Tales From America

But before I get to it, am I the only person who saw Kate and William posing on the hospital step with their hours old newborn and thought. . ."is she really wearing a WHITE dress, heels and bare legs, hours after giving birth?"  I can't even imagine.  But then, she IS a princess. . .

So, we have returned from our whirlwind trip to the U.S.  It was a long and chaotic trip there, and I think that Ft. Lauderdale wins by award for worst international arrivals terminal ever.   What a dump!  Although, with our FOUR HOUR layover, we discovered a few decent places to eat (there is some kind of television-based restaurant that I can't remember the name of), and I had a fabulous coconut shrimp po' boy.  It was delicious.  Sigh.  I heart American food, and its use of spices.

But once we finally got to our destination, things worked out pretty well.  We stayed in the house we are renting, and it's terrific.  It has a gorgeous backyard--big, sunny, and full of beautiful plants.  The fruit trees were flowering, and it was quite spectacular.  The house itself is an old Colonial.  the rooms are on the small side, but it's perfect for us.  There is a small master suite, a room for the girls that shares another bathroom with the guest room, and then another office/guest room that has its own half bath.  There is a big sunroom, a formal living room, a playroom, and another private suite in the basement that will be perfect for our nanny.  It's a little bit of a hike to the nearest subway stop, but it's not too far.  There are also some pretty good parks nearby.  The street its on is kind of busy, so I know I will always worry about the kids running down the driveway, but we are going to finish fencing the yard so that the play space is more secure, and the owner is fine with that.  I'll still worry. . .SB has been less than fabulous at listening lately.  So anyway, the house is great.

Miss M passed her Spanish exam with flying colors, and the girls are enrolled in school.  I really liked the school.  It's small, and has an old-school feel to it--like my own elementary school.  The school was renovated a few years ago, so the facility is nice.  Coming from suburbia, the library is shockingly small, but we will visit our neighborhood library a ton, so I'm not super worried.  The girls' classrooms are ENORMOUS, especially compared to their current schools, and I had a chance to meet each teacher.  Both teachers are native Spanish speakers, and they are older (although not old), which I like.  The school has a really warm feel to it, and the kids seemed engaged.  I'm still worried about whether I am making the right decision, which I need to blog about (basic gist is that I'm getting lots of negative feedback from a certain race/class about our school choice), but I'm going to go with it for now, because it feels right.

T's making good progress on getting everything done for his job (there was a lot of paperwork to be done), and hopes to have a start date soon.  I went by my new office and met everyone while we were there.  It seems like it will be okay.  It was really too brief of a visit to tell, and there is going to be some management turnover.

And, we sold our old car before we left, and then bought a new car while we were in the U.S.  We had done all of the research before we left, and were just planning to test drive the two finalists while we were there.  But then we decided it made sense to just do the whole deal, so that we can pick it up as soon as we get there.  We were going to rent a car for a while, but this just works out better, especially since we have a big Northeast road trip planned for shortly after we arrive.  The dealership is doing a few things to it, and it will be ready when we return for real in a month or so.

We also visited my mom while we were back, which was nice.  It was a quick visit, just a long weekend, really, but the girls were happy to see her, and she seemed happy to see them.  They are finally old enough that I feel comfortable leaving them with her for a few hours, so T and I used the time to run around and do American errands while we were there, too, which was nice.

I have to admit, I didn't want to come back here after our trip.  It was so nice to be in America. . .everything is just so easy.   And, I wasn't looking forward to all of the moving stuff that has to be done.  But we are here, and it's going okay.  We start the packing on Monday.    And I'm even almost ready!