A Visit From Diana

After getting back from our trip to Germany we got a wonderful visit from our friend, Diana Hopkins. It is so amazing to see a familiar face from home sitting in your own living room and carrying on a conversation like we were sitting back in Washington, Illinois. Diana was actually over on business to attend a dealer conference in Peterborough...ahh, it's pretty cool to have some of your greatest friends work for the same company because somehow they all get connected even if it's half way around the world. Not only was it great to see Diana, but she also came bearing gifts...9 containers of Crystal Light packets. They looked so great when I put them up on our pantry shelf. Thanks again Diana!!! It was great seeing you.

It's Pretty Easy Being Green

Since we've moved to the UK we've noticed that their is a pretty strong push to conserve energy and to follow the three R's - reduce, reuse and recycle. So we have decided to take on some new habits that hopefully we can have a good influence on our kids.

Reuse - All the grocery stores offer their own reusable bags and often give you credit for bringing in your own bags. I picked up the Small Green Bag from Tesco the other day. I now keep a few other plastic bags inside and bring them along now when I go grocery shopping. To tell you the truth it's a lot easier using used bags to pack your own groceries than mess with trying to open up new bags...especially when you've got a 15 month old trying to climb out of the trolley these days.

Recycle - Also we do a lot of recycling...half of our rubbish actually gets thrown in our recycle bin. We have three large bins out back...one for garbage, one for recycling and one for yard waste. We had to start putting the recycling bin up off the ground once Addie started walking because she would play with the pop cans...I have horrible fears of her cutting her fingers. You've also heard me talk about some of our trips to the local waste facility...there are tons of huge containers that are marked for separating out your junk so that it can be recycled accordingly. You park your car and start chucking things in the right bin...pretty cool, but watch out for bees...ask Addie!

Reduce - Most recently we've decided to help reduce the amount of rubbish we see around us. We've started taking a grocery sack with us as we go on family walks and pick up rubbish along the side of the road. Yesterday we picked up a whole sack full. It's seems like there are some places in the UK that there isn't much concern over littering so we thought we'd at least clean up our little part of the world. We met a new neighbor while doing this and he actually thanked us. We felt pretty good about representing some values we picked up in the US.

Also we're trying to reduce the amount of fuel we use...when we came to the UK we bought diesel vehicles because of the fuel economy. The price of diesel these days in the UK is now 1.18 GBP per liter (used to be 96 pence when we moved here). There are 3.85 liters to a US gallon so that equates to about $8.90US/gallon of fuel....so all of you in the US complaining about $4.15 diesel...stop it!!! We both get about 35 miles/US gallon and with Kevin being so much closer to work he only fills his tank once every three weeks...lots better than filling that monster 4 door pickup truck we used to own.

Our Holiday in Munich, Germany

To sum things up, Germany was amazing!!! The food, the people, the sights, the good times spent together as a family. On Friday, we got up around 3:30AM so we could make it to the airport by 6AM. It was only an hour and 20 minute flight to Munich and we flew AirBerlin so it was interesting having all the announcements in German then in English. We took the S-Bahn train to our hotel, The Exquisit, which was located just 10 minutes walk from Marianplatz, the big central square in Munich. We started out our day by hopping on the U-Bahn train up to Olympic Park where the 1972 Olympic games were held. The grounds were awesome and it was a beautiful day. We walked to the top of this huge hill so we could get a scenic view of the park and overlooking the city of Munich. We checked out the Aquatic center, the stadium, Olympic Hall, the Olympia Beirgarten (beer garden) and had a beer and bratwurst at another beer garden. The BMW factory is right next to the park so we walked through their "show room" and Kevin said he could have spent hours in there marveling over the cars and the engineering displays they had set up. I thought the coolest part was the cars they were bringing up in elevators for people to either test drive or they were new cars that just came off the factory floor that people had purchased and were picking up. Next we headed to the English Garden where in part of the river the are huge waves created by an underground tunnel so people can actual surf in the river. I believe its the only the place in the world you can river surf.

Saturday morning we woke up to rain which was kind of a downer but it set the mood for our visit to the Dachau Concentration camp. Dachau was definitely an eye opening experience and one I'm glad we did so that someday when Addison sees the pictures we can share what we learned with her. We had a tour guide that walked us through the camp and explained a lot of background on how the camps came about and some of the unknown stories not told in the history books. We walked all over the grounds and through the main work building, the prison baracks, the roll call yard, and the crematorium where they actually used gas chambers to execute people. It was very sobering to be there, but what made it really real to me was the conversation I had with Jewish woman on our bus ride back whose grandparents were sent to Auschwitz. The rest of the day we spent tracking around Munich and checking out Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), Viktualienmarkt (city market), Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall), Neues Rathaus, (New Town Hall), Neuhauserstrasse (main pedestrian street that leads to Marianplatz). We also got to see the Glockenspiel at work that evening where figurines dance around at the top of the Altes Rathus under the clock.

Sunday we took a 2 hour train ride to Fussen, Germany to visit the Schloss Neuschwanstein castle. It's sometimes nicknamed the Cinderella castle because Walt Disney modeled the castle at Disney World around this place. King Ludwig II built many of these stately homes all around Germany and spent the family billions and put them in millions in debt when he died at the age of 40. It was an amazingly beautiful day and we could see the foothills of Germany lead into the Alps in Austria. To get to the castle you could take a bus of the fiercely steep hill or you could walk it...well of course we decided to walk...yes we were crazy, but we love a challenge. We walked 1 1/2 miles uphill pushing a stroller with a 25 pound baby in it while either carrying a 20 pound backpack (Kev) or me being 5 1/2 months pregnant. It was all worth it because the view was amazing. The castle has 80 rooms but only 20 of them are finished because construction stopped after Ludwig died and after going through what was finished you could see why they ran out of money...the rooms where very elaborate. This is a definite must see for everyone, but I would recommend taking the bus.

Monday we headed to Salzburg, Austria for the day. It definitely isn't enough time by any means, but we got a sneak peak. I'm a huge Sound of Music fan so we did get to see some sights from the famous movie - the park you see here is where they sang the "Do, Re, Mi" song. We saw the fountain where Maria splashed the horse when singing "I Have Confidence in Me," and we saw the cemetery where it was depicted that the family hid from the Nazi's at the end (but really those scenes where shot in Hollywood). Salzburg is also the home of Mozart so we saw his birth place and boyhood home. We rode a tram up to the Salzburg Fortress (Hohensalzburg) and got to see some amazing views down on the city and the mountains even though it was a pretty hazy day. One fun thing on this day was that on the train, Addison befriended a group of Greek highschool students. We ran into them again at the fortress so we had to get a picture of them while they sang, "If You're Happy and You Know It" in Greek. Since we only had a few hours in the city we didn't get to see all the Sound of Music sites, nor did we get to spend much quality time at any one place so we will have to go back for sure. We took some time to pick up some souvenirs...Kevin picked out a beer stein, we got a set of porcelain dolls in traditional dress for Addie, and I picked out a charm and Christmas ornament...all things we are going to be collecting from each country we visit. By accident we came across a game store which we popped in to see if they had a cribbage board (we've been searching everywhere for one), but I remembered that our friends the Westphalen's had picked up a fun German card game called Bohnanza (we affectionally call it the "Bean Game")...we asked about it and sure enough they had it. I was elated to find it and now while we are away from our friends Mark and Amity we can still practice our mad trading skills for when we move back to the States and drum up the fierce competition once again.
On our final day we finished up seeing some sites in Munich that we hadn't gotten to. We started out at Odenplatz Square which is famous for the Feldherrnhalle - Field Marshal's Hall where Bavarian police fought off Nazi protesters lead by Hitler. After Hitler took rule, he made people salute him as they passed in front of this hall. To avoid doing this people would walk on the street behind the hall and is nicknamed "Dodger's Alley". Next door is the Residenz Palace was the official home of Bavaria’s monarchs. Out front are bronze lions with bright shiney noses. People who supported the monarchy during the take over of Hilter would walk by these lion's and rub their noses...this practice is still done today as we saw many passers-by do the same. We ate lunch at the world famous HofBräuhaus (Royal Brewery) and Kevin drank a 1 liter beer. Afterwards he wanted to pull an old college trick of taking the mug with you but I wouldn't let him. We headed out to get some more souvenirs and almost ended up with an unwanted one. We were looking through a very small shop and as we were leaving the stroller caught a small table and things went tumbling...including a glass vase that didn't break, but also a very ugly painted tin tree thing. The shop people claimed that we damaged it and it was looking like we were going to be buying a 128 Euro ($200US) ugly painted tree. To our luck they didn't want to deal with calling the "Chief" and they let us leave...it's totally one of those moments that just make you sick to your stomach. We found another doll for Addie, a Germany/Munich beer stein for Kevin, and I found a Bavarian cookbook to take home.

Munich is a wonderful place. The city is clean and people are very friendly. I was very nervous for our trip at first beacuse I haven't been to a country where English wasn't the main language. Funny thing is that pretty much everyone we met spoke English...they start out in German but then after we apologize for only knowing English they switch tongues and speak perfect English. I feel so ignorant only knowing one language...but I feel it just isn't emphasized in our US education system to be more worldly. I'm sure Addison enjoyed the morning cartoons in German...familiar ones like Mickey's Playhouse and Cailou. Kevin and I would watch poker or snooker in the evenings...it was all in German but you didn't need to understand what they were saying. Overall Germany has to be one of the top trips I've been on...I think what made it most special was experiencing it with my family.

Germany or Bust

Tomorrow morning we are headed to Munich for 5 days of German culture. We are planning on touring Munich obviously, but we are doing day trips to Neuschwanstein Castle, Dachau Concentration Camp, and Salzburg, Austria. I can't wait to eat some really good bratwaurst and see all the great sites...I watched the Sound of Music today so I could be ready for Salzburg. We'll have some great pictures and stories to tell you when we get home on Tuesday!

If You Can't Buy It, Make It

One of the frustrating things about living abroad is not being able to find those trivial little things that you could run to any Kroger or Walmart and pick up to make your favorite recipe. Well I was really wanting to make that fruit dip that you mix a jar of Kraft marshmallow cream with a container of cream cheese. One would thing that was a very simple recipe, but if you can't purchase the marshmallow cream anywhere you have to explore other options. Today was a day that I am glad that God let Al Gore think he invented the internet, because I hopped online and googled "homemade marshmallow cream." To my wonderful surprise I the first recipe that popped up proclaimed it was the best homemade substitute for the Kraft marshmallow cream. Very simple ingredients that I happened to have in the house...it did call for light corn syrup which is another thing you can't buy in the UK, but it had a link from it that told you to mix 2 tablespoons of water with 1/2 cup of sugar instead. Well sure enough I had doubts, but it turned out perfect. I didn't believe that you would actually have to beat it for a whole 10 minutes but it did. I just stood there with my American hand mixer plugged into our big converter in the kitchen and bopped away to some music I had playing. Like other things I've found that I used to be able to conveniently buy and now have found a homemade way of doing it I think I may stick with the homemade versions because I actually know what's in it.

Here's the recipe for homemade marshmallow cream if you find yourself in such a predicament:
3/4 egg white
1/2 cup white corn syrup (1/2 sugar + 2 Tbsp of water)
1/8 tsp of salt
1/2 icing sugar (powdered sugar)
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
Combine egg white, corn syrup, and salt. Beat with mixer on high for 10 minutes or until thick. Add icing sugar and beat on low until blended. Beat in vanilla until blended. Use in any recipe that calls for marshmallow cream. This recipe yields 2 cups and the cream can be frozen if you don't need all that you make up.

Enjoy!!!

Who Took the Cookies From the Cookie Jar?

"Addie took the cookies from the cookie jar..." I was working on baking some treats for my Pampered Chef party. Addison had just learned how to climb up on her little kitchen that we use to block her from getting in the refrigerator and she was pretty determined to get herself an afternoon snack. It was so cute that I had to take pictures, but I quickly helped her down so we didn't have an accident. For the next two days all she wanted was cookies...yikes!!!

Spring Projects

I do say that it is great to have a spouse who gets into the "spring" as much as I do. Maybe it's because we're both a couple of farm kids transplanted into the city, but we have learned to love doing lots of spring projects over the years. We spent three years adding trees, shrubs, and flowers around our house in Washington and leaving all of that was the hardest part about selling our house. Well to feel "normal" this spring we decided to tackle a few things around our new house. In our back garden was a mis-shapened patio with missing pavers and it looked hideous and depressing. Somehow Kevin discovered a little walkway behind our garage that lead to a 10ft x 10ft empty space full of dead plants and yuck, but he found the 5 missing pavers needed to finish our patio. Now that we found the pavers, we had to find out how to get them laid. Kevin instantly got frustrated because to "do it right" he would have tilled up the dirt, laid rock then a 2 inch layer of sand to set the pavers right. Well we didn't have any of the tools to do that and I didn't want to spend that much time on it. So a frustrated Kevin dug up the old pavers and cut away the sod. I sent him off to B&Q (England's Home Depot) to get some sand, because he needed to leave me to get the dirt leveled out and to let himself cool off. By the time he got back I had done my best to make it look pretty. We used three bags of sand to get all the pavers set and leveled out, he even thought to buy some extra rock to put up against the house. It took us 3 hours from start to finish and for the limited resources we were pretty happy with the results. Actually so excited about the results that we have caught ourselves looking outside at it for the past week and just smiling. Here is a picture of what it looked like before...I had to go all the way back to pictures from our house hunting trips to find one.
Now here is Addison showing you how much fun it is to play on her new patio.

I also had the bug to get some new containers to plant flowers and a few plants in to add a little color and character to our home and garden. I had a great time planning things out and shopping for plants at the various garden centers around. I especially loved getting to use my new gardening gloves to plant everything. I felt so in my element again and have been on cloud 9 ever since. It's so fun to look outside and see our new "pretties". I love spring!!!! Here's the front of our house with our new planters out front.

We're Going to Have a Baby Boy!!!

Well it's a pretty funny story how this all came about. Kevin and I were pretty sure we were not going to find out what the sex of our baby was since we enjoyed the surprise with Addison. Even as we went in today for my 20 week scan, we were pretty sure that we would just wait... but we thought it sure would be nice to know if we would need to buy boy clothes or could do with Addie's hand-me-downs and if we needed to order boy bedding from the States.

The day started out interesting...Kevin had to pull himself out of an important meeting to go to my appointment, we were in the middle of prime Addison nap time so she was dog tired, and we were struggling to find a parking space at the hospital. So I guess once the technician started doing the ultrasound and the baby was in perfect position to show the family jewels, we couldn't help but verify our suspicions. I wasn't sure at first, but the more times she kept rolling the wand over that area, I said out loud..."That sure looks like a little boy to me!" Kevin had a huge grin on his face as I looked at him and he asked the tech if she knew what it was...she said she didn't know. We didn't know how she couldn't notice, but then she asked if we wanted to find out what the sex was. We were pretty sure we thought we knew already, but we gave in and had her check it out again. Sure enough we found out that the little one is a little boy! Kevin was so excited. He would have been overjoyed with another little girl but he is super excited to have a son.

I'm still in shock that I'm having a boy...I'm getting so used to a girl, but I think it will be great to have one of each. It's nice now to say to Addison that her little brother is kicking mommy instead of saying brother slash sister. The rest of the scan went pretty well...they took measurements on the head, two parts of the brain, the torso and looked at the heart and his leg length. I never did find out how long he was or what his heart beat was. I guess I should have known to ask those questions, but in the States they just tell you that. We called our immediate family first to let them know they were having a grandson or nephew and they were pretty excited - grandmas are ready to go shopping!

Spring Lambs

Today Addison and I went to my friend Holli's house as we do every other Wednesday, but today was a little extra special. Just behind Holli's house are some public footpaths that go right through a field full of sheep and spring lambs. Since the kids are out of school for spring holiday, we made it a great adventure today to check them out. All the kids put on their "wellies" (rain boots) except for me and Addie...I haven't made the effort to get her a pair yet. We then had to be very careful not to step on any "black pudding" left by the sheepies in the field, so I carried Addison most of the time. We had a lovely afternoon!