Day 2 and 3 - Aberdeen, Scotland

I was planning on writing a blog last night but I was not feeling too great so I am writing about our Day 2 and 3 adventures tonight.

On Day 2, Friday, Jon woke up pretty early to return to his office here while Trent, Landon, and I caught up on some sleep. I woke the boys up around 9:30 am so that we could make it to breakfast at the hotel by 10 am. The breakfast buffet consisted of several pastries and toast, cereal, fried and scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon (reminds me more of ham), fruit and several other things I was not sure about. The boys were really excited that they had frosted flakes here!  We went back to the room, played with toys and Jon came back to the hotel around 1 pm to take us to lunch and to do a little more exploring.

For lunch we ate at KFC chicken! Jon had found it when he was here and knew we would like it because its like the one we have at home. Food was great! The boys really like the “fruit shoots” that come with most kids meals here. Its like an apple juice box but in a pop top plastic bottle so it is fun for them. We went to the Bank of Scotland to try to set up a bank account here but its not that easy when you have no history of living in Scotland, same with getting a cell phone here! Jon drove me through a car lot to look at cars and see what I might feel comfortable driving with on the road. I’m used to driving a big SUV and all of the cars here are pretty small. A smaller car would be fine though considering how fast everyone drives and how narrow these roads are. I’m thinking I may need to figure this out pretty soon, not sure how long I want to be without a car to get around. I may try to take the bus some next week around town. We drove back to our neighborhood to check on the painting in the house, wash some clothes and let the boys run around for a while at the park again. I found out it maybe 2 weeks before we move in now, so we are looking for an extended stay apartment in the meantime. For dinner we headed to a local restaurant, Four Mile. It was not the best meal I’ve had here, everything tasted so different to me, and I was sick to my stomach most of the night…not fun!

Day 3 was a long day of exploring again. Today we had breakfast at 10 am (notice we still are adjusting to the time!) Jon and I grabbed a map and decided we would head to City Centre, Union Street shops, Union Street Mall, the beach and to see the International School of Aberdeen which they will be attending in a week. Trent and Landon really liked seeing all of the big ships in the harbor. The buildings and cathedrals were amazing. I love all the architecture here. There is so much history to see. The mall was fairly new and even had an H&M store and a huge Apple store. We had lunch at the Pizza Hut in the mall, and I’m not sure that Pizza Hut ever tasted this good, seriously! Near City Centre and the mall was a beach to the North Sea full of big waves crashing into the shore. Next to the beach we found where the “River Don” meets the North Sea.

This evening, we were invited to have dinner with some new friends, Steve and Christi Hollis from Houston who have been living in Aberdeen for a couple of years now. Christi has been such a big help over the past couple of months with helping us and answering questions I had while preparing for our move. I had come across her blog one day on accident while searching for information on moving from Houston to Aberdeen, Scotland. I saw that she had two boys close to Trent and Landon’s age and thought I could use any helpful information she could provide. It was so great that the boys were able to meet each other tonight as well and they had a great time playing with each other. They are also very excited to have new friends here. We also met Howard and Vanette Wood and their two little girls. They moved here a couple months ago from Conroe. We look forward to getting together again soon. Thank you Steve and Christi for a wonderful dinner and great hospitality!

As I write this we are watching the Texas A&M vs. Arkansas game on the computer via Slingbox. I’m so excited that it is working and I can watch my TV shows like I do at home. The best part is we can DVR the shows we like and watch them when we want because of the time difference. We connected the Slingbox at my in-laws, Anita and Tom’s house back at home so that we can watch all cable shows through our computer, which we can then hook up to our TV here in Aberdeen.

Everything is going great! Cheers!

Day One - Aberdeen

After traveling overnight from Houston and arriving in Aberdeen at 3 pm (it was 9 am in Houston)  Mommy and Daddy were pretty tired but excited to see the new place. My first impression coming in on the plane was that the rolling hills and countryside was beautiful! I already picked up on the accent and different terminology for things in London and the Scottish accents are definitely more pronounced here.  I was excited to find that all of our luggage made it except for the stroller or “push chair” as they call it here. We had 4 carts full to carry out!

We are staying at a hotel for a week until our house here is painted and recarpeted. We arrived at the hotel, checked in, ordered food, and everyone took showers. I was exhausted and decided I could not stay up, we all went to sleep at 5:30 pm! I think we all woke up sometime around 11 pm and watched movies, played games until 3 am. Then we slept until 12 pm! Today Jon drove us around and I was quite impressed with his driving skills through the round-abouts since he was only here for 2 weeks before. They drive on the opposite side on the road here and the driver’s seat is on the other side.  We visited some of the grocery stores where I would be shopping such as Tesco (like a Target) and bought a few things we needed here, including a blow dryer and flat iron for myself since they are on a different voltage and mine from home do not work. We also visited our home here, which is currently being painted and recarpeted before we move in. The boys loved running in a nearby park as well as seeing all the sheep on the hills.  For lunch we found the McDonalds for them and were happy that they had chicken nuggets and fries and apples although they did not have Ranch dressing which they love :( They had tomato (ketchup) although it tasted a lot sweeter to me. For dinner this evening we went to Pinehurst Lodge and I had my first “fish and chips .  French fries are called chips here. It was quite yummy and the boys liked the restaurant as well. I think we will be back. We hope to do more exploring tomorrow.

We are slowly adjusting to the time change, of course it’s a little harder with preschoolers. It is 10:30 pm and the boys just went to sleep so hopefully tonight we will be back on schedule. 

International Travelers!

Well we made our first international trip abroad safely! We flew business class to London-Heathrow airport nonstop from Houston on an overnight flight. I was very prepared with a DVD player and DVDs for the kids, Nintendo DSi's, coloring books and crayons, snacks, extra change of clothes, medicines, etc.  They loved the food on the plane and the drinks they brought to them. Landon even had an ice cream sundae so he was especially happy. Each person had there own flat screen TV in which they could pick out any movie and each had a seat that FULLY reclined to a bed and had their own blanket. A couple hours into the flight they turned out the lights and the boys went to sleep. 

I felt very fortunate that they had no problems flying as this was Trent's second flight ever (1st one was when he was only 11 months) and Landon's first flight! Jon even got some sleep. I think I may have slept one hour but not much. For one the selection of movies on the plane were quite tempting and well I just felt like I needed to be ready in case one of the boys needed Mommy. They both slept very well. Landon even slept through the landing and onto the runway at Heathrow. We had to carry him off the plane only to find our stroller did not get put on the plane in Houston. GRRR. Not fun carrying a sleepy child and everything we carried on the plane. Eventually he had to walk and we did a LOT of walking. We had to change terminals and go through 3 different security checkin points.

After a 3 hour layover in the British Midland lounge it was time for our connecting flight to Aberdeen on a British Midland plane. It was a small plane in which each boy got a window seat so they were excited. We really enjoyed that because we were able to see the countryside and the boys loved looking out the window most of the time. 

Headed to Aberdeen, Scotland!

On Tuesday, October 5 we packed up our remaining luggage (15 pieces including our carseats and stoller) and headed to the airport for a 6:30 pm nonstop 9 hour flight from IAH to London-Heathrow airport.

Teal Hunting with Dad

The weekend before we left, Trent and Landon were able to go teal hunting with Jon early in the morning as well as their Uncle Jess and cousins Drake and Carter. Here are a few pics from the hunt. Thanks to another photographer taking photos and my sister in law Stacey editing I have a few cute pictures!

Moving Away Get Together with friends

Before we left, we had one last get together with friends at Zorros in Greatwood since we will not see them for a while. We had a great time and loved seeing everyone!

Goodbye House

One last goodbye to our home in Greatwood, it is for sale as we are not sure how long we will be abroad. We loved this home and will miss it!

Moving Day!

On Monday, September 27, the movers showed up at our door. We were ready with most things divided by what would be air or sea shipped to Aberdeen, as well as what would be put in climate controlled storage here in Houston. We could send 500 lbs by air which would arrive in one week. Most of this was clothing and linens. We could ship one 20 foot container by sea. This will arrive in Aberdeen October 27. Most of this included our rugs, pictures, and accessories in the home. The rest went to storage as we will be moving into a furnished home there. We could not take our appliances as the electric voltage is different between the US and UK. In the US we use a 110 V and it is 220 V in the UK. It took the movers 4 days from start to finish. What I didn't realize was that EVERYTHING needed wrapped up in paper and tape to be moved or stored. It took quite a while and I continued to De-clutter in the meantime! Here are a few pics...