Chatsworth

Last weekend we took a little drive out to the Chatsworth Estate. This was our first time driving out in the country. Let me just tell you, it is beautiful. The one nice thing about me not being able to drive is that I get to sit back and enjoy the scenery. One thing that is not fun about driving in the country is the roads. At times we were driving on roads that were so narrow. I would consider them one way streets but some how two cars can fit. The craziest part was there were brick walls or just a straight drop off on the sides of the roads. The people around here are used to it, but I about had a heart attack every time we passed someone.

Here is your mini lesson on Chatsworth. Building started in 1553 by Bess of Hardwick and her husband Sir William Cavendish. It has been handed down through 16 generations of the Cavendish Family. Currently the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire live there. The house was used in the movies Pride and Prejudice (Keira Knightley), The Duchess (Keira Knightley), and The Wolfman (Anthony Hopkins). The house is set on a 1000 acre park. The park includes amazing gardens, animals, water features, greenhouses, and sculptures. History has never been my favorite subject but I think I am turning over a new leaf in England. I was shocked at how interesting this house was to me.

The Chapel was one of my favorite rooms. This room has not changed much since it was built in 1687. The family still uses the Chapel today for special occasions.

The Sculpture Gallery

The whole house had so much detail in every room.

The formal dining room was my other favorite room.

Andrew did such a great job not touching things and being a good listener. Thank God! He did love this bronze dog.

Get used to this black rain jacket because I wear it everyday because it rains here pretty much every day.

This picture cracks me up!! Lambs are so dangerous.

Andrew's favorite part, the ducks. There was a place to eat right outside the house and the ducks were going crazy. They would walk right up to you for food. We did get to see two ducks have a fight. It was very interesting. They were almost wrestling each other.

So that was the quick version of Chatsworth. I took so many pictures!! I have no idea how many pictures I will end up with at the end of this trip.

Cheers

 

Cadbury World

This past week we took a trip out to Cadbury World. I was pretty excited that we found something that would be fun for Andrew. We went with our friends Amber, Adam, and their daughter Abigail. They were also here with Rolls Royce but they already left for the US. On our trip we were able to learn about the history of chocolate, how it is made, how they package it, and we were able to sample some of the liquid chocolate. The liquid chocolate was amazing!! They also gave us a bunch of candy bars when we arrived. After our trip Andrew is now very familar with chocolate and asks for it all of the time.

Chocolate tea pot

Sampling the chocolate!!

The countdown for the Olympics!!

Andrew and Abigail were a little unsure about the beans.

After the tour there was a little freestyle football going on for the kids. Not sure who enjoyed it more, Mark or Andrew.

Andrew at the end of our visit to Cadbury World. Too much chocolate and too much fun!

 

Time to get out and find a park!

After getting settled into the apartment we had a few days before Mark had to start work. One of the first places I wanted to find was the closest park. I hoped to be able to walk to the park with Andrew during the week because I cannot drive while we are here. The park is about a 10-15 minute walk from our apartment. The park had a fenced in play area and Andrew had a blast. We were the only people at the park.

Andrew found a new favorite toy at this park. This thing just spins in circles and he loves it.

He also really loved this bouncy horse!

The only bummer about the park is that the walk isn't the safest walk, so we may just go when Mark is home. It was nice getting out and doing something kind of normal. Andrew saw a dog that looked like Grace at the park and didn't seem to care too much. It is so weird to me that he doesn't seem to miss her.

City Living in Derby

Our current apartment is in downtown Derby. Mark and I have always wanted to live downtown. We thought this would be a perfect opportunity to live downtown temporarily. Living in downtown Derby definitely has its ups and downs. I think I have already decided downtown living is not for me. We are within walking distance of lots of shops, restaurants, and the mall. However, we are also within walking distance of everything else that comes with being downtown. Here are a few pictures of the downtown area.












I love hearing the church bells ring every hour. I have also found an amazing cafe that makes the best cafe mocha I have ever had. They also have great pastries. I have seen a few craft stores I want to check out too. The only problem is that I don't feel 100% comfortable being down there without Mark. Being in the "city centre" is fine, but I have to walk through a few questionable parts to get there.



Tomorrow Mark starts work!! I have no idea what Andrew and I are going to do. We will see! We did drive by Rolls Royce today with another couple so we stopped and took a picture. I hope he has a great day tomorrow!



I do want to apologize about the quality of my pictures on this blog. The app I am using posts the worst pictures. If you click on each picture it should pull up a larger picture that is a little better. I hope to find a better way to do my posts.

Spending time with AMAZING friends before we left!!

One thing this trip has made me realize is how many great friends we have made in Indy!! It is funny the way life works some times. All my friends from Andrew's play group had one last mom's night out for me. They are so awesome!! They surprised me with dinner, a new bead for my pandora bracelet (it was a suitcase), and a slide show of pictures of the kids through the last two years. Here are a few pictures from that night out. These ladies have been so good me and we all try to help each other out. I am so blessed to have them in my life!!










We were also able to get the kids together the day before we left for England.














Our awesome neighbors had a little cookout to say good bye on our last night in the US. They all made some amazing food!! Andrew had a blast playing with his friends!!










We also had some friends drive over from Dayton to meet us for lunch! Mark used to live with Rick back in Cincinnati and I have become very close with his wife Britton through the years. Wish we lived closer to them!! We went out to Weber Grill and had a great afternoon with them!









I think Andrew really enjoyed the rolls!!

Thank you all so much for everything you have done to help us through this!! We are so excited to be back in a few months and resume our "normal" lives.

We finally made it to Derby!

This post is a little overdue! We have had an interesting start to our stay in Derby. We haven't had great internet access for me to actually sit down and do a blog post. Where do I begin??

The Flight: Andrew did very well on our flight to Chicago. He thought it was fun to fly in the airplane. We installed his seat and he sat in the car seat just fine. The airlines let us board the airplane first so we could get the car seat installed and get everything settled. The only problem with this flight was the size of the airplane. Mark could not even stand up straight in the aisle. Andrew fell asleep right before we landed, so I had to wake him up. Waking him up is never fun and to make matters worse we pretty much had to run to our next flight. In Chicago the staff was not helpful and they were rude. Of course, we were about the last to board our flight to Manchester and we boarded with a crying baby. I felt like such an idiot. I knew what everyone was thinking but there was nothing we could do. Andrew was so tired. When the plane started moving he calmed down. Thank God!! Our flight was about 7 1/2 hours. It was so long! Andrew didn't sleep very well in his car seat because his head would just fall forward. He ended up sleeping on me which meant that I could not sleep. Holding a 31 pound kid is not comfortable at all. Either way we made it!! We left when the sun was still up in Chicago and arrived when the sun was up in Manchester.




Leaving Indy!!


Staying busy on the long flight to Manchester!


Finally sleeping!! We had to have "blue bear" and "monkey blanket"

We had a hired car waiting for us to take us to our apartment. I have always wanted to have someone standing there with my name, but the sign said Rolls Royce. Not as cool. The guy was very nice and helped us with all of our luggage and drove us an hour and a half to our apartment. First difference I noticed is that they call the bathrooms toilets. The signs all say toilets. I thought it was kind of funny. Direct and to the point I guess.

Apartment: When we arrived at our apartment we were so tired. Mark and I had about an hour of sleep and Andrew probably about five hours. The local time was about 11:00am. This is where things started to get a little stressful. The lady gave us our keys and rushed out. As we started looking around we realized the place had not been cleaned. Not a great feeling when you have no sleep and a two year old that wants to get into everything. There was nothing we could really do because everyone over here is on holiday until Thursday. Mark decided it would be best for us to stay in a hotel for a couple days so we could try to clean the apartment. We couldn't stay in a hotel for a week with Andrew. It just doesn't have enough room for playing and eating. We were able to get the apartment in good condition so we are back in the apartment now. We might try to see if we can get our apartment switched when Mark goes to work on Thursday. I will say our apartment has a nice view!






Driving: Driving is so weird. You would think it wouldn't be that hard switching the side of road you drive on but it seems so weird!! I cannot drive over here so I have only been a passenger. There are so many round abouts here and they are not like the small ones in Indy. They are huge and confusing. There were many times I felt like we were going the wrong way but it just seems that way because everything is opposite! Another funny thing is when you are walking it is opposite. In the US a lot of times you will try to stay to the right when you are walking on paths or sidewalks, but here you stay to the left.

Food: Some people told me that the food is not great here and they are right. So far I have not had anything that was amazing yet. I did have a very good coffee and scone today. The grocery store is different. All different brands and not as much junk food. We still have yet to do a full grocery trip. I think that is tomorrows task. I have a feeling living in England will be a good way to drop a couple pounds.

Weather: Not good!!! It is cold here! I have no idea why I packed shorts for Andrew and capris for myself. So far it has rained everyday at some point. Thank God we bought rain jackets and an umbrella. We talked to a local and they said that it always rains. Hopefully it warms up a little over the summer. It is sunny today so that is nice.

Andrew: Andrew has done pretty well through all of this. This has really shown how resilient kids are. He is happy with some fishy crackers and a few cars to play with. When we arrived here in England I had to change his diaper at the airport. I will say that they have a nice separate changing room that has disposable pads to change your child. When I laid Andrew down to change him he said, "Mommy I want to go home." It made me a little sad because I thought that this was going to be hard for him, but he has been fine since. He already thinks this is our home. He is so funny and keeps our spirits up for sure!!



Here is his toy collection here. He also has some books.

People: Everything is very different here, including the people. We have had some very interesting things happen to use. We had an old guy walk up to us and start telling us about some lad that went to jail. We had an old lady walk up to Andrew, kiss her hand and then put her whole hand on Andrew's mouth. I even tried to avoid it and she still did it. It was so weird!!! We have seen many drunk people doing weird things like laying on the ground or on a bench. I guess this is the joy of being downtown. On the other hand, some people have been very friendly and helpful. Some people just look down right scary!! I have seen the weirdest fashion ever!! I saw some people getting hot and heavy in car parked right in the middle of downtown. I saw a guy doing some type of ninja moves with a long stick in the green space outside of our apartments. Nothing crazy, just practicing his ninja skills I guess!

Mark and I are hanging in there. We are hoping to get a different apartment that is a little more comfortable for us in the next couple weeks. Now that we are here, five months seems a lot longer that it did when we were just talking about it in the US. Andrew and I will have to get creative during the day to keep ourselves busy.

I guess that is it for now. We do have a phone so if you would like our phone number just send me an email.

As they say in England, "Cheers"