October has come and gone and just thought I'd add a quick post to remember our goings-on this autumn. We attended the Halloween Party I helped out with at a local farm that had traditional farm animals, and tons of playground equipment for the kids to play on. A couple of pictures are attached from the party where Caroline wrapped her "mummy" and Sadie won the costume contest for "most original" costume! She was a pumpkin. Sound original to you?!? Yeah, me either...but the judges were british, and as I've learned throughout the month, Halloween in the UK translates to scary wherewolves, witches and skeletons. Not cute little pumpkins or little girls in "fancy dress!" Nonetheless, we are very proud of Sadie for being such a cute little pumpkin!
On Halloween night, Chris stayed home with Sadie to pass out candy and I took Caroline around to a few houses. Again, all the other trick-or-treaters were dressed in dark, scary garb, so Caroline in her 50's poodle skirt really stood out! And, most recently Caroline's school held a "Spooky Disco." Think back to your first school dance. Mine was in 7th grade. Well, honestly these 4-7 year olds probably had more fun, and did more dancing than I at my first dance! They were all dressed in, you guessed it, "spooky" garb (we invested in a pirate costume for Caroline), there was a booming sound system complete with DJ, disco lights, etc! I think Caroline was a little overwhelmed at first with the loud music and low lighting, but once she caught up with some of her friends, she seemed to have a great time.
We haven't done much traveling this month, instead we have spent most of our weekends watching College football. We are fortunate to have become fast friends with another American couple from Tennessee, and Danny, like Chris is football obsessed. So, between our slingbox and their NASN subscription, we've been able to watch the Illini and Alabama's Crimson Tide....who are conincidentally ranked #1 right now! Roll Tide.
It was a little disappointing to be overseas during arguably the most historic presidential election...ever. We are able to get one American news channel "real time" so we didn't feel completely out of the loop, and were kept informed by Republican and Democrat friends/family at home! We did our part and mailed our absentee ballots, although I doubt they'll even be counted. All of the English mum's at Caroline's school, and Chris's co-workers are very interested on our opinion of the results. In a word, we are "pumped!" I do not fancy myself a Democrat, but with the state of the world and the economy, I completely bought into Obama's "change" message. Plus, living in the UK has changed my views on some things, and ultimately I think Obama will provide the leadership the U.S. needs right now.
My honorary shout-out for correctly identifying my literary reference in my last post goes to my pal in the 'burbs of Cincinnati, Sara Potter! Thanks Sara for reading...I love keeping in touch with you on FB, and look forward to re-connecting upon our return to Ohio. Hugs to Olivia and Jack! ;) Oh - and Sara correctly identified George Orwell as the author of "Down and Out in Paris and London." Not my favorite of his books, but he nonetheless is one of my fave authors...
We have some visitors arriving in two weeks and are heading to Ireland for a long weekend. I cannot wait!
