shoot...

Hello Land of the Connected!!!! I'm coming to you from the land of the unconnected and it is so great to speak to you! Oh wait, silly me...I think this is technically speaking at you...shoot. I am on Day 6 of no phone....seriously. Before six days ago, I used to try to remember how we could have possibly survived without cell phones. Well, experience tells me that we did and it wasn't that bad. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely hate being unable to communicate with friends and family, but there is something kind of liberating about knowing that you are just on your own...literally. Don't worry, I have tried to get a phone, but HSBC sent our cards to the US (real smart) and now, after reporting them lost, we won't get new cards until late next week. Turns out that you cannot buy a phone unless you have a UK debit or credit card, even if you have all of your account information...shoot. Oh and when I get one, this won't even be the phone I can call back to the US on...that will take another 3 weeks or so...shoot!

On another note, we are adjusting well to our temporary hotel home (Parker now says, "Parker's house" when we get to the door:). Parker is sleeping from like 9:00 to 9:30!!!

Seriously, I do not know where this kid came from, but I am going to buy dark, heavy curtains for his room (I've decided that is what keeps him sleeping longer, but who knows). He has woken up for an hour here or there in the middle of the night, but I know he is just adjusting to the time change. He is also a big fan of the removeable shower head--here he is washing his feet.

Hopefully, we will only be in the hotel until next weekend. We did get the key to our house, and we have found out that our stuff should be entering the country probably Monday, hooray! I couldn't help, but include a picture of our house key.

I am not kidding. Not only is this the key to unlock the door from the outside, it is also the key to lock the door from the inside. Yes, we will be living in the "old" part of Norwich:).

Immediately after getting our key, we also got our air-shipment which had most of P's toys. We have been without our things for almost 8 weeks now, so I was so excited just to give him a piece of home. It was like Christmas morning watching him discover more and more of his toys as I unloaded the box.

We have also attempted our first load of laundry in our washer/dryer combo. I say attempted because we were not successful...that is right, our clothes are now stuck in the washer/dryer combo which for short I am going to call "that which takes a really long time" because that name takes at least four hours less to say than it takes to wash a load of laundry. Here, I have taken a picture of the controls...

We did find out that the times next listed are not correct, but it does take around four hours to wash, rinse, spin and dry. We were not planning on drying the clothes, but when we couldn't get the door open after the spin cycle we thought maybe it would help to let them dry. Yeah...that didn't work...shoot. Through all of this, I did realize that I am capable of buying a drying rack at the store and carrying it on the stroller a mile and a half (Brady drove there, but we don't have a car seat yet and he isn't comfortable making "detours" on his trips yet, ha, so I stopped at the store and bought the rack).

P was rocking (or is it rockin'...I don't think I'm cool enough to even try...) his shades, but I couldn't get him to stop looking at the water. Looking back, I probably could have gone to the other side...shoot.

The walk to our house from the hotel is pretty great so I had to take a picture. Luckily, our hotel is right by the gym we're going to join so we will get to walk this daily (so I say now).

The last significant event that I have to share is perhaps the most important of all...my first "fish and chips" meal. It was awesome...but I'm pretty sure my caloric intake doubled with the first bite...shoot. I did, however, get at least some veggies; who knew they served peas with fish and chips? Well, you do now...:)