A New place
July 30^th

Just a quick update, we are still in the UK and have just moved in to our new place, it is a small canal side apartment in a place called Dickens Heath, it is up on the second floor and has a balcony overlooking the canal so it great to be able to still see water when you look out of a porthole. We moved in 2 weeks today and we are now almost straight, it is a 2 bed place so Dave has already built a dividing wall in the 2nd bedroom to keep the kids apart! You wouldn't believe we usually all live together in such confined conditions. So much for moving into a brand new place and having nothing to do! As we let our other place furnished we have had to buy everything from scratch so we have spent most of the last 2 weeks building flat pack furniture, but it has been alot of fun starting with a blank canvass and it is so different from Cruise Hill, not an antique or piece of oak in sight!

Anyway now we are in and most of the work is done, we will have a pad to come and go from and life should be much easier - particularly for our parents who ended up with a little more than they bargained for when asked if we could stay for a few days last May! Hopefully we will now also have a little more time to catch up with friends.

 We have flights booked back to Miami on Sept 23rd, and although we have had considerable interest in the boat, we have not sold it, so if nothing happens between then and now we will fly back at the end of September and just keep on sailing Chilli Oyster. We don't plan to come back for Christmas this year and will probably spend it in Antigua as there are direct flights from there to the UK and we hope to have Ken, Dave's dad, fly out to spend it with us.  Molly is doing well, we had an email from the family looking after her recently which said "Molly is doing fine. We got a fan for her and she finds the cool spots in the house to sleep, she does not show any signs of discomfort." so we have no worries there, the problem will be getting her back I think.

In terms of other news, Dave's son Ollie and his wife are expecting twins, so Dave is going to be a Grandad for the first time, he pretends he's not that bothered - but I know he's thrilled!!!  She is due in early October but as its twins they are usually early, so we are desperately hoping Lisa gives birth before we fly back. Jordan and India are fine, Indy is enjoying catching up with her friends and as well as preparing for his day Skipper courses at the end of August, Jordan has been trying to get a summer job in the local hair salon.... much to his older brothers disgust I might add. Other than that home schooling continues as we endeavour to make up for all the times we have been otherwise distracted from school routines.

It has been a little odd adjusting to life back here, and there are days when our other life seems such a long way away, but I was going through our Photo's yesterday trying to find a good photo of the boat to convert onto canvass and just for a moment I am transported back, I think we have all realised how lucky we are to be able to enjoy the best of both worlds.