Has it really been a whole week?

I can't believe we haven't written in a week!
I guess we've been busy? Really, kind of settling into real life, I guess.
We finished our 3rd official, and 2nd real week of work. There is sooooo much to learn! Working with families is pretty much similar as what we've done previously, but learning systems and laws and resources is going to take some time.

Thursday was an interesting day. We had to work (of course). But for dinner, we were invited by a colleague from America to have dinner at his home. He invited all of the new Americans for a traditional thanksgiving dinner, complete with American Football. The meal was great, but the real problem is that many of us just arrived, and don't have pots and pans. Since it was pot luck, there were some interesting dishes along with all of the normal ones. And, the bummer: No pumpkin pie. I don't know where to find pumpkin! I'm sure I can get a fresh one somewhere, but I didn't have any way to bake it, or anything in which to make a pie. Apparently, no one else did either... I made yams, and discovered (at 11 pm) that the brown sugar here is different. I think our brown sugar is brown colored white sugar. This brown sugar was "unrefined cane sugar." It had a kind of molasses taste to it. I dumped some regular sugar on top, and they tasted okay, but not normal. The other glitch with the yams: Marshmellows. They aren't readily available. The only ones we found were pink and yellow. So, we had pastel yams. Had no problems with the salad.

The kids and Grandma had an adventure on Wednesday. They decided to go see a movie at the O2. It is only one tube stop from where we are staying, but they decided to save a little money and take the bus. They were directed to the wrong bus, and ended up in the wrong area. They had to take a taxi to get to the movie on time. (So much for saving a couple of quid!) They saw Christmas Carol in 3D.

Friday night, we decided to go to Oxford Street and see the Christmas lights. It's not the Plaza in KC, but it was pretty cool. The biggest thing is that this is the major shopping district, and it was PACKED!

Since we are moving into our permanent home on Saturday, we decided to go shopping for a TV (much cheaper to buy one than ship one.) There was a Krispy Kreme in the tube station next to the electronics store! They were quite proud of their donuts, though. it cost over 5 GBP for 4 donuts! That's about $8! And, they really weren't any different. (I don't particularly care for Krispy Kreme anyway.)

Then, we went back to Oxford Street. It was even MORE PACKED than on Friday night. We really were shuffling along like cattle to the slaughter. We went back so we could go to the HUGE toy store we were told about Friday night. Hamley's. It was started in 1760. They have added a few products since then. It was 7 floors of toys! Zane had to check out the Legos and Bionicles. A pretty large collection, they had. Gray, of course, had to check out cars. A large collection of those, also. We had dinner at a different kind of restaurant. It was a buffet, of sorts, but more health food/organic stuff. You pay according to weight. It was good, but we won't hurry back. The boys didn't find much they liked there. They did like the apple turnovers... Anyway, our travels on Saturday took from about 1 pm to 10 pm! VERY TIRED FEET!!!

Tomorrow, we will go see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Hopefully, it won't rain, and hopefully we will get some photos to share.