The Richards in Scotland: Day 6 and 7

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Day 6 and 7 - Aberdeen, Scotland

After one week of being here in Scotland, we have almost fully adjusted to the time change (well the best we can since we are all staying in one hotel room). Jon is working everyday but usually leaves the office early so that we can handle some business we need to take care of to get adjusted and settled. Trent and Landon are usually asleep by 9 pm and both are sleeping until 9 am. I would usually complain about being in a hotel this long but I think the boys being a little older has made a difference. When they were babies staying in one hotel room was not easy, one would usually wake up crying and wake everyone up in the middle of the night. We are all sleeping very good right now here. I like the fact that there is breakfast ready here every morning. Eating out is getting old but it is giving us a chance to try out new restaurants here and pick the ones we like best. I also like the fact that there is an indoor swimming pool at this hotel which Trent and Landon love and they are very tired after swimming a couple hours each day.

On Day 6, Tuesday, we felt like we were getting a bit more accomplished. I took the boys swimming at the pool in the morning for a couple of hours, had lunch, and then Jon and I finally were able to set up a checking account here! With no history in the UK it has been a little more difficult with the process. Hopefully that will make buying things somewhat easier while we are living here. Scotland currency is the British Pound and I have been constantly converting my US Dollars into Pounds or having to use a US Credit Card which is not processed the same here. Right now, 1 British Pound = 1.58 US Dollars making the British Pound stronger than the US Dollar. Technically that would make things more expensive here. I have found that a lot of things are priced lower in pounds and when you figure the exchange rate, they are priced about the same as the US Dollar after converting. For dinner that night we tried the TGIF Restaurant (like the one in Texas) along the Queens Leisure Park along Aberdeen Beach and it was pretty good. We like eating in this area because we love being able to look out on the beach area.

Day 7, Wednesday, we invited Christi, Brantly and Brady over to swim at the hotel along with Vanette, Audrey and Avery. The boys had so much fun swimming and were wiped out afterwards. This afternoon we had to be at our house in Aberdeen at 3 pm to wait for our Air shipment to arrive. Well they did not show up until 5:45 pm! It looked like everything we shipped by air was there and nothing was damaged, I was thankful for that. I think our sea shipment is expected to arrive on October 27, and hopefully that will not be delayed. I'm ready to start moving in and decorating the house! After waiting at the house so long we decided to just go back to the hotel, order pizza, and call it a night. Not sure if I mentioned it before but everything here in the restaurants is served with "Chips" (french fries). Well while I was ordering my pizza on the phone I was asked if I wanted any "chips" to go with that. We had to laugh, only in the UK would I order "chips" with my pizza. Sigh. We already miss our breadsticks and marinara, oh and the boys would like some ranch too please :)