Windsor Beer Fest

Another weekend, another beer festival! This past weekend we went out to Windsor to enjoy their beer festival.  It was held at a small farm shop full of fresh fruit and veggies and fancy-made quiches, alongside a fancy cafe.  The tents were set up in the grassy area.  And, to Zoe's pleasant surprise, some of the beer was delivered via horse.

take that, Budweiser

We have furniture!

And internet!  Wow!

a most glorious sight

Yesterday, the movers arrived.  About two weeks later than we originally thought, but they arrived!  Apparently our container is half the size of the previous renters.  And their container hit a parked car getting out of the neighborhood (tight corners, lots of parked cars, and the owners of said cars not around) so everyone in the neighborhood was super jumpy.  Happy to say, no incidents ;)

after traveling across an ocean, not even half-way full

the boxes and wrapping papers we were able to unpack before the movers left

 There were two guys moving everything off the truck and into the house.  Compared with the two long days to pack everything up, with three guys one day and two the next, it all went relatively quickly.  We did have a slight issue with one of our couches - doors here are apparently fairly narrow, and the couch wouldn't fit through the front door!  The guys had to lift it over their heads, down the side of the yard over the fence, in through the rear sunroom double doors, and then into the back living room.  And there it will stay until we move again! Slight change of plans, but I'm sure all will work out fine in the end.
And then, today - internet!  The Virgin media guys came through to install cable.  First things first I asked them if they wanted any water.

No thanks, love.  Tea, black, no sugar.  

Well, alrighty then!  Welcome to England ;)

We're very happy to have all of our stuff and a means of interacting with the world outside of expensive phone calls. And something to do besides sit on a few cushions reading the same stories over and over! And dishes! And toys! And chairs!  And books!

not the offending couch

The Cotswalds

On Saturday we headed up to the Cotswalds, near Chipping Camden, and also hit this amazing lavender farm. It was a nice leisurely Saturday driving around, with a few stops in some old towns, and a nice 'jaunt' at the lavender farm, which we were able to wander freely around and headed into the gift shop right as it started raining - perfect timing.  The farm was gorgeous, lavender stretching quite a ways, the smell absolutely amazing.  But the noise - I wish I had captured a good video of the noise, but it was just too windy.  The bees were everywhere, and quite loud. A bit freaky for me, but Kyle and Zoe seemed to have no problem at all. A very pleasant Saturday indeed.

hide and seek around an old marketplace

lunch!

I swear that guy in the blue shirt and sunglasses looked exactly like my Uncle Mike

Zoe the map reader

Kyle was super excited to find the entrance to the mines of Moria at a local church

lavender ice cream during the rain break

Random June

clowning around in the bachelor pad

 I get nervous every time she goes up this huge monster slide

A bit of an update on life in general.  At the beginning of this month we ran out of the pull-ups that we brought with us (there are more coming on the boat, but no sign of the boat at this point...).  So, toilet training in full, as diapers (or 'nappies' as they are known here) are super expensive and come in small quantity packs.   About two weeks later, we got a poop in the potty, and boy was that awesome.  I had been promising her a cupcake as soon as she went poop in the potty, but wouldn't you know it the cupcake fad has not quite hit Newbury?

celebratory cupcake

So, the next day we made it over to a grocery store that had fancy cupcakes and ate that in the park.  Well, Zoe ate the frosting (purple!) and I ate the cake bit (lemon).  We've even been doing car trips sans pull-ups on and that's been going very well.  I imagine we could have done the toilet training earlier, but with the move I just didn't want to address it.  Now (knock on wood) it looks like we may not even need those two packs of pull-ups that are on the boat!

staring longingly at the toddler equipment

at least the bumblebee isn't locked up

 We go Victoria Park pretty much every day, and many days we also go to Goldwell Park.  The video above is from Victoria Park, which has just gotten in some new play equipment.  The big kid's section is all open, and the toddler section is only partially open.  Green grass everywhere, though, of course.  A few days ago I apparently spun Zoe a bit to hard on one of the equipment pieces, and she ended up puking on her rain jacket.  Oops.  Lesson learned.  

just a swing

Baby may go on more of the equipment than Z does

she goes everywhere with us, though usually without her clothes on

the smaller swings at Goldwell

the baby swings at Goldwell (which Baby gets to ride in)

Yesterday we did get the keys to the house, but as I said no sign of the boat yet.  We're still moving into the house tomorrow, though, with the previously mentioned goods from Ikea.  Kyle and I purchased a mattress to plop down on the floor.  It will certainly be an empty house for a few weeks.  Thank heavens for the nice weather! I think I'm most looking forward to the toys and the books.  We have been on an insane repeat of Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy over and over and over again, with Zoe even requiring a change of names to 'Zoe' and 'Zoe's little brother' (no - no news! she's just hooked on the idea of a brother, apparently). We can't check out books from the library until we get a bill at the new address, which will be a lifesaver.

Wait, some famous playwright worked there?

 

 Another weekend another real ale festival!  This time in wonderful Stratford-upon-Avon, at the race course.  Now that we're members, we've got to support the cause! We parked in town and took a long walk out to the race course.  When the race courses aren't being used for racing, it seems sometimes they are used for free-for-all camping; there were probably 30 or so camper vans, tents, caravans, etc.  Conveniently, the main stands also had pay-showers, which may have had something to do with it. We did not take advantage of those.  We did, however, sample the ale, had a few ploughman's, and horsed around (you didn't think I was going to pass that one up, did you?) in the windy weather.  It sure is windy on this island!

our own little race horse, leaving her new bear in the dust

Wait, Shakespeare lived here? No way!

beer - yummm

Afterwards, some ice cream back in town

ice cream - yummm

 before heading on to a local butterfly zoo.

cocoons are dirty