Connie is fixed, a big decision and Holloween

Posted on November 1, 2009 by Dawn

It is so nice being in an English speaking country after trying so hard to fix our electrical problem in France.  Why couldnt I remember more than a few words of French that I learned in high school?  Anyway,  I’ve always loved England.  The last time I was here I really enjoyed myself and saw so many wonderful places and cant wait to share those with Marissa and Shane.  But we’re in England for a reason and we need to be following the weather which means we need to be heading south real soon. 

We made a beeline to Northampton although we were 5 hours late due to a terrible traffic accident that closed the only road my GPS knew to get us to the mechanics. We finally pulled over at a McDonalds and used their free wifi to map out another route and arrived late at night.  Somehow the mechanics knew we were there and escorted us to a place we could sleep for the night.  In the morning Connie was fixed better than ever although I would have preferred to have spent that money differently. 

I wanted the mechancis to fix a couple of other little things such as our headlights.  I didnt know that in England the lights are angled slightly to the left and in the rest of the world the headlights are angled slightly to the right.  So my lights were in everybodies eyes and teeing people off.

But they wouldnt be available until the first of the week so there was a HUGE campground near them where we would stay until then, the Billings Aquadrome http://www.billingaquadrome.com/facilities.htm.  We  ended up having such a nice time we stayed for a while.  They have mini golf, 4 pubs, 6 restaurants and a little carnival, fishing, trains, marina, grocery store, beautiful and overly friendly swans and ducks that woke us in the morning by laughing, no kidding, these ducks quack and it sounds just like their laughing.  I should have gotten some video of it.

At reception they had told me that they have a ‘family friendly’ pub.  I’m thinking child services would have a chat with me if I took my children to a bar – but ‘when in Rome’ – so we went and it happened to be disco night.  Marissa and Shane and a bunch of other kids were dancing to disco music with disco lights – cracked me up.   Shane actually has rythm and a cute dancing style.  They had so much fun and burned up some energy.

The next day I decide that we need a car.  I dont want to tow a car behind Connie.  I’ve seen ‘caravans’ here in Europe that are pulled by a car and that seems like a much more practical set up then our big motorhome.  I havent really seen caravans in the US – the closest thing are fifth wheel travel trailers and they really wouldnt be practical in Europe.    Anyway after being here for a month I feel like we’re restricted without a car and I really want one so….I put Connie up for sale on Ebay UK.  I talk with Peter and he agrees that shipping our Honda Minivan from home would be a good idea to pull a caravan and starts getting her ready.

We find that there is an amusement park near us and we decide to go to Gullivers – http://www.gulliversfun.co.uk/gullivers.php?parkname=Milton_Keynes&pagename=Milton_Keynes_Site_Map.  It’s kind of a Disney wannabe – and definately NOT Disney.  It was kind of run down and could use a cleaning… but Marissa and Shane said they liked it better than Disney because they didnt have to wait in line.   It was a really fun way to spend the day – we all went on the roller coaster ride about 10 times.  In order for Shane to be able to ride most of the rides I had to ride with him – lucky me:)

I dont really care for Holloween, never have.   I love the original meaning (all Hollows Eve) and purpose of remembering fondly our loved ones who have passed on.  Back home I find a way to celebrate Fall and fulfill the childrens desire for high fructose corn syrup:)  But this year the campground was having a Holloween party at the pub and the children begged me to go.  So we came up with some costumes and later that night they were bobbing for apples for the first time in their lives and enjoying all the other children that were there.  It seems strange that we saw lots of costumes but ALL the little girls were dressed as witches  – I mean ALL. 

For more pictures of this part of our England trip click here -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blisstravelers/sets/72157622607228207/