Cheers from across the pond

Dear Family & Friends,
We previously had sent out an email describing some of our initial experiences, etc of our trip over the pond and our accomodations, car, etc here in sunny Swindon (no really...it has been sunny almost the entire week we've been here)...its been fantastic.. So for the sake of making this blog a diary, I am posting the content of my email from a week ago and adding some photos to go along with it...
Our goal is to make another post on Tues-Wed of next so we can update you all on the results of our adventure this weekend...tomorrow morning we are catching a train into London, spending the day 'touring' using the hop-on/hop-off buses and boats, spending the night near hyde park at the hilton, doing more touring on Sunday and coming home on the train 8pm Sunday night...so hopefully we'll have lots of good updates... Until then here are some updated pictures to go along with our previous email... Cheers!
Love, Garrett, Mindy & GIRLS X4

Hello everyone & Cheerio!
Well, as you might have guessed...we made it to England...it was rather uneventful (if you can every say that about our family), which was a relief. Our limo (White super stretch ford Expedition) picked us up and our 18bags...(11 checked bags + 6 backpacks + 2 strollers) at 10:30.. The girls pretended like they were Hannah Montana for an hour while we drove to the airport (soundtrack & strobe lights included of course)

Hannah Montana and her Entourage...

Upon arrival at the airport we discovered we were supposed to have purchased a ticket for Bella (infants in laps for international flights are required to pay taxes)...so I was envisioning a $2,000 plane ticket, but it turned out it was only some taxes...turned out to be $150 round trip...she didn't get an assigned seat of course, but still...quite a relief that it worked out as well as it did. Our flight was slightly delayed, so we left at 2:45 vs 1:50...so we were plenty early...after 3 hours of strawberry shortcake movies we landed in Chicago...arrived at our connecting gate just as they were boarding...I talked to the gate agent and we got an entire row of seats to ourselves in Economy Plus (5" of extra legroom...a must have)...Paige fell asleep almost immediately and everyone else was in & out for the next 7hrs...
We arrived at 11am local time at London Heathrow (3am pst)..Our driver was waiting for us...so after getting some cash we drove for 90min to our "lodge"...since dubbed "Castella de McKibben"...it is actually a fantastic 3 story detached lake front resort home...in a vacation area, outside of Swindon in a place called Cotswold...but as I learned from the customs agent, when I put Cotswold as my address on my landing card..that isn't specific enough..so more specifically we are in South Cerney in Gloucester...right off the 419, which links to the M4, which is the expressway to London...in case you want to come and visit...as for the house...(pictures to follow)... Like I said....it is probably 1600 sq ft, which for over here is a Castella...3 bedrooms... On the main floor is a nice dining/living area with 3 leather sofas and a 40in plasma/surround sound, kitchen with granite countertops, bathroom, etc. Outside on the deck is a patio table, chairs, porch swing, HOT TUB and lots of plants and a white picket fence with Grass & rabbits for the girls to chase. 2 floor is 2 bedrooms...2 twin beds in each with a full bathroom off one of them. 3rd floor is a1 bedroom with full bed & full bath...or as we like to call it, Maggie's Suite...so needless to say, we are very pleased with accommodations.

The rental car is another story altogether...they gave us a FORD FOCUS...yes that's right...a family of 6 in a ford focus....and it is defective...the steering wheel is on the wrong side!!!! So after getting settled last night we did drive around a bit...all 4 girls in the backseat...(Maggie & Paige sharing a seatbelt)...we managed to navigate the left side of the road and 5-6 roundabouts to find a McDonalds and a grocery store (Tesco)...and more importantly we managed to find our way back home...HURRAY....
Anyways...we got home, got the girls in settled in bed, fell asleep ourselves and at 10am this morning I was awoken by the knocks on my front door...which was the guy from work coming to pick me up...so here I am now at the European HQ office in Swindon, typing this email... More details including photos to come...need to determine if we have internet access at the house....for Mindy's sake I hope so...plan for this weekend is to get out and see Bath and or Oxford and Stonehenge... We love you all...we are having a great time so far...and will keep you all up to date as we get a little more settled and continue on our adventure...
So far...culture shock #1...no Ranch dressing for Maggie's Chicken Nuggets at McDonalds...after a very polite, PARDON...the girl did offer a nice Curry sauce...but Maggie declined... Cheerio!
Also a quick update from last weekend...we got out to Oxford on Saturday...it was really nice...very busy but nice....some pictures below of Christ's Church... the picture of Mindy at the top of the stairs is the staircase they used to shoot some scenes in the first Harry Potter movie and the dining Hall here was either in the movie or was used as a model for the Dining hall in the movie too...

Another little fun fact...most cars over here don't have spare tires...something we learned last Saturday evening on our way home from Oxford when we got a flat...I pulled over and jumped out ready to change the tire and guess what...no spare..so we called for help and almost 4 hours later a flatbed recover truck came and got us and took us & the car home. Sunday morning I waited almost 5 hours for another truck to pick me and the car up and take us to the Hertz at the Bristol Airport...so almost 24 hours later we again had a functioning vehicle...all because of a simple thing like a flat tire...we weren't too happy to have missed a day of exploring, but we will just roll with it and be thankful we are all safe and healthy...
until later,
Love, The McKibbens

4th of July and CAT Walk

So this is our second year in walking the CAT Walk. (Cancer Awareness & Treatment) We'd like to have it be an annual tradition. It's a 5K (3 mile) walk--some people run it, like my two friends Julie and Gabe who are exercise nuts. Since our whole family is pretty out of shape we just like to walk it. Our goal was to walk it in under an hour and we beat that goal by two minutes--so we were pretty proud of ourselves. Garrett thinks that next year our goal should be to run it part of the way. We'll see how that goes. :)

The weather was awesome--cool and cloudy--perfect when you're exercising. Even with the nice weather we worked up a sweat and a pretty red face (mine). Maggie's friend Jessie walked it with us and they both walked the whole way without a single complaint. Lydia walked part of the way, but then rode in the wagon with Paige, and Bella slept the whole time in the stroller.

Last year was ridiciulously hot and Garrett ended up carrying Maggie on his back part of the way. So this year was actually quite nice. I walked in honor of my mom who has beaten breast cancer and Lydia walked in honor of great grandma Laura Mae who we think has lung cancer.

Right after the CAT Walk the Hillsboro 4th of July Parade begins. We had our friends save us some seats while we walked. So we were all able to sit together and watch the parade. Notice my red face! The girl next to me is my friend Julie. (She didn't run this year because she hurt her knee.)

The whole gang.

The kids getting ready to fight for the candy. Well the other kids fought for it. Lydia was always too slow going for the candy. She'd try to get it, but the other kids were more aggressive. She's too sweet. (Out in public anyways :) Just kidding.)

Paigie-girl

FIREWORKS!!!

We let off some of our own fireworks before heading out to Banks to see their show. Paige and Bella fell asleep in the car (they don't start the fireworks until 10 pm) so I stayed in there with them. Since the big fireworks are illegal in OR, people go up to Washington to buy them and bring them back. This neighborhood in Banks where we went had no shortage of the big ones. They were setting them off right by where our car was parked and they were loud!! It's a miracle that Paige and Bella slept through them. These pictures are of the ones that Garrett set off in our front yard.

Bella being patriotic!

This is a video of the girls watching our fireworks. Pretty cute. Sorry about the loud firecracker at the end. It gets pretty annoying.

Garrett Repelling

The young men and young women in our ward went repelling for their activity last week. There's a couple in our ward who are outdoor enthusiasts and have done everything "sporty" under the sun, so they offered to take the youth repelling. This was Garrett's first time going. He said it was pretty freaky taking that first step off of the cliff. I should have Garrett writing this blog since he's the one that experienced it; but I guess he can add to it later. He took along our camera to take pictures of all the youth, but when it was his turn someone got a hold of it and took some pictures of him. The first time he tried I guess he didn't get his feet out quick enough and so he started falling backwards to the point that his head and upper body were lower than his feet. But, of course he corrected himself and was able to get down safely. He even went a second time and did it like a pro, so maybe it wasn't so bad! :) Ya, right. I don't think you'll ever see me taking a step backwards off of a cliff. He certainly is much braver and more adventurous than I am. Here are some pictures of his adventure:

This is his first time. Getting instructions from Dave.

Pretty scary....

Down safely...

Second time

Cannon Beach

Two weekends ago it was supposed to be 97 degrees in Cornelius. So we decided to head for the beach to "beat the heat." It was supposed to be around 80 on the coast so we figured that would be a little nicer. When we got there the temperature was only 65--a little chilly since we were all dressed for hotter weather. I think by the late afternoon it had warmed up to about 70 degrees. It was a perfect day at the beach--we had a little picnic lunch, played in the icy water and buried each other in the sand. It was a nice little getaway. The water was seriously so cold that your feet ached when you were in it. Needless to say that our feet were the only body parts to be in the water. Maggie and Lydia were in the water the longest--Maggie swears it wasn't cold at all. We just love going to the beach. That big rock in the background is so cool to look at. It's called Haystack Rock. The Oregon Coast is really beautiful!