Life as normal...

back again....I posted a few more pics of our cars. the red van is the brand new van they gave me for work. its a small diesel but still flys when I need it to. the other car is the one we got off ebay before we left. I will have to replace it very soon. even though its a decent car, stace has a hard time since it doesnt have power steering.
The last picture is of our Kingdom Hall. kinda small but the people make you feel very welcome and we like it alot so far. Its very different here in that the clicks that all congregations seem to get, this one seems to only have ones with the over 55 crowd?!?
I started my job last week and after 1 week of working I like it so far. Its really just making sure jobs are done right and making sure people are being safe like wearing hard hats and setting up scaffolding right and also cracking the whip on subcontractors to make sure they show up and get done on time. right now we are on a local job finishing up some houses that are getting re-roofed and general outside repairs. I think in a few months they are putting me on a hospital site. they get all types of work so although I like new types of jobs it would be nice to stay on houses for awhile until I am really used to everything.
We changed our trip to spain until the end of march to kindof make it an anniversary present to ourselves. We may do a couple of weekend trips untill then. Stace really wants to go to Edinburgh Scottland. and I would like to get over to Dublin or Paris. Paris is pretty cheap to go to, you can drive to it by taking the ferry across the channel and get there in about 3-4 hours I think. My parents are going there the beginning of march and we would like to meet them there but its hard to say since its in the middle of the week.
Its nice to get back into a normal life sceduale, but it seems like everyday of every weekend is filled with plans we dont remember making!

yesterday we took the train down to Birmingham to a huge shopping center called the "bull ring". It actually made most of our malls look tiny! what was really nice for a change is it had not just your normal nice name brand stores but the cheap places mixed in so you have everything from gucci and diesel to a tj-max. The boys had fun on the train and we got to meet up with our friends Gaz and Est while we where there.

These other pics are of nearby. The bottom is just some english countryside for you to see but the other two are of the canal nearby. its cool that it still has locks for the boats to get by and change levels on the river.
its very nice to walk along and it makes it much nicer to go to places instead of just walking long the road. Thats what we might do today after the meeting if we dont get dragged out to eat.

Where to next??

This a place we have set up to go called Gran Alacant in Spain. The apartment is owned by stacey's aunt. We found out we could fly there for less than $25 per person round trip so decided to go! it wasnt a hard decision! it looks like a great place! they made a website about the apartment so we got to see pics of the area and the place itself.
I also found out that I start work on Monday! Even though I am just starting as an assistant to get trained in commercial and residential construction site management, I already have 21 days paid vacation!! and I think I get about 8 days off for national holidays that will be paid too! after the normal 90 day starting period the rest of the benefits start like a months worth of sick pay. crazy huh!?!
They are giving me a small company van which is more like a car with no side windows at the back, as soon as I start so I wont have to worry about gas or anything!
I hope I can get used to they different building practices here. Most of the things I have seen I think we stopped building that way in the U.S. in around 1955!!

TubeCodes.com

I thought this was funny. Stace said its very true but then women just dont understand us do they?!

This is the place at the end of the road where we live. its called trentham gardens. they have everything from balloon rides to a huge monkey forest to loads of shops and hiking trails. the ballons open up in march and should make for some funny posts after we go!

Who the heck does this!?!

who in the world puts kings syrup on ice cream?? have i been in a cave?!
they pick on me for liking suger in tea and coffee but do things like this and eat crazy amounts of chocolate and tell me I am strange for liking so much sugar?!?!

Just thought you might like to see where we are living. This is Peter and Marg's house in England. We will be with them for probably a month or two more. It is nice and has a good park just a half block away. Our friends live just past the park on the same development, so we meet them for the kids to play most days. I think we've settled in well and all have gotten over any jet lag we still had. we have been offered a decent 3 bed house nearby by a cousin of Stacey's but I think we may wait until I am working before we move as we would have to buy furniture. I have found some places for rent that are furnished, but we might as well deal with where we are for a bit until we are sure.
I''ll let you know what we end up doing. I plan to take some pictures of the local area and put them up soon so keep checking in.....

This is the dump Stacey's sister decided to have her wedding at. If only it was a little bigger and had maybe more land around it, it would have been nicer!
There are alot of places like this all around England. no wonder they have to build smaller houses....to make room for these places!
Crewe Hall started life as a smaller house in 1615 and even when modified into what it is today, has most of its building from the early and mid victorian era.
It is also a really nice hotel now and has weddings there most of the year.

Lisa's wedding was in a few rooms. mostly in a large dining room called the long room, but also in a the library with bar.

The Kids

Just wanted to put up a couple more of the boys. They are sure going to miss thier friends in Florida.

After the wedding....

Hello again, Stacey's sister Lisa had her wedding yesterday. All went well though it was an extremly long day! The ceremony was at 11 a.m. and the dinner wasnt until 3.
The ceremony was at our Kingdom Hall in Longton, and the reception was at a place called Crewe Hall. It was a Huge old stately home that had been restored and was an awesome place to have a wedding! They had been picked up in a 1936 Rolls-Royce and driven to Crewe Hall. The boys were very good the whole day and night and Devon even sat good for every picture. Mason was hounded to talk and dance with every girl there. The food was good and although there wasnt much dancing I think people had a good time.

Hello all. so we've arrived ok and are settling in well. we had an ok flight. delayed, crowded, bumpy and long but any flight that lands is ok.
We have been to the hall, its a very welcoming and friendly congregation! plenty of people come up to introduce themselves and to say welcome. The first meeting was missing allot of people but still plenty of people commenting and everyone seems to give great comments.
I got to drive our car we had baught on Ebay on friday and have since been all sorts of places in it. It turns out to be in great shape and no-one can believe it was so cheap for how good it looks. It was SO strange driving on the left side of the road again!! its even more strange to have so much car on my left while driving and having my blind spot being on the wrong side again! I had forgotten how fast everyone drives!
The kids are doing ok too. Mason had gotten over any jet-lag right away and Devon is just getting onto a decent slepp scheduale.
I have had a few coversations about work and should be going for interviews this week and next. So Maybe we will be able to stick to our plans of finding a place to rent before 6 months goes by. We've also been invited by our old friends that some of you have met, Gareth and Ester, to go with them to Greece. We may just go somplace cheaper like France, Spain or Belgium, so we can have enough money to come back and visit Florida.
I hope to post pictures soon but the site hasnt been working right. Keep in touch everyone......
Eddie