Everything went so smoothly even though our flight out was delayed about 3 hours. ALL our luggage was accepted plus 5 car seats. The plane ride was great – my seat mates were Faith and Benjamin, the latter of whom deliberately stayed up until the fasten seat belt sign was turned off just so he could get his backpack from the overhead where his goodies for the plane were. He quickly ate up both packets of pop rocks, the m and m’s, and then went to sleep watching one of the Shrek sequels. He slept, the baby slept (mostly on the floor in front of me – she didn’t have a seat), and I did intermittently.
The ride to Oxford was great. EVERYTHING just fit into the minibus (as the man called it) – the ride cost more than $300- outrageous. But it got us here smoothly. The house is amazing. We are so blessed. It is  3- storied, much smaller than American houses, but  very comfortable all the same. We walk to the store and cross small brick bridges over the canal and go along narrow bumpy sidewalks and alongside some parks. The weather is beautiful– kind of like San Diego weather!! It won’t last though ; ) and we are all very grateful and content and enjoying our surroundings. Lots of walking already too. We walked past the children’s school today and we can get to it in maybe 5-7 minutes walking along the towpath by the canal.
There are lots of ducks and a couple of swans on the canal and the kids have found lots of beautiful snails and snail shells, interesting feathers and stones and seed pods, etc.
They don’t like the pasta sauce I bought yesterday. A jar of it cost only 28 pence (about 60 cents) but it was only 48% tomato puree so the rest of it was water sugar starch and flavorings. No wonder. Well, I’m trying to economize since things are pretty expensive here. The landlady even programs the water heater to be on only in the morning and evening, or just once a day. Electricity will be expensive too, but one thing we can save on is long distance calls using the internet – something called scipe or scope… which will be almost free. I’ll have to put our phone number in this email. The landlady is very nice and very helpful and friendly. I’m feeling a little anxious to not stick out like a sore thumb and be labeled the loud and ugly American, but I guess I’m not so loud and ugly ; ).
We’re in the process of unpacking and the kids are divided into the upstairs bedrooms. Ben gets the small single bed room  which looks out onto the back garden, which is kind of Italianate with gravel and lots of big pavers and some exotic plantings. Faith and Lilli share a room, Faith with her pack and play and Lilli in a big luxurious double bed. I ran into her room at about 3 a.m. last night after I put her to bed for the second time (jet lag) (and after having eaten cereal and bread butter and jam at around 1 a.m.) to find her screaming and nowhere to be seen. She was under the down duvet. It was so fluffy I couldn’t tell she was under it. She was howling and frightened because she had gotten lost under it. It was terrifying for her, but funny.