Wade drove us to the airport in our car so we wouldn't have to worry about airport parking fees for three weeks. You know, every airport has different rules. So when we got to the counter to check our bags and car seats it was a bit of an ordeal. We have never been made to wrap our car seats. We do wrap Millie's because it has an all fabric cover that if it got wet in transit we would have a difficult time getting it dry by the next time it was needed. However, we just fold Jack's seat and have always stuck it on the belt and waved goodbye. Emirate Airlines will not let that be. Stuart had to go all the way back to the entrance of the airport to have the seat wrapped in green plastic, and it cost him 20 dirhams. By the time he returned we only had a little over and hour before they started boarding for our flight.
Because we bank with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi we are allowed to go to the Mubara Lounge in the airport. They have delicious food and drinks....for free! We quickly had a bite to eat and then headed to our gate.
We literally walked down to the gate, checked in with the front desk, went to the waiting area and walked onto the plane. On Emirates they board families first. Again, love this country.
The plane journey was uneventful. As always there was plenty of food, drink, and movies to watch. Millie is not quite old enough to stay tuned to a movie for more than 10 minutes, therefore I didn't really watch any movies either. Neither kids slept until the plane was getting ready to land. Typical. Both dropped off as we were approaching the runway. Stuart and I kept poking and pestering them to keep them awake. When we stepped out of the plane it was chilly. Jack noticed and said, 'Ooo, it's cold. It is very close to Christmas now!' He was so excited. I, too, have difficulty believing it is time for Christmas when it's 90+ degrees outside.
When going through customs there is a line for UK and EU citizens and then there is another line for 'Other' passport holders. Since at least one of us (actually three of us) holds an 'other' passport, we were told to go to that line, which was a lot shorter than the UK/EU line. It pays to marry an American in my opinion.
Got our passports stamped and headed to get our luggage. While Millie sat in her stroller, she dropped off to sleep. We had our bags, got our rental car, and headed south to Hastings. The time difference is 4 hours earlier than in the UAE. Although it was only 7pm, in Al Ain it was 11 pm. The kids slept all the way to Grandma and Grandpa's house and I might have as well. Fortunately Stuart didn't:)
It was a typical night in England; rainy and dreary. Stuart said the driving was exhausting. We arrived at 8:30 pm, flopped Jack on the sofa but Millie was then awake and would have nothing to do with going to bed. After a bit Millie started to explore the place. I put Jack to bed and we had some food. By the time we all hit the hay it was 3:30 am in Al Ain. I didn't anticipate jet lag with that short of time difference but I suppose I was wrong.
Saturday we woke up, way too early, and later in the morning we headed to Granddad and Grandma's house. We had bacon sandwiches and mince pies .......and caramel tarts. Grandma pulled out some tea toys for Millie, which she loved. She has asked Santa for a kitchen for Christmas. She is very into serving people food and tea. Of course Jack loved the tea set as well.
After we ate, Stuart and Granddad took the kids down to the beach and to the park. Granddad and Grandma live on the seafront in Bexhill. The view from their penthouse is amazing. Both kids had a lot of fun running on the beach and collecting treasures. One of the 'treasures' stunk so badly that I am going to have to accidentally break it so we have to throw it away. It was the shell of a crab. Heaven forbid the men in my family discourage the collection of such a thing in the first place.
When the crew returned from the beach we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's. Not surprisingly, both kids feel asleep on the way. We hauled them up to their beds and Stuart and I made our first trip to Sainsburys, the local grocery store. We usually are very keen to buy things at the store that we can't get in Arizona. But now that we live in the UAE there is very little we can't get in Al Ain, excluding some things from the states. So we didn't spend nearly as much money as we normally do. Instead we bought essentials like shampoo, diapers and wipes. After all these years we have finally figured out that instead of wasting space in our luggage we can wait and buy some things when we get to our destination. Duh!
We tried to make sure the kids didn't nap too long because their time clocks were already messed up. When they woke up they ate an early dinner, played with some toys, watched a movie and then headed back to bed at 7:30 pm. They both went to sleep very quickly. Grandma and Grandpa had a holiday dinner with some of Grandma's colleagues from before she retired. So Stuart and I had dinner on our own. By 8:30 pm we had both fallen asleep on the sofa and decided going to bed might be best.
I am sad to report that our early bedtime resulted in Jack being wide awake at 4 am. We convinced him to play his DS for an hour but then downstairs we went. He stated, 'I want to see where Elfis (our elf on the shelf) is.' When he left the room Stuart and I just stared at each other. Operation 'move the elf' went into action. I am not a huge fan of this elf on the shelf thing anymore. I thought Elf on the Shelf was going to be a fun addition to the holidays, but I've come to realize that Elfis may actually ruin the Christmas spirit if his puppet masters (Stuart and myself) can't remember to reposition him each night. Ugh!
After breakfast and getting ready for the day, we packed a picnic lunch and headed to Tenterden to go on the Santa Express. I have never been on the Polar Express in northern Arizona, but I believe it is the same idea. Karen and Barry (aka Grandma an Grandpa) left before we did to pick up Bella and Sophia, our nieces.
We got to the station and went in to enjoy a carousel ride before the rest of our party arrived. This had the be the fastest carousel I have ever seen. Stuart took Jack while Millie and I stood outside of the gate. Millie had actually fallen asleep on the car journey so she would not have gone because of that, but when I saw the speed I was glad she was asleep. While we waited, I got us some chips and hot chocolate.
When Jack and Stuart got off of the carousel it started to rain a bit harder. It had already been drizzling, but it now started to come down with more force. Funny thing is the rain did not stop anyone from coming out. Of course, as I've always said, if the rain were to stop the English from any outdoor activities, they would never come outside. It ALWAYS rains!
Because of the rain, we got on the train as soon as it came into the station. We rode down the tracks and had mince pies, port (kids had juice) and each child got to see Santa and received a present. It was fantastic! There were only 6 children in our car so Santa really spoke with each child. It was so cool. We all had a wonderful time. I left my iPhone on the train beacause I was trying to juggle 3 jackets, 3 scarves, a back pack, 2 presents and a partridge in a pear tree. But someone turned it in and I figured out I had left it before we headed home. So all is back to normal now.
Because it gets dark much earlier here, by the time we got home it was only 4 pm but Jack insisted he take a bath. Both kids had bathed and eaten by 5:40 pm and both Jack and Millie asked if they could go to bed. We stalled them off until 6:30 and then they went to dream land.
Initially we were supposed to go over to see Stuart's granddad's on Monday morning. However it was decided that all of us going might be too much so Stuart and Karen went alone. He has been very ill. It's such a sad time at what is supposed to be such a joyous time. Karen is determined to make everything wonderful for all of us which she always does. I would say of all Christmases Stuart and I have been married, this is by far the most important one for us to be with his family. So I am so glad we are here.
After Stuart and his mum returned we went to pick out the Christmas tree and saw some reindeer at the tree farm. Jack was amazed that Santa would leave his reindeer at someone's farm. We told him that there were reindeer who stayed with other people so they wouldn't distract Santa and the elves as they had to get a lot done before Christmas. It worked.
We put the tree on top of the car. It was a good old fashioned Griswold family Christmas.
As you would guess the tree was too big and it took us a good hour to decide where to put it so that it would be the most out of the way. Hmmm.
While the tree was being wrangled around, Grandma and Jack were making mince pies in the kitchen. Millie tried to help but she was really more in the way than she was any help.
In the end the mince pies turned out perfectly as did the tree.
Tuesday morning we woke up and Santa had left the kids a pair of wellies a piece. Apparently Elfis had told Santa that the weather in England was very wet and muddy. Therefore Santa assumed the kids would need some rain boots. He's clever, that Santa.
We had breakfast at a seaside cafe called the Mermaid. We met up with a couple of friends we used to teach with. After, we walked into town to the local shopping center. Jack got good use of his new wellies, as he stomped in every puddle from the cafe to the shops, causing soaking wet sweat pants and maybe not getting the rusult of a dryer child Santa had hoped for with the gift. We ended up stopping at the Game Center so Jack could waste our money on some games. Millie fell asleep so she didn't cost us a thing.
The afternoon brought playing in the house and relaxing with a cup of tea, my favorite. The kids didn't nap, so bed time was relatively earlier than normal. In fact, at 6:30 Millie fell asleep on Stuart's lap. Both kids slept until around 7 am. I think we have adjusted to the time change. Yahoo!
We headed to Eastbourne on Wednesday morning to see Granddad Tom and Granny. We only stayed for a bit so that we would not overwhelm them. We ended up eating some lunch and shopping around the town center.
Traffic was terrible on the way home. I kept Jack awake but lost Millie to Mr. Sandman about 20 minutes into the hour journey. The plan was to not let the kids nap so they would go to bed relatively easy. Grandma and Grandpa were going to babysit so making it easy on them was our goal.
Wednesday evening we went back to Eastbourne to have dinner and spend time with our friends Nathan and Craig. It turns out that Craig had a prior commitment so we had a cup of tea at their new house then headed to The Belguim Cafe for dinner. When we got there the weather was wicked; rainy and blowing. The waitress, all 18 years of her, inquired, 'Did ya have reservations?' (Ask that previous question in your best English accent). As we all three looked around the incredibly empty restaurant it was all we could do not to laugh in her face. I said, 'No, we don't have reservations', to which she responded,'Ok, just have a seat anywhere'. I felt like I must be on candid camera! Really?
At any rate we had a lovely dinner and headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a good night's sleep.
Thursday morning we got up and kind of lazed around. We watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs for the 7th time, and vowed that we were putting it away and starting with another movie that afternoon. Jack, Stuart and Grandpa went for a walk in the woods behind Grandma and Grandpa's house. They were gone for a while and when they came back they were filthy muddy and needed some major cleaning up. Jack had a great time and told of stories of seeing owls and foxes, none of which were true. He has a vivid imagination (he's a big fat liar).
The kids took a bath, ate dinner, and headed to bed. The days are going way too fast for us.
Friday we headed out around 9:30 am to go shopping and eat lunch on the Bexhill seafront. After lunch we went to Granddad and Grandma's (aka Andrew and Lyn). We had a cup of tea and visited with them for a bit before they had to head out for their holiday to New York. They are meeting up with James- Stuart's brother, Louise-his wife, and Billy-their little boy. They are all spending Christmas in New York City. They will be coming back to the UK (all of them) for New Year's. Jack can't wait to see Billy. We spent last Christmas with them and had a wonderful time.
Friday evening was back to Grandma and Grandpa's for a quiet night. Jack'a new movie? Elf! During dinner on Friday he said, 'I think I'll eat in my room'. If you've seen the movie the part he was quoting was when Buddy's dad (the workaholic) came home for dinner and immediately took his dinner and said he was going to his room to eat. Jack loves quoting movies, but not the best for us when it is inappropriate. Quality parenting, I always say.
Saturday we went to Dover to deliver some Christmas presents to Stuart's great aunt. Since Stuart's grandfather is ill it is not possible for them to get down to see the relatives in Dover so we became Santa. We had a nice visit and then we went for lunch at a pub by the seafront. The waves were spraying up on the walls of Dover Harbour. Our original plan was to go to Dover Castle but it was raining cats and dogs so the castle was out.
Two more weeks of our vacation left and the kids, especially Jack, are getting anxious for Santa to come. Have a wonderful Christmas and we will be in touch in a week.
Merry Christmas!
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