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