Just how American are we?

At Costco last weekend Jamie and I were pushing a cart with baby clothes, a kid’s picnic table, mangos and pork chops and Jamie turned to me to ask “Do you think we’ll miss this?” Since the language is the same I think we at times underestimate the cultural change we are going to go through moving to the UK. So here are some of the things I’ll miss the most but probably be better off without.

First has to be Costco, I love Costco. Yes it’s huge and always busy but you can’t tell me it’s not convenient to buy toilet paper by the 200 pack. With two growing boys we go through a lot of milk not to mention diapers for the little guy and bulk really does make sense for those things. I will freely admit there are plenty of things that don’t really need to be purchased in bulk beef jerky and mayonnaise being two of them. I’m sure there are big box stores in the UK but from all the pictures of homes I’ve seen it doesn’t look like we would have anywhere to put bulk items.

My second concern is the washer dryer situation. I am just now starting to appreciate how lucky it is to be able to throw all the towels in one load and have them dry within 90 minutes. The luxury of throwing a full load of jeans in is something I know I’ll miss. Not only are the washing machines I’ve seen look tiny they are also in the kitchen. Yes the kitchen. There are also no dryers, we think some of the washers are dual washer and dryer but most houses have clothes lines for drying clothes in the back. Since Reading has the same climate we do here in Seattle I’m not sure how often it stops raining long enough for your clothes to dry. I’m sure this will be one of my key learnings that first month.

My third shamelessly American habit is Starbucks. Not just Starbucks but the drive thru Starbucks. Jamie actually hates this particular habit of mine. I know it would be better if I only drank organically grown, independent coffee from much cooler coffee shops then Starbucks but I don’t. I like knowing I’m going to get the drink I want. They really are everywhere, including on my commute into work, and with the drive thru I can swing in and be on my way within minutes. I know there will be Starbucks were we’re headed but I see two primary reasons I won’t be able to continue my expensive habit. One, gas is so expensive that the idea of driving to get coffee sounds outrageous. Two, on one income the thought of our expendable money going to my coffee habit doesn’t seem like a good idea.

In reality I’m sure it’s the small things we aren’t even aware of that will be the biggest cultural differences. That is the point to experience somewhere different, expose the boys to different ways of doing things and hopefully broadening our own way of thinking. But I’m sure there will be the days when I just wish we could run to Costco buy 4 gallons of milk and pick up a hotdog on the way out.

Out With The Old

With so much of our relocation plans still up in the air the only thing preserving my sanity has been to try and prepare for the move as much as we can in advance. Without knowing our actual move dates yet the biggest area of focus so far has been cleaning out house of everything we don’t need anymore. It is amazing how much stuff you can collect in a short period of time. When we moved into our house 4 years ago it felt huge, after the 1000 sq. ft. condo it we felt like we were living in a mansion. Now just 4 short years later every closet and corner of the garage has been bursting at the seams. I’ve even heard myself saying, “You know one more bedroom sure would be nice…”

So over the last 3 weeks we’ve been moving from room to room cleaning stuff out. I was baffled by how many bath towels we have managed to shove into the linen closet. I now have a new rule, if you buy a new towel you must get rid of an old one. We have more board games than any one family should have and somehow we have about 15 baseballs. We also have some nice things that we have just outgrown. Patrick’s old train table has provided him with years of train and Lego fun. Kellen’s crib bedding is no longer needed now that he is a big boy in a big boy bed. So what to do with all of our random collections? I had my first garage sale on Saturday.

Cliff and Nicki’s neighborhood down in Renton has a yearly neighborhood garage sale and they graciously volunteered to let me use their garage and driveway on Saturday morning. So I was down there by 7:30 with both Patrick and Kellen in tow. Nick helped pull out tables for me and I merchandised our things as much as I could. I did get a few comments on how well organized or sale was; thank you 4 years of retail experience! I was ready for the huge crowds and to rake in the cash. Instead it poured down rain and everyone told me this was less than half of the normal traffic, too bad it rained…  Regardless of the low traffic it was for sure a learning experience. I didn’t think anyone would want the old towels I had collected but those went like crazy while the baseball gloves and skateboard had little to no interest. The cutest customers were the little kids. They were defiantly our target demographic since we seemed to have never gotten rid of any of Patrick’s toys until now.

Of course there was the jerky guy that had to barter every price, his son wanted a keychain I said .50¢ and he had to remind his son that the fun of a garage sale is the negotiation; the son got the keychain for .25¢. I think someone stole a watch from me, I was only going to sell it for $1 but I guess that was too steep. There were also some fun people. A lady expecting a little boy bought the full crib bedding set and was so happy to find it.

In the end I made a whopping $180, not sure it covered the gas to drive to and from Renton but better than going to Costco that morning and spending $180. Because of the low traffic we’ll be doing another one. This time at our house and hopefully in the sun.  I still haven’t gone through our kitchen cupboards so who knows maybe this time I’ll have 20 measuring cups to sell, I’ve been surprised by every other room. I think that after this big adventure my garage sale days may be over.

This weekend was also father’s day so happy Father’s Day to Jamie. He is a great Dad to both of the boys and I’m excited to see him lose all pretense of being a disciplinarian once he meets his baby girl. Also to Grandpa and Papa, just the look on the boy’s faces when we tell them we’ll be seeing you guys makes it clear that you rank much higher than boring old Mom and Dad. It’s for good reason you guys are the best!

Here we go

Our growing family is about to embark on a grand adventure and my hope is this blog will be a good way to keep friends and family updated on first our moving plans and timeline and then our adventures once we are on our way. As long as Jamie and I have been dating (10 years!) we have daydreamed about moving abroad to experience both living in another country as well as to travel as much as possible. As our family has grown, and continues to grow, we still have hoped to get the experience to move abroad. Well finally there is an opportunity that makes sense for us both personally and professionally so we are jumping at the chance to move to the UK.

We will be moving to Reading, Berkshire in England. It’s been described as the tech center of Western Europe and most people have compared it to a larger version of Bellevue. We’ll be a 30 minute train ride outside of London in one direction and 50 minute drive to Stonehenge the other direction. One of the biggest events in Reading each year is the Reading Music Festival each year. We’ve already started to hunt for cheap airfare around Europe and are making our list of cities within short train rides.

In reality we have a lot to do before we can actually move. In the next 4 months we need to rent our house, find a school for Patrick, find a house in Reading, sell our cars, sell anything else we don’t plan on moving, I need to wrap up my job and oh yeah have a baby! Baby girl Bly is scheduled to be born on August 16^th, just 3 days after Kellen turns 2 years old. Luckily for us Papa and Grandma have agreed to have us as extended house guests once the baby arrives. I think Grandma’s timeline and my timeline may be a bit different, I think she suggested we stay for 6 months at one point J.

So as we embark on this new adventure we will be sad to leave such wonderful family and friends behind but hope that you will all come to visit. We’re trying to find a house with an extra bedroom as we fully expect regular house guests.

Check back soon, I’ll do my best to post regular updates as our plans unfold. I’m sure you’ll also see plenty of cute pictures and videos of the kids.

With Love,

Nicole