Ex Ex Pat Scheiners

  I do miss my grocery delivery in London, but Kroger has a new thing called Clicklist, where you order online and then you go to the store and they load the groceries into the trunk for you.  It's almost as good as delivery, the only difference is that you have to carry them into the house from your car.  I will definitely be doing it again! Tomorrow is the BIG day....closing on our new house.  And both of the girls start in person school tomorrow.  This week is going to be a complete WHIRLWIND. Monday: Closing, all 3 kids to school and Drew has soccer practice at 6.  Oh, and Brad is doing training in person at Texas Roadhouse. Tuesday: Delivery of air shipment, storage items, mattresses, furniture, installation of wi-fi, entertainment consultation and Alison has her first gymnastics Wednesday: all 3 kids ride the bus for the first time.  Drew's bus arrives at 6:41 and the girls bus at 7:59.  Assigned seats on the bus and masks required. Thurs...

  I have now reached the peak of maturity.  As soon as I deposit Drew at school, I turn on NPR to listen to on the way home from school drop-off.  The interesting bit about listening to NPR recently is that it is my city that is national news, even international news.  The Breonna Taylor verdict was announced on Wednesday, and the city has been on a curfew from 9 PM - 6:30 AM since then; and it has been extended through the weekend.  I am not really sure this image of Louisville is what I would like my friends in London to have of our new city.  There is so much more to Louisville than that, and the people who are setting fire to trashcans and breaking windows on the library and shooting policemen are not a reflection of the city.  In fact, they are just a small minority.  Most of the people who are protesting are doing in peacefully and want to express their disbelief of how we are going backwards in terms of race. In other news, Brad and I had o...

 Wow, it has been a week of purchases to get ready for our house closing next week.  The biggest priorities were beds for the kids, mattresses and a kitchen table.  We made a large purchase from Wayfair because I had been assured that using FedEx Delivery Manager vacation hold.  So we placed the order, even though some of the delivery dates were before our closing.  BUT it was not that simple, in order for the Delivery Manager to be authorised, I had to receive a code at the delivery address.  That doesn't really help, as the address is not mine yet.  I spent over 2 and half hours on the phone to both Wayfair and FedEx trying to sort it out, but I was unsuccessful.  I am a bit perturbed!  Thankfully the current owners are understanding..... We also went over the weekend and purchased 6 new mattresses!  Ouch.  Hopefully we won't need to buy mattresses again for quite some time now.  Every bed in our house will have a new mattres...

Busy and productive weekend: Drew played in his first soccer match (even though I keep calling it football)- The team was not quite up to the same standard as Dundonald, but he had a good time. Brad and I went to test drive the Kia Telluride, but walked away from the dealership after being unable to get a good deal Went for a hike at the Parklands with Mom and Anne & Charlie.  Archie LOVED it! Met up with some old friends in our old neighborhood Did my first big shop at Kroger Bought 6 mattresses (Wow, that's a lot of mattresses) See below for some additional thoughts.... We went over to see our old friends the Duncans for pizza and smores!  It was fab!!!  They have 3 boys who are one year ahead of each of our kids.  Drew and their youngest are new besties now.  They had a great time jumping on the trampoline, then playing Minecraft.  It was so sweet to see them together.  The older kids didn't really talk to each other much, which I would expect f...

Drew went to his first day of in person school today.  He was a bit nervous last night, but in the car on the way he said he was excited.  He decided to wear his Chelsea kit, socks and all!  Since we are staying at my mom's house, which is in a different county than the kids school, I am driving Drew to and from school until we get into our house(which will hopefully be in about 2 weeks!)  It is a great way to get used to driving a lot.  It was nostalgic to drive back into our old neighborhood and the school where Lauren used to attend. But, I can't lie I will be soooooooo happy when he can just get on the bus in our neighborhood.  It's a lot to make 2 trips there everyday. Drew was happy when he came out of school, and he said he met a friend who lives on the same street where our house is, which would be amazing as would have a buddy to ride with on the bus.  He also said they had music, but Kentucky law says they cannot sing because of the risk of s...

 Yesterday some semblance of normal life returned to the Scheiner household.  Drew had his first day of school, which consisted of joining a class meeting on Google classrooms for a few minutes where he was able to see his teacher and some of his classmates, and then she posted a slideshow of independent work to do as they are to do this week, since they start in person school tomorrow!!  His teacher is very organised and very patient and willing to receive phone calls and texts from parents.  I am excited that he gets to go to school in person, although I am not excited to be driving to and from my mom's house twice a day but I suppose it will break me into the American way of driving very quickly.  His day begins at 7:40 AM so that's earlier start for all of us.  We were hoping the girls could start yesterday as well, but they were unable to log onto their chromebooks.  But the IT teacher came through and we were able to logon by late afternoon....

  Wow , the bugs are noisy here at night. Wow , it is HUMID! Wow , it is still dark at 7:30 AM. Wow , it is expensive and overwhelming to buy school supplies for three kids as well as clothes for 2 teenage girls who have worn uniforms the past 6 years.  And finding jeans for a very skinny 11 year old is tough, but we were successful. Wow , I feel like I am on vacation, since I am at my moms house.  But she is not which means I am doing all the cooking and cleaning. Wow , it's weird driving on the rightside of the road. (never thought I would say that!!!) Wow , I wish there was a fence in the backyard so Archie could run around without supervision Wow , it's nice to see family so often Wow , Brad starts a new job today and the kids start school. So many emotions and so much excitement.  Since we touched down in Louisville on Thursday night, we have completed the following very important tasks: made a trip to Target for school supplies made a trip to get new cell phone...

 After a full on five days of saying goodbye, packing, instructing movers of what to pack, disbursing of all electronics that are un-usable in the US, and watching all of our belongings in boxes being loaded onto trucks, we have arrived in the US. Saying goodbye was HARD, so hard.  We had a small (ish) party on Saturday night, which was so much fun.  We had a mixologist who was making drinks with our alcohol that couldn't be transported.  We have made some really great friends in London.  What I love most about all of them is how diverse they are and open-minded and FUN!!!  We couldn't invite everyone we wanted to because of CORONA, but we were able to have other gatherings to ensure we could say a proper farewell. Monday, Lauren had 8 girls over for pizza and a hangout.  We didn't have the capacity to do much else, as half the house had been packed on Monday.  It was so nice to see all of her friends again one last time.  They have all gotte...

 I have a feeling this list is going to get long! The one irreplacable aspect of London that I will miss is all the people we have met.  Such a diverse group of fun, thoughtful, smart friends we have made.  All the amazing people who have made our ex-pat adventure that much more enjoyable! -Running so many different routes -Walking the kids to school -Public transportation -Corner shops -no guns -pubs -lots of green space -the city -theatre -car boot sales - The Sunday Times -proximity to Europe -diversity of culture, religion, skin colour, language -ease of transfer of money (hello bank transfer!) -Ocado -the accents -the independence of the kids being able to get to places on their own -bookshops -the NHS -only have one car that is not used all that often -uniforms for the kids -composting Things I am looking forward to in the US: -seeing my family more often -air conditioning -a bigger backyard -Target -Old Navy -neighborhood pool -space for crafting -the family gettin...