Sunday Special!

For your extra viewing pleasure on this sunny (at least in Belfast) Sunday, a bonus blog post full of pure fun.

First, when we were at the Westbrook Beetling Mill (blog post coming later this week), we got to walk right alongside a sheep pasture.  To be honest, everywhere we go we are right alongside a sheep pasture.  On this instance, we were just on the otherside of a thin wire fence.  As we walked along, more and more of the herd were coming to check us out and they were LOUD.  I think you can see in the video, but to be sure, they were charging the edge of the fence and it was an amazing sight (and sound!) to witness an entire pasture of sheep and lambs gather towards us and essentially yell at us. Not sure if they thought we had food or they were being protective of the lambs, but either way it was quite an experience.

Second, ever had spiral potato crisps? (local language lesson: what we refer to in America as "chips" are called "crisps", here, "chips" are a type of french fry. though I was at a restaurant the other day where I was served "fries" and my friend was served "chips"...one was skinny fries and the other wedges, but I don't remember which is which anyway!) ok, so spiral potato crisps...strange stuff.  They were not thin and crispy, more like a fried noodle texture (looks like a noodle too of course).  Not my favorite, but when on a long car ride in the country, one must make do with the snacks that show up in the car!  We also had flat flavored water thinking it would be a twist on a spritzer. It tasted like flat sprite...why were we surprised?!

The Zombification of Zev

If you had asked my kids what they were most looking forward to on our travels they would have answered, without hesitation, the unlimited screen time on an approximately 10 hour flight.  This should have been a sign, a warning, a teachable moment for us.  Instead, we told them of the other "perks" of business class travel.  The lay flat beds, the near constant food (which contrary to one's thought is actually quite good), and generally just a bit more comfort.  They did quite enjoy the ice cream sundaes! But Zev was really quite intent on getting every last moment of the screen time available at his fingertips.  Despite being tucked into a cozy bed (evidence below) and told multiple times by me (and the flight attendant!) to get some rest, he persevered to watch screen time the ENTIRE flight (except the last 5 minutes of taxiing when, naturally, he fell dead asleep. Behold, the many phases of Zev the Zombie.

Zev all tucked in for bed

Zev Zombie 1 - just after landing and before passing out

Zev Zombie 2 - waiting for our boarding passes

Not pictured is Zev trying to walk through Schipol airport, barely able to carry his own weight, let alone his backpack.  I wish I also had a picture of Zev in the airport lounge, he was sitting up with his legs crossed, resting his chin in his palm.  He was not like this for lack of a comfy place to curl up; he just fell asleep too quickly to get positioned otherwise. We then had a connecting flight into Belfast.

Zev Zombie 3 - waiting to board our flight to Belfast

Zev Zombie 4 - on the 1.25 hour flight

At first Zev was very proud of his accomplishment - in that 8-year-old kind of way (ha - I surely showed you silly grown ups)!  As we forced him off the plane (remember he fell asleep as we taxied to the gate) and he was whining and crying and really wretched, he experienced the first moments of regret.  I empathized - we've all been there - it's miserable.  Everything hurts, you're nauseous, and hungry, and tired, and weak.  You inevitably have a headache.  As Zev tried to shuffle through the airport, he said "ughhhh it feels like I'm dying!" (it was very whiny, shouty, pathetic).  I said "yep, pretty much, but you'll get over it in a bit"  And maybe next time, there will be a little less screen time and a little more sleeping on his travels.

PS - Ariana watched lots of screen time AND she slept for 5 hours (and ate a sundae and had a marvelous time)

Hurry Up and Wait

I'll start with a caveat to this whole post - all four of us have been remarkably patient and forgiving with this process and with each other (you know us, this is a huge win) so what follows is just a sharing of reality but know that we are actually smiling, laughing, and loving a lot.

As anyone who has traveled or relocated knows, there is a great deal of "hurry" and an even greater deal of "wait".  Whether it's at the airport, getting the logistics of life arranged, or getting acclimated to local culture, food, and people there seems to be an endless list of things to do, people to contact, and time to pass until things settle.  You won't be surprised that Abe and I have felt an incredible desire get as many of the logistical items in place as quickly as possible in hopes that the less tangible adjustments will come easier or at least we will be more patient with them.  So we worked before we came to arrange for our "permanent" location, housing, and schools to be in place when we arrived.  Abe scurried about when we arrived to set up a local phone, internet, library access, etc.... We started the kids in school within days of arriving (how 'bout that picture of the kids in their uniforms?!) We stocked the house the day we moved in with home goods and groceries - and are now looking forward to a home cooked dinner tonight or tomorrow!  Coupled with jumping right into working for me, it's been quite a bit of hurry! And now we wait...

Where's the grocery store and when the heck is it open? When will we understand the flow of the city? When will we get internet (aka more FaceTime and more blog posts)? When will the rest of our stuff (most importantly more hangers and for Zev, the Wii) arrive? When will we understand what the heck is written on the laundry detergent bottles (am I right Julie and Aaron)? When will we make it back to crossfit? When will we ever get those kids to bed at a reasonable hour?!

And per usual from Zev and Ariana: When can I have screen time? When is my next meal since I just ate 3 minutes ago? When do we get to do something really really actually for real FUN (for the record...we have)? When can I have screen time?

On the positive end, the people here have been so kind, friendly, and helpful (except for customer service people...ironic, eh?) They are welcoming and full of advice and patience with our asking them to repeat themselves or asking what a "bap" is (a bread roll for the record).  The schools have been fantastic and are embracing our kids beautifully.  When we stumble, we just laugh and look at one another and say "ok, now we know".  Our mantra is definitely "It won't all be right at once but we'll get there eventually".  So we'll continue to hurry and jump right in and then we'll wait as everything will slowly fall into place.

For some fun stuff - here are some pictures of our travels (talk about hurry up and wait!) and our epic luggage train.

Welcome Back, Old Blogger Site!

As many of you likely know, our family is moving to Belfast, Northern Ireland for 1 year.  We are sure to have many adventures and want to have a simple way to share them with our friends and family.  Our kids are also old enough now to want to explore their own voices to pass along their experiences.  So I went to start a blog - wouldn't you know it, I already have one!  It's from 9 or 10 years ago (go ahead, check out the gems of antiquity) and plenty has changed in our world, but we are still the FidLorbs and we may as well pick up from here.

Side note, this is a recurring theme in my life at the moment.  As we've cleaned and sorted and packed to move, I keep stumbling upon treasure (and trash!) troves throughout our house.  In what has seemed like a very short time of 4.5 years, our belongings have multiplied and found their way into piles, and corners, and boxes.  I have unearthed wonderful memories, produced many a functional article (hello plenty of ibuprofen and notebooks and batteries), and purged SO MUCH to local non profits and (unfortunately) the dump.  Abe and I highly recommend (to each other and to you) making the 'clean like you're moving' activity an annual event!

So here we go - launching from our 2 dogs, no kids blog of leisure to our 2 kids, loving our dogs from abroad (more on that later) living abroad blog!  Today is the last day of school for the kids, our house is 98.8% packed, and our tickets are booked for Monday so we are looking forward to a beautiful Whidbey weekend with friends and some of our favorite places.  

Next up, we will share our farewells to Whidbey and maybe a bit of our travels (which will be extremely boring and uneventful).