Visits and Visitors, Part 2

Eddie and Janice come to town...

When I last left you, we'd just abandoned Mom and Dad Corey to the chaos of Heathrow airport. If my calendar isn't lying, that was a month ago, and as far as I know, they arrived safe and sound in Fredericton a few hours later. Ed and Janice met them at the airport... and I wish I could have been there too, as from what I hear Mom and Dad started emptying their pockets and handing over their British Pounds almost the moment they touched down. Apparently there was money appearing from all over the place, and without coersion!

The real reason for this monetary ejection was the fact that Ed and Janice were due to arrive in England less than a week later...( and not Mom and Dad's sudden loss of sanity). Mom and Dad left on a Monday; Ed and Janice arrived Saturday morning. I DID have time to change the sheets, but reprogramming of spoiled children was sadly not quite complete. The kids are going to start thinking that every person who comes through the door will be bringing at least one gift for each of them!

As both Eddie and Janice had been to England before, their visit was more of a 'eat, drink wine, shop and enjoy the countryside' kind of visit. They were especially lucky, as summer seemed to hit the minute they touched down! We sat out on the patio with our fruit, cheese and wine, and just enjoyed life. They went for walks in the local area, generally with a stop at the 'Swift Shop' for more wine, cheese and fruit. Poor Tom was studying for an exam, but he did have some time to join us. We all went out for dinner at Rafu's (yummy curry... mmmm...see photo at right) one of the first nights they were here.

As Monday, May 5th was a holiday, we thought we'd take a picnic and go for a drive, leaving Tom to his studying for a while. We meandered across the countryside up to Barbury Hill (see a previous blog). It was a wonderful day...the rapeseed (canola) was flowering, the breeze was blowing, and the sun was desperately trying to shine through the clouds. I've attached a few pictures to show you how pretty it was.

Shopping wise, we managed to get to both Burford and Marlborough--beautiful old Cotswold-stone towns with lovely streets lined with quaint shops. Then, of course, there was the mandatory 'cream tea's...mmm. Not many things taste as good as scones with clotted cream and jam after a morning shopping in a beautiful English village. Bliss.

Our two visitors did get a day out by themselves in London. They took a train from Oxford in to Paddington, and had a whirlwind hop-on, hop-off tour, complete with shopping at Harrod's and a sighting of Wills and Harry. (Well, at least they saw their Landrovers...or so they say!)

Thursday night was a double treat-- Tom had finished his exam, so we booked a babysitter for the evening and took Ed and Janice out to the White Hart Inn in Fyfield. The White Hart is one of my absolute favorite places to eat here. The food is always good, and the owner, Kay, is always around with a kind smile. The Inn is about 600 years old, and has maintained it's atmosphere. And the sticky-toffee pudding! Mmmmm. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. It's divine.

So, as I said before...we ate, drank, shopped and saw the countryside together. It was a hoot! Hope you had fun Ed and Janice!

Mother's Day

Ahhh, Mother's day. My day off. No cooking, no planning, no mediating fights...pure maternal spoilage. I got breakfast in bed, scads of presents, flowers, and kisses. After lunch (which I didn't prepare) I took the kids to the outdoor pool for a swim. Even though this took some motherly preparation, it was well worth it. May 12th, and we were swimming in an outdoor pool! The sun was shining, and the pool was warm. And then when we got home there was chili on the stove, and tired, happy kids at bedtime. What more could a mother want? I hope all of my mother friends had a lovely day too.

Steph and Julie visit England

Our next B&B guests, Steph and Julie, were here from the 19th to the 21st. We were a stop on their very busy schedule--they were in England for 3 weeks total (I think). It was great to see them, and hard to believe the little 10 year old at our wedding is now graduating from university! (Congrats to you, Julie!). I picked them up at the bus station in Swindon-- a place I hope not to frequent...it was one of the shadier areas in the town. Really, Swindon`s not that bad!! Continuing the tradition of Dunne children spoilage, they came with gifts in hand. You shouldn`t have. (But thank you!) They joined the kids in their 'walk-to-school-week' efforts, getting lots of exercise, and seeing LOTS of bunnies. On Tuesday we drove to Oxford so that Julie could see some Harry Potter things. Steph and I just shopped- which was lots of fun as I had never 'just shopped' in Oxford. My favorite part was the covered market- It may become a regular hang out in the next two months! I'd like to try some of the yummy looking cheeses there.

Wednesday after lunch I drove the two of them to Newbury, where we met Jean -their next hostess. We were all sad to see them go, but are looking forward to seeing them in our new digs in Ontario--much more frequently.

Shane is 8!

Yup. My little boy is 8. Seems like just yesterday he was screaming his little newborn head off all of the way to North Carolina (he was 4 weeks old on our move, for those of you who don't know that story...). After much, much debate over what we would do for his 'friend party', we settled on the outdoor pool as a venue. It worked well for everyone, as the kids could swim, and the adults could hang out. Which, it turns out, is what happened. It was a wee mite cold outside that day-- somewhere in the 15 degrees range, I think--and the wind was blowing fiercely. This didn't stop the kids from swimming in the (heated) pool for over an hour. The parents, on the other hand, were not so brave, and hung out by the barbeque pit (see pic at left...). Somehow Tom managed to stay there the whole time (pic below, right). Hmmm... The kids were sufficiently blue after an hour in the pool, so we took them out, warmed them up, and fed them hot-dogs, hamburgers and cake.

In spite of several incidents of blown-over plates, and a wasp sting (Kate`s finger, poor thing) we all had a wonderful time. It was great for the kids to have the huge pool all to themselves, and great for the adults to have time to sit and have some good 'ole picnic food (chips and dip, cheesies, cheese and crackers...)! Yum. I agree with Valerie- Ridgie chips and dip rock!

A special thank you to the Lutes family and the Zuipos family for helping with clean up, and to all of the kids who came to the party to make it such a success.

Nottingham

My friend Sue Edwards and I have been trying to get together for a couple of months. She lives in Lincoln, which is a bit far, and we'd been there before, so we decided to meet somewhere in the middle. We chose Nottingham, as it fits the 'somewhere-in-the-middle' criterion, and it's also a place neither family had done the 'touristy stuff' in. What's also kind of neat is the fact that the kids are in the chorus of their upcoming school play "Robin Hood", and have been singing "Sherriff of Nottingham, sitting and plotting-ham, up in your ivory tower..." over, and over, and over, and over again, practicing for their play. What better time to go visit it?

Tom, once again, was unavailable for this trip, for two reasons--he's still working on the neverending essay, and he left yesterday morning in the wee hours on a 3 day trip to Paris with the College Rugby Team (not sure how he can fit that in with all this work... but hey, I just live here... :) ). So, it was just the three kids and I on the road again. The drive was nothing, but Nottingham is definately a pedestrian city. It took us over an hour of driving around in circles to find our hotel, and then another half an hour to find a place to park. Painful. We ended up checking in at about the same time as Sue and her three boys.

As Tuesday (the day we left) was Shane's birthday, we decided to head out for some light supper/snacks, and dessert. The Bella Italia was a great place to eat, but the waiter forgot about us...after waiting an hour for the dessert menu we opted to go somewhere else for the dessert part. Shane got a happy birthday song at the Costa coffee under the hotel, and was quite happy.

Yesterday morning we met Sue and gang for breakfast and then she (very kindly) had offered to do some testing on the kids (to make sure that this year's schooling was keeping the kids at where they should be by Canadian standards). After assuring that all three of the kids were geniuses (okay, not really, but they ARE doing very well...), we checked out, dropped our bags in the car, and headed over to the 'Robin Hood Adventure' attraction. It was...okay. Well, the kids loved it anyway. The 30 GBP pricetag was a bit steep for what we saw. And like every tourist attraction we see here, it ended up in the gift shop...sigh. It was neat to see a little big of what life was like back in the Robin Hood timeframe, and the kids got to play with a real sword and some armour.

After this we headed to the 'City of Caves'. Apparently, where Nottingham city now stands used to be a sandstone cliff, and the cliff and surrounding area were riddled with caves. We got a small glimpse of the cave structure, and some of the history too. Costumed interpreters told us all about the leather tanning process (Shane particularly liked the urine part...) and also about how the caves were used as bomb shelters during WWII (Kate didn't like this part so much). There was also some small exhibits of Victorian times.

After lunch at the Pizza Hut, and a walk around the pedestrian mall, we decided to check out Nottingham Castle. Unfortunately the skies opened up at this point. And I mean OPENED UP! We were absolutely drenched. The streets (remember, I said it was a cliff? Now it's a steep hill...) were like little rivers. We did get to see some of the castle, but opted to find a cafe to dry out instead of walking around in a drippy garden. Then it was time for the Dunne family to head home. Mom was pooped, kids were drenched, and Kate's blood sugars were completely haywire, adding to my stress somewhat. Zeke was happy to see us when we got home, as he'd spent the day inside and alone.

Thanks, Sue, for making the effort to come out and see us. Hope you had a safe and fun train ride home. Enjoy the rest of your time in England, and see you on the other side of the pond!

So that brings us up to today! The kids are on a week long break right now (hence the ability to take off in the middle of the week) and we're planning on sticking close to home for the last few days. Tom won't get back from Paris until tomorrow, and then he'll have the last push for his big essay --it's due on Monday. We'll probably spend some time at the pool, and do a few short trips to local fun spots...or maybe not. It's nice to not have anything planned!

Kid news

And what have our wonderful children been up to lately, you ask? Well, Delaney has surpassed her goal of filling her Brownie badge sash. She's also been having a blast at her riding lessons--she jumped a triple combination jump last week, and did a mini course on Friday. She and Shane are taking a Pony Day tomorrow, which is like a day camp with horses. She's still doing really well in school, and has made a new friend in her year 5 (Grade 4) class. She's also joined the 'playground patrol' group.Her teacher asked me wistfully the other day, "Couldn't you stay another year?" but, alas, the military calls.

Shane's soccer is finished for the year, with the end of year banquet coming up on Sunday. He's also gotten more badges in Beavers. Between Shane's Beavers and Delaney's Brownies, I might as well not put away my sewing kit, I'm so busy attaching badges to uniforms! Shane was in the 'Gold Book' at school last month, for 'doing really good work researching Romans'. He received a certificate at a school assembly, and his name is written in a big gold book for all of the school to see. He was very proud. He also has been working hard preparing for his first communion, which is coming up in June. He's quite serious about the whole thing. He and his dad went suit shopping last week-- he looks very dapper in his new three piece!

Kate has been invited to participate in a competitive level gymnastics group, after she received her second badge since Christmas. She's extremely excited, but not because of the gymnastics-- her best friend Grace will now be in the same class! Her reading has been coming along really well, and she's moved up another reading stage in school. She's also moved up to a harder spelling group. This weeks words include: taught, caught, thought, pour, four, and more. Considering she's still in kindergarten by Canadian standards... those are some pretty hard words! As I mentioned above, I think our 'honeymoon period' (the period where her pancreas is still producing insulin) may be coming to a close. I've been upping her insulin levels for the past few days, and still having trouble keeping her sugars down. She just takes it all in stride.

All three children still love it here, but are looking forward to summer and our new Canadian adventure. Delaney is very much looking forward to having her own room again! Kate, not so much. She loves to be close to her big sis.

Our tickets are bought for the Queen Mary II trip home, and the hotels are booked on both sides of the pond. We've even had a quick visit from Tom's replacement, Mike Atkins, and given him a brief tour of the house and College. Hard to believe that in just two short months we'll be homeless nomads again! Wow, it's going fast.

Hope you're all enjoying the last few weeks of spring, and are looking forward to summer. Maybe we'll be seeing you soon!

B