Our first 3 wks in our new UK home have quickly gone by! We have all settled in quite nicely, adjusted to our new time zone with some very late nights and our village/rural setting (this isn't Toronto), and have been to 3 different Tesco grocery stores already!
On our 2nd night here, we went to Alicia and Mike's (friend's whose house we're renting) big party celebrating their birthday's, retirement and health. It was loads of fun and we got to meet and hang out with our new neighbours! Liam also had fun meeting the other kids and dancing to the band!
The next day we caught up with our friends in Leigh (Mark's hometown) and had a wonderfully sunny day in the back garden and park. Liam and Gemma played with their new friends Olivia, Ben and Charlie. This was the 2nd time Liam and Ben have played together as they met for the first time last year. There was a minor curb incident on our exit from Leigh, but nothing a new tyre and rim can't fix (yep, that's how tire is spelled here).
Our first week was VERY wet! Liam is quite observant at his young age and noted "it rains a lot in England"! We still managed to walk into our new town, New Mills, go for a few walks, a big hike, and walk through the fields to our new local pub, The Packhorse - been around since the 16th or 17th century - no one can quite remember.
The second week was lovely and sunny so we headed for the beach... in Wales! Just one night was all we needed to build sandcastles, watch the sunset whilst on The Great Orme (old coal mine) and take a tram ride, which Liam loved.
Gemma managed to get her 4th tooth and start crawling in our first week here too! She is already trying to pull herself up to standing and is crawling all over us! Liam loves it however is not too into her reaching for his cars now :)
Mark's gone for lots of good runs in both England and Wales and isn't getting too lost on the trails. He plans to join the Goyt Fell Running club.
Krystal has made friends with some other mums and dads in the neighbourhood and has found loads of children's groups and activities right in the village! Today we went to our first playgroup, Messy Play, at the local Children's Centre - walking distance. Both Liam and Gemma enjoyed it and made the room more messy than themselves (just how Mum and Dad like it).
September is New Mills Festival month and we are excited to do as the locals do.
Until next time,
The Nicholson Family
Photos: Facebook
Some Highlights of our arrival:
- Getting here with all our luggage and getting a deal on the weight overage (see Lowlight #1)
- Getting a super care package from The Key Family
- Walking to our new park
- Watching horses trot by our house on the road
- Giving others directions to the town centre in week two
- Visiting Chatsworth House and Lyme Park
- Finding our nearest Toys R Us, Tesco's & Boots (like Shoppers)
- Getting up our new mobile phones (we feel very connected now!)
- Watching Yo Gabba Gabba with English accents - very funny!
- Figuring out our Sky cable for the tele - built in PVR (perfect for kids shows)!
- Realizing how many words we say are totally different here - did you know zucchini is called courgettes here? How tres francais for a country that invented English.
- Figuring out how to sort our garbage - who knew there was a more confusing system than Guelph?
Lowlights:
- Having to pay 245 quid (bucks, but in GBP) for luggage overage
- Finding out it is way more difficult to find a Lightning McQueen potty seat than anticipated and settling for rocket ships
- Finding out there are no Baby Mum Mums in England - the poor baby's here don't know what they're missing
Who Knew?:
- The post (mail) is delivered on Saturdays
- Garbage is still collected on bank holidays
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