Postcard from the Mother Country

The weather continues to be stunning here--sunny and fairly dry. Yesterday, we took advantage of this and gathered up the young 'uns for a walk into the town. It is definitely a pedestrian area, with the majority of people traveling by foot and bicycle. Lots of fun to see the sights and visit a few shops. Yarn is quite reasonable here, I was excited to discover.

The kids did very well considering the amount of time we spent walking around. Being isolated in their own strollers helped, I'm sure. On the way home, we stopped in at Karena's church for a regularly scheduled children's outing, called "Bounce Around". The chapel was temporarily converted into a large play area with multiple stations for young children. Ethan rushed right into the fray and joined in happily. Anyone can stop in and stay at anytime throughout the day for as long as they want during scheduled events. They have a craft, songs and stories. There are a lot of great things for kids in this area.

The day before, we went to a fun little music time a short walk away, held in the home of one of Karena's friends. Several other mothers and their kids were there and we all enjoyed a time of singing kids songs, playing an assortment of instruments and visiting during tea time afterwards. It is such a friendly community. Every time we are out for a walk, we manage to run into at least one other mother Karena knows and there are frequent events in the area for moms and kids. An alternate reality for me.

Ethan is learning and growing here with the frequent contact with other children. Even though he and Lexie fight a lot, they are learning some important lessons from each other about interacting with others, at least I hope so. It's like Christmas every morning for him when he wakes up and hears Lexie's voice. His face lights up in a huge smile...."I hear Lexie!" Of course, five minutes later they are screaming at each other....

I have lots of pictures to post but I cant post them from this computer since it is a Mac....I'll email them to Keith who will post them for me...so they wont always be up at the same time as the post.