Quick Update~

Hello friends! Quick update. 

We've been running every day and I obviously haven't had much time to post on here. ;-P All my pictures are on dad's laptop, which we don't take with us when we stay away for a couple nights. 

We are now staying in Edinburgh, Scotland -- which is absolutely lovely!!

Bad news is that my camera stopped working on our way up here. I found a local camera shop as soon as we got in and the diagnosis is not good. However, it looks like I'll be able to rent one for tomorrow! Horray! God is good :) It was a nightmare there for a while! =P

Hope everyone is doing well back home!

Cheerio!

~Emily

First Two Days. . .Recap

Alright, time to fill you in :)

I tried to post this two nights in a row, but was having technical difficulties. So when I say "yesterday" I mean three days ago, Wednesday.

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Yesterday was delightful!! We all got some good rest that first night. I was the only one who didn't wake up at 3 and 4 in the morning...I slept through the whole night. YAY.

We spent most of the day in Huntington yesterday. After we got some money exchanged we went to one of my grandparents' favorite little cafes (pronounced "kaf" instead of "kaf-ay", here) for brunch. The restaurant is owned by a Turkish man and his family (they were so happy to see my grandparents again:) and is a very nice, quaint cafe. The British breakfast contains eggs, bacon (which looks like ham), sausage (banger), baked beans, grilled tomatoes and toast. It is very, very good. Oh and chips. Can't forget the chips! There is even a chip restaurant. "Chips" are like American fries, by the way. And American chips are "crisps."


^^^^^ This little downtown area was absolutely fantastic. I could have stayed there all day. The streets were for pedestrians only (except for a few business vehicles) and you just walk to all the little shops everywhere! It was a lot of fun! There was a market area where we got some bananas, grapes, strawberries, blueberries and avocados. There as also a "99p shop" (99 pence/99 cents) right across the street.


We are staying in Great Gidding which is waaaay out in the country. Which is amazing. <3 Makes it feel a lot like home. Except for it being actually in a town though of course. We are in the middle of a village, but to get anywhere else we go through lots of open countryside. A couple people on horses have gone by our house, and even a few big farm tractors (which REALLY made it feel like home.)



Our little home for the next few weeks :)



View from my window:


View of my window: ;)


We've seen lots of hawthorn hedge rows, which I think are brilliant. Why don't we do that in the States? It seems like a much better fencing than typical fencing. I mean...back in WW1 the tanks even had to blow them up to get through.
There also seem to be a lot of sheep out in the fields. The local farms are absolutely gorgeous. We've seen a few cottages with thatched roofs...we heard that a lot of them used to catch on fire from their chimneys. Yikes! =P


First Royal Mail post box sighting..... ;)



Ten pound (£) notes



I think the British money is beautiful! But the exchange rate stinks. x-P My hundred dollars gave me 55 pounds and 55 pence. Guess I'll be looking for cheap souvenirs...



The "pound stores" are much better than our dollar stores!! It's so cool.





Everything is so different. I love it :)




I was so tempted to get this phone case...I mean, what could be better than a British Jack case FROM England? But I'm happy with my "Lifeproof", so I didn't get it.




First Doctor Who-y sighting...dad actually pointed it out to me.
Would have been fun to purchase...but it would be almost 26 US dollars. Sorry, Doctor...couldn't justify it.



Went to a lovely little coffee shop after a while! I had a ginger muffin in honor of Aaron S.
I've never been a huge fan of ginger, but knowing that he liked it so very much I thought I'd give it a go. And I liked it! I think I could get used to the whole ginger thing.



There are charity shops on nearly every street. They are all really great! We have found lots of little things to get :) There is even a charity shop that supports an animal shelter thing! There's one for cancer, lung, heart, etc., etc. Each shop gives their proceeds to whatever charity they are supporting. I like that idea better than consignment shops.



There are spikes and netting everywhere on store signs. Again...why don't we do that more, in the States??? I'm pretty sure it would keep American birds away, too.



Went in a music shop for a little while. I WANT ALL THEIR UKULELES. Except for the pink one...I could do without that one. But the others are so lovely!!



Another Doctor Who-y sighting. Kinda laughed when I saw this.




And here is a photo of your host.
I love being a photographer!!! The opportunity to capture everything is so spectacular.
The very heavy equipment bag is a con, however...


Dad got me these yesterday, he says they are the REAL gummy ("goo-me") bears. :) The kind he grew up on in Germany! I think we've just about eaten them all.



Jammy Dodgers are my new favourite biscuit (cookie) by FAR. :))))))

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Here are a few photos from the plane and our first day here.


My lovely aunt and cousin were able to see us off at the airport :) <3 <3

(L-R: Mum, dad, Katy, Aunt T & me)


This is my "I'M SO EXCITED I'M GOING TO ENGLAND" face, and Katy's "Whyyyyy are you leaving meeeeeee" face. ;D



Small first plane....... ;-P



Oh look! The Doctor is flying! ^_^



Landed in Detroit, MI.



In the Detroit airport there was a reeeeally coooool lighted tunnel thing you walked through from one part of the airport to the other.



MUUUUCH larger second plane! :D They had little tv screen things where you could listen to music, watch movies or play games. I listened to some music for a while then watched "Thor: The Dark World", ate a diner of salad and pasta and then slept. When I woke up I had their breakfast of muffin, banana and orange juice, then watched "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" which is one of my newest favorite films :) :) :)



I'm always jealous of these guys' little mini lightsabers. ;)



Train station! Another first for me!



PIGEON. LOTS OF PIGEON.



We took the train from London to Huntingdon where we picked up a rental car and went on to Great Gidding.




I think everyone has a bicycle. I sure wish I had one to ride around here!

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We ate at an Indian restaurant, which was really, really good.

There will be better photos eventually....these are just what I've taken with my iPhone and put on instagram (follow me: @kyshutterbug!;)

Hope it's not too cold and icy where you all are! We only had a spitting (sprinkling) rain here this evening.

Cheerio!

~Emily

"Don't make promises you can't keep"

"...But those are the best kind."

Well, guess what decided not to work this morning. My alarm clock. And the water heater. So now we are almost an hour behind schedule and I don't have time to finish my blog post. It's a little irritating, but I suppose the Lord wanted me to be dissatisfied so that I would put my trust in Him :) We have such hope in Christ! We don't have to be angry, anxious or upset about things because He is always in control and He loves us. 

......I gotta keep telling myself that sometimes. :)

I do want to post photos, so they will come eventually. But I won't promise. Ha. 

Hope everyone is doing well in the States! Looks like it might rain today, here. I don't mind. :)

~Emily

Another short post....

I promise I will do a REAL post in the morning.

This evening I got to play "travel agent" and worked on booking rooms at B&Bs for our Edinburgh and Bath stays. :D

Then when I got around to blogging, my app is goofing up and my pictures aren't sending fast enough.

And it's almost midnight. So.......I'll catch you up on everything in the morning. Promise. ^_^

~Emily

The Eagle Has Landed

By jove, it's been absolutely brilliant! ^_^

I'll keep this post short and sweet...pics will come later. 

We made it into Heathrow just fine and are finally settled in what will be our home for the next four weeks.

I can't wait till I can go to bed. I accidentally fell asleep on the train. 

IT IS BEAUTIFUL HERE. 

Ready To Fly

I've been here to pick up people, but never to fly!! :-O

This isn't our plane, but it's a plane. Hi, plane. 

So we're here at the airport now, we have about twenty five minutes before take-off. I've never flown in a big plane before...except when I was too little to remember. So this is going to be fun :))))))

Thanks agin for all your prayers. Keep them coming. ;)

~Emily

P.S. This is my first attempt at a mobile post...so we'll see if it works. ;-P

Weather Update~

We are safely at the airport, but I thought I'd go ahead and post a little bit about the weather. 

All this happened over night. 

Thankfully the roads seemed to clear pretty well, after several hours!

Ice puddle. 

Wish I could be playing in the snow!!

These are a couple screenshots from local weather 

Top stories 

There is always beauty among chaos :)

Our dog is even on vacation!! SOOOOO thankful our dear friends were able to take care of our little Chloe. <3

She is obviously enjoying herself :D

Well......it's almost time to board the plane. Time to get out my embroidery, books and etch-a-sketch!

~Emily