2 2's

The title is not a maths puzzle but highlights the fact that Ellie turned two today which means we now have two two year olds without twins! We got Ellie a large Little Tykes kitchen for her birthday and I spent last night putting it together and trying to get the stickers in the right spot. I now know how I will be spending Christmas eve in the future! Ellie had a big cake and party at school and Alex even got to take a break from his academics to join her party. He had to make up the work he missed colouring and ordering numbers for homework? Ellie has been revelling in being a birthday girl and liked the book she got from school so much she had to bring it to bed with her. She spent the afternoon after our swim polishing off the rest of the birthday cake.


Hurricane season has officially begun and we are all ready with lots of food, water and lights all ready in case we get hit bad. It has started to rain more but it pours for an hour and then clears up. A couple weeks ago the kids had an open house at their school on Saturday. The kids really enjoy large bouncy castles and Ellie gets in there and bounces with the big kids. They were also introduced to sno cones and cotton candy. They loved the sno cones which were refreshing on a very hot day. Even though the cotton candy looked like lots of purple fun neither of them really liked it. This revelation came long after they were covered in it!

The boxes are finally all gone and the pictures up on the wall. The dining room table finally appeared again which means we don't have to always dine at the coffee table. I am finally getting through the major problem which has been power. When we left the States in 2002 we had to get rid of almost all our electrical items since the voltage in the UK is 200 volts. Oman was also 220 volts so we could bring all our stuff with us. We have now moved back to 110 volts (This is a British overseas territory so why don't they stick with the mother country??). This means we had to leave most of our appliances again. Some of the small items are dual voltage so we could bring those and we had a couple items which were not dual voltage but we decided it was worth it to bring them. We now have them going with a voltage converter. Then add to it all the issues of different TV systems and types and regions of DVD's and you have a major international incident trying to get everything working. We have accumulated DVD's from everywhere and I am having some issues. I am slowing getting through them and getting all the required appliances and entertainment up and running. We have also acquired a second car, a 1996 Honda CRV ( the most common type of car on the island ) for Emma to use for her commute to work. The parking lot is so tight at her office she needed something a little smaller. It is a right hand drive from Japan so smaller than the version you would find in the States.

I have been doing a little work getting ready for next school year. I was part of the phone interview for a new maths teacher we need for next year. We found a good candidate who is currently teaching at a British school in Spain whose school is a victim of the European economy and is having to cut back. I have also been working with the head on getting some curriculum changes made and ordering new software we need. It is great that they are letting me be involved before I start.

The last time I went shopping for a bike I was looking for the latest in racing and technology. I have now passed into a new phase in my life. I just purchased a Huffy which has a rack on back, full fenders on both wheels, only 5 speeds and a kick stand! And I spent weeks trying to find just the right bike. Emma can attest to how excited I was with my new bike. This is cruising land, all flat and never far to go so I am already to cruise to town and work. We are looking forward to our 2 2's, but also looking forward to Alex being promoted to 3 next month.