19/5: Rebels and Redcoats at Wimpole hall

We have been in Wimpole hall again, this time for a live acting of Rebels against Redcoats, showing what happened around 1750 (I may be few years off).
Redcoats was the name given to the English King soldiers, and they were wearing red to hide their blood during battles.
Rebels were Scottish allied with Jacobins.
It was very nice. What impressed me most was that the actors were volunteers and they were obviously enjoying themselves very much. They were very kind about giving information to visitors, about the historical context and habits, but they were having fun on the while... one soldier told me: "be careful about your camera if you see a Jacobite... and about your kids and wife too... you know they pretend to be nice...", and it went on again and again.

Then we moved on the Jacobine camp and it was definitely non in order as the soldiers one (the discipline gap was very remarkable). While they were drinking they launched hurras agaisnt the king and so on...
Then the was the battle... it was quite instructive about their military strategies.

We moved then to the farm where the girls loved to watch from close little lambs, pigs and many other animals.

18/5: Rachele is two

Rachele is two years old!
She is... so much different from the sister at first...
She speaks a little, not much, and is quite funny that she always asks for a confirm at the end of her confused sentence, saying "OK?".
She has a quite destructive attitude, especially towards her sister items...
She is also very affectionate and always seeking for hugs.

Two years and... she has been living in three different houses already. I'm quite afraid that one day she will have her revenge on us :-)

15/5: one year @ NemeriX anniversary

We are quite plenty of anniversaries this month:
. 2nd: one year since our first landing into UK (for the house searching)
. 11th: one year since I moved into UK
. 15th: one year since I started in NemeriX
. 26th: one year since the rest of the family moved into UK
And most of all, soon will have Rachele (18th) and Agnese (30th) birthdays as well!

One year at the current work place. I have to say that it went very quickly...
I have been working in two major projects/technologies and just started the third one, plus several minor ones.
I have learned a lot, and it is still on going, which keeps me very motivated.
My colleagues are very nice people and the overall experience has been very positive so far.

The only negative side is that long working time keeps me far from the family... that really annoys me sometime, but it should/could be better soon.

Enjoy the cake!

6,7 / 5: Camping in Southwold

The 6th and 7th of May we had a Camping in Southwold, which was organized by my colleagues.
Actually we were supposed to go there by the 5th, but the night before Rachele didn't feel well enough.
After many days of sun and warm weather, that particular weekend was the unluckiest choice: cold and raining...
However we had fun enough on Sunday, when we had a walk on the village (very nice), a barbecue, and a walk on the beach and the pier.
Than we face the first night in a tent for Agnese and Rachele: both enjoyed the experience.
In the early morning started raining, with a short pause to give us time to warm milk (lucky!) and then it started again and again and never stopped.
We went for a very English breakfast in a close place in the harbor: it was nice and typical "harbor -like"...
Then we bought fresh fish (in a harbor shop) and the girls enjoyed an aquarium.
It was still raining: we dismounted the tent and went home.
The weather had obviously a negative impact on the experience: it is not so nice to camping with small children under the rain, especially if your tent is small and meant just for sleeping (our tent was the smallest of the group, meant for 3).
However, overall it was a nice weekend with friends.
We are thinking to do it again... maybe later in the summer.

9/4: We are moving! (again)

The 9th of April we moved into the new place.
That was almost one year later our last move... and the fourth time in less than 6 years of marriage.

It was tough, but comparing to last time, this moving was a "piece of cake", mainly for two reasons: at first we started to do it little by little and we have essentially no rush to finish in one day; secondly both of my parents came here to help and therefore we had someone to watch after the girls too.
We were excited to the idea of going as quick as possible to the new place and more, we wanted to leave the old tenancy even because it was not "meant" for guests, meaning that we were really tied with my parents along.
So after dinner, we went all there to sleep on Monday the 9th. The four of us slept on the floor, as training for the coming camping (will hopefully happen in May).
Than Tuesday we completed the actual moving (almost completed actually).
During the first days we had time to remind ourself the "pleasure of little things", like:
. appreciate how comfortable is to sleep on the bed;
. appreciate how pleasant it is to go out from the shower knowing exactly where your underpants are located;
. open a kitchen door knowing that there is food inside, rather than having to explore the whole furniture to find something... and so on.
So we are in, still plenty of boxes all around, but definitely enjoying the new sweet-home.