Big D

On Sunday, I finally went to Dallas. I've been hanging out here in the 'burbs for weeks now. But we had a guest for the weekend and I wanted to show her something a little more exciting than our little town.

I can't exactly say I succeeded. It is Dallas, after all. Not the most happening city in the nation, especially on a Sunday afternoon.

But we ended up having a nice day. Brad drove us all in and parked by his office. So that was the first exciting thing we saw. Then we rode around on the DART (light rail) for a bit and ended up in an area called West End. Other cities (I can think of at least one, anyway) have areas with that same name but this was a little different. Just a few blocks of restaurants, mostly chains. We ended up at a Mexican restaurant (possibly not a chain) and had a nice, very filling lunch.

Then we walked to the art museum. This turned out to be great as they have a really big hands-on kids area. They had texture rubbings, drawing, and craft materials. And a special craft room where the kids made crowns. Susanna and I did do a quick tour of some of the galleries, but Ben was quite happy to stay in the kids' area (with Brad.)

Overall the city was quiet. It seems like there are nice bits scattered around, but you have to know where you are going. London its not, but there is a bit of culture available if you look for it. And for now its the best we have!

Susanna's first game

After Ben's game Saturday, we had just enough time to run home and get snacks ready for Susanna's first soccer game. It was a hot day and she wasn't too sure about playing, but she didn't have a choice. So we went and found the field (but no parking spot - this place is soccer crazy!) and after a few minutes she joined her team.

She played about half the game. It took a few minutes for her to get into it but she had some good kicks. It was fun to watch - plenty of action. The goalies all did a great job, and the final score was 3 to 2, Pinkalicious. Though maybe two of the three Pink goals were kicked in by the other team. But it still counts.

The initial coin toss:
Getting directions from the coach (seen here in his manly Pinkalicious jersey):
Running after the ball:
After the game and ready to go home:

Ben's second game

Ben's tee ball team played its second game bright and early Saturday morning. It was fun to see all the little guys (and girl) out on the field. The other team had the same name and same blue shirts, so it was a little hard to watch, but it all seemed very organized and everyone had fun.

Here is Ben getting ready to be catcher (they still have a pitcher and a catcher even though there is a tee):

Coach Dad issuing instructions:
Ready to bat:
Running to second:
Running to third:
Once again, even though score isn't kept, it looks like Ben's team would have won. But all that really matters is that they had fun!

Tee Ball, Game 1

Ben had his first tee ball game tonight, and I missed it.

I had to take Susanna to soccer practice. It had been three weeks since her team last met (due to a two week rain break) and she wasn't too sure about going back. So I didn't feel like I could leave her, and I wouldn't have had much time at Ben's game even if I had.

So Coach Dad and Ben went off to tee ball together. Ben could hardly contain his excitement. He got dressed about three hours before the game. We brought snack for the first game, and he wanted to have Gatorade for the drink. Fun stuff for a first-time tee ball player!

It sounds like the game went very well. The coach for the other team was laid back and happy to do a bit of rule bending to make it more fun for the kids. A lot of the dads on Ben's team were ready and willing to help with coaching and Brad felt like things ran smoothly.

Score isn't kept for tee ball, but according to Brad, if they had been keeping score, our team would have won.

His next game is Saturday at 8:30 in the morning. I'm not a big fan of getting up in the morning, especially at the weekend, but I will be too excited to sleep!

My new Texas 'do

Riding the school bus

Susanna started riding the school bus home on the second day of school. I honestly wasn't thrilled about it, but there are two girls right next door who also take the bus, so I felt better, knowing she had a couple of friends at the start.

(Plus picking her up at school on the first day was a bit of a hassle - waiting in the car line and all.)

So riding the bus home has been going well enough. She isn't quite ready to ride in the morning yet, and I'm not pushing her. We'd have to leave about 20 minutes earlier to get the bus than we do if we drive. 20 minutes is a lot of extra sleep.

I hadn't heard much about what kinds of things happen on the bus until this weekend. Susanna tells me very little. But the neighbor had a story to share.

Apparently some kids were causing trouble. Switching seats, crawling under the seats, things like that. So all the kids on the bus were called to a little meeting with the principal. First they watched a video from the bus, so they could see for themselves how awful their behavior is. Then the principal gave some sort of stern lecture.

I'm sure you're all thinking, it wasn't Susanna causing the trouble. Of course not! But I did get a phone call from her teacher yesterday. She told me about the trouble on the bus, etc., etc., etc., and eventually got around to saying that she did see Susanna on the video, and that Susanna was actually not sitting perfectly still in her seat. Apparently she was leaning the aisle some, talking to other children.

So I was nicely asked to remind her of the rules, sitting on your bottom, hands to yourself, feet to the front...

Now here's the thing. Many years ago, when I rode a bus to elementary school, we had Safety Patrols. I don't remember the bus driver ever making much of an impression, but if a kid got out of line, a power-hungry sixth-grader wearing an orange belt would let them know about it. And let adults at school know about it. And at some point during my bus-riding years (only elementary school), seat belts were introduced on the buses and we had to sit and wear them.

School buses here don't have either of these things - safety patrols or seat belts. You'd think those might be national requirements (especially seat belts), but no. (I wonder if video cameras are thought to be a good substitute?)

So I will continue to encourage my child to behave nicely on the school bus. And hope that she can resist temptation to do naughty things even when others are doing them. But until they get some seat belts and safety patrols on the buses, I certainly won't expect her to be perfect.

Tee Ball

Today we had our first tee ball practice. (I can't decide if I want to call it tee ball or T-ball or what so I apologize if I keep changing it up.) Soccer games were canceled today due to a week of continuous rain, but its actually sunny and hot today so we held tee ball practice.

The kids (one girl and the rest boys) were all enthusiastic and did very well, and so did Coach Brad. Everyone practiced throwing and catching, running bases, and of course, hitting the ball off the tee. I will say that the tee took a bit of abuse, but overall they did well.

I asked one of the other moms if it looked like Brad knew what he was doing, and she said it did. He spent the past week studying the league rules as well as a book we bought about how to coach tee ball. He wrote up a plan for today's practice and it ran very smoothly. A lot of the other dads helped out too, which was great.

Their first game is Thursday and the second is Saturday, so, weather permitting, we will be jumping right into the season.

Go Rangers!

Self portraits

One of Susanna's and Ben's favorite things to do is take pictures of themselves on the computer. I love looking back through them to see the funny faces and poses they do. Here are a few recent takes:

Some Wednesday thoughts

Its Wednesday, and this week is moving right along. There isn't much going on here but I feel like writing anyway.

It is yet another rainy day - its not looking good for sports this weekend. I like rain because its the only thing that saves me from sports!!

I've been enjoying all the tea I brought back with me from England. But I can't ever make a cup for myself without making one for Ben. Its half milk and he drinks it down fast. Maybe next year we'll let him start drinking coffee.

After a year and a half of always making an effort to use "English" words, now I am making a big effort to use "American" words. I keep saying "football" when I really mean "soccer". People might be wondering why my 6-year-old girl plays football.

One of the grocery stores we now frequent has great service. The cashiers pull the items directly from the cart and scan them, then someone else bags. If I try bagging myself I am told not to, because then I would think I'm at just an ordinary grocery store, and not this grocery store. Then the bagger or someone else takes all the groceries to the car and loads them. Whether its a cart full or one little bag. It all seems a bit much but I'm getting used to it...

And I really don't mind that sports is starting to take over my life. Well I don't mind too much. I knew it was coming. And I am excited to see both kids play their first games, hopefully sooner rather than later...

Coach Brad

Because we missed the deadlines to sign up for 4-year-old boys' soccer and football, we signed Ben up for T-ball. Baseball starts a bit later than the other sports and thus had a later deadline.

Ben is quite excited to get started with this. There is only one problem, or at least there was until this morning - no coach!

Because we had finally gotten a schedule of games, but nothing about practices, uniforms, or anything else, Brad contacted someone who appeard to be in charge of baseball and inquired about what was happening.

Brad is now the coach!

The first game is scheduled for this Saturday at 8:30 a.m., but I don't think we'll be playing. Hopefully we can get a practice scheduled for next week, and then have a game on the 26th.

T-ball sounds pretty simple to me* - pick up a bat, hit the ball off the tee, and run! Hopefully the boys will be ready for a game soon!

*I'm sure its really much more complicated, which is why I am NOT signing up to be assistant coach!

Let it rain!

Last Thursday, Susanna's soccer practice was canceled at the last minute because it looked like it was about to pour. And it did. And it has hardly stopped since!

So we missed soccer practice and her first soccer game (just as well considering no practice), and have mostly been playing inside, except for a few short breaks.

When I went to collect Ben from pre-school today I wore my trusty English rain coat. (Honestly it didn't even occur to me to bring an umbrella...) I wasn't outside more than 60 seconds total running between the car and building, and my coat was soaked through. That never happened in England.

According to the forecast, there is a chance of thunderstorms the next two days, and then its supposed to get nice again. Hopefully soccer practice and the game will go on as planned.

Its great! And the best part is, it can pour and pour and pour and I don't have to worry about my basement getting flooded!

Family photos

Before we left England, we had a friend (Ben's "girlfriend's" mummy) come over to take photos of us inside and outside our house. I think she took a few hundred photos, in various combinations of people. I have most of them on disks and I am trying to sort through them still.

Here are a few of the better ones...

Our house.

In the back garden.
They really do love each other!
More love.
This is one of my favorites.

Missing England

When we were getting ready to move to England for two years, one piece of advice that I heard (or read) several times was to start taking advantage of the great location right away, because you never know if you'll get sent back early.

Of course we figured that would never happen to us, that if anything, maybe we'd stay a bit longer. We knew two years would go fast, but it still seemed like plenty of time.

But it did happen to us. Just after we passed the one-year mark and started feeling a bit more settled, this opportunity came up, and we knew it would be foolish not to try. I agreed to it sort of thinking it wouldn't really work out. But it did. And here we are.

Now that the "vacation" is over and we are getting back into "normal" life, we've all been missing England, though perhaps in different ways.

I think Ben is handling things the best. He is quite social and ready to play with anyone who comes his way. When we ask him if he misses anything about England, we get responses like "apples" or "chips". He still talks about his friends there, but he also talks a lot about his new friends here.

Susanna, on the other hand, is visibly sad about the move. She says she likes school and comes home happy, but then ends up having a "moment" later in the afternoon. She wants to move back to England, which only makes sense, since that is where her best friends are. But as hard as it was pulling her away this summer, I know it would have been even harder to pull her away next spring.

Even Brad misses certain aspects of living in England (though he is happy to be working here again.) Apparently London traffic is nothing compared to Dallas traffic. He's driven into Dallas several times now (sometimes he takes the commuter train) and he just can't predict how things will go. This point was made clear the other night when Brad was rear-ended while sitting in traffic on the Expressway. In his brand new car.

And of course I am missing England too. I miss the cozy, small-town feel of the town we lived in. The convenience of having most of what we needed a short drive, if not a short walk, away. The short train ride to London. And of course the feeling of just being settled somewhere, even knowing I'd have to move eventually. I also felt like I had so much more to learn, see, do, and, of course, eat! Even after 16 months, I felt like I was still often learning new things about the culture and language.

It occurred to me the other night that we have lived in five different houses (not including temp places) in the past five years. No wonder I'm having a hard time convincing myself that I am here to stay for a while!

I feel fortunate in that one of my few American friends in England was relocated to the Dallas area a few months before we were, and she lives just a few miles away. So at least I have someone nearby who can relate.

And today we are having some nice England-style weather - rainy and a touch gloomy - I am enjoying that, too!

The weather

Today Susanna brought home a book she made at school. Its called "My Storm Book."

It has six pages, with a picture and a sentence.

The sentences are:

Here comes the clouds.

Here comes the thunder.

Here comes the rain.

Here comes the lightning.

Here comes the hail.

Here comes the sun.

So is this all we have to look forward to here in Texas? Sun, rain, lightning, HAIL, but no snow?

(Yes, I know I live way south now, but I've heard they do sometimes get snow!)

Fort Worth

I live in Texas now, but looking around, I could be anywhere. Its just big neighborhoods, strip malls, office buildings, etc, as far as the eye can see.

So I was a bit anxious to go out and do something touristy.

Yesterday we took a drive over to Fort Worth. Its just under an hour from our house. Fort Worth seems to be the place to go (rather than Dallas) if its Texas culture you seek.

We went to the Stockyards area where they still do cattle drives 362 days a year. There are also lots of shops, restaurants and museums in this area. We watched the cattle drive and then had fun checking out all the cowboy stuff in the shops. Ben was anxious to buy a whole new outfit... maybe next time.

Guilty until proven innocent

But by the time you're proven innocent, you'll probably be dead.

If you have eight legs. And you come to my house.

I have to admit I'm still just a *bit* freaked out by this whole spider thing. This exotic, Southern spider thing.

There have been no additional confirmed black widow sightings in or around my house. That is a good thing. But there are other spiders. Brown ones. They could be the common Southern house spider, or they could be the brown recluse. So I kill the brown ones, too.

I haven't examined any closely enough to identify them as one type of spider or another. (Not sure I'd be able to tell for sure anyway.) But apparently brown recluses are fairly common in homes, and if there is one, there are probably a lot. Supposedly they don't really go after people, but they will bite if, say, you roll on one while you are sleeping, or put on a garment that one is using for its home.

From all my on-line research (all with reliable sources, I'm sure) I've learned that only about 5% of black widow bites result in death, and that there have been no proven deaths from brown recluse bites. And it has occurred to me that if people were regularly dropping dead because of these spiders we'd probably hear lots more about them. But they still scare the crap out of me, whether I actually see any or not.

And so far, the only evidence that the pest control is working is a dozen or so dead crickets on my patio.

Soccer mom

Ever since we met, Brad always had a comment about soccer moms. Driving around in their minivans, etc., etc., etc.

Well now he's married to one, minivan and all.

Susanna has started practicing with her new soccer team. There are nine girls on Team Pinkalicious (love the name!) So far it seems like a great group - both the girls and the parents. The girls come from several different schools, and the variety is nice. The team started with a five-hour "mini-camp" led by a former professional soccer player, and then had one regular practice session. The girls will practice again next Thursday, and have their first game next Saturday.

I don't know much about soccer, but its fun to watch. They just look so cute running around together, and I'm sure the matching pink jerseys will only help!

I pledge allegiance...

to the flag...

of Texas???

A few days into the school year, Susanna said she likes her new school because she gets to start her day with coloring. She said they can't do any work until after they say their "promises" to the flags of both the United States and Texas.

Of course saying any pledge at all is new to her, but saying a pledge to a state flag is new to all of us.

This is the Texas flag pledge:

"Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas,

one state under God, one and indivisible."

Maybe Texas will become it's own country yet...