Half-Term Break

This past week was 'Half-Term Break' for the kids. British children have a longer school year, but have a week off in the middle of each semester, and two weeks off at the end of each semester... add that up and they get about 7 weeks off!! Our kids had from the 19th to the 29th off -- they go back to school on Tuesday the 30th. Unfortunately Tom did not have the time off... in fact he had a rather busy week with a mess dinner, a rugby game (his team won 23-0 I think) an exam, his research paper topic selection was due... and to cap it off he received news that he is promoted to Lieutenant Colonel (that's left-en-ant for you American folks... :) )!!! We are VERY proud. His rank was pinned on this past Thursday.

A Trip to Wales

Before the week got too busy we decided to take the kids on Saturday (the 20th) for a little day trip to Wales. We started early, hopped on the Motorway and crossed the border shortly after 11:00. Our first destination was Castle Coch (check out the info at: http://www.castlexplorer.co.uk/wales/coch/coch_info.php ). This is a more modern reconstruction on the site of a 12th C castle. It looks very much like a fairy tale castle... with spires and gilded ceilings. A bit smaller than some of the places we've seen, but very well done. Tom and I agreed that we could definately handle a place like it- maybe on our next house-hunting trip...! It was also much more child friendly than some of the places we've been to lately. No dangerous craggy drop offs. We all loved exploring (and we parents loved using our CADW membership to get in free!!). We had a very nice lunch in the little cafe there. Unlike 95% of UK places serving coffee, they even had to go cups for their tasty latte's. We were impressed. We grabbed our 'take-aways' and headed off to our next stop.

Caerphilly Castle is actually quite close to Castle Coch. We only drove for about 15 minutes or so before we were parking and walking up to it. Caerphilly is mostly ruins, but has a few places where they've added exhibitions. One of the most interesting parts of this place was the tower that has half fallen away, and is leaning (somewhat precariously) towards the moat. Built 750 years ago, it covers about 30 acres, and obviously was almost indestructible. The defences were very significant. The castle even had it's own water run grain mill! There was a display of medieval war machines in one of the courtyards... a hit with the kids, especially Shane. You can see more photos at: http://www.castlexplorer.co.uk/wales/caerphilly/caerphilly.php#castle .

Two castles were more than enough for one day, so we headed home. For a change of pace we pulled off at the exit for Bath, and meandered eastwards looking for a nice place for supper. We found this little place: http://www.roomattheinn.info/nr_chippenham_white_hart_inn.html , The White Hart Inn. The food was good and the atmosphere was warm and comfortable. One of the many, many White Hart pubs in England, I'd highly recommend this one. A stream ran right under one of the rooms through a large stone culvert. Very cool. The only thing we found a bit unnerving was the fact that it was already decorated for Christmas!! We've since discovered that this is the case across the country. And it's not even Halloween yet!

Lincoln

To give Tom peace and quiet to study (and go to all of his social events...) the kids and I decided to venture off on our own for a few days while they were off. Friends of ours from Greenwood, Sue and Graham, are also posted to the UK and we decided to go and visit them. Sue was a good friend of mine, as well as Delaney's 1st grade teacher, and their youngest son Matthew spent two years at 'Teacher Lori's' with Shane.

I braved two motorways, many, many roundabouts, and the general unknown for 3 hours with the kids in our Mazda on Tuesday morning to head north for a visit. With only one minor incedent (Kate's tummy didn't care for the many, many roundabouts) and a brief clean-up and bathroom break stop somewhere south of Nottingham, we did quite well! We loved listening to 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' on CD en route. We could all listen, while enjoying the scenery. I'll definately do that again.

(left: Kate checking out the toy store in Lincoln...the boys checking out the gutters...)

The Edwards' Family were VERY gracious hosts. Shane and Matthew were best buddies again seconds after our arrival. The other children played happily together too. I think Kate was a little sweet on Alec (7 years her senior)-- but to his credit he was very kind to her, something most pre-teens aren't willing to do. We spent the first day catching up and doing a little sightseeing in down town Lincoln. Lincoln is a medieval town, set on the hillside. There is a significant pedestrian zone, with lots of quaint old shops and cobblestone streets. We bought the kids some pastries at a bakery and had a quick pitstop before heading home again for the evening. On the second day we visited the Lincoln Cathedral. It was something to see. Even the kids were impressed. Building commenced almost 1000 years ago. For several hundred years it was the tallest building in the world! Amazing. http://www.lincolncathedral.com/ It seats 3000 people-- twice the population of my hometown! It also houses one of the four remaining copies of the Magna Carta.
(look very closely and see if you can spot Delaney at the front of the church...)

Unfortunately, Sue and Graham were jetsetting to Germany for a few days, so we headed home on Thursday. Thank you again for all of your hospitality! Can't wait to see you again.

Celebrations

To celebrate Tom's promotion we went to Fyfield to the White Hart there. A beautiful 15th C building, tastefully decorated and serving very tasty food, we were introduced to this place by the Canadians whom we replaced, Mario and Tina. It is well worth the trip to Fyfield. Their 'Sticky Toffee Pudding' is to die for. Mmmmmm. Check out their website at http://www.whitehart-fyfield.com/ . The kids loved Kay, as she was kind enough not only to find them crayons and coloring, but also to reward their hard work with extra chocolate fudge brownies!!

So, another week has come and gone. This week is sure to be a busy one with Halloween, back to school and all of the other activities... I'll keep you posted!

Cheers!

B

London, Whitehorse Hill and Grandma's Visit

Hello again everyone! Although it's hard to believe, this place is starting to feel like home. It doesn't feel weird to be driving on the left side of the road anymore, we've all given in to saying 'jumper' instead of of 'sweatshirt', and to buy groceries I go to the 'shop' instead of the 'store'. Every once in a while I have an oh-my-goodness moment, and it hits me that I'm actually walking on English soil instead of Canadian! The kids have all settled into their activities, and Tom and I have managed to find the occasional night out. The pace of social gatherings here is incredibly intense. I think we could go to a social event every day if we wanted to! And that's not including of the ferrying kids to and from their things, and all of the coffee mornings and school events that go on during the daytime. Tom's course seems to be shifting into a more intense level, he's actually had some papers due, and has his first exam next week.

We have, however, managed to keep sightseeing, and experiencing British life. It the past few weeks we have had our first visitors (Grandma and Grandpa Dave), visited Blenheim Palace, Stonehenge, Whitehorse hill, and, this past weekend, we made our first trek to London! There have also been some rather exciting events for the children, and we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving with style. I'll try not to bore you with too many details, but will give you a taste of how things went

Grandma and Grandpa Dave's Visit

Our first visitors arrived at Heathrow on Sept 16th. Tom and Shane went down to pick them up. Although a little dazed from the jet lag, Marilynn and Dave managed to make it through the day and had some very happy grandchildren to welcome them to England. They were great house guests, and very adventurous as they managed to take the bus to Oxford one day and the train to Bath another! One of the days we were here we went to Blenheim Palace (check out http://www.blenheimpalace.com/ ). It is a beautiful (and huge) house and park owned by the Duke of Marlborough. We went on the 'Ghost Tour', had a lovely lunch, and had a quick tour of the rest of the house. Unfortunately I had to be back to get the kids at school, but it will definately be a place for future visits!.

While Marilynn and Dave were here we also went to see Stonehenge. Very big, very old rocks. Also very interesting, though, when you consider how very big and very old they are. We all enjoyed the audio tour. On the way back we stopped at The Bell pub which was really nice, but, I have to admit I can't remember where it was! As there are hundreds of Bell pubs here, I'll have to get back to you as to where it was.

Whitehorse Hill

If you go on Google Earth and search for Uffington, you'll see that very close to it is a large, old white horse made of chalk. It is quite close to us, and until the end of September we'd been looking at it and saying we should go up onto the hill to see it. Finally we planned a Saturday visit and took a picnic snack with us. It's quite a walk from the parking lot across the hill to the Whitehorse, but just as we got there the rain stopped and the sun came out... the vista below was beautiful. Green fields, grazing sheep, quaint villages and manor homes... England as you would think it should look. The kids were real troopers and walked the entire loop, down to Dragon Hill (which is where St. George supposedly slew the dragon and buried it), up along the Horse to the Ridgeway Path (a path which follows the ridge for 80 miles I think), and over to Uffington Castle, which is now just a raised circle with a ditch outside it. I can't remember the exact details, but it's about 1000 years old. It was a very wise place to put a castle as you could see in every direction for miles and miles. We all enjoyed the walk.

After our walk we ventured to the Whitehorse Pub, which is just below the whitehorse in a little village. It was the quintessential English pub. Check it out at http://www.whitehorsewoolstone.co.uk/ . The owners were very friendly and helpful, and the old saggy beams and fireplaces were charming. We will definately go back.

London

This past weekend was Tom's birthday weekend. To celebrate, we took the kids and headed off to London to see 'Mary Poppins' the musical. It was an absolutely fabulous weekend. We started by parking in Didcot and taking the train from there to Paddington Station. The kids loved the train ride, and it avoided the parking and congestion charges in London. From the station we walked down to Hyde Park and along inside the park to the Victory Services Club, which is a military members' club about a block away from the corner of Hyde Park. Our rooms were great, and the staff were excellent. We decided to take a quick open top bus tour for the rest of the afternoon, and hopped on at Marble Arch. We hopped off at the Houses of Parliament and walked past Westminster Abbey, then back on to head towards the hotel. From the hotel we hailed a cab for the Theatre District. Our cabbie was wonderful, and we all enjoyed our first trip in a London cab. What was really cool about the cab ride was that there was seating for all of us-- Kate even had a flip down booster seat to sit in.

The cabbie gave us some recommendations of where to eat, as well as where to hail a cab afterwards (which was good advice as I'll elaborate on in a minute). We had supper at La Porcina (I think) which was a lovely Italian restaurant right across the street from the Price Edward Theatre. Serving authentic italian pizza, it was a real cultural treat. We met a really nice family while eating there, who we found out had their own jazz duo. Their little one chatted with Kate, and we enjoyed chatting with the adults. I just checked and they have a website-- http://www.saxandhoney.com/ . Who knows? We may meet again sometime!

We finished supper just in time for a dash to the theatre and into our seats. Mary Poppins was absolutely amazing. The kids recognized the storyline, and loved all of the songs and effects. Shane's face when Mary took her first flight was priceless. It was very well done, and we had a great time. When the show ended, however, we were in for a bit of surprise. The theatre emptied onto a PACKED street, which emptied onto another packed street, which emptied onto Picadilly Circus. It was 10:30 at night on a Saturday, and England had just won their semi-final rugby match to move forward to the finals. The pubs were full to overflowing, their were people everywhere, and not a cab to be seen. Luckily it was a happy (if slightly drunk) crowd, and we all managed to keep together. One of us spotted an empty cab up a side street that looked like he was just starting his shift. A quick query and we were off to our hotel. The kids were exhausted, and we all fell into our beds for a well deserved rest.

Sunday was spent with more sightseeing on the double decker busses, a ride up the Thames on the boat cruise tour, and a ride on The London Eye. I'll admit, I was a bit nervous about going up on a 135 metre, about 450 feet, tall ferris wheel. The ride, however, was incredible. A must-do if you're ever in London. I'd go early though, as the crowd and line ups were huge. You can see more at http://www.londoneye.com/ .

Dunne Children News

The past few weeks have been eventful outside of sightseeing as well. Shane competed with a team of boys from his school at a regional cross-country running race last week. His team came fourth overall which was quite an accomplishment! Delaney and Kate have both been doing lots of horseback riding... last week Kate had her first 'falling off' incedent. She was fine, but I needed a good strong whisky. All three children have been earning lots of house points for 'Drake House', their school house. I think it's a fabulous system, as the House Cup is up for grabs every week, so the kids work really hard on their homework and at school to earn points. Last week the three of them all came home with house points for their homework assignments! They all have been doing extremely well at school.

Thanksgiving

Although we missed our friends, family and Canada in general, we managed to have a fun (and filling!) Thanksgiving. For Thanksgiving dinner, we had invited our neighbours, Kay and Jim Crawford (from Scotland) over to share our turkey. Considering I hadn't cooked a turkey in years, it went relatively well! We had all of the trimmings- turkey,dressing, potatoes, veggies, pumpkin pie and apple pie... as well as a few bottles of wine for the adults.

The next day, Monday, I co-hosted a Thanksgiving Coffee with the other Canadians moms who have kids at our school. We all made a few 'traditional' dishes. There were yummy turkey meatballs, pumpkin cheesecake, butternut bread, squash pie, applesauce cake, cheese, crackers, cranberry punch... as well as coffee and tea! I didn't count, but there must have been at least 30 people in our small house. It was wonderful. It was a great chance to 'show-off' things Canadian to people from other countries.

Well, once again I should head off and try to get some housework done. I hope this finds you healthy and happy!

Oh- thank you for all of the comments-- I do read them!

Brenda

August and September

Since arriving we've spent almost every free moment sightseeing and touring the area. There is so much to see! Britain is so incredibly rich in history. Our first big day trip was to Bath. We visited The museum of Costume, Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths museum (see picture). It was simply amazing. The Roman Baths are thousands of years old, but the buildings had indoor plumbing and central heating! It was even possible to see the hot water bubbling up from below in the 'Sacred Spring'. Bath Abbey was big, old and beautiful, and the kids also had lots of fun trying on corsets and hoop skirts at the Museum of Costume.

Unfortunately our things still hadn't arrived by the 4th of August and Tom's course was scheduled to begin on the 6th. Further digging confirmed our fears that out 'air shipment'- which had been so carefully sorted and packed separately- had in fact been jammed in our sea crate and would not be arriving from Canada any time soon. Frustrated, we decided to head off to Bristol for a few days, as we were still on the Queens' penny and we didn't need to be in the area until the course started. We headed off to Bristol and had a lovely time looking around a place we basically had no idea about. There are huge cliffs there, and a large suspension bridge crosses the Avon River gorge. It is also a port city, although it is inland quite a bit. We took our first open air bus tour here (a huge hit with the kids) and also a ferry boat tour (see photo). It was a great last hurrah before the course. We finally gave up waiting for our stuff, bought the basics at a local outlet mall, and moved into the house on the night of the 5th. Our furniture arrived on the 8th of August, and our car (shipped in JUNE) arrived a week later!

Tom and I managed to get off for a day on our own to London, on a trip sponsored by the College. The day started with a tour of the Houses of Parliament. Believe it or not, the tour was fascinating as British political history is full of all kinds of juicy gossip, beheadings and sexual intrigue. Our tour guide was wonderful, and we could focus on what she was saying with no kids to corral through the priceless artifacts! The tour ended in a massive thousand year old hall ( see picture), with wooden beams that are still standing after fires, war and daily wear and tear. We then wandered over to Westminster Abbey, had lunch at a small cafe near a market, a cider on a boat/pub on the Thames and visited Canada House on Trafalgar Square. A final stroll to Sherlock Holmes' pub took us to the bus pick up area and we were off again. Although we seemed to walk all day it was a very relaxing visit. Can't wait to go back.

The weekend after Tom started his initial, 3 week, course we decided to take a day trip picnic to the Thames river. We went to Lechlade, which is a charming village not too far from here. It was like a postcard day. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the river slowly drifting by. Beautiful. We stopped at a pub on the water for some ice-cream and noticed they rented boats... and 10 minutes later we were sailing down the Thames in our little electric motored boat. I don't think it could have gotten more idyllic. There were some tense moments when the swans attacked... but we made it through in one piece.

The week after Tom's first course was an 'admin week'- i.e., a pack up your bags and get going week. We arranged to go spend a few days in Ireland with Tom's relatives there. We booked the high speed catamaran ferry from Holyhead, Wales and arrived in Dun Laoghaire (said Dun Leer-ee) after an hour and a half sail across the Irish Sea. Once again, it was a perfect trip. Coleman, Olivia and Claire were amazing hosts. Coleman got up every morning and walked to the local shop to get us fresh pastries (mmmmm!). Olivia dazzled us with her culinary prowess and Claire was a tour guide goddess. What more could a family ask for?

Although this was a bit more of a visiting trip, we did get to see quite a lot. We spent a day at a manor in Wicklow called Powerscourt. The grounds had a waterfall (in the distance of the photo) that was simply beautiful. It also had a very cool playground with a spiderweb climber that was at least 15 feet tall. Shane loved it.

On a more somber note, we also spent some time at the chapel in Lusk where Tom's dad's ashes are buried. It was a good experience for the kids, as they got to see where their Irish roots originate from. The house Tom's grandparents lived in is still across from the chapel, and the schools where they tought are still there as well. Diedre had lots of stories to tell us. That evening we also spent some time with Trevor, Jessica and Rebecca- Tom's cousin and his two girls. We went to another playground near a castle in Malahyde.

We also spent my birthday in Ireland. Olivia cooked a lovely lasagne supper and a huge Tiramisu cake. It was the best party I've had in a long time! The kids and Tom gave me some cute coffee mugs(we didn't bring ours and the tea cups here weren't cutting it!) I'm drinking from my Disco Sheep mug as I write this. There were lots of other gifties from Irish relatives that were (and are) greatly appreciated! Thank you! Stephen and Becky had us over for an evening chat at their house just south of Coleman and Olivia's It was great to catch up with them as well.

On our way back from Ireland we spent an extra night and day touring Wales- a country I admit knowing very little about. There were castles everywhere! We spent about three hours at Castle Conwy( http://conwy.com/ ) on the north edge of Wales. It was amazing to look at, but I'll admit I spent the majority of the time in intense stress. Let's just say that the British idea of 'safe' is slightly different than the Canadian. We climbed up steep steps with only a rope to hold on, into 25 foot tall towers with only one skinny little railing to hold you back from falling onto the craggy depths below. I kept a FIRM grasp on Kate's hand at all times, and was constantly nagging the kids to BE CAREFUL!! They loved it. I needed a sedative afterwards. You could definately see why they were well protected there.

The next day we meandered south through Wales and stopped at Tretower castle and court (see more photos at www.castlewales.com/tretwr.html ). This was interesting in a different way, as there was some furniture placed around in the rooms which gave you a better idea of how the people lived in the manor house. We didn't go in the ruined castle part of it as I had had enough of questionably dangerous ruins for a few days.

School started for everyone the first full week of September. The kids didn't have to go in until Wednesday, but they went to meet their teachers during the 'open days' at the beginning of the week. They love their teachers, and they settled in very quickly. They are quite proud of their uniforms, and had very little trouble adjusting to wearing more or less the same thing everyday! Shane and Delaney have signed up for violin classes, and Kate is part of a lunch hour French club. Kate has also been elected to be on the student council! Delaney and Kate are also active in the local girl guiding clubs ('Rainbows' for Kate and 'Brownies' for Delaney) although we were unable to get Shane into Beavers as it was full. He has joined the local soccer club and is having fun with that. Kate, Delaney and I have also been taking English Riding lessons! Tom is trying his hand at rugby...I haven't gone to watch yet!

Mid month in September we spent a day in Lacock. It is a medieval town owned by the National Trust. As the buildings are all protected, there are no modern add-ons to the buildings (such as TV antennae, satellite dishes or light up signs). The abbey there has been used in the first two Harry Potter movies, and is scheduled for filming for the sixth movie this month. The kids thought it was very cool to be walking in the same hallways that the movies were filmed in, as did I. We had a lovely 'tea' at King John's Hunting Lodge (http://kingjohnslodge.2day.ws/ ). They served the kids 'smiley sandwiches' and lemonade and Tom and I had coffee and scones. It was served in the walled back garden in the sun. The kids enjoyed looking for frogs in the little pond. Again, a postcard visit. Just before we left we stopped and had ice-cream. Althought the kids had 'normal' flavors, I thought I'd branch out a bit and had 'home-made rhubarb' ice-cream. It was delicious-- and definately very British!

Well, I think that is enough for this post-- my hands are going numb from all of the typing! Hope you are all well, wherever you are!

Cheers!

B