we're here!

so we arrive mid afternoon & it's been raining steadily since we loaded into the van for the ride from heathrow to bristol.

we are temporarily being housed in a condo in the harbourside area of bristol. there are complexes popping up left & right as apparently this is "the" spot to buy up rightthisseccond. we are probably 500ft from the river.

we arrive at our temporary apartment with all 8 bags, 2 kids, 2 carseats, & 2 kinda worn out adults. we are met by pete, who shows us the particulars of our temporary digs. we decide who is going to be where & move the appropriate luggage around. it is late afternoon by the time we are sufficiently settled in, 3:45pm-ish & now famished.

luckily for us weary travelers, there is a pizza express just around the corner (literally, we can see it from our balcony) from our flat. yes, let the britishisms fly - i am constantly being corrected by brits & non-brits for my non-use of the proper words for things.

thinking that something recognizable would be good dinner fare for my children, we head over to pizza express, which we have discovered is a little italian chain over here. and they have kids meals & activity coloring books for the kids. we are in.

sadly, my children are not.

despite so called "advice" from other parents traveling with wee ones, keeping them up until bedtime (in this case since they can't tell time, thank gawd, is anytime it's dark out) is a complete diasaster. we order & dignan just starts to lose it. he wants to hit/kick/throw/topple everything in sight. knowing he is probably just really really stressed from the last week of packing & prep for this big trip over the pond, i scoop him up & take him outside & thankfully, the rain has stopped.

he promptly tells me he wants to go home. and not to our new flat. he means casa de strasser. in west los angeles. CALIFORNIA, some gillion miles away at this point. i get him calmed down down to re-enter the restaurant & the food comes but the kids just pick while joe & i devour.

lesson learned: comfort food did not really go over well with over tired children.

in light of our restaurant experience, we think it's best to head home & perhaps get an early start on getting these people into bed.

so first impressions:
condo rocks - small but convenient.
condo close to explore@bristol (kids exploratorium)
condo close to restaurants
condo close to the ferry that joe will take tomorrow for the ride across the river to aardman
rainy weather not so bad. yet.

more later peeps!