So, we’ve been back from Ireland for a few days now, and I think I can write about it now.
Firstly, Ireland was cold. Secondly, Ireland was cold. Third, it was cool.
While we were in Dublin we learned about the uprisings of Ireland. That’s plural, very plural. There were the uprisings of 1534, 1569-73, 1579-83, 1594-1603, 1641, 1642-52, 1798, 1799-1803, 1800, 1803, 1804, 1848, 1866-71, 1867, 1867-1885, 1916, 1919-22, 1939-40, 1942-44, 1956-62, and 1969-98. And the great revolt against Americans making fun of our history of 2010. (Yes, I’m serious.) (No, not about the last one) (That one’s courtesy of Aunt Lisa)
We saw the outfits of the people who fought, the jails they executed the rebels in (The way they tried to kill Wolverine in the new movie, that of course, made me very happy.), we heard all about the fights and the rebels and just generally learned about the fights and the rebels. You know.
Also, there’s this guy named Chester Beatty. He’s pretty cool. He collected old, old religious books. Like, 1800  years old. Pages from Paul to the Corinthians, the Galatians, and Titus that are older than the wonderful USofA, of course, in this country, the United States is a baby. A very young one. You can’t take pictures in the library, or I would have a bajillion to show you.
We rode on the hop-on hop-off bus, past the museums and castles and churches. Past St. Patrick’s church, actually. That one was pretty. There was a Viking tour, in a car-boat, and they had the tourists yell at anyone standing at an intersection. That was great. The big shopping center had people on the sides of the walking road playing music for money, and all sorts of different things. There was a guy who carved dogs out of sand that looked like they were going to wake up and walk around at any moment. There was a guy who painted himself bronze-ish black and stood like a statue feeding the pigeons so that they would sit on him. There was a guy who did something with his hair and clothing to make it look like he was walking through a wind tunnel, and started slow-motion up the street. That was pretty awesome.
We ate at an Irish pub, where, to complete the experience, I had lasagna. Yes I did. Why? Because they were out of ham. We also ate at a McDonald’s, which is never an issue for me. The last night we were…supposed (Notice the word) to be there we ate at an Italian restaurant. It was amazing, and made us feel oh so Irish.
Oh, another thing you run into in Ireland. There’s this stuff called Guinness. And, like, they’re very proud of it. Guinness and revolutions, that about sums the trip up. I did not have any Guinness, though it’s legal there. I think if you can lift a mug you’re allowed to drink there. I’m just saying.
And at the end of our trip we got an intimate tour of the airport. Specifically the second floor. Specifically the Starbucks. Specifically the floor of Starbucks. And Christmas music, but mostly obscure songs I’d never heard before, but came to know really well by the end of our stay. Because, you know, when a hundred people are sleeping on the chairs and couches and floor and tables (No, I didn’t mean that last on either. I’m not saying it didn’t tempt me.) it means you need to keep the lights bright. And the music loud. I got more McDonald’s in that 24 hour period we were at the airport before our plane finally made it. We had food at the airport once we’d landed and then dad drove home, where we all collapsed in our own little pile of exhausted self and made up for the sleep we’d missed at the airport.

So, in conclusion, Dublin was pretty awesome. Seeing family was awesome. Snow, not awesome. Cold, not awesome. We’re getting our air shipment tomorrow, our internet in a few weeks, and our other stuff soon I hope. I am really looking forward to having a bed like you wouldn’t believe. And my piano and guitar are also high on the list. Our house is nice, I’m getting used to the small, it’s probably going to be pretty funny in a totally laugh-twenty-years-later way trying to fit our furniture in it, because if we get some stuff in the door I’ll be amazed. Anyway, I’ve got to get going, we only get internet for so long, and then we have to see to dinner and that sort of stuff.
Cheers!
P.S. Sorry there aren't any pictures, I don't have the camera cable, but I'll put some up when I can.

Yesterday we went on a trip to Cambridge, home of numerous old, old, old buildings, universities, and LOTS OF SHOPS. 


Isn't he cute? Yes he is! I didn't get to go in and look at all the cool stuff in this store though. 
We ate at a two story Mcdonald's. The menu is different here, there's a "Festive" menu, with fancy food. I had a quarter pounder. It was amazing!
 On to the old, old, old buildings!








Don't be fooled by the sky, it was very cold.
There were red telephone booths and double decker buses were everywhere!












And there were punts that you can push around under the bridges and get mobbed by the ducks in.


It was so pretty there!
And just so you know, the next trip will be Bury St. Edmund's (With the camera this time), and then we fly to Dublin, where I will take a great many pictures.
Another big thing, I'll try to put up some pictures of our house, we're hopefully moving in pretty soon!

For the past few days we've been either house hunting, eating, or sleeping. It's been pretty exhausting really. But today we drove to the nearish town of Bury St. Edmunds, famous for it's cathedral.

We walked around in the freezing cold, and eventually made it to the actual building, which we got to walk in.
Bury is a market town, with an actual McDonalds (I haven't seen one for almost a week!), a Claires, a Starbucks, and a ton of other stores, most of which are English and I'd never seen before. There was a Christmas Fayre going on, a ferris wheel, a carousel, and candy floss, bunches of vendors, and kids in their school uniforms. Which were adorable. It was like the Pevensie kids were walking around. Caitlin got to pet a sheep. And there were llamas. And accents.
Just so you know the dining situation around here, because I really do miss Mcdonalds, on this base the American fast food restaurants are Burger King and Taco Bell. At Lakenheath, the other base a bit away, the restaurants I know of are Dominoes, Cinnabon, and an ice cream place that I can think of. The best food I've had so far besides Thanksgiving dinner at the chow hall was probably the food from the Galaxy Club, a building with a few different places to eat, on Mildenhall. The diet coke tastes like mint was added to it, but only as an aftertaste. The canned soda from the commissary is alright though.
Everyone wears the trench coat style long jackets here, I really want to get one, because they look warm, and I'm cold at all times. Right now I'm wearing my boots, but my feet are still cold. It's 29 degrees outside right now, and there was a little bit of snow yesterday, just a tiny bit, but it didn't melt off the playground because it stayed so cold today. There're posters and signs and pages in the base magazine about how they need workers in the youth care field, that looks promising, and there was even a spot in the magazine ad that said they needed piano teachers. We've got an appointment to look at a house tomorrow, and another house that we want to look at, one that has "double" bedrooms, which are about normal size, if a little bit smaller, for America.
Dad was talking about maybe going back to Bury St. Edmunds tomorrow, we didn't spend very long in the cold because we weren't all suited up, and there were a lot of stores that looked pretty cool. Mom wanted to look in the cathedral more, we weren't in there for very long, and it's a big place. Online I found out that a church has stood where the cathedral is since 1065, and it was rebuilt in 1503, then renovated again in the 18th and 19th centuries, and was officially called the cathedral in 1914. So it's old, and huge, and very pretty.

In other news, we're all doing well, cold, but good. Caitlin's learning to write, she can spell "I luv snow" "Pupe bisgusigsuguts" (Later "puppy biscuits", but we're still working on that one) "fishfishfishfishfishfishfishfishfishfish" "Stop Caitlin" and "Hape hnd" (Later "Happy hound")
Dustin is enjoying trying to speak with an English accent, and kinder eggs, and telling us that it's "Snowing really hard" when it might be considered "dusting" if you squint really hard.
We got a phone, once it starts working we might have a facebook app, so maybe we can kind of talk with that, because we can't do international yet. Driving around is really fun, if you like fearing for your life. Try figuring out the rules for a double-lane, backwards roundabout. Or, as we like doing, shut your eyes, hold on, and try to think happy thoughts. :)
(It's not really that bad, I just like being dramatic.)

Anyway, it's one kids bedtime, and judging by annoyance factor, another's will follow shortly, so I have to go.
Cheers!

Yesterday at around 7 Local time our plane landed in England. The first thing I noticed getting off the plane was the temperature. The last time I lived in a cold place was so long ago that I can't remember it. Right now it's 32 degrees outside. We got some trademark England rain yesterday, today it's actually sunny, though that makes it look like it might be warm outside, which it isn't. I got an hour nap on the bus, and a two hour nap at the hotel after we ate lunch on base, and that was all the sleep I'd had in the past thirty hours. Airplanes and I do not get along, I tried to sleep but it didn't work. The time change has been pretty rough, I'm still tired, and it's almost ten in the morning. We're going to go house hunting in a while, driving on the wrong side of the really narrow road that has a high speed limit for how curvy it is. I'll take some pictures and I'll try to remember to look the other way when I cross the road so I don't get squished. When I heard that the traffic circles went the other way here I thought that it would only matter occasionally, but they are everywhere here, you can't get around base without driving through a few of them.
Alright, time to go! Cheers! :)

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I'm going to learn the differences between the US and the UK, and by George, you will too. :)