Sherlock Holmes Challenge

We got our first real introduction to our new hometown while playing detective.  We spent the day with Sherlock's Secret Challenge.  It's a clue-based walking tour of old town Edinburgh.  It was a true Sherlock Holmes experience that started at the birthplace of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and ended in a graveyard. We solved riddles, deciphered codes, and uncovered mysteries as we walked the cobblestone streets, enjoying all the beautiful sights, and unraveling clues that led us all over Edinburgh!  4 hours, 6 miles, and 1 detour to Five Guys later and we solved the mystery!

A British July 4th Celebration

We got an early start to our Independence Day with an invite from the US Consulate General of Edinburgh to enjoy a 4th of July celebration at The Hub.  The Hub is a beautiful old church built in 1845 and is the accent on the ascension up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle.  It's since been converted to the home of the world famous Edinburgh International Festival and the venue was stunning.  They even flew in a chef from New Orleans to cater and the jumbo was fantastic!  It definitely made for an unforgettable July 4th!

The Pentland Hills

The Pentland Hills is 22,000 acre regional park that is essentially our backyard.  One sunny morning Brenna and I packed up and spent the better part of the day hiking six miles through just a small portion of the park.  The landscape is beautiful and the sheep were happy to oblige a photo.

Malleny Gardens

During our first few weeks here, Brenna and I ventured out to Malleny Gardens which is just a mile from our house.  We didn't know it at the time, but our timing was perfect since everything was in full bloom and we got to see the gardens in it's full majesty.  

Edinburgh Zoo

Our first outing was to the Edinburgh Zoo.  The zoo is built on a hillside, so we wound our way uphill through exhibits until we reach a breathtaking view of the city.  While the zoo itself wasn't comparable to other zoos we've visit, they did have giant pandas, which is our first time to every have the privilege of viewing them.

Home Sweet Home the British Version

After a long and agonizing 6 months, Brenna finished 6th grade and we finally made the final transition of our move to Scotland where we joined Jacob.  Life in Britain is starkly different than the life we knew in Texas.  When we moved to Canada things were different, of course, but it was more of a quirky new way of doing the same old things.  That is not the case here.  Even the simplest of tasks seem to be done in a completely different manner.  Laundry, grocery shopping, and driving (oh my, driving!) have all become much more complicated.  Because my unit is a washer/dryer combo (as in, it washes and drys in the same tub, not separately) it takes on average 6 hours to complete one load of laundry.  I walk a lot or take the bus.  I generally only drive to and from Brenna’s school.  The school is less than five miles from our house, yet it takes me an hour round trip every morning for drop off and usually longer every afternoon for pick-up.   The streets are extremely narrow and there are lots of hills and curves.  Bicycles and bus stops use the same lanes as motor vehicles, and pedestrians seem to be darting across streets everywhere!  Since the average speed is 30 mph it takes forever to go only a short distance and then when you’ve reached your destination, there’s no where to park, because in a old city like Edinburgh space comes at premium and no one is willing to waste it on a parking lot.  Fortunately, there’s a bus stop just a few steps from our house.  Buses are abundant and frequent and change for “bus money” has become a priority.  

Food has been another issue in this relocation.  I certainly can’t complain about the classic British dishes served up here.  The fish and chips are delicious and I’ve even managed to fit some haggis into my culinary adventures, although I could do without baked beans and black pudding on my breakfast plate.  But I miss Chick-fil-A, Popeye’s, and TexMex!  The comfort foods we love are nowhere to be found and neither are the ingredients.  I desperately miss Rotel tomatoes and Colby jack cheese and just this week a store clerk actually laughed at me when I asked him where to find the cornmeal.  What’s Grandmaw’s chicken pie without cornbread!

Communicating has proved challenging at times.  Just for me really, because Jacob and Brenna seem to get along just fine.  I have a much thinker accent than either of them and unfortunately my southern English does not always interpret well here.  Brenna is constantly stepping in for me at checkout stands and restaurants to relay my requests.  On the flip side, the Scottish accents can be very thick and there’s also Gaelic words mixed in.  Couple that with all the British slang phrases that I don’t understand and I frequently find myself wondering if we really are all speaking the same language! 

We live in a village just outside the city center.  We were very fortunate and found a peaceful little place on the Water of Leith (we’d say river) that backs up to the Pentland Hills.  The house is named The Aspect.  It's such a lovely location.  The house is actually below the street, so if you're looking from street level you'll only see a small parking area for our cars.  You take a few steps down to our front door.  Our little hill gives isolation and serenity from the busy street above.  Every morning I wake up to the view of fluffy sheep grazing over rolling hills of green pastures.  Our garden (or backyard, as we would call it) is filled with beautiful blooming flowers and bushes.  Since I don't have a green thumb, I hope they survive our stay here. 

While there's clearly been lots of changes, it's been an amazing experience so far.  Castles are plentiful and the landscape is beautiful.  We've got lots of travel planned and Brenna is excited to start school.

The Run Down - The Last from Houston

Challenge Soccer

By far the majority of our time in Houston was spent on the soccer field.  Within just two weeks of moving into the house we joined Challenge Soccer Club.  Challenge is one of a select few competitive girls soccer clubs in Texas.  The program starts with a youth academy that feeds into league play through U18.  It's a full year club designed to develop girls for college level play.  More than 85% of last years graduating Challenge seniors were recruited for college soccer from 25 different universities.  We weren't going into Challenge with the idea of putting Brenna on a path for professional soccer, but she was set that this was the league she wanted to play for.

Things progressed quickly once we joined.  After playing the 2017 fall season in youth academy, she was bumped up to a U11 league team for the 2018 spring season.  Then in May we took part in annual tryouts and were excited to hear that Brenna was selected to play up on the U13 team (totally skipped U12...)  We had our concerns, as she was only 10 at the time and would be competing against 11-13 year olds.  Also, U13 is the first official year of true FIFA regulation style soccer; meaning size 5 ball, 11v11, and 100x60 yards fields.  For Brenna that meant learning to play a new position (verses previous 9v9 format) and a much larger field requiring more ground to cover.  After talking with her coaches, they assured us that she was ready to compete, so we joined Challenge 06 Red East.

We started with three weeks of 4-day/week preseason training in July, giving up our last few weeks of summer.  Once preseason was complete we practiced three days a week for two hours each session with games on Saturdays and Sundays and tournaments all over southeast Texas.  We played in the pouring rain, the freezing cold, and the scorching heat.  And practice was never cancelled because of rain.  They'd just move it to the parking lot.

All the girls had to complete fitness testing for rankings.  The girls took part in timed agility tests, the 25 yard dash, vertical jump, and the beep test for endurance.  The data was then used to rank the results of the entire club based on age.  We had to complete neurocognitive testing to provide baseline data for concussion management.  As I sat in the hospital waiting for our appointment I wondered how good of a parent I was if I was actively planning for my child to incur a concussion!  The club also provided nutritional seminars on healthy eating for athletes.

The coaches were tough, and not always nice.  During practices, if someone made a mistake the whole team had to stop, drop, and do push-ups.  There was lots of colorful commentary from the coaches on the sidelines during practices and games.  Some of my favorite are:

How many lefts do you have?
Can you see the ball?  Do I need to get you glasses?
I need you to make a decision faster than my grandma!
I'm going to put posters up that say "Have you seen this left foot?" on every tree in the park.
Are you dead?  You're moving like a zombie!  Pick up the pace!
You look like the Grinch that Stole Christmas!  Stop tip-toeing through the ladder!
You have to talk to each other on the field!  I know you can because you sound like a bunch of chickens during practice!

Needless to say, this club is not for the faint of heart.  It was brutal at times, but Brenna never backed down.  There were even moments we threatened to pull her out and she fought back to stay.  The program has taught her about team work and communication and how hard work and dedication pays off in skill and knowledge.  I'm so proud of the effort and determination she's put into this.

As the year progressed, so did their level of play.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a single picture or video throughout the entire year.  The game was so fast that I didn't want to try to keep up with any of it through a lens.  I didn't want to miss a second of playing time.  Thankfully, another mom sacrificed herself for the team and photographed a couple of the games and tournaments.

It was a great year with Challenge Soccer Club and a time that I know Brenna will remember for a lifetime.

6th Grade at West Lake Middle School

Brenna's sixth grade and first year of middle school was a big transition for both Brenna and me.  Brenna was super excited at her first chance to have some control over her class selection and to move throughout the school from class to class without supervision.  It was my first year to step away just a little and give her some independence.  I've always played a very active roll in all of Brenna's classes throughout her primary years.  So much so, that I still remain friends with several of her past teachers.  I was always there for every school activity, field trip, and presentation.  Now seemed like the right time to let her maneuver through this new school and new way of learning on her own.  She met the challenge with enthusiasm!  She joined choir as her fine arts selection and it was the best and funniest choir that she's ever been a part.  Her choir teacher was fantastic.  She also selected Leadership Development, Drama, and Computer Technologies for her other electives.  She also picked up all advance placements classes for her core subjects of Math, Science, English, and World Cultures.  Her after school activities were committed to soccer and choir, but she also decided to join the Library Club and dedicated her early mornings before school started as a library manager.  I was a little concerned that she may be taking on too much for her first year as a middle schooler, but somehow she balanced everything and was going strong.  It helped that she plugged into a really great group of girls that were just as active as she was.  The crew stuck together throughout the school year and made the most out of their opportunities for fun, from volunteering together at the school's Christmas Celebration, to water park choir field trips, and two school dances.

First Day of 6th Grade

Dallas Spring Break

By complete accident we seemed to be on a tour of southeast Texas having visited Houston, Galveston, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi all within a few short months.  We decided to keep the tour going by spending Spring Break in Dallas.  Other than flying through, we've never really spent much time there.  We stayed a few days at the Four Seasons Dallas at Las Colinas.  It was far enough to feel like we were getting away and close enough to make the trip easy and convenient.  The resort grounds were beautiful and it felt like a refuge in the middle of the city.  Things started off well and Brenna was excited when a tray of cookies for her picking emerged from the front desk while we were checking in. We were pleasantly surprised upon arrival to discover that despite the fact that pool was not scheduled to open until April, the hotel chose to open it for the day for their guests to enjoy the unexpected warm weather. So, we ditched our plans for the first evening and spent the afternoon enjoying a swim in the pool and then relaxing in the hot tub.

The housekeeping staff made Brenna feel like a princess. They put her name in stickers across the shower door and gave her a special kit of bubble bath, shampoo, and conditioner. The next day we came back to the room to discover they had made her bed with princess bedding and left her a fun stuffy. 

Brenna and I had a great time completing the resort scavenger hunt. It wasn't as easy as I had expected.  Some hints were tough to decipher, but at every turn we were met with friendly staff faces and knowledgeable advice to help us along the way.  Jacob and Brenna enjoyed the sports club and spent an afternoon playing a few sets at the indoor tennis courts. 

One day we ventured out for some shopping and fun at Grapevine Mills.  We conquered two escape rooms and spent some time in the arcade.  The next day we braved the spring break masses and visited the Dallas World Aquarium and Zoo.

Christmas 2018

As I mentioned on our Thanksgiving post, our time in Texas is coming to close much quicker than we expected.  Thanksgiving and Christmas proved to be challenging as our normal holidays routines competed with other immediate priorities.  We discovered that despite our short time in Texas, we were moving...again.  This is an unplanned change for us.  We had hoped to have a longer stay in Houston (or even just the USA) since it feels like we’ve barely just returned from Canada.  But God had other plans for us.

This time we're preparing for a move to Britain.  Jacob has been transferred to the United Kingdom.  Our new home will be Edinburgh, Scotland.  If fact, Jacob is already there, which is what caused the disruption to my usual holiday routines.  He moved across the pond in early December.  We’ve spent the better part of the holidays managing the mountains of paperwork that goes along with international moves, arranging temporary living for Jacob, applying to British preparatory schools for Brenna, and searching for a new place to call home.

Because of all this, we were just excited to have Jacob back home for Christmas.  We mostly spent our time close to home, enjoying the downtime.  We finished up school with some fun Christmas themed activities and hung out with friends in the neighborhood.  Brenna was excited to be pick for a solo in the schools Christmas Choir Concert and we were also proud to find out that she was selected by the WLMS staff as Student of the Month.

San Antonio Thanksgiving

We decided to take a little trip during our Thanksgiving break.  We knew our time in Texas would be drawing to a close very soon and we hadn't had the opportunity to get over to San Antonio yet.  We visited there when Brenna was just a baby and she doesn't remember it now.  So we packed up and headed to the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort for a few days of taking in the tourist sights.  The resort was all decorated and ready for Christmas.  The front entrance had large ornaments hanging from the pavilion, the lobby was decked with Christmas trees, and the back outdoor patio was covered in the Christmas light displayed called Light Up the Night.

Halloween

We kicked off Halloween on the soccer field with the annual Challenge Spooktacular soccer practice.  Yes, even when we celebrate we still have to work.  The girls wear costumes to practice and play fun 3v3 mini games, play "catch the coach", and raid the coaches candy stash.

Moody Gardens Galveston Day Trip

One pretty clear day in October we headed down to Galveston to spend the day at Moody Gardens.  We got there early and enjoyed a leisurely walk along the patio to take in the views of the bay and the Colonel paddlewheel boat.  We headed to the Rainforest Pyramid first to catch all the animals stirring during the morning hours.  The rainforest was Brenna's favorite because all the animals are out in the open with you.  We had fun with some very friendly ducks and birds that didn't mind if you got close.  Next we headed to the Aquarium Pyramid to watch the penguins and seals and pet the stingrays.  Finally, we quickly walked through the Discovery Pyramid.  Even though the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle exhibit wasn't our favorite, Brenna enjoyed seeing all the different types of real live turtles that were part of it.  We were able to catch the Backyard Wilderness in the 3D IMAX which was interesting and we experienced an earthquake through the 4D FX theater production of San Andreas.  We had a great day!

6th Grade School Pictures