt halt in the main street of their snow covered village. We walked the remainder of the journey with two sleepy children, and laden with luggage. It was like a scene from the Sound of Music!

Surrey snow

Tom enjoys his first experience of snow with Annie and their adoring and wonderful cousins, Harry and Teddy. We miss you!!!

Me and my father in law, Brian. Oh, and more champagne :-)

During my week in Surrey my sister in law Ali, a Teaching Assistant in the local village school, arranged for me to volunteer in the classroom. It was a fantastic opportunity to help out in Dan's old infant school, and to see what educational standard Annie would be experiencing if we had stayed in the UK, and she had started school last September. More than anything, I realised that reading with children just after they have finished their lunch can make for a very smelly afternoon!

After a relaxing week with the in-laws, we met up with my parents and journeyed to the Home Country together to celebrate my Dad's birthday. I thought about planning out the week, considering all the people we might spend time with in Wales, but when it came down to it, seven days with my parents, brother and grandmother was such a precious time; to wake up every day and just be together. Life is too short, I had to focus. So please accept this as my official apology to you if we didnt get to meet up. Being so far apart for most of the year makes family time so wonderfully treasured.

Me and Mum drinking coffee in Porthcawl

Birthday tea with Dad. 

A bit of focus. My friend Nadia drove 200 miles in hail and snow to spend a few hours with us. She spent more time in the car that day than with us. What a friend!

If ever you have to say goodbye to your family, never let them come to the terminal to see you off. Its bad enough crying so much that you are covered in snot and dribble, but to then go through airport security with two little people and board an 11 hour flight - not recommended!

But this is what I came back to! Friends and sunshine! The above video was taken at Lands End in SF, on a Saturday morning 'hike'. The photographs below are from Point Reyes, north of the Golden Gate bridge in Marin County where we saws cows in fields on the side of the road, so pulled into a farm and bought as much meat as we could take home with us and BBQ'd steak that night - the best we've tasted so far! Hooray!

Its warming up here, just as it cools down in the UK so I hear! It will be 20 degrees tomorrow, so I've set our sprinkler system to come on and start watering the plants, I've cleaned out the BBQ and dusted down the garden furniture. This time last year my Mum came to visit us six weeks into our new life here and it rained every day! So this is not necessarily typical weather, but we're making the most of it!

And we are delighted with the news that both sets of parents have booked their flights to come and visit! Mum and Dad will travel out in June, and Brian and Marilyn will be here in August. And just as exciting is the news that our Scottish friends Toni and Sam will here next month for 10 days! We'd better stock up on some Californian wine! (Sam wore the kilt at our wedding, he was the one handing out 'wee drams' in the bar afterwards. If you accepted a drink from him you probably don't remember it!)

Dan has been travelling for two weeks in Brazil and is currently on a plane on his way home. I've spent time with friends who understand what its like to be home alone with the little people for a period of time, and am delighted that I've managed to eat more meals at other people's houses than at my own! Thanks dear friends!

Annie and Arthur iced a cake at Cat and Rich's house. Then they licked all the icing off and left the cake!

It's been a busy time completing applications for Kindergarten, buying a second and much needed car for Dan, getting my teeth stuck into a new volunteering role at church (I'm leading an Alpha course this Spring) and finally getting around to drafting an earthquake plan for our family, and getting the house 'quake ready'. The latter was hugely exciting, despite the seriousness of it all. Annie and I spent an afternoon researching earthquakes. She now has a torch and shoes taped to her bed, we have used quake putty to secure all pictures to walls and shelves, set up an out of state contact and we've practiced earthquake drills at home. She was particularly sad to hear that things might break if there is a quake, and worried about her egg cups in our kitchen dresser. She reminded me that they are made of china and can break and are very important to her. She hasn't eaten a boiled egg since we moved here!

We remain undecided about schooling, and are waiting to see which state school Annie will be allocated. As part of the admission process interview I was asked why Annie had not received the chicken pox vaccine. I think I blushed with  a confused confession that she had actually caught the virus itself! I was then asked to prove that she had had chicken pox via a doctors note which I cant do since back in the UK I was asked to avoid the surgery and instead apply calamine lotion liberally. So now she has to have a blood test before they will allow her entry into the state school system, sigh. I wont even talk about having to give finger prints so I can accompany Annie on a school trip!

And finally, this was Annie today at school learning about insects and bugs and getting to hold millipedes and crickets. She loves her pre-school. Tomorrow is 'Show and Tell' where she has to take in something starting with a particular letter of the alphabet and talk to the class about it. Last week was 'K'. Her friend brought in a kaleidoscope  but Annie got a little confused and insisted to me it was called a Koalascope! Tomorrow the letter is 'L' and she is taking in a love letter she has written for her Daddy. We cant wait to have you home Dan!