8 things I'm looking forward to in Wales

To offset any perceived negativity found in the last post (it really was not intended as a criticism of our new home country - its just a reflection here) I thought I would start out with the top 8 things I'm looking forward to once we get to Wales:

1. The kids new school. Boo would only have been able to go to 1/2 day Kindergarden here in the States. In Hay, Boo will be able to go full day. He will also get swimming instruction once a week, from mid-spring until sometime in October. Pea would have been in a 3 day program here - in Hay, she will go every day for a few hours, longer if we choose. It will provide an opportunity for the kids to make friends more quickly. For Boo, eating lunch every day at school will provide a great introduction to the local cuisine - and I'm guessing that he'll be much more open to the foods if his friends are eating them, as opposed to if I'm trying to introduce the foods to him. Likewise, Pea is refusing to potty train; her preschool teacher said "No worries, we'll take care of it - and peer pressure is a wonderful thing!" (We'll just thoughtfully overlook all the free time I will gain!)

2. My new "new" gym. Keeping up on the internet I've learned that "Gym and Tonic" will have a new home in Hay - bright, bigger, and home to more fitness classes. I'm looking forward to the new facility as well as an opportunity to meet some people on my own!

3. The walk to school . According to Hubs, its simply magical. I'm hoping we actually get to walk it - Little Miss Lazybones is, well, lazy, and I'm not planning on carrying her to school.

4. Driving a small car. Lets face it, while minivans are great, they are big and awkward. I like sitting high here in the land of the SUV, but since small cars are the norm there, I can get back into something compact and fun to drive. (Like my old Jetta - boy, I miss that car...)

5. Travel. We've had great fun looking at maps and at places to go on the internet. I have a cousin in Spain (whom I haven't seen in years!) and the Hubs has a cousin somewhere in England, who I think is only an hour away. There will be lots of opportunity to sightsee and travel.

6. Simplicity. No Target? Well, it will be a break on my wallet. Small fridge/freezer? No overbuying and seeing food go bad.

7. Less sugar/more organic. The bread that we ate (and ate and ate) while there was amazing. Reading labels, there isn't much (if any) high fructose corn syrup in the food products. There is a lot more offerings in organics, which is great. While the diet coke and Snickers bar I had definitely didn't taste the same, in hindsight they seemed less sweet, with more actual flavor coming through.

8. More family time. The Hubs will definitely be travelling less in his new role - he also shaved his commute from one hour to about 10 minutes. While I will now have to cook dinner every night, we will also now be able to actually eat together every night. Fantastic.