Rules, rules, rules

Living in Oregon has definitely prepared me for living in England.

First of all, the weather is very similar.  Just when you don't think you can't take ONE more cold and rainy day, the SUN comes out warms the air and everything is shockingly beautiful.  I never tired of that in Oregon and I get that same feeling here.

Second, Oregon likes to boss it's residents around a bit - at least those living near Portland.  I grew up in Idaho where the rules are very relaxed.... Driver's license at 14 (at the time), but everyone I knew was driving something by the time they were 11 or 12.  In Oregon, I was always shocked at the number of things you had to get "permission" to do, like cutting down a tree.  I am not saying it is bad, just different.  Here it is similar, but magnified.  There are a LOT of RULES and I am still trying to sort it all out.  For example, I need to be registered to go to the physician (still haven't done that), and today, I found out that you can't play at recess when it is sunny without a sunhat.

Annika and Arik came home from school today and told me that for all of their breaks, anyone without a SUNHAT had to sit in the shade. Now, I can understand the importance of a rule like this if you live in, say, Australia.  When we visit Australia, we rarely see people in the sun without a hat.  At first I didn't understand this, until we all received our first Australian sunburn.  A sunburn in Australia is the worst thing ever!!  I don't think there is an ozone layer at all over that part of the world.  The sun actually hurts.  Annika even turned purple when she was sunburned, like it had bruised her skin.  All the children there wear sunhats, and they should.  But to require a sunhat in a place where it doesn't seem to get too hot, I just can't understand.  Today my car said it was 79 degrees F.  It felt so great!  I sat outside, without sunscreen or a hat hoping to soak up some Vitamin D.  I wish my Vitamin D deficient kids could have done the same.