Does anyone you know keep sheep?

As I was preparing my thoughts earlier today, I realized that I mentioned our upcoming (now past) trip to England in one of my first posts and never followed up on it. I decided to do it in installments, so as to drag the story out in a tantalizing and rather “magazine-serial”-like manner, a la Dickens.

Back to the spinning. I had my last spinning class a week ago on Saturday, and this time, I actually used a spinning wheel, which just firmed up my intention to become a complete addict. After a session on eBay, I realized this could become a fairly expensive hobby, but think of all the possibilities! Spinning my own yarn, dying it with natural dyes, giving it as gifts to knitting friends, knitting and crocheting things myself. The list is endless. But alas, my free time is not, so I must learn to pace myself. I need to spend some time working on my drop spindle, getting the yarn to be consistent and not overspun. I try to do a bit each night after the girls go to bed. But I said that about the knitting project I started in early January. Oh, and if anyone knows someone who raises sheep for meat, and has some extra wool fleeces just lying around, give me a call…

I had an exciting professional moment yesterday. My boss invited me to the annual conference relating to our industry. It was very flattering – I was invited due to my seven years of devoted service. It is in Boston this year, and I will be inviting myself to stay with my brother and his family, so it’s not a bank breaker for the company. But I’ve been turned down for conferences before, so it was nice to have this opportunity. Of course, it would have been better to be invited to go to the international conference in Athens – Greece, not Georgia. But I will take what I can get.

And now for the first installment….

England, Part 1 – Did we overpack?

We left from Boston, a somewhat complicated procedure involving a two-hour drive to my parents’ house, followed by lunch, and another hour in the car to Logan. Once we got there, we found that we really had too much stuff. Not stuff we wouldn’t need, just too much stuff to carry between 2 little kids and 3 grown-ups. Scarves and hats were dangling off the sides of a precariously tall pile of car seats on top of a small umbrella stroller. We probably would have looked more appropriate in an Italian Saints Day Parade in Little Italy. But we made it to the gate after buying (yes, BUYING) a plastic shopping bag to carry all our winter gear. Soon we were on the plane and settled. The girls were excited that each seat had its own tv screen, as was I. Unfortunately, only dear husband and edd’s sound component was working, and ydd’s earbud headphones wouldn’t stay in her teeny tiny ears. But we were on our way.

I have photos of the girls in their car seats on the plane, which show them at their most adorable. The reality wasn’t far off. They are great travelers, something which I hope we can take full advantage of over the next few years. Unfortunately, while dear husband is an excellent traveler, he is not an excellent rider. That is to say, he gets dreadfully motion sick in cars, buses and AIRPLANES. His best defense in these situations, in addition to wearing these really cool acupressure wristbands, is to fall asleep as soon as possible. Edd was incredibly excited about the trip and since she was sitting right next to dear husband, she would constantly interrupt his attempts to fall asleep with a question or comment about the airplane. Finally, dear husband was able to administer a small dose of decongestant, after which she promptly dozed off. Are we proud of this moment? No. Are we glad we did it? Yes. She would have been a basket case the next day, and allowing her to get at least a few hours of decent rest made for a happier trip all around.

We arrived at Heathrow Airport at the ungodly hour of 6am. Since we had so much stuff (car seats, stroller, winter gear, etc.) we took our time getting off the plane, which past experience has taught me makes getting through Customs a real drag. But here’s where traveling with children has one of its many advantages. You get sent to the front of the line!!!! Yes, it’s true! They opened up one of those velvet ropes, and sent us straight to the front. And our charming little girls smiled at the nice woman, and said thank you, and generally proved their worth. I felt a bit guilty, but got over that quickly enough. We went off to get our luggage and to meet the friend of our friend who was traveling with us.