In air Wi-fi!

I'm on the plane!

We are at over 10,000 feet flying from Baltimore to Atlanta and that means that I could activate the free in-air wifi we got with our new mini Chromebook.  We switch at Atlanta for the leg to Orlando.

So here's what we have done over the last few days.

Saturday was a lovely day at a swimming pool overlooking a wooded river-bend in a national park.  Conowingo pool was great, and we all had a lovely time there - except for Carl who went to work.

The children were plastered in Factor 50 but their ginger skin is not designed for this kind of lovely weather and there was after-sun needed that evening.  Lesson learned and swimming tops have been bought for the water parks in Florida.  We also bought some spray-on sun-screen that will mean multiple applications each day will be much more straightforward.  Thank you Wegmans and Wal-Mart!

Sunday started at the Mountain Christian Centre next to the old Jerusalem Mill.  This is a proper 'Mega-Church' with hundreds of attendees across about five services on a Sunday morning.  The people there were really welcoming and friendly.  The boys went out to children's clubs while Nicola and I went into the service where we learned about Love in the Christian life from 1 Corinthians 13 (Brief summary: it is the best way to respond to just about every situation in life!)  The whole set-up is very professional and slick - I particularly liked the table of pastries that was available.

The afternoon was spent with the Woodmans.  Carl was supposed to be at work, but he felt terrible and they sent him home.  Having a weakened heart means that fluid gathers around your body and causes all sorts of horrible side effects.  He obtained a prescription for fluid draining drugs and felt better by the next day.  Other than that we just relaxed and planned for Disney!

Monday was a tidy-up and pack day.  We went to the mall to shop for shoes - boys feet are now much tidier looking and cool.  Nicola found a stationary store and Wal-Mart provided some cooling fans.  i'm not sure they will help hugely with the temperatures in Florida (today it is looking like peaking at 32C / 89F).

You are all just about up to date.  All I have left to say is thanks to Carl and Petra for their hospitality, thanks to Brenna and Willow for playing so nicely with our boys and thanks to Eden and Ian for setting great examples.

Finally - Have a great birthday Michelle!  As I said in the card - we'll be with you one of these years, maybe next year if all the plans come together as they should.

Phone number and photo links

We have a mobile number in America.  If you need to contact us then you can reach us on:

00-1-443-823-7887

International calls may well be costly, but I have no idea how much!

We are all packed and ready to go to our next destination which is Florida!

Next stop Disney....

Photo Links below!

https://picasaweb.google.com/112189469346441256154/ChezWoodman?authkey=Gv1sRgCNab8_Gugd_dWQ

https://picasaweb.google.com/112189469346441256154/Washington25thJuly?authkey=Gv1sRgCM-HqaWY_Zz8cw

Washington DC

Our early start to get a full day in DC was slightly thrown out by an alarm clock failure.  I set it for 7.30.  It went off just as we were sitting down for our evening meal in a DC Burger King.  Oops.

Regardless of this slight hitch, we got away in good time and drove down to our chosen parking spot on Massachusetts Avenue next to the Postal Museum.  Washington is full of building work and driving to this spot took about an hour longer than we expected.  Children began to get testy towards the end of the drive but when we got going the first sight of the monuments took this away.

First monument: The Capitol building.  Even if you have seen this on films, nothing quite prepares you for the sheer size of the structure.  There is a ring of scaffolding around the top at the moment, but the architecture is arresting and the statues impressive.  As we were a little late arriving we headed straight for the Botanic Gardens.  This is a lovely (cool) garden and the children enjoyed looking around the plants.  The pitcher plant was a favourite.  We then ate lunch on the picnic tables outside of the gardens.  It was brilliant.

Then we set off down the mall.  This is a 1.9 mile straight walk, but with wandering around it will be 2 miles easily.  In 78F+ degree temperatures (26C or more) this is a long, hot walk.  Fortunately there are endless distractions on the way.  The buildings are massive and impressive, there are museums along the whole length of the Mall and there are public water fountains all over the place.

We chose to go into the museum of Natural History and saw all manner of creatures in the mammal and ocean sections.  Time was the great enemy and we moved on quickly when we could have spent the whole day in the one place.

Heading to the Washington Monument we had a great view of the White House and Jefferson Memorial.  This set us on the path for the Lincoln memorial which was worth the walk.  The statue of Lincoln is enormous and set well back in a shrine-like building.  It is as close to being a temple to a Nation that I have seen anywhere.  Hugely impressive.

We then set out on the long walk back up the Mall and stopped in at the Air and Space museum on the way.  This has replica and real rockets and aircraft.  I loved it and so did the boys and Nicola  (I think - I was too busy going, "Look at this!  Ooooh.  Have you seen that!" and so on.

From here it was a dash back to the car and then home.  We punctuated this with a visit to Burger King which was by far the boys' favourite thing in the day.

A couple more days of activities

So we have now begun to do more as we feel rested and ready to go.  Wednesday was a quiet morning planning for Disney, then we went to the old Jerusalem village near to Carl and Petra's house.

http://www.jerusalemmill.org

It is in the Gunpowder Falls National Park and there are a few walking trails leading of from here.  We set off down-river and covered about 4 miles there and back. It was wooded and rocky with places to throw rocks and paddle. It was also very warm.

Carrying a pack with water is vital because even on the hottest days in the uk you need a drink, but here we need gallons.

Anyway, we scrambled about in the country a bit, saw a very cool covered bridge and paddled in the river.

http://alltrails.com/trail/us/maryland/gunpowder-falls-state-park-jerusalem-village-trail-with-jericho

The next day we went to Baltimore. I am amazed at how expensive everything is! Parking for the day: $28, water taxi: $48, smoothie $4... And so on. I think we are used to small town (sorry Doncaster) northern England prices and the rest of the world operates on a different financial paradigm. It didn't stop us from doing anything we had planned however, things cost what they cost and you get on with it!

So, arrival and quick scout around the harbour was followed by lunch overlooking the Constellation and other ships. We then boarded the water taxi and headed off to Fort McHenry. This is famous as the place where, after a battle against the British, xx wrote a little song called the star-spangled banner.

http://www.nps.gov/fomc/index.htm

The boys got to practice musket drill, which ended with an ironic bayonet charge against the British. We returned by water taxi. The easiest way to explain this is to look here:

http://www.baltimorewatertaxi.com/

This was pretty much it apart from taking a look at the various ships in the harbour, including a submarine. It was warm and a lovely day.

Tomorrow Washington DC.

Sweet sweet sleep

Today was mostly resting and planning for next week in Florida. It has been great to see how well all of the younger children are getting along and this really does give us parents a rest.

The main activities were a trip to the park and hanging out. I went out with Ian and Carl to Carl's friends in the evening.  About 9pm I could feel the tiredness creep back and get me.  If you are thinking of flying straight to the states and being active then I'm sure it is possible but a couple of days to get back on your feet and in sync with the time difference has been really useful.

Nicola managed to get a tour of the local elementary school which she found to be just like in the films we see of american schools. This is despite it being a relatively small elementary school. It had a full gym with seating.

It is the little differences that catch you unawares; the grass is different here and the bugs are too. Another early night. Tomorrow I think we will go out visiting and then pester Carl at work....

Safe arrival

After an extremely sleep-deprived 24 hours this will be a very short post. 

We slept from 1am till 4.45. This was because of the last minute packing and printing jobs we had overlooked.

The taxi arrived promptly at 5.15 and then we boarded the 5.40 train to Manchester airport. Arrival here at 7.30 then check in at 8.00. 3 hours on the terminal and boarding before we lifted off.

7 hour flight with comfy seats, ample leg room and a good selection of in-flight movies. It went pretty quickly. I think I missed about 30 mins of the second film before I was woken by something.

Arrival was good, but we were pulled over by a sniffer dog who discovered our secret stash of... Two small oranges and a small apple.  Cue longer processing time.

Quick transfer (1 hour) to Baltimore and here we are.

As I keep drifting off while typing, in going to bed. Goodnight.

We have the passports

I think that the heading just about covers it. Four and a half hours of driving to and from Liverpool (which surprised me by being quite an attractive city, I've never been before) and the nice-but-slow people at the passport office handed it over. I had a lovely day out with Andrew as well.

Phew

Visit to Liverpool tomorrow. Passport will be ready to pick up we are assured. Many thanks to the office of Caroline Flint MP for all of their help.

Passport panic

Now we are a little bit worried that Peter still doesn't have a passport. Calls to the passport people have led to decreasing confidence as they have cited 'emails going to the wrong place' and have said that his passport is in the stage before printing on two occasions.

We will call again tomorrow and a trip to Liverpool looks likely. Caroline Flint (our local MP) is also on the case. Keep everything crossed and if you pray, that would be appreciated.

The RV we booked has also fallen through so we are now looking at camping options up and down the Rockies. It actually frees us up quite a lot as we then don't have to go back too Calgary but can take a higher loop to Jasper and Rimbey.  We will travel more quickly as well.  Lesson for the day: every cloud has a silver lining if you look carefully enough. 

Maybe not the passport one though...

Just found out that our first host Carl is in hospital with a dodgy heart.  There are a number of jokes I could roll out here, but the condition is quite serious and it doesn't seem appropriate.

Carl. Get well mate. I've looked forward to this for about 3 years now and it seems like we are coming to see you at exactly the right time to be a support. Besides, you need to show me round your life , not laze around in bed.  All our love being transatlantically projected.  See you Monday.

Hiatus

It seems that blogging about everyday life is less fun than I thought it would be.  Hence the lack of activity.  However, this Summer is different.  We will be away on a fabulous trip to America and Canada and I'm going to write (or have written by children) a summary of the things we do.  I'll not commit to every day - but at least every few days should do it.

Watch the blog to see things appearing...