17 May 2009

Another Exciting Day

This morning we decided today was the day to venture over to Leeds.  We headed out to the bus stop and waited.  After waiting in the cold for about 10 minutes we came back in our house and did some research online to see when the next bus was coming.  We should have (and will in the future!) done this so we are not waiting long.  We had about 20 minutes until the next bus so we went to visit the chickens and hens.  This was Caroline's request as she loves to look at them and ask me what they are doing.  After we visited the chickens, we went back to the bus stop, as we had about 1o minutes.  I took a few pictures, walked with Caroline for a minute, and then heard the dreaded words: "Mama, I need to go pee pee."  Chad and Caroline ran back to our flat because we only had about 4 minutes.  I think they may have done this in record time!
   
The bus finally came!  We were excited, but Caroline was disappointed because it was not a double decker bus.  She kept telling me that she wanted to go upstairs.  Thankfully the bus had "polky dot" seats so I distracted her by talking about the colors on the seats.  It took over an hour to get to Leeds which was much longer than we expected.  I think people had told us it was about 30 minutes away.  Wrong!  The kids did well on the bus.  Chad and I were the ones getting antsy as we had not had lunch.  I usually give the kids a peanut butter sandwich before we leave so they are not starving in case we get delayed.  Next time Chad and I will have one, too!
   
Leeds is a big city (keep in mind we live in Sewanee)!  First on our agenda was food.  We found a small pub on a side street and decided that was the place!  Tucker was asleep and Caroline acted like she had been to pubs all her life.  She really enjoyed it.  We sat at a small round table and Caroline had her own barstool and thought she was hot stuff drinking my coke and eating her chips and dip.  After a yummy lunch we explored the big city.  Tucker and Chad went into a bookstore and Caroline and I walked around.  Guess what we found...a TK Maxx!  It is just like the American version, TJ Maxx.  Caroline and Tucker got a "football" and Chad and I had fun just being in the store.
  
It was getting late in the afternoon and Caroline was on the verge of a meltdown since she had not napped.  Chad insisted that we hit the Starbucks on our way out of town so he could get some real coffee.  He and Tucker did the Starbucks while Caroline and I helped out the street vendors and bought 2 pashminas.  She also spent some time chasing the pigeons.  It was time to head back to the bus station.  This was about a 15 minute walk in the rain.  We are fitting right in, as the rain doesn't really phase us anymore.  We just know it is going to happen.  Again, our bus was short...no double decker.  About halfway into our ride home Caroline said she need to go potty.  She was out of luck.  Fortunately, she had a "dora" aka pull up on so I knew it was ok if she had an accident.  She kept saying "I need go pee pee" louder and louder followed by cries.  We calmly explained to her than she could go in her dora and she would not get wet.  She then shouted, "I don't want to go pee pee in my pants!"  I really felt bad for her and told her it was ok to go in her dora this time.  This continued for about 20 minutes and then she looked down at her pants and said "Ahhhh...that's better."  I think we all know how this one ended!

***Zoom in on picture #9 where Caroline is chasing the pigeons.  The giraffe in the store window is really cool!  The green patches on it are broken pieces of glass from wine bottles.  You can also see the wine bottles lined up in the window.  They also had an alligator made of all metal recycled pieces, and a cougar made of wood scraps.  Really cool!















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