Yesterday at the boys summer camp it was nice for me as well since I met some new moms too. So with one of the moms we are going to try and do a picnic at a park on Friday. One of her sons was in Jacob's group. So it is nice to meet people and talk about everything we are going through together and compare notes!
Today the weather has actually been sunny and hot around the low 80's. There is no air conditioning in the houses here and yet it is suprisingly cool in the house. The houses are made out of cinderblocks and it helps with the temps inside the house.
Today the cable man came back out for a second time and we finally got internet and the right cable package! It is nice to be connected to everything again (thats why alot of the blogs were just entered in the last couple of days). And the cable package has about 8 channels for the kids with a bunch of Disney channels- a few in English, and Nick Jr. too.
We also have Skype so if anyone is interested in calling let me know! We also did this thing called a sling box. You buy the sling box in the states and hook it up to a DVR player. Jason tried real quick one night before he flew out to MI and couldn't get it to work, so me being such a computer pro figured it out and fixed it -he he. And once we got the internet connection here I log in on my laptop and can watch TV from home! It is great. The only problem is we are 7 hours ahead of home so of course the programs are different because it is a different time of day. So now that we are here we buy the sling catcher to put on one of our TVs here and then the programs will come thru on the TV. Technology is so cool! So we try and order the sling catcher here on the UK amazon website, b/c you can't actually buy the catcher in the US and come to find out that is one item that doesn't ship to Luxembourg- figures. But Jason's secretary lives in France and commutes to work here everyday so we could ship it to her. So we will see how this works out.
The other exciting thing today was that I found Amber's bed rail! Remember when I said we were unpacking and we found everything but that. Well I remembered that it was sitting in our sitting room at home and the first day they packed our stuff they put the bed rail on the couch in there. So all of a sudden it dawned on me maybe they put it under the cushions since it is a long metal piece that would be hard to pack. I went up to the TV room where we put that couch and looked under the cushions and wouldn't you know it there it was! So Amber finally got her bed rail put up on her bed.
Every night around dinner time someone lets out their cats. There are 3 of them, really cute. They walk down our street and seem to like our corner. They also seem to like the lot across the street with the berries. There must be mice over there because they sit and stare into there. We have a fenced in yard, but one day I saw a cat in the yard watching Amber on the trampoline. And another day I saw a cat climb the fence to get out of our yard. So much for keeping the animals out! But the kids enjoy watching the cats.
I am sorry for any spelling errors I make. Unfortunatly here when I do spell check it is in German and it tags all my words.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Tuesday School Camp
Today school camp started for the boys. It is a camp at their new school from 9-12 where they do sports, arts/crafts, and computers for the rest of the week. It is mostly for kids that are new coming into school and they are grouped according to grade level. I had Jason come with me today to drop them off. There is not much parking here as they only have 1 parking lot right now since they tore the other one up to build a new school building there. So I am very worried about not being able to park. It is up against the start of the highway so you can't just go around the corner and park. But for the camp there was room to park. After we dropped them off we drove around to find me the best route back home. I am about 5 minutes from the school. It is easier getting there then getting home as you can't take the same route back. I am just starting to drive over here and get a feel for my way around. It doesn't help that the signs are in French. And the biggest road sign to be aware of is a triangle with an X thru it. It means that I need to give priority to people on my right. Kind of weird cause I will just be driving along and there will be a small side road and only going my way will there be the X and I need to let those people go first.
The boys really enjoyed the camp and being able to play with other kids again. We have been here for almost 2 weeks now so they were just happy to be able to see their school and meet some new friends. Jacob had another Jacob in his group. I never realized what a popular name that was when we named him. Jacob meet a couple of other new boys as well. It was a smaller group so a nice way for the boys to meet everyone.
Here is a picture of just the building that Sean will be in. This building is for Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade. The building that Jacob and Amber are in is back behind where I was standing. Between these two buildings is the open black top space for recess and then to the right of where I was standing is the playground.
The boys really enjoyed the camp and being able to play with other kids again. We have been here for almost 2 weeks now so they were just happy to be able to see their school and meet some new friends. Jacob had another Jacob in his group. I never realized what a popular name that was when we named him. Jacob meet a couple of other new boys as well. It was a smaller group so a nice way for the boys to meet everyone.
Here is a picture of just the building that Sean will be in. This building is for Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade. The building that Jacob and Amber are in is back behind where I was standing. Between these two buildings is the open black top space for recess and then to the right of where I was standing is the playground.
Now that I have everything cleaned and organized we have been playing alot of games in the afternoons. Amber's favorite is What's in the Cat's Hat? And even the boys get into playing this with us too. Or she really enjoys her Princess Memory Card game.
Monday Aug. 15th
Monday was a holiday here so again everything was closed just like on Sunday. The kids spent their morning jumping and enjoying the trampoline. We do not have this at home so they can enjoy this here.
Since we still didn't have internet we heard that McDonalds has free Wi-Fi so we took the kids and our computers there for lunch. This one was a bigger one close to one of the malls and had an indoor play area and an outdoor climby area. Today since it was a holiday there was not much traffic out and so we drove around the downtown area which is only about 5 minutes from our house. And we drove down to the Grund which is that sunken part of the city that I had posted a picture of it.
The size of the products here are mostly a lot smaller then the US sizes. Unfortunatley there is no Costco here. I miss their big parking spaces and the buying in bulk. So here the juice containers mostly come in 1L, well after 5 of us drink juice for breakfast there is only about 1 glass left of juice. But the cereals come in the same size boxes as home and because of that they are too big to fit in the cupboards!
Since we still didn't have internet we heard that McDonalds has free Wi-Fi so we took the kids and our computers there for lunch. This one was a bigger one close to one of the malls and had an indoor play area and an outdoor climby area. Today since it was a holiday there was not much traffic out and so we drove around the downtown area which is only about 5 minutes from our house. And we drove down to the Grund which is that sunken part of the city that I had posted a picture of it.
The size of the products here are mostly a lot smaller then the US sizes. Unfortunatley there is no Costco here. I miss their big parking spaces and the buying in bulk. So here the juice containers mostly come in 1L, well after 5 of us drink juice for breakfast there is only about 1 glass left of juice. But the cereals come in the same size boxes as home and because of that they are too big to fit in the cupboards!
Sunday Aug. 14th
There are a lot of days here where it just kind of rains on and off all day. Today was one of those days, but we still decided we would go to this kind of zoo/park place in the south part of Luxembourg near the border of France. They had a bunch of different animals, but a lot of different Lemur species and then 2 big park areas. The 1st park was just a bunch of different climby park stuff, and the second one was made out of wood. More like tree houses.
The boys loved climbing on them. Then after that we drove to the other side of Luxembourg, the city, and found the movie theatre and about 5 restaurants. One of them was Subway, so Jacob was excited since that is his favorite restaurant. But we ate at this place called Coyote Grill that has an American Based menu where even the titles of all the food are in English. Amber enjoyed her chicken nuggets, and all 3 boys split BBQ wings and ribs. I am sure they don't compare to Buffalo Wild Wings but its the best we got. I got a hamburger and everyone was happy!
When we got home the boys convinced Jason to start putting together the trampoline. So 2 hours later we had it all together. By then they each got a couple of turns and it was time for bed.
The boys loved climbing on them. Then after that we drove to the other side of Luxembourg, the city, and found the movie theatre and about 5 restaurants. One of them was Subway, so Jacob was excited since that is his favorite restaurant. But we ate at this place called Coyote Grill that has an American Based menu where even the titles of all the food are in English. Amber enjoyed her chicken nuggets, and all 3 boys split BBQ wings and ribs. I am sure they don't compare to Buffalo Wild Wings but its the best we got. I got a hamburger and everyone was happy!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Sat. Aug. 13th
Today we drove out to Jason's work to pick up another car. The company lends me a car for 30 days. So I took the car Jason was driving and he picked up a bigger car with 7 seats, but it is stick shift. His drive to work is pretty easy. He makes 3 turns and then is on the main road close to our house and stays on that for about 15 min. and then he is there. Once he drives past the mall there is not much else out there but fields, more pastures and more cows, mostly white. Jason is enjoying his job and is busy as usual.
So now that he had the bigger car he went back to Cactus and picked up the trampoline and bought a grill while he was there too. No one undestands the word grill here, you have to say BBQ. So of course this store does not sell the gas tanks to go with the grill. The guy at the store gave Jason a list of other stores that sell tanks. And I believe that at the other stores you can buy the tanks but they don't have the gas in them. You actually have to go to another place with some special paperwork to get your tank fillled. So we have a grill, but it may be awhile before we actually are able to use it!
So since I only can use the company car for awhile we need to buy me a car. So we went and test drove a friend of a friend's car that is selling it. It was nice and we will probably end up buying it. Since we are only here for a few years we are just looking into used cars for me.
After the test drive Jason dropped me back off at the Cactus store to actually shop there. Last night when we were there Amber had a melt down so we got as far as the trampolines and then left. So we forgot all the bags too. So Jason and the kids went to the pirate park and then home to get the bags and then came back and Jason got a grill and we were good to go. Here if you forget your reusable bags you have to buy plastic bags and they say something not very nice in French about you forgetting your reusable bag. Good thing we had the bigger car so us and all the stuff could fit in.
When we got back Jason put together the lawn mower first instead of the trampoline, so the kids were not happy. Then he mowed the lawn. On Sundays here you are not allowed to mow the lawn. I think it took him all about 15 minutes and he mowed it twice, not too big of a yard. We asked about having the lawn mowed here, since at home we have someone mow it once a week and it is not very expensive for a good size yard. Here it would cost around $150 each time we would have it mowed. Needless to say Jason decided to mow it himself!
So now that he had the bigger car he went back to Cactus and picked up the trampoline and bought a grill while he was there too. No one undestands the word grill here, you have to say BBQ. So of course this store does not sell the gas tanks to go with the grill. The guy at the store gave Jason a list of other stores that sell tanks. And I believe that at the other stores you can buy the tanks but they don't have the gas in them. You actually have to go to another place with some special paperwork to get your tank fillled. So we have a grill, but it may be awhile before we actually are able to use it!
So since I only can use the company car for awhile we need to buy me a car. So we went and test drove a friend of a friend's car that is selling it. It was nice and we will probably end up buying it. Since we are only here for a few years we are just looking into used cars for me.
After the test drive Jason dropped me back off at the Cactus store to actually shop there. Last night when we were there Amber had a melt down so we got as far as the trampolines and then left. So we forgot all the bags too. So Jason and the kids went to the pirate park and then home to get the bags and then came back and Jason got a grill and we were good to go. Here if you forget your reusable bags you have to buy plastic bags and they say something not very nice in French about you forgetting your reusable bag. Good thing we had the bigger car so us and all the stuff could fit in.
When we got back Jason put together the lawn mower first instead of the trampoline, so the kids were not happy. Then he mowed the lawn. On Sundays here you are not allowed to mow the lawn. I think it took him all about 15 minutes and he mowed it twice, not too big of a yard. We asked about having the lawn mowed here, since at home we have someone mow it once a week and it is not very expensive for a good size yard. Here it would cost around $150 each time we would have it mowed. Needless to say Jason decided to mow it himself!
Friday Aug. 12th
Today we had to go downtown,which is about a 5 minute drive, to do some paperwork with Jason and our relocation agent. It didn't go well. We were not able to apply for residency because you have to go downtown with in 3 days of arriving. So no one told us this and then when we did arrive here last week it was Friday night and then the beginning of this week our relocation agent was on vacation. Normally I guess it is ok to do within a week of arriving but this time they said no. So now we have to go about reapplying for all this paperwork that was previously done again and this will take many weeks to get this paperwork again. And without this residency paperwork there are many things we can't go about doing here- ugh. From here we walked to that square area that is full of restaurants that I had mentioned before and we ate lunch at this bread/bakery restaurant and that didn't go so well either. Jason thought he ordered the boys a steak sandwich. I think it was called Americana Filet. Well it is steak tar tar on bread, so raw ground beef. And he ordered 2 of them! On our way out we got some blueberry and chocolate chip muffins and at least those were good.
So one of the things I couldn't get without all that paperwork above was the cell phone I ordered. So the relocation agent took me to 2 other phone places and one of those required different paperwork that I actually had so wala I finally got a phone! Unfortunaly while I was there I never checked to see if the internet was working and so when I got home I tried and it wasn't working- seriously what is it with the internet here! So after dinner we go back out to the phone store. It is in a mall a little bit further away. So they fixed the phone and then we went shopping at this huge, huge store here called Cactus. It is like a big super walmart . They had this store in Brazil I believe too, but not near where we lived so I had never shopped at it before. So as we are walking through we see a nice medium size trampoline for the backyard (or garden as they say here). We think it will fit nicely so we buy it and Jason will plan on picking it up on Sat. when we have a bigger car.
Came home and made brownies, so it is starting to seem like home!
So one of the things I couldn't get without all that paperwork above was the cell phone I ordered. So the relocation agent took me to 2 other phone places and one of those required different paperwork that I actually had so wala I finally got a phone! Unfortunaly while I was there I never checked to see if the internet was working and so when I got home I tried and it wasn't working- seriously what is it with the internet here! So after dinner we go back out to the phone store. It is in a mall a little bit further away. So they fixed the phone and then we went shopping at this huge, huge store here called Cactus. It is like a big super walmart . They had this store in Brazil I believe too, but not near where we lived so I had never shopped at it before. So as we are walking through we see a nice medium size trampoline for the backyard (or garden as they say here). We think it will fit nicely so we buy it and Jason will plan on picking it up on Sat. when we have a bigger car.
Came home and made brownies, so it is starting to seem like home!
Thursday August 11th
Today I decided I better start ironing. Supposingly it is very expensive to dry clean clothes here so I am washing and now ironing Jason's dress shirts. So I will have to check out the dry cleaners once I can find one. We bought the iron and board from someone leaving and I see it and it is huge looking and heavy. So I figure I will get 2 things done at once- iron and get my weights in for the day!
I also decided I needed a small basket on each level to carry things up to the other floors in. So I put one basket out and about 20 min. later it is gone. I then see it in Amber's play area filled with her things- so much for that!
My cell phone came in today so Jason went back to the store again only to be told we can't get it until we have all the residential documents which of course we don't have. So this could take awhile.
The cable guy came out and so we will all excited to get internet and have some tv to watch. Well it didn't go well, no internet ever came on and we didn't get the cable package with all the channels we ordered it was just a few channels.
Amber asked where we could go today and I told her nowhere but the park b/c mommy doesn't have a car. Her response was "Tell Daddy he forgot to buy you a car!" too cute.
The boys have not been liking the milk here. Today Sean told me "It taste too cowy." Whatever that means. But I can't find skim milk here. The lowest percentage I can find is 1.5%. But of course everyone likes the chocolate milk- go figure!
Our street is a short little street with just our house and the neighbors on it and then at the end it dead ends into 2 courts. So the boys have lots of good room to ride their bikes. The lots across the street from us are empty with just a bunch of bushes and trees and I have seen people walking by picking things off the bushes and eating them so I decided to go over and check it out. There are a bunch of blackberry bushes growing right there along side the road. So we picked some and brought them in, washed them and then tried them. I didn't want anyone eating too many in case we didn't feel good later, but all was well. So later they picked some more for breakfast the next day. There is also a pear tree in there, but it is so thick you can't actually walk in there and the pears are way up on the tree. The boys tried to convince Jason to get out his latter and go pick them some pears, but Jason wasn't up for looking so obvious doing it! Oh well.
I also decided I needed a small basket on each level to carry things up to the other floors in. So I put one basket out and about 20 min. later it is gone. I then see it in Amber's play area filled with her things- so much for that!
My cell phone came in today so Jason went back to the store again only to be told we can't get it until we have all the residential documents which of course we don't have. So this could take awhile.
The cable guy came out and so we will all excited to get internet and have some tv to watch. Well it didn't go well, no internet ever came on and we didn't get the cable package with all the channels we ordered it was just a few channels.
Amber asked where we could go today and I told her nowhere but the park b/c mommy doesn't have a car. Her response was "Tell Daddy he forgot to buy you a car!" too cute.
The boys have not been liking the milk here. Today Sean told me "It taste too cowy." Whatever that means. But I can't find skim milk here. The lowest percentage I can find is 1.5%. But of course everyone likes the chocolate milk- go figure!
Our street is a short little street with just our house and the neighbors on it and then at the end it dead ends into 2 courts. So the boys have lots of good room to ride their bikes. The lots across the street from us are empty with just a bunch of bushes and trees and I have seen people walking by picking things off the bushes and eating them so I decided to go over and check it out. There are a bunch of blackberry bushes growing right there along side the road. So we picked some and brought them in, washed them and then tried them. I didn't want anyone eating too many in case we didn't feel good later, but all was well. So later they picked some more for breakfast the next day. There is also a pear tree in there, but it is so thick you can't actually walk in there and the pears are way up on the tree. The boys tried to convince Jason to get out his latter and go pick them some pears, but Jason wasn't up for looking so obvious doing it! Oh well.
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