First day in Ireland thoughts

1.  Oh, Shanna.  Dublin is more beautiful that I could even have imagined.

2.  2 bus trips and a plane flight and no throw up for JA!  Sea bands (anti-nausea wrist bands) are my new best friends (…even if amazon.com now is recommending all sorts of pregnancy remedies to me.)

3.  Even if Ryan Air is not friendly to families with their policies, there are many passengers who are willing to let you cut in line and give up their seats for you to sit with your kids.

4.  Traveling with 35 playmates can make airport waits much less boring.

 

 

What we didn’t do

Today was a totally free day — no meetings or class for Bill — so we were trying to figure out how to best spend the day.  Last night we asked the girls if they wanted to

1. Go to London and go to the British Museum
2. Go to Blenheim Palace
3. Walk through Port Meadow to the town of Binsey and the Perch

They had some other ideas, so they spent the day (in addition to some school)

1. Sleeping late
2. Dressing up
3. Playing outside
4. Going upstairs to hang out with the college girls
5. Painting
6. Taking a little “walk”

7.  Convincing Mom and Dad to take them to the playground

8.  Visiting with some horses

9.  Watching The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

I have no doubt that we’ll do those other things before we leave, but for today it was nice to rest and play, especially since we leave for Ireland on Thursday!

St. Aldate’s

We miss our church at home very much, but St. Aldate’s has been a good stand in while we’re here.  There’s so much to be gained from being in a different worship setting for a while.  Admittedly, St. Aldate’s is not drastically different from Highland; they are an evangelical church with a contemporary service, but we have seen the ways in which the Spirit is moving in this community.  One thing both Bill and I have said is that every week there seems to be a song that really speaks to us.

One song in particular is our favorite.  My favorite lines:

Oh, Your love
Stronger than my shame
Greater than my pain
Your love will never fail

“Believe” — Hillsong Live (click on the song title for the video)

You are my light
You are my strength
You are my Rock
On You I stand

I lift my voice
I raise my hands
I lift my soul
With all I am

PRE-CHORUS:
In Christ forever I’ll stand
I will believe

CHORUS:
You are strong enough
In my weakness
God be lifted up
And I will sing
Lift Your praises high
Lord be magnified
You make all things new
I will believe

VERSE 2:
So, hear this song
Receive our praise
You are our strength
For all our days

We lift You up
Our voices high
In every storm
Let God arise

BRIDGE:
Oh, Your love
Your love it never fails
Your love, it knows no end
Your love will never fail

Oh, Your love
Stronger than my shame
Greater than my pain
Your love will never fail

I will believe

Millets Farm Centre

The car rental place is closed on Sunday, which means we have the car until Monday, so we decided to take advantage of it for one more day.  Millet’s Farm is a working farm about 10 miles south of Oxford, near Abington, and they have a farm shop with local, organic food, a garden shop, a children’s play area, and a farm zoo.  It was great fun to see a lovely part of the area that we hadn’t seen before, and the girls had fun playing around.

Driving tractors.

Tractor/race car

Petting the goats.

Deep In the Hundred Acre Woods

Where Christopher Robin played, there lives the enchanted neighborhood of Christopher’s childhood days…

JA wanted to spend her birthday at Ashdown Forest, which is the real Hundred Acre Woods.  This is where the Milnes lived and where Christopher Robin grew up .  E.H. Shephard came here to create the illustrations for the books, and there are real locations that correspond to the ones that happen in the book.  I was very much looking forward to coming here, too, having loved the Pooh books for a long, long time, but I tried not to get my hopes up.  Turns out it was more magical than I could have imagined.

A picnic before we started on our hike.

Atop a Very Deep Pit where one might catch Heffalumps

At Gill’s Lap — Galleon’s Lap in the books — where Christopher Robin tells Pooh he has to leave the forest.  And where the books end.

Roo’s Sandy Pit

A memorial to A.A. Milne and E.H. Shephard at the Enchanted Place

Eureka! We even found The North Pole on our Expoition

The tree that Tigger got stuck in?

And the very best part — Pooh Bridge.  This was the bridge that Christopher Robin played Poohsticks from as a child, and E.H. Shepherd illustrated.  So fun.

Ready to drop our sticks in!

Here they come!

Eight!

Today is Jane Anne’s actual birthday, so we continued to celebrate her today.  She started the day by going with Bill and his class to the Ashmolean to look at Pre-Raphaelite art, and Molly and I did a little shopping.

After lunch and lots of presents, she got to skype with her second grade class!  We never did get the sound to work, but they could hear her, so she told them about living in England.  Her classmates and wonderful teacher, Mrs. Young, held up notes, waved, made silly faces, and even sang to her.

We let her choose any restaurant she wanted, and she chose Brown’s — like an upscale Chili’s, I guess — where she got fish and chips.  Here we are before our night out.  Love my girl!

At Brown’s.  Since the Carrolls eat way earlier than the rest of Europe (6:00), we got our choice of tables.

Then on to dessert.  G&D’s ice cream.

And finally, a skype date with one of her besties, Matalee.  Listening to two 8 year olds chat, pure joy.

I think she had a great day.  Tomorrow we’re off to new adventures — several months ago, I asked JA “if you could do anything for your birthday in England, what would it be?”  So we’ve rented a car for the day and plan to fulfill that wish!

Lola Loves Pink Milk

Jane Anne and Molly already liked “Charlie and Lola” before we got here, but have especially enjoyed it here.  They check out the books from the library and rent the videos.  (I love Charlie and Lola because big brother Charlie is so very sweet and patient with little sister (and sometimes rather dramatic) Lola).  So when JA found Charlie and Lola party supplies, it was a done deal.  Tomorrow is her birthday, but her party with the students was tonight.

Her daddy took her to get flowers.

And then we decorated.

Made chocolate chip cookies (and pink milk)

And the party guests.

We watched Charlie and Lola cartoons, and the students completely loved on her — flowers, a book, homemade gifts, homemade cards, a Tangled doll.  So very sweet.

She’s learned well from her Mama and is drawing out the celebration over multiple days.  She already got an Alice in Wonderland chess set from Nana and Pop-Pop, and has more events planned for tomorrow AND Saturday.

 

Oxford is Bloomin’ Lovely

(Dumb WordPress was down last night and I couldn’t post.  Sorry!)

In the last few days/weeks, Oxford has exploded with color!  There are buds and blooms everywhere.  Yesterday, we headed out to the park to capture some of the glory (before it goes up ;)).

JA took her camera — and we called it Science.

My favorite tree right now — just around the corner from the flat.

Daffodils are some of the first to bloom, so we’ve been seeing them for a while.  Their blooming coincides with St. David’s Day, March 1.

Look at this unusual bloom

We befriended some Mallards

Then the girls came home and created projects with their “collections” from the park.  Molly made fairy jewelry, and JA made a face.  (This big rock in the middle is the nose.)

Gorgeous day, and as I sit typing this, the sun is pouring through the front window and I can see lovely purple and yellow in the bed just outside the window.  Looks like another beautiful day!!

Well begun is half done

Sometime this past week we hit the halfway point of our trip, we’ve been here 2 months and a day, and we head home in less than 2 months.  It’s kind of a strange feeling.

First of all, in some ways it feels like we’ve been here for a long time.  We’ve adjusted to life in Oxford — grocery shopping, the train, Oyster cards, GBP, even feeling pretty comfortable in London.  In other ways, though, the time has flown.  It’s hard to believe Spring Break is over and there are still a lot of wishes left on our list of things to do — Ashdown Forest, Blenheim, Warwick, Stonehenge, British Museum (again), Kensington Gardens, Regent Park, the Perch, the Trout, and not to mention just enjoying spring in Oxford.

So I have mixed emotions. (randomness:   I used to think that phrase was “mixty motions.”)  I want to savour our last weeks here and enjoy this incredible opportunity — I don’t want it to fly by.  There is a lot to love about life here.  I love having no cell phone.  No car.  No committee meetings.

And, yet, there are so many things that I miss about Abilene (it hitting 92 last week is NOT one of them): my little menagerie of pets (Clyde, Bonnie, Daisy, Dudley), Highland church, the convenience of being able to hop in the car (but not the gas prices), my small group, my coffee dates, my bed, my washing machine, my shower… so many wonderful friends who love on me.

I keep trying to think of a nice conclusion to tie these feelings up.  I would tell my students to think about implications.  Hmmmm.  Can’t think of any.  I’ll just say I am looking forward to some GREAT hugs come May!!

P.S. Bonus points to anyone who knows what the title of the post refers to (without googling it 🙂 )

Best and Worst

Friday we headed out to Ostia Antica — one of my favorite things in Rome.  My friend Leslie had tipped me off to it.  It’s a little like Pompei (without the volcano).

It was built up in the 4th century BC as a port city and then rebuilt in the first century AD after being sacked by pirates.  It had a theater, school, a forum, and mint, and a synagogue — the oldest one found in Europe.  In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, it reached a peak of 75,000 inhabitants.  It was abandoned in the 9th century.

Not only was it stunningly beautiful, but it afforded a chance for the girls to run and climb and play (which the Vatican didn’t exactly).

JA exploring the theater.

One of many gorgeous mosaics.

All through Rome, we have been accompanied by Molly’s “invisible” horse Maximus.  He even went through “invisible horse security” at St. Peter’s and got in, but he could read, we were informed by Molly, so he knew that there was no neighing inside.  Here’s a picture of Molly and Maximus (he’s on her left, if you have trouble seeing him).  He was really fond of Ostia because there was lots of grass to eat.

On the way there, we hit the Protestant Cemetery, where Keats and Shelley are buried.

So, this was one of my favorite Rome days — sunny, warm, away from the crowds, beautiful scenery.  And then, on the way home from Ostia my dad was pickpocketed on the Metro.  It was rush hour — packed full — and I’m pretty sure they targeted us at the beginning of our route, pushing us on to the car.  When we were getting off, the two (at least) people were pulling JA and Bill apart and my dad reached and grabbed her.  We’re pretty sure that it was then that they grabbed his wallet — passport, credit card, driver’s license, Starbuck’s card…  In fact, as soon as I got off the train I said “something really weird just happened.”

Yesterday morning when Mom, Bill, the girls and I left my dad at the airport and we headed back to London, I was a little teary.  I know he’ll be fine.  The embassy opens tomorrow morning, and he should be back in London Tuesday, back in the states Wednesday.

In the whole scheme of things, not a big deal.  He only lost about 10 euro in cash, and we were all fine, which is all that matters, but it certainly deflated us a little.