Erieversible

One of the major ‘nags’ of the summer was finally laid to rest today as we took the kids to Waterworld at Waldameer.  The weather was cooler today, which was ideal, though I don’t think either kid would have noticed if it was raining!

Waterworld is smaller than I had been led to expect.  Or, more fairly, than I had led myself to believe.  For some reason I had equated it to the water arena at a Center Parcs site (which we used to visit every now and then).  However, it swallowed up large crowds and in the areas where a 5-year old was happy to hang out there were no queues.  The exception was the ‘Relaxation Pool’ but the queue for that was never too long.

On the downside the ‘Tad Pool’ area was a little lacking in features for the young’uns and the depth of water was somewhat shallow.  There really is a bit of a gap in features for kids in the 4-6 age group.  However, both kids really enjoyed it, and that is what the day was all about, so it will easily go onto the ‘must go again’ list, though whether we get back this summer is doubtful.

Well, for the kids the fun continued with a visit to Grannie’s house while we adults went clothes shopping at the mall.  When we used to visit Erie on holiday/vacation we would bring empty suitcases, buy lots of clothes and take them back to the Isle of Man.  Erie offered more choice and cheaper clothes.  Today I bought a couple of pairs of shorts, the first clothes bought in over 2 weeks of Erie life.

The newspapers are full of discount coupons for the stores, but I’ve discovered the small print (which is plentiful) is the interesting stuff, allowing for most of the items in the store to be excluded from the discount offer.  Names I’ve never heard of before suddenly become “designer” brands.  Yeah?  Those who know me would never label me as a designer clothes horse - and my choices today were hardly what you would call fashionable.  But they were good quality and inexpensive, so who cares?

We took the kids to the Tom Ridge Environmental Center at Presque Isle today.  We had visited last summer and the kids enjoyed it just as much on the repeat visit.  The big difference is that now the Ravine Flyer II comes right at you when you look out of the windows facing Waldameer, or are up on the tower.  Our 5 year old is very nature-conscious and really loved the exhibits.  They are very well designed to keep the interest of youngsters while delivering their message.

I’m trying to map out a set of additional pages covering major areas of differences in living in the UK to living in the US.  If anyone is actually reading this stuff, let me have your ideas for subject areas you’d like to see in those pages.  Cars?  Motoring?  TV?  Schools?  Weather?  Taxes?  Let me know.  As time goes on and we go through various integration processes, I’m sure there will be plenty of topics to include but I’d like to make sure it is what anyone reading this is interested in.

This morning we looked at another school.  The choice is not an obvious one as each of the schools we have looked at has strengths and weaknesses.  The biggest single issue is with the 5 year old as in the UK the education systems starts a year earlier than here, so strictly speaking she should repeat the year of Kindergarden that she has just finished.  I don’t think that would be good for her.  Some of the schools we have visited do not seem to see it as a problem, which is worrying.  Anyway, we have some other options to explore before worrying too much on the choice of school.

We collected my car this morning too.  So far, so good.  We picked up car seats for the kids on our travels today, and I have a good map in the car, so we may have a family trip tomorrow.  If a foreigner stops and asks you for directions tomorrow, have patience please…

After that….well, things have been hectic for the last few weeks and that level of activity has been taking its toll, so we forgot about all the lists we have to work through and headed for Waldameer.  Now, I’m not a great fan of heights or roller-coasters but the kids love it and it did everyone good not to be thinking about all the stuff still to be done.  I think we need to repeat the relaxation process tomorrow, and I’ve got a supply of water-soaker-pistol things ready for the kids to be let loose with.  Unfortunately, I haven’t found a suitable target for their fire so I guess I’ll have to get soaked myself!  (But they wouldn’t have it any other way)

So, a family focussed long weekend looms.  It will do us all good.  Now we have both adults fully mobile the efforts must be concentrated on finding employment.  Both of us have applied for jobs but so far there has been no response - no news is good news?  So far we have been very lucky in respect of this move, and have found people very willing to help.  If that luck continues into the job search we could be firmly established in Erie well before the end of the year.