Good-Bye Cottage, Hello House!

Sorry for the delay in posting! We don't have official internet until Sept. 5th but we have a pay by the day option until then...definitely a relief but internet speeds are very slow! We were able to borrow some American DVDs from another American family to watch on the laptop, which is helping since we're without tv. We moved out of the cottage on Friday, which turned out to be a relief. While it was adorable, the spiders were really starting to "creep" us out and, as many of you read on facebook, we had a bat in the house on Wed night! Luckily, Wayne got it out on his second attempt and we didn't see our flying friend again but I couldn't help but wonder after everyone's scary advice! Plus, I was scared to open the windows! Here is a picture of one of our spiders.

Pretty big, right?

Despite the creatures, Lyla was getting pretty comfy.

Yes, she's on the kitchen floor!

We moved into our new house on Friday and absolutely love it! I won't put up many pictures of the inside yet because we have loaner furniture that does it no justice. ( : But here are a few teasers... the outside of our house, our kitchen and our conservatory.

Still in her pjs but she wanted to be in this one!

We're not sure when our stuff will be here but we can't wait! 3 of our crates are apparently on a ship over here now and 10 are back in the port of Baltimore. Hopefully Hurricane Irene doesn't delay them any more! We're thinking realistically we're looking at late September. Ugh! I am dreading unpacking though as I'm sure we brought way too much stuff, especially clothing! The good news is that our car is here and Wayne is picking it up on Thursday! Hooray!

We've been very busy since we moved in, taking long walks to the grocery store, High Street and the playground. We also took a double decker bus downtown one day, which the girls absolutely loved. The weather has been beautiful so far...a few drizzles but they disappear after 30 minutes. The day we took the bus we set off in rain gear but the rain was gone by the time we got downtown (a 10 minute drive).

Our new house  is in a private neighborhood called Redgrove Park with a long road to get out of the neighborhood. Riley thinks it's through the forest.

Lyla likes to wear her sunglasses upside down! ( :

Nearby are some great parks, including a Humpty Dumpty themed one that the girls loved! They have lots of very cool see saws and merry go rounds and Riley made a few new friends.

We're also walking distance from the grocery store, library and doctor's office (about a mile and a half) and a smaller market, newstand and family-friendly pub with garden (about three-quarters of a mile). Yesterday we walked over 6 miles total and Riley woke up today complaining about how much her right thigh hurt. Even Lyla was wiped out!

But we did manage to open a British bank account and visit a beautiful garden downtown.

We spotted a duck!

With our sponsor family on vacation, we've learned to be rather self sufficient but were very grateful when another American family in our neighborhood offered us a ride to the grocery store last night! Wayne rode with the husband, Chris, while Riley, Lyla and I went to their house to visit with Colleen (the same name as our sponsor!) and her kids Owen (6), Charlie (4), and Chloe (22 months). Riley had a great time jumping on their trampoline while Lyla enjoyed their toys (she's really missing her toys here!) and "befriending" Chloe. Overall, she did pretty well minus a few mishaps (stealing Chloe's cup and calling her baby all night). Lyla and Mommy are excited to have a friend who will be home while Riley's in school and especially so close by! Mommy enjoyed checking out their house (it's almost identical to ours but looks great furnished!) We stayed for dinner and both girls were exhausted by the time we got home!

Daddy headed back to work today and we are walking back to Riley's school to purchase Riley's uniforms. She asked if she can model them "right away" when we get home. ( : Can't wait until school starts on September 6th!