Settling in to Oxford

A running all around the park

EC and her ice cream waffle sundae

Beautiful EC

Sneaky A

Handsome A

A and Mommy at University Parks

We have been here long enough that we don't have a huge "to do" list anymore.  So, now we are settling into a normal routine.  Jones starts his program on Thursday.  We will miss having him around all the time.  He's been a stay-at-home-dad since the middle of May.  We've enjoyed the time with him, and we've grown accustomed to seeing him more than at night and on weekends.  I'm sure we will adjust to our new lifestyle after a few days.
There is so much of Oxford we have not explored.  I hear that there are wonderful museums, which I am saving for a cold rainy day.  The Ashmolean is one of the oldest museums in the world.  The Natural History Museum here is supposed to be quite good, with lots of big dinosaur skeletons.  The History of Science Museum will be a fun one for me, since I used to be a Science teacher.  I also would love to see the inside of some of the older colleges, especially Christ Church, where they filmed some of Harry Potter.
We love living on our street and being so close to the hustle and bustle of city center.  We have so many great restaurants nearby.  EC still loves her school.  She did suffer her first injury at school yesterday.  She fell off the play equipment on the playground and has a huge astro-turf burn on her face, above and below her left eye.
The rest of Jones's classmates are filtering in this week, as classes are about to start.  We look forward to meeting all the new people in his class, who are from all over the world.
Last Saturday, we took the soccer ball (we refuse to call it a football) to University Parks to let the kids run around a bit.  It was a nice day.  When the sun was out, you could take off your jacket and be comfortable.  When the sun went behind a cloud, I felt quite chilly.  Afterwards, we treated the kids to a giant ice cream waffle sundae.  EC wasted no time tearing into it, and almost single-handedly ate the whole thing.  She keeps asking when we can go back and get another one.
On Sunday we attended church at St. Andrews again.  It's outside of our comfort zone because it is a contemporary service, complete with powerpoint slides and a praise band.  We are used to a traditional service with hymnals and a choir.  But, EC loves it, and I've met some really nice people there, so we are going to stick with it.
A and I go to Bible Study on Monday mornings.  A gets to play in the creche while I get to enjoy some other mums and get into the Bible.  It's been great!  Yesterday we studied apologetics, which is basically how to answer tough questions about your faith.  It was a good reminder for me, as I haven't really studied apologetics since high school.  I got to spend some good time with my friend Stephanie, whose husband is in Jones's class.  They are Americans with two daughters and will be living on our street as well!