Not a lot happening

Mr Messy came downstairs with Little Prince this morning allowing me to have a lovely lie in :-) LMS is jealous as she had to get up early to go to an early morning showing of Clone Wars with her friends! Its been out for so long now that they only have one showing per day, and its early!! Me and Drama Teen got some more of her room sorted out, and filled the car up with rubbish ready to go to the tip. I was on my way to the tip, when I saw my Best Friend "Mad Cat Lady" waving madly at me and driving towards our house, so I turned round and went home to see her. Its the first time I've seen her since she looked after the kittens while we were away, and since her birthday last week. She and her Hubby went to Dublin for her birthday, and of course bought Little Prince a pressie - they spoil him!! Anyway I gave her her "thank you" present and her birthday present. She squeaked lots over her Crocs mobile phone holder, with Minnie Mouse widget!! I told her she would get her proper birthday present while we were in Disney and then had to almost gag Little Prince who was desperate to tell her!

Mr Messy was out dropping Drama Teen at the cinema, where she would stay all afternoon with her friends watching two films and going to McDonalds in between. Once he got home we set off for another of our friends so that Mr Messy could show them the photos he took of their daughter and sons a few weeks ago. They absolutely loved the photos, even the teenage daughter who had been convinced she wouldn't look good - she looked stunning :-) We called at Burger King on the way home as Little Prince was convinced he was going to die of starvation if he had to wait a moment longer to eat!!

When we got home I had to set straight off to pick Drama Teen back up again. I misjudged the length of the drive there and sat in the car waiting for about 20 minutes. When Drama Teen finally emerged she stood looking round while I flashed my lights at her for ages, before she rang me up wondering where I was!!! We gave one of her friends a lift home, before finally setting off home ourselves.

I'd had a message from LMS to ring my Mum earlier, and this was the first chance I'd had. Apparently my Dad's prostate is enlarged, and until that has shrunk and his waterworks are back in working order, he can't come home. So, disappointingly, he won't be allowed to come home tomorrow :-( They are hoping he will be discharged on Tuesday instead, fingers crossed he's well enough by then.

Finished the dreaded nametapes :-)

Usually I leave sewing nametapes into school uniforms until the very last minute, sometimes even the morning the kids are due back at school!! But I deciced that this time would be different and buckled down to it and got them all done and dusted tonight :-) Yeah :-)

Almost Time for School Again!

We went out fairly early (for us) this morning, to get the last bits that Drama Teen and Little Prince need for restarting school next week. I was amazed at how easy it was!! Drama Teen only needed new school trousers and she found some that both she and I approved of, and that fitted beautifully in only the SECOND shop we looked at!!! She and Mr Messy then went to a stationers to get some more bits, while I took Little Prince to Clarks for a shoe check. Of course he needed new shoes and was desperate to get the ones with the cars in again!! I whinged to the sales lad about what a rip off they were, and how the car fell apart in minutes last year and he was sympathetic but still managed to find them in Little Prince's size!! Oh well at least I know the shoes fit and are hard wearing!! We visited the local art gallery and cafe for lunch and had a look at the art after eating. It was a display from an artist who is inspired by art from the region of the world that is in Little Prince's background, so that was fascinating to look at.
When we got home I sprayed the shoes with three coats of the shoe protector and then with the magic shoe polish! Hopefully that will keep them looking smart for longer than a day, which would be another minor miracle as Little Prince is a boisterous boy and is hard on his clothes!!

In the afternoon me and Drama Teen sorted out one of her cupboards in her bedroom and have filled another couple of bags of stuff to either send to the charity shop or to the tip. Only the rest of her room to sort out now!! Its going to take forever!!!! But one day we will see the floor!!!

Quick catch up the rest of the week!

We were all very tired, well all except Little Prince!! So we haven't done too much since we got back from our hols. We had our hair cut on Sat 23rd August, and arranged to have Drama Teen's hair permanently dyed by our hairdresser before she starts back at school.
Afrika-Afrika
We went to see this show and it was absolutely amazing! I had booked us tickets in a box, right up next to the stage, so we had a fabulous view. The tickets also meant that we were served an African buffet before the show, and African desserts in the interval - yum yum :-) And both Drama Teen and Little Prince got a t-shirt too. If the show comes on anywhere near you GO AND SEE IT!! It was just wonderful from the stomach-churning antics of the contortionists, to the spectacular pole gymnastics, to the highly entertaining unicycle basketball!! I'm so glad we went :-)

We've had various car troubles and LMS's little rover ended up in the garage needing a new timing belt and other engine bits! So I had to hire a car (nice little Polo) to enable me to get over to visit Dad in hospital. He had his bypass operation, which ended up being a triple bypass, on Tuesday. I've since visited him and he looks very well, especially compared to some of the other VERY ill looking people on his ward. He was only kept in ICU for about 24 hours, and then the High Dependency ward for a day, before being transfered back to the ordinary Cardiac Ward (while I was visiting with Baby Sis) and they expect him to be discharged home early next week :-) Which is an amazing recovery and I'm so happy and relieved :-)

LMS went to an Anime themed party, wearing a dress from China, via Ebay, that looked gorgeous and fitted her like a glove. She put the photos on her usual social networking site, and won't allow me or her Dad to see them - I dread to think!!!

Little Prince restarted his swimming lessons today, and had a great time splashing around in the pool. He told me he knew what his teacher looked like - she has brown hair and wears a swimsuit!!

As far as I know that is all catched up and up to date - hopefully I'll get back into the habit of blogging each day and not get behind again. Now I'm not jetlagged or worried sick over my Dad I'm sure I'll manage it :-)

Home at Last :-)

We travelled back to Mum's house by bus, something neither of us are particularly used to lol. When we got to Mum's house, the key (that Baby Sis had apparently left for us) didn't work!! And Mum had already left to go and visit Dad in hospital!! We were locked out, in the rain, with no coats!! We decided to walk round to see my other sister who lives nearby. It was lovely to catch up with her and her kids, and to see how her house is coming on, after they had a plumbing disaster! After chatting for ages, her Hubby took us back to Mum's, armed with their key to Mum's house! Just as we were getting out of the car, I saw Mr Messy parking ready to come and pick us up. Fab timing :-) It was so nice to finally get home and sleep in my own bed :-) Not that I slept much, as my body refused to switch over to England time very quickly!!

Yet more catching up!

Home At Last
We travelled back to Mum's house by bus, something neither of us are particularly used to lol. When we got to Mum's house, the key (that Baby Sis had apparently left for us) didn't work!! And Mum had already left to go and visit Dad in hospital!! We were locked out, in the rain, with no coats!! We decided to walk round to see my other sister who lives nearby. It was lovely to catch up with her and her kids, and to see how her house is coming on, after they had a plumbing disaster! After chatting for ages, her Hubby took us back to Mum's, armed with their key to Mum's house! Just as we were getting out of the car, I saw Mr Messy parking ready to come and pick us up. Fab timing :-) It was so nice to finally get home and sleep in my own bed :-) Not that I slept much, as my body refused to switch over to England time very quickly!!

More catching up

Visiting Dad

After spending some time at Mum's (and chatting with Aunt and Uncle from Oz) Mr Messy took Little Prince and LMS home. Me and Drama Teen stayed at Mum's house and then me and Baby Sis went to hospital to visit Dad. It was so good to see him, he was looking so well (considering lol) and way better than the other ill looking men in the ward! He was his typical self, rolling his eyes and complaining about the man in the bed opposite who kept ringing his bell to get the nurse's attention. He can be such a b*tch lol.

Overnight at Baby Sis's House

That evening me and Drama Teen stayed with Baby Sis at her house. We had to go to the supermarket to buy undies and pyjamas for me and Drama Teen as we couldn't face trying to find what we needed in all the suitcase!! We also had to get ourselves some English choccies and pringles lol. Baby Sis and her fiance made us a lovely tea of bolognaise, which is what Drama Teen had requested. We were very tired and I went to bed at around 7.30pm, Drama Teen stayed up later, but I was fast asleep so don't know when she went to bed!! I woke up at 2am and couldn't get back to sleep, so spent a few hours sat in bed in the dark (didn't want to disturb anyone) listening to my iPod and eating my Pringles!! I did eventually get back to sleep, but was so tired in the morning when my alarm went off. Not as tired as Drama Teen who almost cried and said she wanted to stay in bed (the sofa!) and wasn't bothered about having her brace removed!!

Adventures on Public Transport

Once I finally persuaded Drama Teen to wake up we started to search for some breakfast! In vain!! Baby Sis did apologise later, but it had just been payday and they hadn't had time to shop!! We ate American Smarties for breakfast!! We followed the instructions on the note Baby Sis left and managed to get the right bus to the city centre. The bus driver had a problem with his ticket machine, and started pulling reams and reams of paper out, we sat at the bus stop for about 15 minutes and were worried that we wouldn't get to the orthodontist in time. Luckily whatever the problem was got sorted out and we made it in time. Finding the next bus turned out to be a problem, as the bus Baby Sis told us didn't exist! Eventually we found the right bus and got to the orthodontist, what a journey when you're jetlagged!!

Bye Bye Brace FOREVER

We spent ages with the orthodontist as she had to remove Drama Teen's lower brace (which sounds better than bottom brace lol) and take an impression to make a new upper retainer, as she lost the old one at her Summer Camp!!! I wasn't too pleased when I found out that I had to pay to replace it either!! And she has been told to take really good care of the new one!! Anyway she was thrilled to bits to finally (after 3-4 years) have her brace taken off :-) And she looks stunning :-) Well she always does look stunning, but now she's even more stunning :-) When our appointment had finished Drama Teen gave her orthodontist a t-shirt she'd bought for her in America. Her orthodontist is Norwegian, and the town's sports team is X Vikings - so it was perfect :-) We couldn't believe how excited the orthodontist got, she ran into the receptionist's office to show them too lol.
When we got out of the hospital I took a photo of Drama Teen with my camera, and then asked her to send it to her Dad and sister, as I'm useless at mobile phone technology and don't know how to do it!! She duly sent it off to the number marked "Dad's Mobile" lol. Her Grandad was thrilled to see the picture lol.
More later...

A bit of catching up!

Last Day of Hols
I forgot to blog about our UK/US celebration of Little Prince's moving in day! We got a Cars shaped Pinata from Walmart and then invited Drama Teen's new Young Man and his sisters round and had half an hour of bashing the Pinata with a Cricket Bat :-) It was very hot and I think most of the sweets got trodden into the ground, but the kids seemed to enjoy bashing away at the Pinata :-) After we'd done that we let Drama Teen go next door with her Young Man (and his sisters as chaperones lol) while we finished packing. Me and Cabbage Queen went to the Post Office to post FIVE boxes of stuff home - I think we did too much shopping!! When it reached lunchtime we had to, sadly, say goodbye to Cabbage Queen and set off to the airport. The goodbyes were hard :-(
Travelling
It was about a three hour drive to the airport, Mr Messy was taking it easy and enjoying driving along the highways. At the airport the Hire Car drop off point was well signposted and easy to find (phew) and once we'd managed to get everything out of the car and onto luggage trollies we set off to find check in. We had to go on a monorail to another terminal, and as we entered that terminal we noticed lots of online check in stations for our airline. We asked the lady at the information desk if we could check in as we didn't have 'proper tickets' just e-tickets and she said "No problem" and pointed us to a check in station where a man assisted us. It was THE easiest check in ever!! Even easier than when we online check-ined for Florida a few years ago!! So, luggage free, we wandered off to find something to eat. We found some comfy chairs, near some interesting looking shops and took turns watching our carry on bags/finding the food courts. While we were doing this Mr Messy checked on our boarding cards and to his horror found we were seated all over the aircraft - each one of us was seated on our own!! Even Little Prince!!! He immediately went off to find someone from our airline to see what we could do. He was told that there were no rules in the US against sitting young children by themselves and that we would just have to go to the boarding gate and see if they could help us!! As soon as the computer screens showed which gate we needed we set off there and sat and waited. It was so stressful. I was so worried about what would happen - and was quite prepared to throw a tantrum and/or refuse to board if we couldn't at least sit with Little Prince and Drama Teen. The mood was lightened a little by Little Prince (wearing his white "good guy" cowboy hat) noticed someone in a black cowboy hat and announced he was a bad guy, and kept trying to shoot him!! As soon as we caught sight of the airline staff approaching I dived to the desk and was first in the queue! I explained to the lady what our problem was, and she asked "Are you the (surname) family?" when I said yes, she told me not to worry she had noticed the problem earlier and had changed our seat allocation! I could have kissed her I was so grateful :-) We were now sitting as a three (at the bulkhead) and a two (across the aisle). What a relief!!!
Flying
We settled ourselves into our seats, I like the bulkhead seats - much more room to spread out! I don't think the lady sharing our row was too chuffed when she saw Little Prince though! Mr Messy, sitting across the aisle, was getting grumpy at the man in front who reclined his seat and took up all Mr Messy's leg room. So in the end he swapped with LMS and sat with me and Little Prince. We had individual TV screens so we let Little Prince chose a film to watch, he chose Kung Fu Panda (again - he watched that on the way out too!!). Once we'd had our meal, which wasn't too bad, we told Little Prince he could watch the end of his film and then it was bedtime. He didn't argue and settled straight down to sleep - what a fab traveller :-) Given all his issues, that we are just learning about, I think he copes marvellously :-) The rest of the flight was uneventful, apart from when I got overheated and felt like I was going to faint! Once I'd managed to get my jacket and blanket off I felt fine, and the stewardesses brought round glasses of water very soon afterwards too, which helped.
Home Again
We got caught in at the back of a HUGE queue for Passport Control and it seemed to take ages to get through. Little Prince made the Passport man smile as he said "Bye Pardner" to him, Little Prince was STILL wearing his cowboy hat!! Once we'd got the luggage I rang the taxi firm and they told me where to go to wait to be picked up. We were all extremely tired and grumpy by this point, and Mr Messy kept questioning where we were going and if I knew waht I was doing, we were both ended up snapping at each other. We seemed to wait for ages for the taxi, and when the driver eventually appeared he said we had to walk to a different part of the carpark as he couldn't fit his minibus in the multistorey part!! Once we were driving Little Prince got quite agitated that we were driving on the "wrong track" (the left side of the road instead of the right as it had been in America!). We assured him it was OK in England and he calmed down.
TO BE CONTINUED :-)

Last Holiday Post

We have spent the morning watching Mr Messy cram more stuff into the suitcases and boxes. We think he might have cracked it :-) Mr Messy has locked the guns away, so no more shooting now. Almost everything is packed. Drama Teen is sad that she is going to see her new boyfriend (he asked her to be his girlfriend last night awwww) for the last time today :-( Its going to be a long day!!!

Last Full Day

Mr Messy started the day with his breakfast in the diner again, and afterwards he and NA Artifact friend came up to the house, so that they and Drama Teen could have their last shoot! Little Prince showed off his pop gun and was very pleased that NA artifact friend was impressed :-) NA artifact friend brought a Colt 45 for Mr Messy to try, but unfortunately it kept misfiring and they couldn't fix it.

In the afternoon me, Mr Messy and Cabbage Queen took the three kids down to the town pool, where they played and splashed for about an hour, while we baked on the side of the (outdoor) pool!! After swimming we went to a sports bar to eat lunch, unfortunately I was so hot and bothered that I was quite grumpy with the kids - sorry. I felt better after we'd eaten :-)

When we got back to the house me and Mr Messy had a nap, him in the reclining chair and me in bed! Then Cabbage Queen took me and Mr Messy to visit the relatives who got married last week. Mr Messy was supposed to take photos of their three kids, but unfortunately only the wife was in and didn't know when everyone else would be back. We chatted with her for a while before driving off so that Mr Messy could take photos of a very pretty iron bridge. He also managed to capture the river looking so still it was like a mirror!

When we got back to the guest house we started getting everything together to pack. We hadn't realised we'd shopped quite THAT much!!! Mr Messy was getting increasingly grumpy about the whole thing and in the end me and Cabbage Queen went to Walmart (again!!) to buy another suitcase!! We have also filled four or five boxes of things that we are going to ship home!!

Yesterday

Yesterday started way too early!! We were driving a couple of hours away to a huge flea market/antique fair. Once again Drama Teen decided to stay here and wait for her boy to appear! I was quite worried about this as we would be so far away and wouldn't be able to get in touch with her at all, all day!! But she insisted this was what she wanted to do, and so we drove off waving to her stood on the deck :-(

The drive was long and loud with Little Prince chattering most of the time! We saw quite a few Amish people driving their horse drawn buggies on our way. Its fascinating to think that they live their lives without technology or electricity! I know I couldn't cope living like that! Once at the flea market we parked in the enormous car park and headed off to mooch round the stalls. There were so many!! Lots of barns and buildings filled with people selling their stuff. It was very hard for Little Prince as lots of the stalls had delicate china on them, and I had to keep a tight hold on his hand and constantly remind him not to touch!! We bought quite a lot of things for his bedroom, but he didn't appreciate those!! We only saw one stall selling toys and ended up not getting him any Star Wars figures as they seemed over priced, I thought there would be more toy stalls somewhere else, but there weren't!

After the flea market we drove over to a nearby Mall as LMS wanted to go to JC Pennys and get some shorts she'd seen. She also bought a pair of mocassins and a Prom Dress!! Strange combination, but it makes her happy lol. There was a soft play area in the Mall (such a civilised idea - wish it had caught on in the UK!) so Little Prince was able to run off some of his pent up energy. He was then a bit happier to wander round the shops!! We must have shopped till we dropped as both LMS and Little Prince fell asleep on the way home!!

When we got home we found a lonely and folorn Drama Teen :-( Apparently her boy had been round with his parents to invite her to come shopping with them, but as she was here on her own they decided not to take her, as there was no one to ask permission of. Within minutes of our own arrival, her boy pulled up on his quad bike - we told them to be back before dark and to behave themselves. It got later and later and there was no sign of them!! His mum appeared at our door asking if we knew where they were - and said send him home as soon as we see him!! Then his neighbour's kids turned up looking for Drama Teen, and they had no idea where they were either! It was getting darker and darker and I was starting to get worried, when they finally appeared!! I told the boy that he had better go straight home as his mum was looking for him. Drama Teen insisted that it wasn't dark and that they HAD got home in time!!! Funnily enough we didn't agree!!! We teased her about being out late with her boy and wondering what she had been up to!! She finally admitted that they had been kissing!! Apparently the day before they had said their goodbyes and he had driven off on his quad bike, then came racing back. "Sorry I have to do this" he said and kissed her, awww. I think Drama Teen is smitten :-) Tomorrow is going to be very hard for her :-(

In the midst of teasing Drama Teen we somehow found out that LMS has a 'thing' for her American friend that she has been chatting to on the internet for years. Trouble is he is right over the other side of the United States and she hasn't yet had the chance to meet him - although she has rung him quite a few times while we've been here :-) And even cuter, he likes her too :-)

Once we had done enough teasing of Drama Teen (for that evening anyway) we went out with Cabbage Queen to Walmart, leaving Drama Teen babysitting for Little Prince. I wanted to get some last bits and pieces for our friends who've looked after our kittens and LMS wanted to get some sweets/candies for her friends at home. Mr Messy came along for the ride and ended up getting loads of t-shirts and shirts for work!

16th August - a very special day

Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of Little Prince moving in with us. It seems like he's been with us forever, not just four years. He exploded into our lives with a tonne of energy and joy and has just got more and more fun :-) He still has fears and insecurities related to his early years and I so wish I could wave a magic wand and make them all go away, but instead we have to help him slowly build up his confidence and security. He has come such a long way since that day four years ago when he was barely toddling and could only speak a few words. He now runs at high speed everywhere he goes and has a huge and very mature vocabulary. And most special of all he trusts us, his family, to look after him and keep him safe :-) I am so grateful that we were chosen to love and raise this special little boy, and hope we can live up to the responsibilities we have been entrusted with.

We love you soooooooooo much Little Prince xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Announcements!!!!

Drama Teen's been snogging and its on the blog!!!!

LMS's got a thing (for an American) and its on the blog!!!!

Yesterday's Doings

Following a familiar pattern, Mr Messy brought NA Artifact friend round after their diner breakfast, and he and Drama Teen did some more shooting. Drama Teen had been up VERY early (earlier even than Mr Messy) - wonder if she was excited about seeing Older Boy again?!?! When Mr Messy took NA Artifact friend home, Little Prince discovered a mud puddle - we didn't realise until he appeared in the kitchen looking like a Mud Monster!! It was too late to tell him no by then, and he was having so much fun so we let him go and play some more!! I managed to get quite a lot of video of the 'performance'!! It took over half an hour in the shower with both me and LMS working on him and three shampooings to get him reasonably clean!!!! Once again Older Boy arrived after lunch and he and Drama Teen headed off on his quad bike down the creek for more fishing. We went off in the car to a different nearby town with a different hunting shop!! Mr Messy finally found a cowboy hat he liked, but decided not to get it partly as it was black and Little Prince was worried about being a Bad Guy and partly because we've only got a few days of our holiday left and he wouldn't wear it at home lol. He did find some sunglasses that fit over his prescription glasses, and don't look silly!!! I got Little Prince a cuddly/plush stuffed deer to hang on the wall of his American bedroom :-) And best of all we found him some Disney Crocs, much to both his sister's disgust!!! On the way home we stopped at a showground for modular houses and had an hour wandering round them. It was interesting to see how these houses looked, and how different from UK houses they were. Mr Messy and LMS chose the one they want - the most expensive on the lot of course!!! Once back at the house Cabbage Queen had to get ready for a church meeting, and me, Mr Messy, Drama Teen and Little Prince went out on our own to McDonalds. We even found it :-)

My Dad

I finally got an email from Baby Sis yesterday letting me know how Dad's tests went. He needs a heart bypass operation. He is back in the original hospital and will be there until they can find a 48 hour intensive care bed for after the operation. It will happen in the next two weeks at the most. I can't believe my big strong Dad is this ill and having to stay in hospital! He's NEVER ill!! We are out all day today, so I'll try to keep busy and not worry, but it won't be easy at all.

Thinking of you Mum and Dad, I'll see you as soon as I can.
Lots of love
Me
xxxx

Shopping

Yesterday started as usual with Mr Messy and Farm Boy going for breakfast, unfortunately afterwards Farm Boy had to go back to work in a city a long way from here, so we won't see him again until we come over again :-( Little Prince was very miffed that he didn't get to say goodbye and that Farm Boy was the one with all the guns lol. Drama Teen had arranged to meet the local boys again today, for an afternoon of fishing and quad biking. She spent all morning getting ready and even asked her big sister for advice on what to wear, although she did wear something completely different than what she'd been advised lol. When she wasn't getting ready she was out on the drive shooting again!! The younger of the two local boys came over when he heard the shots and joined in, his dad arrived a while later to check that he was behaving himself and to offer some more ammunition for the shooting!! He's on a local TV station presenting a hunting type programme.

Once the older boy arrived after lunch Drama Teen and the boys went off to the creek fishing. The rest of us loaded into the car and set off for an hours drive to a big town and its mall. Mr Messy wanted to go to a Best Buy and get a new video camera and a new MP3 player for LMS, as hers has been playing up for ages. I tried to persuade her to have an iPod like the rest of us, but she wouldn't have any of that and went for a Sony Walkman thingie in pink. She would have prefered black but that was out of stock!! Mr Messy also wanted a small camera but the model he wanted was out of stock, so he couldn't have that. He'd also wanted to get some sort of whizzy dizzy memory card that isn't available in the UK yet, but we completely forgot that bit!! We're shopping again on Saturday so perhaps he'll be able to find it then. We then visited loads more shops in the mall and bought clothes and Americana stuff for Little Prince's bedroom. LMS was looking for Van's and Mr Messy for Converses but neither found the style they wanted. We bought some t-shirts for Drama Teen from Sears and they cost just over $2, what a bargain!!! We also visited quite a few farming or hunting shops on the way home to try and find Little Prince some cowboy boots and a cowboy hat for LMS - didn't find either!! But we did find Little Prince some gorgeous Harley Davidson biker boots, he looks so cool :-)

When we got home we got the goss' on Drama Teen's day (in her own words!): First me and the boys went fishing under the bridge by the creek, which is just down the drive. And erm I caught two snakes, and then I caught a lot of fish, but I refused to get them off the line and just held them dangling and wriggling going "Eugh eugh eugh" and mad ethe bhoys take them off the line for me. I also tangled the line quite a few times, but older boy didn't get mad at me so its all good. And then erm we went fishing further up the creek and there were loads of fish there, you just had to throw your line in and you caught something. I wouldn't touch the worms and put them on the line though. We found a skull and that was cool. That was when we'd put the fishing stuff back at older boy's house we went driving on the quad bikes to the bluff and found the skull. I threw leaves at him, but it was windy so he didn't notice but then he threw flowers at me "Yeah flowers." I got to have a go at driving and it is so much fun. After a bit younger boy went home, so me and older boy went round and round and then we went in a field and sat on a haystack. It was really hard to get on them as they were so big, once we got up on them we sat there and chatted for a bit. Then we went back on the quad bike and came on the path behind the guest house, I was driving, the path kind of stopped, and older boy had to help me do a three point turn. I had to be really careful cos there was a really big hill at the side of the path. I kept saying "older boy you do it" but he made me do it myself. On the way back down the path, I crashed into the weeds for no apparent reason, which scared older boy mwahahaha. Then we went back to the haystacks for a bit. Then he had to go and babysit his sisters for a bit. He was supposed to come back after he'd finished, but it was raining too much so he couldn't. So we chatted on a social networking site instead.

Once we'd dumped all the shopping in the guest house and heard all about the day from Drama Teen, we piled back into the car and went out to eat. Our waiter had just returned from England and had been about 30 miles from where we live, on an exchange from his US college!! What a coincidence!! LMS wasn't too chuffed to be craving a drink and be too young to have one!! So Cabbage Queen ordered a "Sex on the Beach" for them to 'share'!! Little Prince had his second corn dog of the day, a disgusting sounding concoction that he seems to really enjoy!! He did surprise me and opt for water instead of his new found favourite of Roo Beer!! LMS had a steak and was much more pleased with the size of this one than the one she had the other day!! She almost ate it too!! It was Cabbage Queen's birthday so we gave her her present - some tiny china cups & saucers and teapots, that she'd seen in the tea shop last week and said she really admired :-)

I checked my emails when we got back to the guest house, but still no word on how Dad's tests went. Hopefully I'll hear sometime today how it all went.

Even more adventures

Yesterday LMS got up early to go to the grungy diner for breakfast with Mr Messy, Farm Boy and his friend. The food was good, but not good enough to get up that early again lol. When they got back me, Mr Messy, Cabbage Queen and Little Prince went out to the shops again. Farm Boy's prescription wasn't ready to be picked up at the pharmacy. We went on to a farming shop where Mr Messy bought a Carhart fleece, which looks identical to his Carhart jacket he bought last time we visited lol. He also bought a few John Deere sweatshirts, he feels very 'farmy' now lol. When we were turning back into the drive on the way home we saw a Quad Bike near the creek, so Cabbage Queen went and found the young lad who owned it and invited him and his friend to come shooting with us later, they both said they would be here after lunch. Later on Mr Messy and Farm Boy went to collect NA artifacts friend, who brought along some different guns and his WWI jeep! They had made a whole shooting gallery with cans strung up from a line, various targets and more cans stood on top of things!! At first Drama Teen and the boys were quite shy, but after a while they started chatting, before the older boy took her for a ride on his Quad Bike - she was VERY impressed :-) Although she now knows she has to lift her feet up when they go through the creek, to keep her shoes dry lol. They seemed equally impressed with her shooting ability and model girl looks :-) They have arranged to go out fishing and then shooting again tomorrow :-) Older Boy got a phone call and had to leave to go to work (repainting lines in car parks) - so he's good looking, responsible and a long long way from our home - just the kind of boyfriend I approve of!!!

After quite a LOT of shooting Farm Boy, Mr Messy and NA artifacts friend took LMS out in the jeep. She really enjoyed it, apart from the speed - they were overtaken by the Younger Boy on his Quad Bike!! But she did insist on wearing her Dad's cowboy hat and having her picture taken in the driving seat on their return :-) And she looked VERY cool!!

In the evening we all (minus the boys) went out for a meal, to the same restaurant we went to after the wedding last week. It was a lovely meal again, and the portions were just as huge!! I couldn't believe that nine of us ate and drank for about £60!! Good food, good value, good times :-)

Back at the house I got Little Prince to bed and went over to Cabbage Queen's house to chat with the growed ups :-) Although I was summoned back a few minutes later to deal with a whinging Little Prince!! I settled him again and went back over to the other house, taking one of the radios so that LMS could get me if she needed me!! Luckily she didn't need me again, so I stayed there chatting for ages. It was very dark when me and Mr Messy finally made our way back over to the guest house!!

More Updates

Yesterday Drama Teen changed her name to Annie Oakley!! She spent most of the day with Mr Messy and Farm Boy shooting various different guns. They shot targets at first and then moved on to tin cans and anything else they could find! Drama Teen is a proficient natural shot!! And she enjoys it!!! Little Prince had a go, but soon got bored, but Drama Teen stayed there all day! She was wriggly and impatient all through dinner wanting to get back out shooting again!!

LMS was in a tizzy as Cabbage Queen had arranged for one of her son's friends to take her to the cinema. Of course we had been teasing that she was out on a hot date all day!! So as soon as the boy arrived Little Prince yelled up the valley "LMS your hot date is here" which almost made her run back in the house to hide!! They went out to see the new Batman movie, which LMS was too polite to say that she'd seen already! Trouble was they were both quiet, reserved young people and hardly spoke a word to each other!! So it wasn't quite the hot date we'd been teasing her about lol.

I got a phone call from my Mum, which was the most scary thing EVER!!! Mum just wanted to reassure me that Dad was ok and there was nothing to worry about, and explain that she couldn't email me as her email wasn't working properly. Which was lovely of her :-) And it was good to hear that Dad is doing ok. I'm trying not to worry, honest!!!

Yesterdays happenings

Mr Messy and Farm Boy went out to the diner for breakfast as usual, picking up Farm Boy's (the one with the Native American artifact collection) friend on the way, as usual :-) On the way back they picked up some of friend's guns and brought them over to the house and let the girls have turns at shooting them!! The noise was way too loud for Little Prince and he ran crying to the guest house to find his Mummy!! It was too loud for Drama Teen too, but once she was wearing ear defenders she was back shooting!! The noise echoed around the valley and agree with them it was VERY loud lol. Drama Teen has now decided she wants to come over here for college (our university) and have two guns and drive a pick up lol.

After hearing about my Dad being in hospital I went for a lie down, and ended up sleeping until mid afternoon, when Mr Messy woke me up to go out for our Mule Carriage Ride. It was a lovely little carriage with bench seats facing each other in the back, and the driver and Farm Boy sat up front. As we were bouncing and slipping around in the back, Little Prince loudly asked "Haven't they heard of SEATBELTS?" lol. We stopped by an old iron bridge over a river, where Little Prince had a great time throwing stones into the river and running off some pent up energy. When we got back in the carriage Mr Messy and Little Prince were invited to sit in the front, which they really enjoyed. Little Prince even got to drive!! Pretty scary for us in the back lol. But he did a really good job and tried hard to listen to the instructions he was given, and of course remembered exactly how to make the mules go faster!!! When we got back to the farm the driver offered to saddle up some ponies later in the week to let the kids have a ride round for a bit :-) People round here are so nice and friendly :-)

On the way home we called in a Pizza/Chicken place for tea. The portions were ENORMOUS!! Drama Teen seemed to grow pale when they brought her chicken dinner over, although she did very well and ate much more of it than I thought she'd manage! Me and Little Prince opted for the buffet so we could pick and chose what to eat. I loved the potato salad, but the mash potato tasted like it was made from Smash so that wasn't very nice. Little Prince had some ice cream in his root beer - and Dawn tell Iain he LOVED it :-) For dessert I had cactus bread - a pizza base with cinnamon and icing on it, it was surprisingly yummy :-)

Thinking of you Dad

My sister (Baby Sis) has been trying to get hold of me for a few days, but our mobile phones have stopped working! Its been worrying as I've been wondering what on earth was going on for her to be wanting to ring me while we were out here! I bought a phone card the last time we were in Walmart and rang her yesterday, unfortunately I just missed her so just spoke to her answermachine!! Today I tried again when I knew she would be back home from work. I spent ages trying to get the phone card to work, and in the end Cabbage Queen said just dial without using the card - and I got straight through!! Thank you so much Cabbage Queen :-)

Baby Sis's first words were "Don't panic but..." and of course I panic!!! Apparently our Dad is in hospital following what they think is a mild heart attack. He is being kept in the medical assessment unit and has to wear a heart monitor. He can't be that poorly as he is whinging that he is bored and miffed that he has missed a cricket match at Old Trafford lol.

Baby Sis has promised to keep us updated by email now that she has told us "in person" its not the sort of news you can put in an email or text! We got a message from her later to say that the hospital was trying to transfer Dad to a different hospital for an angiogram, before bringing him back to his original hospital.

Its hard being all the way over here and not being able to speak to him or my Mum. I promised Baby Sis I wouldn't let it spoil our holiday, as Dad had been worried that telling me would do that! So for him I am going to try my very best to have a GREAT time for the rest of our stay.

Stay well Daddy I'm thinking about you, big hugs from your biggest girl :-)

More Adventures

In the morning me and Mr Messy accompanied Cabbage Queen and Farm Boy to church. I attended the service with our friends, while Mr Messy wandered around the outside photographing. The service was very similar to a church we attended when the girls were little, but with lots of touches that made it uniquely American :-)

Big excitement yesterday, some of the neighbourhood kids came to call on Drama Teen. She went down to the creek with them and later when we were going out, she decided to stay at the house to play with her new friends. I think she is getting fed up with just having her little brother to play with!

We all went out to Farm Boy's friend's house. He is a collector of Native American artifacts and had offered to show the girls his NA jewellery collection. LMS was spellbound by all the pieces, and the man told her the history and providence of most of the pieces, it was fascinating. While we were there Cabbage Queen took Little Prince to the play park near the town swimming pool - he would have messed too much with all the valuable/delicate things!! The house was a veritable museum! I loved the little children's moccasins, you could just imagine a child running round in them years ago :-) LMS was moved almost to tears when she was given a turquoise pendant, and I am sure she will love and appreciate it :-) It seemed like only minutes before Cabbage Queen and Little Prince were back, although in reality it had been well over an hour! And we had a drink and muffin together, before we said our goodbyes and set off on our next adventure.

We were visiting a park next to a very famous American River. We called at Walmart on the way and got some "fixings" for a picnic, so we sat at the tables eating our cooked chicken and potato salad, it was lovley :-) Mr Messy managed to get photos of a Bald Eagle flying overhead, but the Humming Birds were still too quick lol. We took Little Prince over to the small play park to run off some energy, which he really enjoyed :-) Then we set off back in the car to drive down the river a little way, before setting off back home. With all the driving we did today, we visited three different States!!

Back at the house we shared cheesecake to celebrate Farm Boy's birthday - Happy Birthday Farm Boy :-)

Lots of shopping

Yesterday morning me, LMS, Farm Boy and Cabbage Queen went to Walmart to stock up on snacks and LMS wanted to look at the clothing dept again. We spent ages wandering round and checking out all the aisles! But we now have cupboards bulging with snacks for everyone :-) When we got back Cabbage Queen tried to arrange for some of the local kids to go to the town swimming pool with the girls, but everyone was either busy or grounded!! So the girls ended up spending a couple of hours there together, and they didn't kill each other!! Which is a minor miracle lol. Apparently Drama Teen spent about half an hour swimming then she read her book, and LMS swam for an hour before reading. Both girls seemed to have had a good time when we picked them up. Me and Cabbage Queen went back down town and had a good look round at some of the shops we hadn't taken the kids in earlier. There are some lovley gift shops and I got a really nice coffee table book of photographs of the state :-) And some more bits and bobs for Little Prince's room. I even got an album for LMS to store her State Quarters in, which I wasn't looking for as I didn't know they made them lol. We also stopped off for a snack in the local cafe, although we could only finish about half of the HUGE chocolate chip muffin we shared!! We brought the rest home for Little Prince. While we did all this Mr Messy and Farm Boy took Little Prince out for a drive to the local farm/country store where they bought him a really cute cowboy hat :-) Mr Messy and Drama Teen have both decided they want one too, but haven't found one they like yet!! Little Prince didn't behave himself very well at all, and in the car park he hid himself on TOP of the tyre in a trucks wheel well!!! I have been having nightmares about that since Mr Messy told me - he could have got himself killed!!!! Arrgh!!!

In the evening we had a cookout :-) We had burgers, corn on the cob, crisps and chocolate digestives :-) It was lovely sitting out on the deck chatting and eating. Later on after I'd put Little Prince to bed we saw a fawn on the drive!!! We managed to tell the girls to come and watch without scaring it away, and so I went up to Little Prince's bedroom and got him too as he was still awake. He was thrilled at seeing Bambi in person and managed to stay quiet and still and watched it for ages :-) After he was soundly asleep Cabbage Queen took me and Mr Messy back to Walmart, as Mr Messy hadn't had a mooch around there yet. Despite a slow start he finally got into the swing of things and started throwing all sorts of stuff into the shopping trolley lol. I wouldn't let him buy either a gun or a hunting bow!! Even though they had them in Little Prince's size!!! When we got back to the house me and Cabbage Queen spent ages chatting and looking at photos of when their house was being built. Its fascinating seeing the different way houses are constructed over here - it was almost like watching an Airfix Kit being put together!! And it went up so quickly too!!

Tagged by Rosie

I was tagged by Rosie and she was tagged by Valeri

A. Attached or single? Attached
B. Best friend? Mr Messy, Mad Cat Lady and Cabbage Queen
C. Cake or pie? Cake
D. Day of choice? Saturday
E. Essential item? Computer or mobile phone
F. Favorite color? Blue
G. Gummy bears or worms? Neither - Jelly Babies
H. Hometown? Manchester (but we don't live there any more)
I. Indulgence? White chocolate cookies
J. January or July? July!! No school!!
K. Kids? Two gorgeous girls and one fabulous son
L. Life isn’t complete without? my family
M. Marriage date? August 1988
N. Number of brothers & sisters? Two younger sisters and one younger brother
O. Oranges or apples? Apples
P. Phobias? Spiders
Q. Quotes? Peace, Love and Mickey Mouse
R. Reasons to Smile? My life is everything I ever wanted and more :-)
S. Season of choice? Summer
T. Tag seven peeps! (see below)
U. Unknown fact about me? I've got a birthmark on my foot!
V. Vegetable? Urgh I don't do green!!
W. Worst habits? Won't say lol
X. X-ray or ultrasound? Ultrasound
Y. Your favorite food? Chocolate
Z. Zodiac sign? Taurus

I tag Dawn, Millie, Penny, Stacey, Kate, Shawn and Carrie :-)

PANEL date!!!!

We got an email from Team Leader at our Local Authority the other day, can't remember exactly when - we are on holiday you know!! Anyway she said that following her meeting with our Social Worker that they had decided the Homestudy Report was great and we could be booked into Panel :-) She has booked us into the October one, as the Panel Chair is on her hols for the September one and Team Leader would prefer us to go before the Panel Chair as she is more experienced (ie she was there when we were approved for China!!) than the Vice Chair!! Its frustrating to miss a whole month (our LA only have one Panel a month) but there isn't a lot I can do about it!! Had a huge panic when I realised that the Panel date was the same day as we get back from Florida - but luckily we get back early in the morning so as long as we can have an afternoon appointment for Panel we should be fine :-) I've emailed Team Leader and asked her this, but tried to word it so that she doesn't put us back to November or anything!!!

Its great news and I'm so pleased that we are finally moving along :-) We first talked to our LA about changing countries in FEBRUARY!! So its great that we are now in sight of the finishing post of this part of the process! I'm not thinking about the slow drag through DCSF that we still have to endure just yet!!

Lazy Mornings and Wedding Days!

We had a lazy morning yesterday, just pootling around the Guest House. Mr Messy and Farm Boy went out for their breakfast as usual, and called in the town's Radio Shack electronics store to get the wires and bits they needed for Mr Messy to fix our friend's computer cabling. He was very impressed that the store lent them the tools he would need to make up the new cable - how kind and trusting is that?! Lovely :-) Around lunchtime we started to get ready to go to Farm Boy and Cabbage Queen's nephew's wedding. The girls both looked stunning in their dresses, Mr Messy even had a shave!! Little Prince whinged and whined about having to wear what I told him to - a smartish shirt and shorts, so I let him stay in his regular clothes until we got to the church!! The church was about an hour and a half away, and was a lovely little brown wooden church, very American looking :-) Mr Messy took his poshest cameras and took some lovely pictures, although he did get told off by the official photographer for getting in the way!! Which made him do it all the more!!! It did intimidate Drama Teen though and she didn't take that many more photos. The service was lovely, very intimate and geared to the couple, they even included their children (from previous marriages) in the service, which I thought was a lovely touch. It made it even more special when we found out that this was the 11th or 12th wedding in the church that DAY!!!

After the wedding we drove to a different town to a restaurant near to the Quilt Store me and Cabbage Queen had visited the other day :-) We had a lovely meal and afterwards me and Cabbage Queen visited the next door Scrapbooking store for a look around :-) And no Mr Messy I didn't buy piles of Scrapbooking cr*p to fill the suitcase with!!!

Oh I almost forgot in the morning Mr Messy bought a pair of Walkie Talkies and the girls (in the car with Mr Messy and Farm Boy) were talked and sung to by Little Prince (in the car with me and Cabbage Queen)!! He chatted away and sang excerpts from Joseph to them until the batteries ran out!! Very cute :-)

In the evening Farm Boy's brother and wife, who'd also been at the wedding, came to visit and we spent a few hours on the porch chatting. Brother and Mr Messy talked about cameras and photography and Mr Messy even let him try out his poshest camera!! I wonder if he knows how priviliged he was!?! While us growed ups chatted on the porch, Drama Teen wandered down to the creek and made friends with two of the local kids who were down there. Which as she is generally a very shy and reserved young lady, was very brave of her - I'm proud of you Drama Teen :-)

We got an email from my Best Friend (the Mad Cat Lady lol) to say that her eldest boy passed his driving test yesterday :-) CONGRATULATIONS AND WELL DONE J :-)

More fun :-)

Yesterday one of mine and Cabbage Queen's friends drove over (6 hours!) to see us. We haven't seen her for YEARS and she was amazed at how much the girls had grown, and of course she hadn't met Little Prince yet :-) After having a chat, me, Cabbage Queen, Friend and the girls went out to the local town to a lovely little tea shop where we had a very refined girlie lunch :-) We had a giggle over the menu as us foreigners tried to work it out lol. We had a lovely time and the food was very nice, but the company was even nicer :-) Cabbage Queen insisted it was her treat, so thank you very much CQ it was lovely :-) On the way out Drama Teen noticed some English chocolate digestive biscuits and insisted that we buy some, although she did get cross that I wouldn't let her eat them in the shops! We spent the next few hours looking at all the shops on the High Street and shopping until Drama Teen literally felt like dropping!! I found lots more Americana bits and pieces for Little Prince's new room :-) And the girls found some lovely clothes :-) After that we visited the HUGE thrift store, as Friend wanted to get her son some cutlery for his new place, apparently at the moment he is using plastic cutlery!! As we parked outside the store me and Drama Teen announced that we were going to go over to the McDonalds at the other side of the car park. Cabbage Queen immediately offered to drive us!! She and Friend seemed very shocked that we were quite happy to walk!!! We got stared at quite a bit as we WALKED across the car park, so we decided to pretend to drive to make the American's feel better lol. We thought about walking through the Drive Thru' but decided that was going a bit too far!! We confused the girl serving us though as Drama Teen wanted a McNugget meal with apple juice - apparently she'd never heard of that before!! Drama Teen sat in the car with LMS eating her McMeal while I went and found Cabbage Queen and Friend in the store, and managed to find even more bits and bobs for Little Prince's room :-) After we'd finished shopping we DROVE back to the McDonalds, and then back home again.

While we were having a girlie lunch and shopping day, Mr Messy, Farm Boy and Little Prince went out to meet one of Farm Boy's friends who took them for a drive in his WWII Jeep. Little Prince loved it and asked questions constantly before flumping over to one side, completely asleep, bless :-) He woke up when they pulled up at the local Whippy Dip, and insisted he didn't want anything, until he tried Daddy's milk shake and then stole it lol. They were already back home by the time us girls got back and Little Prince insisted on seeing everything we had bought and checking what was for him!! We spent a few hours sat on the porch with our friends, trying (mostly in vain) to catch pictures of the Humming Birds, before Friend said she had better set off back home again. We took photos, hugged and said our Goodbyes :-( To cheer us up me and Cabbage Queen went to a different town nearby to its quilting store, while everyone else stayed at home and ordered in pizza :-) I couldn't believe how MUCH choice and material the store had!!! It was completely overwhelming!! I had thought Walmart had a great selection lol. We spent an hour or so mooching round the fabrics and admiring the completed quilts, they were so intricate and artistic WOW!! In the end I only bought a zip up tin (yes a TIN box) in the shape/style of a backpack, but with Disney Cars motif - another great find for Little Prince's room :-) By the time we got back LMS had put Little Prince to bed, and the girls were in bed too!! Me and Cabbage Queen chatted about quilting for a while, and she is going to show me how to use my rotary cutter :-) She has also lent me a pile of quilting books to see if I can find ideas on how to make up Little Prince's quilt :-) I need a super easy pattern that only has straight lines lol!!

Early morning blogging

Little Prince surpassed himself this morning!! He was awake and wriggling and trying to attract attention at 5am!! When he tried to to sneak out of the bedroom at 5.30am, I gave up and joined him downstairs. He's had his Lucky Charms America breakfast lol and is now playing with Lego and tractors, while I try and wake up and write something that makes sense lol.

Yesterday seemed very busy!! Mr Messy and Farm Boy went out for diner breakfast as usual :-) They picked up Farm Boy's friend (who is almost blind and so can't drive) and took him with them. Mr Messy finds this man fascinating as his hobby is collecting Native American artifacts and he has a house stuffed full of them. He also has an old American Army jeep, that the boys including Little Prince, are going playing out in today :-) When they got back we all went out to a Heritage Seed Garden. Drama Teen watched Little Prince on the play equipment while we all mooched around the shops, when we came out I took over supervision duties while everyone else looked round at the gardens. When they'd finished looking my mad friend Cabbage Queen even had a go on the slide!! Then we drove to a small, family owned and run Winery, where we were given a very interesting and amusing tour by one of he family workers. Me and LMS sat on the patio while everyone else went to look at the grapes, we saw a teeny tiny Humming Bird visiting the special feeders set up to attract them. I hadn't realised how tiny they were! We weren't quick enough to get a photo, and Little Prince arrived back soon after, so we didn't see it again! We had lunch at an Americana style diner, where Little Prince discovered he liked Root Beer - much to Daddy's disgust as he didn't get much drink lol. Next we drove over to the Fish Hatchery, hoping to catch a glimpse of the eagles that nest nearby. Little Prince had a great time feeding the fish, although he managed to get his finger bitten by not listening when we told him not to keep putting his fingers in the water!!! We visited a beautiful waterfall, and Drama Teen and Mr Messy had a great time taking photos of it. Little Prince loved throwing stones in the water, until he saw his Dad and Sister start climbing up the side of the waterfall and then he started whinging he wanted to go too!! Not a chance - way too near the water, which seems to act as a magnet to Little Prince!! By this time Little Prince had migrated to our friend's car and was riding with them, and his supplies - Gameboy & games and Comfort Blankie!! Cabbage Queen says he was very well behaved in the car :-) When we got back to the Guest House Little Prince announced he was going to go "Whooping and hollering" a responsibility he takes very seriously lol, he made a LOT of noise! We spent the evening back at the house, Cabbage Queen showed me her collection of old family quilts and embroideries. They were gorgeous, so detailed and its so amazing to think that they were done by hand!! Puts my feeble efforts to shame! We then sat on the porch watching the circling vultures in the distance and hoping to see more Humming Birds. I didn't get to see any before Little Prince decided he was so tired he couldn't last a moment longer, and I took him over to the guest house to bath him and get him ready for bed. He was fast asleep within moments - I think this outdoor life suits him :-)

What we've been up to

Drama Teen and Little Prince played in the creek, and had a great time splashing around and having fun :-) They also played with our friend's son's (he is now in his 20's so isn't using it right now lol) Radio Flyer red wagon (you know the one's you see kids pulling in all American films?!?). They had great fun sitting in it together and whizzing down the hill, until they both fell off!! In the afternoon we went out to look at Downtown and wander around the shops. I ordered a painted sign for when we decorate Little Prince's new bedroom (LMS's old bedroom, much to her disgust!). I had decided to do it in an American sporty/Americana theme and where best to buy accessories than IN America lol. We also called in the local organic Co-op and stocked up on juice and cooked meat, before getting back in the car and heading to the town's outdoor swimming pool for a look. There was a playground next door, so Little Prince had a great time running off some energy. When we went back to our friend's house and relaxed before getting Little Prince to bed. Mr Messy decided to have a lie down for an hour and Drama Teen decided to watch a Disney movie. Me and LMS went back to town with our friend Cabbage Queen. First we called at the enormous thrift store, where I got some more Americana stuff for Little Prince's room. Then off to Walmart :-) We should be used to how BIG those places are by now!! But once again we were stunned at the size of the place. We had forgotten our list of stuff we needed, but winged it and managed to spend a small fortune! We bought Hohoes and Ding Dongs - just for the names!! Some new Disney Cars for Little Prince, that we will give him throughout the holiday, rather than all at once. And we bought him a Rubik's Cube, that we gave him this morning and Mr Messy has convinced him is called a Rhubarb's Cube!!! It even had a great fabric selection!! So I bought some State Baseball material for Little Prince's and MeiMei's quilts. LMS was disgusted that she couldn't find dilutable squash ANYWHERE in the shop! Its just such a staple at home that it was quite surprising!! When we got back to the house we found Drama Teen and Mr Messy both in bed, apparently Drama Teen had got so tired she'd gone for a lie down and then fallen fast asleep. They obviously both needed it as they didn't wake up till this morning!

We're HERE!!!

We've arrived safe and sound in the US. We are having a peaceful, "chilling" day to get over yesterday's mammoth travelling day. Me and Mr Messy were on the go for almost 24 hours, and by the time we pulled up outside our friend's house, it really felt like it!! We met our friends at a restaurant about 1 1/2 hours away from their house, which did really nice barbeque type food. Little Prince refused to eat anything, and just sat on the chair falling asleep, poor lad! The rest of us really appreciated our first taste of real American food for a long time, though :-) We brought Little Prince's food home in a take out box, so he can have it for lunch today sometime - isn't that American of us lol. Mr Messy and Farm Boy have gone out to find a diner breakfast, while me and the kids get ourselves sorted out and relax. Little Prince got me up at 5.30 this morning, so I feel like I've done a full day already!! But at least it meant I could sort the suitcases and bully everyone into putting their clothes away, once they all got up!! I never feel like I've arrived on holiday until I've unpacked! Unlike Mr Messy who would prefer to live out of the suitcases the whole time we are away!!

Holidays here we come :-)

Well the last minute mad dash round the shops is done! The suitcases are packed and we are off soon :-) Mr Messy has taken the girls to stay with Grandma and Grandad's house (they live near the airport) along with the suitcases which won't fit in the car with all of us in!! You don't pack light when you have two teenage girls and their wardrobes lol.
My best friend P came round to get the spare key and check the arrangements for looking after our cats for us. And you'll never guess what we did?!?! We booked ANOTHER holiday!!! We are taking Little Prince to Disney, Florida at the end of September for a week!!! Me and Best Friend are still in shock - did we really do that?!?! Well YES WE DID!!!! Look out Mickey we're coming to see you again soon :-)

Drama Teen is HOME :-)

Well Drama Teen has safely arrived home, full of tales of what she has been up to for the past week. At first Little Prince was clinging round her neck and wouldn't let go, but by the end of the evening they were fighting and arguing, normality didn't take long to return lol. We had a lovely meal out together :-) Afterwards we mooched round the supermarket, buying Mr Messy LOTS of new shorts and tops (I thought we were shopping once we got there?!?) ready for our holidays. We looked round for a support bandage small enough for Little Prince's ankle but the didn't do any that small, we'll just have to keep managing with crepe bandages. LMS left the restaurant as soon as we'd finished eating to meet her friends at the cinema to watch Dark Knight, she wasn't particularly bothered about seeing that film, but really wanted to see her friends before we went away on our hols. Mr Messy is now downloading the US maps for his GPS system and both Drama Teen and Little Prince went straight to bed when we got in!! I think Drama Teen had a wonderful but very tiring time on her camp :-)

Drama Teen is nearly HOME :-)

Drama Teen has been on her annual adventure camp this week, and we've all missed her so much. Her bedroom is opposite ours, so when I walk out of my room I the morning I look straight into her empty room, and it makes me sad :-( I know she is having a lovely time and that she looks forward to this camp all year though, so I try to be brave. I've just booked us all in at a local American Style restaurant, so we can celebrate all being together again :-) Its not as if we won't get enough American food soon lol.

Bandaged Ankle!

It is usually Drama Teen that manages to get herself injured just before we go on holiday! But this time Little Prince decided it was his turn!! At the indoor play centre yesterday he was showing off to his friends and jumped off the top of the tall ladders, and hurt his ankle!! After a brief cry and cuddle he was raring to go again and seemed to be fully recovered. This morning, however, he has been limping (some of it is put on, but some of it seems real) and complaining that he ankle/foot hurts. Mr Messy has strapped it up with a crepe bandage, and we are hoping he will be ok again by the time we go on holiday!!

Fun fun fun

We had some errands to run yesterday morning, and afterwards were supposed to be meeting friends in the village park to let the kids play together. The weather scuppered those plans as there were torrential rain storms! So instead we went to the indoor play centre again, and then took the kids to see Wall-E at the Cinema. I loved Wall-E, it was so sweet :-) And amazing how much emotion the Wall-E and Eve characters could get into their one word dialogues!! If you haven't already seen it - GO!!! Its fun, touching and has a lovely message :-)
LMS recently went to see Mamma Mia at the cinema and loved it so much that she bought the soundtrack, and we've been listening to it in the car for the last few days. Little Prince LOVES it :-) He especially likes "Lay all your love on me" because he too is going to cross the Atlantic Ocean!! See if you can work that one out lol.