{"id":61,"date":"2012-03-12T20:01:00","date_gmt":"2012-03-12T20:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/12\/waiting-waiting-thinking\/"},"modified":"2017-03-16T09:06:42","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T09:06:42","slug":"waiting-waiting-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/12\/waiting-waiting-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Waiting, waiting, thinking…"},"content":{"rendered":"

So we are 10 days into Scott being gone. So far, so good. The kids and I had a great Sunday after a not great Saturday. Sunday included beautiful weather, a scooter trip into Kew, a trip to the bookstore for gifts for their friends, and cooking. The most fun part of the day though without question was Extreme Uno. It is by far the most fun kids’ game I have ever played. I was literally begging the kids to play again and again. Uno has long been there favorite card game (insert **snoooooooze** here). But Extreme Uno has only one descriptor: FUN.<\/p>\n

The last 10 days or so have included less work for me (back to a pseudo-normal 40-50 hour work week), more time with the kids, and lots of sleep.<\/p>\n

The extra sleep has given me time for musings…<\/p>\n

I’ve been so proud of the little kids recently. Caden is now reading like a champ, and while he hates doing homework, his levels have so drastically improved that it is amazing. His report card included phrases like “quite a character”, “very talkative”, “always contributing”, and the all-telling “filled with mischievousness”. They have him pegged. No lack of confidence with Caden. We don’t have the normal conversation at home about not talking to strangers. With Caden, we have the conversation about which strangers are safer than others and what to watch out for. No sense in trying to change this leopard’s spots.<\/p>\n

Keali is also doing very well. She is in the equivalent of PK4 here and can already read. She’s doing math and loves going to school where she is learning ballet. She is now in swimming class at school as well which serves as a close second for favorites, next only to ballet. For Easter break, the kids are out for 3.5 weeks. Caden’s all boy school has a camp for four days of the break where they take the boys to “boy activities”. Keali went to the camp over Christmas, and (after crying the first day at drop off since she was the only girl) she absolutely loved it. They are both excited about Easter camp week. We absolutely love the schools the kids are in. Regis School in Houston is the only other place we have seen that is as great as their current schools.<\/p>\n

I also realized that I have been underestimating my recent adventures. The UK is a beautiful country. It has some fun (and somewhat odd) corners to it. Last week I was in Wales. All the public signs, road signs, parking, etc are written in English as well as in Welsh. It was like being back in Holland with the multiple consonants and too few vowels. The pronunciation is just as difficult too. The country is beautiful, even if the language is impossible. Thankfully, English is widely accepted and all Welsh speak English. Whew.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The kids and I may venture out into England and away from London next weekend to explore. We’ll see what the need is for a pajama day by time Saturday rolls around! In the mean time, we’ll be counting the days for trial in the US to be over. Opening statements are tomorrow, so we’re on the downhill slide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So we are 10 days into Scott being gone. So far, so good. The kids and I had a great Sunday after a not great Saturday. Sunday included beautiful weather, a scooter trip into Kew, a trip to the bookstore for gifts for their friends, and cooking. The most fun part of the day though…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-61","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-london","7":"category-micha","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8k10v-Z","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55,"url":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/13\/let-the-good-times-roll\/","url_meta":{"origin":61,"position":0},"title":"Let the good times roll…","author":"Micha Lunt Hooper","date":"April 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Scott made it back to London after four solid weeks of being in Philly in trial. 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The kids enjoyed the footpath through the woods to get up the the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "London"","block_context":{"text":"London","link":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/category\/europe\/united-kingdom\/london\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15,"url":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/14\/a-little-get-away\/","url_meta":{"origin":61,"position":3},"title":"A little get away","author":"Micha Lunt Hooper","date":"October 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Since we opted to not travel for a chunk of summer and recognized that we wouldn't be able to last until our trip in May, we decided to do a cruise with the kids as a stop gap. \u00a0Scott and I had gone on a cruise once before that I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mexico and Central America"","block_context":{"text":"Mexico and Central America","link":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/category\/mexico-and-central-america\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/IMG_0145.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/IMG_0145.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/IMG_0145.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/IMG_0145.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/IMG_0145.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/IMG_0145.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":657,"url":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/25\/tuk-tuks-temples-and-thai-food\/","url_meta":{"origin":61,"position":4},"title":"Tuk Tuks, Temples, and Thai food","author":"Micha Hooper","date":"March 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Bangkok was a great time. We arrived after being in Halong Bay and checked into our AirBnB. The apartment itself was pretty okay, but the location and the swimming pool at the hotel were unbeatable. (We were staying in a private residence inside the Ascott Hotel.). 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