Visits and Visitors

Did you think I'd forgotten about you all? I've meant to write more often...really, I have! I guess that is one of the few drawbacks of a year abroad--a serious lack of time. Is it just me, or has time sped up? It seems impossible that it's closer to the end of May than the beginning. Tom's course must be drawing to a close, as he's become surgically attached to a computer screen. He sits in the office upstairs day and night, typing away. He comes out for air once in a while, long enough to eat, then it's back to work. I guess a 15,000 word essay doesn't magically write itself. In the past few weeks he's also had two exams and a presentation due. We'll all breathe a sigh of relief when the dreaded 'DRP' (Defence Research Paper) is handed in on June 2nd!

Sooo... the last time I wrote we'd just come back from Austria. A lot has happened since then. In fact, so much has happened that I'm not sure I'll be able to remember everything. It's a bit of a blur! Let's see...

Snow White and the Chicken Pox

When I last left you, Kate was languishing at home with a (thankfully) minor case of the Chicken Pox. What was a little bit concerning, however, was the fact that we had non-refundable tickets to Disneyland Paris, departing Friday night, and I was writing on a Tuesday. Those who have had 'Chicken spots', as they came to be known in our house, know that the process can take more than a week to run their course. This is where the vaccine comes in handy. Kate was not sick at all, and her last spot erupted on Thursday. All of them were healed over nicely on Friday morning... so off we went!

This time we had opted to cross under the channel via the Eurotunnel, and take our car. The Eurotunnel is incredibly efficient. As you may know, I like to be a bit early for things, and so I gave us a bit of fudge time when planning our departure time. We arrived at the terminal two hours early. This proved to be a bonus, though, as when you check in the computer automatically searches for a better time. We basically drove right onto the train, and half an hour later we were in France! The drive was uneventful, and we were checking in at the Davy Crockett Ranch(see pic of Tom, left) by 7 p.m. . The Ranch is part of Disney, so it has all of the benefits (extra hours at the park, Disney Characters at night-time...) except for one- you have to drive to the park yourself. EuroDisney has no monorail system- it's a lot smaller than Florida, and most things are quite easy to walk too. After a quick dinner, we threw the kids into bed in our little two bedroom cottage (see right) and weren't long out of bed ourselves.

Breakfast, though uninspiring, was sufficient to get us going, and we were to the park by 9:00- an hour earlier than the general public. We had planned our attack well. From the moment we hit the Buzz Lightyear ride it was go-go-go. Space Mountain, Peter Pan, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion(picture at left)... all the old favorites were there, and we'd been on most of them by noon! We had to stop then though, as Mom had planned a special treat. Saturday was also April 5th, and April 5th was Kate's birthday... so I had arranged 'Lunch with the Prince and Princesses' at 'L'Auberge de Cendrillon' (Cinderella's Inn). It was perfect. All of the kids loved seeing Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle...even the mice were there. And at the end of the meal Snow White and her Prince hand delivered a cake with a white chocolate glass slipper to our table and sang 'Happy Birthday' to Kate. She was enthralled. Mom was close to tears. It was wonderful.

I won't bore you with the gory details of the next few days, as we hit a lot of rides in a short period of time. In fact, between the 5 of us we hit 44 rides, 5 shows, 2 parades, 5 Disney restaurants and several shops and walk through displays! There was even a bit of time to spend at the pool (which had a waterslide and a 'Lazy River'). The kids were at a perfect age for it, and they're really flexible and easy to travel with. They've sure had lots of practice over the past few months! It was truly a revelation to watch the kids. They're so grown up!! Kate was still a bit timid, but Tom and I split up several times to go on more 'Kate friendly' rides. Shane went on the Space Mountain ride 5 times, and we all annihilated the Zurg population on the Buzz Lightyear ride. As I mentioned above, Disney Paris is much smaller, and the line ups were much shorter than I remember Florida being. It was a hoot.

But the trip didn't end with Disney! On Monday afternoon we packed up, checked out of the Davy Crockett, and headed into the centre of Paris. The kids really wanted to see the Eiffel Tower. We checked into our hotel, and hopped onto the Metro. I must say, I never thought I'd take my kids on the Paris Metro, and I might have had a few second thoughts as we started into the city centre in the early evening...but we couldn't let the opportunity pass, could we? We got to the tower just as the sun was setting, and were crammed into the elevator with all of the other tourists shortly after sunset.

The Eiffel Tower is really tall. Reeeeeeeeeaally tall. I've been up it before, but, not with my children and as with the Metro, things just look different when your a mom with kids and not a twenty-something back-packer. I put on a brave face, and I tried not to let my nervousness show- as Delaney was pretty close to terrified about the whole thing. It didn't help that Shane kept saying " Mommy, isn't that wheel supposed to be attached to something?" as the ground got further and further away. The view from waaaaaaay up there is really worth it though. It was a clear night, and the Paris lights were beautiful (see picture above, left). I kept talking to Delaney about how triangles where an engineering wonder, and wouldn't all of those triangles make a structure incredibly strong?

We tried to have a bit of a sleep-in the next morning, but we had a Eurotunnel to catch at 5 p.m., a three hour drive to the terminal, and more of Paris to see. Tom was a sweetie and went in search of French pastries for us (well, you've GOT to have a croissant in Paris, don't you?) before we hopped on the Metro again for a quick last minute sight-seeing whirlwind. We lucked in a bit, because we ended up at a station right under the Louvre (see the photo). We got to see one of the inverted triangle thingies, and saw some of the lovely gardens, while having more French pastries and sipping on our Cappuccino's(see pictures below).

We hit a bit of a snag in the Metro on the way back. We handed every one out their tickets, the kids put theirs in the machine and went through the (very large and hard to see through) barriers and Tom and I proceeded to head through right behind them. But our tickets didn't work. The barriers wouldn't open. The kids were on one side of the barrier, and we were on the other. And there was no wicket or assistant anywhere. Did our kids panic? Nope. They happily stuck together and sat down by the wall! Tom and I, on the other hand were having heart palpitations. While Tom searched for a live body to help us figure out what was going on, I reassured the kids loudly and tried out a computer thingy on the wall. The Good Lord was looking out for us though, as I managed to stuff some Euro's into the computer and two tickets popped out. We weren't asking any questions as to whether or not they were the right ones-- Tom and I were through that barrier in seconds. The kids were still happily sitting by their wall. No one had thrown them any coins yet, so they must not have looked too pathetic. Their parents were a bit frazzled though!

The end of this trip finished with a quick overnight stop in Kent, England, so that Tom could visit his childhood home on the Isle of Sheppey. We wanted to see his 'grow-up-place'. Thanks to Google-Earth, we managed to find the place quite easily. While I sat in the car and hid my face, Tom knocked on the door and said to the poor, unsuspecting lady who answered the door "I know you don't have a clue who I am but I lived in this house 35 years ago when I was little and I was wondering if you'd mind if I looked around and my family did too". Much to my surprise, she didn't pull a revolver on him, nor did she call the police, but neither did she invite us in for tea. She did let us look around the grounds, which was more than enough for Tom's walk down memory lane. It was also great that he got to show his family a bit of his past. We went into the little town (Sheerness) where he went to church (and was baptised), we walked the seawall and had some ice-cream. It was a lovely little visit.

The First Wave of Spring Visitors...

We arrived home on Wednesday from Kent, and Friday morning Tom was heading off to Heathrow to pick up Mom and Dad. It was absolutely wonderful to see them! And what a great visit we had! We did give them a bit of a day off on Saturday, so they could recover, but did a few mini tours of the area, a walk to the 'Swift Shop' (our corner store) and what visit would be complete without a walk on White Horse hill? (see the picture, left) It was fun for me to finally show off to my family what a great place it is here.

Mom had put in a request to see Stonehenge, so the next day we took Delaney and Shane (leaving Kate with Tom) and headed south to see the really big, really old rocks. No matter how many times you see Stonehenge it is still impressive. When you think about how old they really are, and for what reason they were put there, the possibilities are a bit mind boggling. We took the roundabout trip home through Avebury (another place with really big, really old rocks) and up over the ridge to look at a different white horse. Again, it was wonderful to be able to share some of the neat little places our family has discovered with Grammie and Grampie. Not to mention the fact that they were a very appreciative audience!

Grammie and Grampie also got the personal tour of Oxford (complete with hop-on, hop-off bus tour) and Blenheim Palace (Ancestral Home of the Earl of Marlborough). I think the highlight of Oxford was the tour of Christ Church College. We payed a little extra so we could go in and see the inside of the college buildings, which include several Harry Potter filming sites. The stairwell used in the first movie, as well as the original 'Great Hall' are housed there, as are a few outdoor settings (I think some of the flying practice??). It was the first time the kids had seen Oxford, so they were enjoying it as much as their grandparents.

After a quick lunch of Cornish pasties (pronounced pass-tees), we hopped into the car and drove the short distance to Blenheim Palace. We did two different tours of the Palace, then took the small train ride over to the walled gardens (and the 'adventure playground...) to end off our day with a good play. There were a few nervous moments when our children got lost in the maze (and the bushes had fencing inside them, so there was no sneaking through the walls...) but we got everyone out safe and sound.

House Finding

I suppose I could call it house hunting, but really, the object is to FIND a house, isn't it? Tom and I abandoned Mom and Dad to the Dunne threesome, and headed off to Canada on the Wednesday the 16th of April. We left home at 7:30 am, and arrived in Toronto around 3 pm, with several hours of driving ahead of us. Before we could leave the airport, we had to 're-indoctrinate' ourselves, though, and a large double-double-milk, a large with cream and several Timbits later we were stop and go-ing with the rest of the sheep on the 401. Our real estate agent had set up three showings for that night, so we met her at her house and she fed us supper! Boy, does it ever pay to be friends with your real estate agent!! Thanks Kathy!

The next few days are a complete blur in my memory. I think we had something like 14 showings, 3 second showings, and then had an offer in by Friday night. After some minor haggling, we had a signed offer and a bit of time for a few visits on Saturday and Sunday. It was great to see my seeeeester (Kathy) and her three, Lynn, Marilynn and Dave, Geoff and Kathy, Steve, Brenda and John (and kids), and a brief hello with Catherine and kids.

Monday we booked in some visits to the kids schools-to-be (Delaney will be at a different school than Shane and Kate), and filled out some of the initial paper work for that. We also had the home inspection which was thankfully just a formality. The house we bought is only 2 years old, and has been built with obvious care. We actually felt a little bad buying it, it was so nice. Two acres of land, huge and beautiful kitchen, four bedrooms and a partially finished basement...I can't wait to live there. (picture to left was taken from 'our' back yard...the house is just visible through the trees.)

The last day we had one more important stop- we stopped at the Charles H. Best Centre for Diabetes Care. It is in Whitby...a bit of a drive, but well worth it I think. I really liked their philosophy--kids with Diabetes are normal kids, they just need a bit of extra TLC to stay healthy. Why send them to a hospital for check ups? They also seemed to agree that kids need to be kids, and were very open with possibilities for Kate's care in the future. We just have to call them when we get there, and they agreed to help make Kate's medical transition as easy as possible. Phew!

More time with Grammie and Grampie

After a short but relatively tiring HHT, it was good to get back to the children and to Mom and Dad. They had managed just fine with out us... but then, we weren't really that worried. We spent a day recovering, but wanted to make sure Mom and Dad saw everything they could. We got two more trips in-- one to Lacock and Lacock Abbey, and a day trip to London.

Lacock is quaint and pretty, any time of the year, but springtime seemed to be a particularly nice time to visit. There were flowers everywhere. We walked the town, then stopped for tea at King John's Hunting Lodge (see a previous blog). We got special treatment here, as the cook found out about mom's food allergy, and it she went out of her way to make sure Mom got something nice to eat. The coffee was good too, and the atmosphere is lovely there, with the fireplace and the wall hangings... After lunch we headed to the Abbey, which is interesting in it's own right, even without the Harry Potter connections. Dad stopped short of laying down in the little stone tombs, but I think he enjoyed seeing the Brewery!

Mom got her first-ever train ride on the way to London on Saturday the 26th of April. And her first ride on the Underground. And her first trip on the London Eye! I'm privileged to say I had a part in it! I must admit, I wasn't sure we would see her on the Eye, but it wasn't that bad, was it, Mom? The view is well worth it. We also did the Double-Decker Bus Tour, and had a quick tour through Westminster Abbey. Even the hot dogs in outside the Abbey were fun. I do have to re-iterate what I've said in a previous blog, though. London is nice to visit, but I don't think I could live there. People, sirens, cars, buses, taxi's...all that noise makes it a bit too chaotic for me. The scantily clad young men outside of the Calvin Klein store were a bit diverting, though... wouldn't you say, Mom? It was good to get the four of us (Delaney had come too) back on the train to come home at the end of the day.

And then it was just another day or so before Mom and Dad C headed back to the great white north, although I think by that time there was a lot less white. We were so pleased to have them here, and are so thankful that they could help make our house-hunting trip a little less stressful by watching the kids. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We hope you had as much fun as we did.

To be continued...

Well, I know I'm not into May yet, but I think I'll sign off here so I can add some pictures and post before bedtime. I will do my best to get back to it before I forget more than I can remember! We've had several more visitors, and the next few weeks are only going to get busier.

I hope the days are getting warmer and sunnier for you too.

Brenda