Jacob and Ashley

We made it here to what Jacob likes to call "the mother land" on Friday and have begun to settle in. Our flights were separate, which meant that I had Avery, along with 3 large pieces of luggage, 3 carry-on's, a stroller and carseat all by myself, which ended up being okay, although Avery only slept about 2 hours of the 7 hour flight.

(our Flat)

Our first day here was spent checking into our flat (apartment), picking up the rental car, going out to eat and learning how incredibly expensive things are, and making a short run to the grocery store (Tesco). After my night on the plane, jetlag would have been no problem, but Avery had other plans and stayed up much of the night. Saturday was spent unpacking and visiting the local natural food store. On Sunday we made it to church (which was our first driving experience by ourselves...previously one of Jake's coworkers had been showing us around) with only one honk and slight detour. Our ward (church congregation) is quite a bit smaller than our ward in Maryland, with only about 80 people in attendance, but everyone was extremely friendly. We took a nice Sunday stroll to the two parks in town, the larger one having a big grassy lawn, a skate park, toddler park, tennis courts and a small pavilion, and the smaller park being a flower garden with paths throughout. Both are only about a 5 minute walk from our flat.

(Cheltenham High Street)

Today, Avery and I ventured out to explore town a little more. I found that there are a ton of neat restaurants, clothing shops (including a gap and many boutique European style shops), a Boots drug store (you can find some Boots products at Target), a kitchen store and a wonderful European linen store (I secretly love fine linens, it reminds me a lot of Holland). Cheltenham is quite a large town but most everything is about a 15 minute walk from us. Along our way we passed by a few street performers, including a man dressed in a kilt, playing the bagpipes.
I'm excited for the adventures we have ahead of us. I need to head out and take pictures soon. I'll also post about our flat in the near future, along with some of my favorite English items that I've rediscovered.