Olivia and Manni

Manni, Olivia's life size bear from Grandma and Granpa Kotzer arrived today. He is really cute and ooohhhh so soft. All the Kotzer grandkids have one. So here is a couple of pics of Olivia and Manni, one day shy of her one month birthday. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa, he's beautiful!

Happy 1 Month Olivia!

It's hard to believe but our baby is one month old already. She is doing great! She holds her head really well and is bright eyed. She's is a great eater and is kind to Mommy most nights. It's hard to believe how much she's changed already! Here's a picture of her from today.

Merry Christmas!

Our first Christmas in England was green and warm. We had a quiet...but not...Christmas. We didn't have any visitors but a preschooler, toddler and new born were enough to keep things lively! We combined our traditions with a partial Ukranian Christmas Eve meal and Christmas turkey dinner with almost all the trimmings. We went to the children's mass Christmas Eve and opened stockings and presents Christmas morning. We had a really nice Christmas. Lochlan was quite excited about Santa this year. Olivia celebrated her first Christmas and she was our special gift. Children really do make Christmas special! We also attended a christmas party and a boxing day get together. Here are some pictures.

Cheap Booze and Santa Claus

Yep... if there is one advantage, it is cheap booze, all duty free and delivered to your door. We just had an order so big come in that it litterally arrived on a pallet :)

Should be a very merry Christmas! All the more reason to get out here to visit us...

Lochlan had his Christmas choir for pre-school. It was a good show... always fun to see a bunch of 3 year olds belt out Christmas carols. The big treat was the arrival of Santa by Sea King... makes me glad to be out in the field again (not much of this type of thing going on in Ottawa). A video of that is below... kind of strange being so warm this time of year!

Christmas Shopping

We ventured out with the whole crew to Hayle, a little village on the coast about 10 miles from here. Hayle has a "Next" clothing shop... nothing quite like it in Canada. Nice stuff, but with 3 kids in tow, pretty tough to actually look at anything. Still, it was a nice time out and we managed to meet a few of our friends in Marks and Spencer for lunch.

We picked up our Christmas tree, and the kids are undecorating it as fast as we can put the decorations back on. A nice tree, but they sheer them so they are really fat in the bottom and skinny on top (not a reflection of the local ladies :) ). Still, a nice tree, and with the help of a trusty transformer, we even lit up our Canadian lights.

We discovered something really nice here that you can probably get in Canada if you look for it. Pimms is a type of booze that is usually mixed with Lemonade and sipped on during the summer. However, there is a Pimms "Winter", which you mix with warm apple juice and drink by your Christmas tree. It is very nice stuff, and I bet if you looked hard enough in a big liquor store you could probably find it. We shouldn't be hurting for booze for the next little while... we have a special diplomatic catalogue from which we can order everything duty free, making it very, very cheap. We just did a huge order; I will probably need some kind of counselling by the time I get back home :)

A few picks and a vid of the latest and greatest for your entertainment value...

"Winter" Happenings

I say "winter" because December in Cornwall means mowing the lawn (it is still about 15 degrees C here during the day). It is getting a bit wetter and a bit windier, but I don't think we will be having a white Christmas this year. This is probably a good thing because the folks down here tell me that even a dusting of snow makes the entire county grind to a halt. Honestly, from what I have heard, if it does snow here, I am moving the entire family to the second floor to wait until it melts (as it will of course be only a matter of time until someone crashes into our house...)

Yep, my birthday has come and gone. A good haul this year... amazingly I have been kitted out to start surfing. I tell Laura that as far as a mid-life crisis toy goes, surf gear is still way cheaper than a red convertible. So, 32 years down, many hopefully more to go.

Olivia has been a great baby... last night (outside of puking all over her bed) she let us sleep more than we expected. A good eater and sleeper so far... hope the trend continues. Her brother loves her, but it is safe to say that her sister is infatuated with her. Let's just say that Olivia does not lack for kisses...

Mom and Dad (Grandma and Grandpa) left this morning. It was sad to see them go as we have had a great time with them while they were down here, and they helped us get through a pretty difficult time. We wanted to send out another big thanks to them, and wish them a safe journey back to Canada (after a few days in London, checking out "The Sound of Music" and "Momma Mia"... very jealous about that!).

BTW, I don't know if it is having a 3rd kid or what, but Laura is looking awesome! Once a hottie, always a hottie...

Take care,

Mark

Olivia Comes Home

Olivia made it home safe and sound yesterday evening. So far she has been a really happy eater and a good sleeper (for her first night anyways!). But who wants to listen to me blab on... show me the pictures! So I will...



And here is a video of her big arrival...

Olivia Laura Kotzer Arrives!

Hi all!

I am excited to say that we (that is Laura) had a new baby today! Olivia Laura Kotzer was born at 16:01 today, weighing in at 7 lbs 14 oz. A bit of a long day, but Laura did awesome. Both mom and Olivia are doing great, and will be coming back home tomorrow. I will write more soon, but I am off to bed! Here are a few pics...

And a quick video...

P.S. Happy Birtday Paul!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Susan turned ??? on the 18th of Nov.(I won't tell as I figure it is a woman's perogative:)) and we celebrated with ribs, jacket potatoes, salad and homemade pound cake. We went to Porthleven for lunch (see pic of Al and Sue below)decorated with balloons and party hats. All in all a good celebration. Happy ??? Grandma!

What's New

First to answer the ever asked question now.... no baby yet. This is by the farthest I've gone and as the English say I'm gobsmacked. However, I am 39 weeks today so one way or another it will be here soon! The baby is doing well and moves a lot.

Since we last posted Mark and I managed to have a romantic evening for two, we celebrated Bonfire night and we have finally had frost for the first time - today. Mark's parents were nice enough to look after the kids for an evening while we escaped to a beautiful B&B on the ocean, fantastic! We went for supper and enjoyed some quite time.

November 5 is bonfire night here, celebrating the demise of the "blowing up" of the parliament buildings by a bloke named Guy Fawkes in 1605. Hence they have bonfires and set off loads of fire works. We set some off in our back yard (it's allowed & almost encouraged here, far cry from home) and saw MANY other displays.

As I said we had our first frost today much to our surprise it actually hit 0°C. The weather has been mild with a low of about 2°C so far and that has been uncommon. It kind of makes you homesick, almost:>

Rather than that the kids are doing well. Lochlan is still enjoying preschool, having made new friends and Miah is talking up a storm. We've had a round of a cold and the stomach flu go through the house, but I figure it's good to have over before the baby comes.

Happy Halloween!

Our first Halloween in England has come to a close and most of you haven't even started! Funny enough most of England doesn't celebrate Halloween although it is definitely catching on here. We had 109 kids tonight and had to make an extra run to the store! The kids enjoyed themselves and had to "dance off" their sugar high before crashing out before bed.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Grandpa Kotzer officially entered his 60th year of life as he turned 59 on the 29th. We celebrated with steak dinner and an AMAZING cake from one of the local bakeries. Throw in some balloons and mead and you have a party. Here's to you Grandpa!

Rainy Day

This past weekend was what some would call typical English weather. Driving rain and lots of wind. Mark and the kids braved it anyway and did some puddle jumping.

Future Ballerina

Here is our future Royal Winnipeg Ballerina!

(Long) Update From Cornwall

Well, it has been awhile since we threw something up here, so apologies if this is a bit longer than normal. First off, everthing is still good on the pregnancy front. Laura has been on rest now for a month, and still sane. We had an ultrasound last week, and everything was fine. The little critter (which after what I saw I seriously think is a boy :) ) is right on target for size, weight, etc. We also had a tour of the hospital today. It was a typical maternity ward, well equiped and with friendly staff. The hosipital has a world class neonatal unit, so we are glad to kwow it is there if the baby does come a bit too early. Mid-wives do all the deliveries, but we found out that a UK midwife is actually a nurse who then undergoes many years of specialist training. They seem to really know what they are doing, and we feel we are in good hands.
Lochlan is starting to get into Pre-school a bit more... I think he would go every day if he could. He won the prestegious "Star of the Week" for making friends, so there is a shot of him posing with his award in the photo slideshow. He had a great time today as Grandma and Grandpa took him to Flambard's, a kind of mini-disneyland that it litterally right across the street from here. It seems all you have to do is combine ice cream with rides, and you get a pretty happy kid.
Miah is becoming a strong woman. Or stronger if that is possible. She definitely knows what she wants, and she is not to subtle about telling you when you aren't giving it to her. Temper aside, her vocab is really picking up. She is in the parrot mode so you have to be careful what you say because she will likely say it right back.
Grandma and Grandpa have been on duty for a month now. Not easy work to say the least, as they are looking after the kids and keeping the house in order. We certainly appreciate all of the help. They do get away on the weekends... they have now seen more of Cornwall than we have!
For me, I have found my new job quite challanging. It is keeping my days full, as I try to understand how to grease the cogs of the combined navy/air force/industry machine. Learning lots though, and I should be able to bring a bunch of good lessons back to Canada when I return. I am dutifully checking the surf reports every day, and will go shopping for a wetsuit and board soon. Not that I will be surfing with the new baby coming, but at least the board would look cool in the living room. To be honest, a surfboard is a pretty cheap mid-life crisis toy.
Laura is trying to maintain her sanity whilst being a prisoner in our house. We try to go for drives now an then, but Laura trys to take it as easy as possible as we don't want the next one to be born for at leasta few more weeks.
Here are a few pics, but if you are waiting to see more English countryside I think you better check back next April, because I don't think we will be travelling too much right away.


Take care all. M

A Few Weeks in Collingwood

Well, I have left Grandma and Grandpa at home to look after the kids as Laura is now off her feet. I am down at HMS Collingwood on a Divisional Officer's course - it is a two week course that goes into all of the admin details I need to know about managing Royal Navy folks. The course is interesting because it is very interactive; they have actors come in to practice interview techniques, etc. Much better than death by PowerPoint. The Wardroom is very nice, and very, very cheap. A two week stay plus all meals (which are excellent BTW) cost a total of £19.21. I can't get fish and chips takeaway for the family for that much! It is a training base here though, so they are very picky on all of the little stuff. Putting your hands in your pockets is a criminal offence, and using your mobile phone outside would likely lead to some form of incarceration or worse. I brought the camera down here to take some picks, but didn't bring the USB cord, so picks will have to wait until my return. Hopefully Grandma and Grandpa aren't too exhausted by the time I get back. Take care. M

Grandma and Grandpa Arrive

Grandma and Grandpa arrived safe and sound yesterday afternoon. A very long trip, and a 7 hour time shift, but they survived quite handily. Today we went out to Falmouth for a quick trip, then a quick tour of Helston. We stopped in at the Blue Anchor, a 300 year old Pub that used to be a monastary. The beer there is the original recipe from the monks who once inhabited the place, called "Spingot". There are 4 types of Spingot: Jubile, Medium, Braget, and Strong. The Medium is OK, but the others are so bad that they made one of my eyes blink involuntarily for some time.

Our Little Merlin

Lochlan started pre-school this week (the name of the school is "Little Merlins"). He goes three mornings a week, and really enjoys it so far. The facility is just down the road and the staff are great with the kids so we think it should work out quite well. Another bonus from living in the UK is that pre-school is completely free!
Coincidentally, the aircraft that I work with here is also called a Merlin. We all went down to the maintenance facility so I could show Lochlan a real helicopter. This is one big airplane... I think I could drive a Sea King right in the back.

quick vid of the kids at suppertime...

Starting a Coal Fire is Hard

Hi all. Tried to have a nice relaxing fire tonight. Our house has a coal fireplace instead of a woodburning one, so I wanted to try it out. I purchased some alleged "easy lite" coal from the Texaco, and went to work. I put 3 zip stick in the fireplace, then through the coal on top. The zip stick burned well... I tried again with two more zip sticks, same result. Finally, I put a bed of coal down, then put some more zip sticks, then little pieces of coal on top of that. Bingo. It seems what I was doing before was not unlike putting a piece of newspaper under a 8 inch round log and hoping it would take off... should be OK from now on!

Reunited!

Maggie arrived safe and sound, although a little dazed and confused, tonight thanks to big efforts on behalf of my sister! Maggie has spent the last few months in Nova Scotia, first with my parents and then at my sisters. She has been well cared for, enjoying such luxuries as wet dog food, new toys, the lazy boy, the sofa and the beds (you get the point). I'm not sure that all were intended but she has been well taken care of and it has been much appreciated.

We are so happy to have her home and we feel now that our family is complete and together. Fewf, it's finally over. Lochlan was especially happy to see Maggie and I have put a picture below of their reunion, he truly missed his "Maggiedoos".

Curly

A photo and a video ... the video is an experiment so it may not work

A Beautiful Week

Well, this week has been beautiful weather-wise. Kind of a bad thing when you have to look at it out your office window at work, but I still have been enjoying it. I have been at work now to start to get really dangerous, and I intend to see how much I can stir up in the next few weeks.
I went to Tesco (local grocery store) today and the cashier was also a Canadian from Pembrooke. He retired from the military 10 years ago and retired here with his wife. It was pretty funny because he kept on visiting with me as the line to his till got longer and longer... I guess he missed some good old fashioned Canadian conversation. It was worth it though... he pointed out that they actually do sell proper ginger ale here, you just have to buy it in 5 oz cans... better than nothing!
We talked to Grampa and Grandma Kotzer tonight and are getting excited to have them down here. They will be down for quite a spell to look after the kids when Laura goes on rest. These days the kids can be quite a handful... hopefully they will have some time to enjoy the area! They get down on the 17th after a very, very long trip here. All told, more than 24 hrs of travel. Add the jet lag and they may not know which week, let alone day it is when they arrive. Should be an adventure though. I suspect Dad is a bit upset that I went with the Peugeot instead of the MG convertible but they should have a lot of fun on the Cornwall roads anyways.
Laura is doing OK, but the usual signs of a baby that wants to meet us a bit earlier than we would like are starting to show. She is having to take it pretty easy, and complete rest is soon to come. Please feel free to give her a call (011 44 1326 560 423) to chat so she doesn't go crazy with boredom (the rest thing may sound good, but only for a few days, then it is more like prison). Just ask us to call you back, as it is free for us to call Canada 24/7
The house is coming together slowly. A few more pictures on the wall and a few more things arranged and we should have more or less settled in. Hope this finds you all well, M.

Peugot Deux

(Mark writing) We "popped" down to St.Stephen (here it takes an hour to drive 23 miles) to pick up our 2nd car... another Peugot, but this is a small 206. Should get me to work and back just fine, and if any of you come to visit, you will find yourself behind the wheel of that fine machine if you want to take off and tour Scotland or wherever. Pretty much took the whole day, as we had some work done on our other car as well. The highlight was lunch at the London Inn Pub... good homemade food, and better desserts. I tried something called "Treacle Pudding" (inspired by Hagrid's Treacle Tart's). Basically, a pudding cake super saturated in sugar. Laura had something similar, with double cream on top and that was tasty as well. The weekend is coming, and we will be busy trying to avoid doing all of the not-so-fun put-your-house-back-together stuff that comes with a move. Should be looking good by next Christmas! M.

Move Over Paris Hilton

Here comes Miah, new doggy in flashy hand bag she'll fit into posh British society no problem. She even likes time on the Mobile (see pictures below). Up until now she has enjoyed only "boy toys" but has actually started to play with "babies", shoes, jewelry and hand bags. Although she is she still rough...and demanding. Mark figures she can starting dating at nine as he has no worries about her taking care of herself (must be the red hair). Anyway, she is talking more and uses utensils now which is a blessing and a curse....can't wait til Maggie arrives.

Maggie will be joining us on the 8th of September and we can't wait. We've missed her and England seems to be the country of dogs so I'm sure she'll be quite happy here.

Lochlan is doing great, he's adjusting well aside for a few moments which I'm happy about as he is definitely the more shy of the two. I'm hoping to start him at Little Merlins in a couple of weeks (preschool down the street). He hasn't seen many children here as block leave (vacation for everyone at the same time)was on (for 3 weeks)when we arrived. This week has been better as everyone is starting to return and he has met a few kids hid age. I've even been invited to drop round for tea by several people. Not sure if they actually just drop by or if they set something more formal up. Have to find out. Rather than that he is enjoying the blackberries in the back yard....I think I just ate about 2 cups worth that he picked for me.

Mark just returned from Daws Hill (30 km) outside London where he had to clear in. Long trip that they don't allow you to complete until you've settled in. He's enjoying his job so far and looking forward to trying surfing sometime.

We've found a sitter and managed to get out for a dinner on our own...nice place on the ocean. First time on our own in months.

Another Sunny Day and a New Car

The weather is beautiful here again today. The kids and I headed to the park and spent some time outside. Mark headed up to the place we purchased our Estate Car and found a second (much smaller) vehicle for commuting to work. It's a Peugot as well, a 2001 206. A little fart of a car that should do the trick. We are slowly getting things sorted out. We even hung some pictures in the living room...very exciting as it makes it seem more like a home...plus now we don't trip over them.

Yesterday I took the kids to the pond (although the locals call it a lake) to feed the ducks and swans. It's a beautiful little spot right in town and great for the kids. Mark took them to a beach called Church Cove not far from here in the evening to dig in the sand. Below are some pics.

Pregnancy in England

Yesterday I had my first appointment with a midwife. Must say things certainly work differently here. First of all Midwives are nurses with experience that then do 18 mos. more of Midwifery training, while Midwives at home are not trained nurses. They seem to handle all normal pregnancy and births, and if needed you are referred to a Registrar (GP) or a Consultant (Obstetrician). I will be apparently seeing a Consultant soon who will determine the path of my care.

My first appointment consisted of a visit at home by the Midwife who did all the normal things (urine testing, blood samples, Baby's heartbeat, height of fundus) but all in my living room. Miah sat beside me on the couch as she measured my belly and listened to the heart beat. Kind of neat (too bad Lochlan was sleeping).

Something else different is that during your entire pregnancy there is a book containing all your medical details that you MUST carry with you at all times. This is (from what I understand)so if you were to have a car accident (for example)they would have all pertinent details immediately. Kind of neat...kind of a pain in the tush.

Anyway, baby is healthy and everything ok so far. Kids and I went for a walk to the Surgery (doctor's office) to pick something up and to the park today. Mark is at work, the weather is nice (20°and sunny) but extrememly windy.

Mullian Cove

Laura made it back safe and sound last night. Now she has all the fun of readjusting to the new time zone (again). This morning for something to do we went on a quick trip to Mullian Cove. Very rugged there... I kept expecting to see King Arthur jump out from somewhere and start fighting a dragon...

My TV Works

Not an easy feat. In Canada, the signal is NTSC. Here it is PAL. It basically means that nothing here will work on our TV (DVDs, TV, etc) So, what to do? ... First thing , you need to buy a signal converter. I saw a bunch online for about$399 US... for that price you may as well just buy a new TV over here. However, a store in Ottawa called the "220 Volt Depot" had one listing for $299 CAD, and after a little negotiation I got that and a few conversion plugs for $250 taxes in. So I started to put it all together. My Canadian TV and DVD are powered by an inverter to get it back down to 120V. I thought it was going to be easy until I looked at the back of the DVD player and Freeview Box (see note at end on Freeview). I had never seen anything like it. It is called scart (instead of RGB, or RCA, HDMI, etc). I trucked off to the store, and found a SCART to RCA conversion cable at B&Q (basically Home Depot). So, I put the audio straight to the TV, and the video through my little signal conversion box. It didn't work. After weaving a tapestry of profanity that is still hanging over my backyard as we speak, I noticed that there is a little "in/out" switch on the scart lead. I flicked it, and bingo, we were in business.

TV here is different (what isn't?). Here, you pay $300 bucks a year for a TV licence. Then you go buy this cheap little box that picks up about 30 TV channels and 20 radio channels (Freeview). Most homes have the TV antenna in the attic so you don't see them, but that is how you get TV if you don't want to go the satellite route. BTW, if you don't pay the licence and they catch you watching TV, it is a $2000 fine (ouch!). They drive special trucks around all the time looking for people doing this (they can tell... very Big Brother).

The only funny part was that I bought a cheap $20 DVD player to play the Brit DVDs. My fancy Canadian one plays NTSC only. On the menu of my cheapy Brit model, you can pick the format, so you don't even need the signal converter box. Still need it for regular TV though.

Quick Addendum to the Day

Hi all. Yep, no posts for two weeks and now two in one day. Well, tonight after supper, Lochlan, Miah and I had about an hour to kill. We hopped in the car, drove 10 miles out to Coverack for some Cornish ice cream. After that, we trucked a few miles down the road to Kennack Sands, which is a nice quiet little cove. Sounds a bit corny, but so far, each time I have ventured out, I have been awed by the beauty here. Amazing what you can see in just an hour! Hopefully some of you will be able to come up and enjoy it too...

Made it to Helston (final stop!)

Hello all,

Sorry for the lateness of this post... we made to England safe and sound, and I have successfuly connected our computer to the internet so I am free to blog on. We arrived here about two weeks ago, and our furniture arrived around August 6th. We received an serious phone call the same day from Nova Scotia; Laura's father had contracted a serious disease called "Gullain Barre Syndrome", which affects the abilty of nerves to carry signals (including to the lungs). http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/guillain-barre-syndrome/DS00413 Laura's mother flew back to Canada immediatley, and Laura shortly after. Her father has been improving steadily albeit slowly; we are extremely optimistic for a complete recovery.


Life here in England has been going well. I have been here alone with the kids for about a week and a half now... they are able to undo pretty much everything I do so the organizing is going a bit slowly. However, as luck would have it, Teresa Gunther (of Lanigan, Sask) was up visiting her family in Ireland and England so she stopped in for a few days to help "de-disasterize" our place (many thanks!!!). Also making life a bit easier, I have already found a baby sitter to help look after the kids as I try to unpack everything... she is great with the kis (Miah already puts her arms out to her before me!).

We managed to buy a car; a Peugeot 307 SW. Like most cars here, it is a diesel, and the kids really enjoy the sun-ceiling (the whole roof basically). Here is a photo of it below:

Cars don't rust here... this car is a 2002 and when I looked under the hood it looked brand new. It gets about 60 Mpg on the highway, which is a good thing because diesel here costs about two bucks a liter.

In terms of adjusting, so far it is just the small stuff. Like when you go in the grocery store, eggs are not in the refridgerated section. And you buy "Ariel", not "Tide", (to be honest, I am pretty sure that I have been doing Laundry with fabric softener up until now... the clothes smell great but aren't so clean). Everything else is getting pretty normal... I finally don't fear for my life every time I take to the roads.

I will start to update the blog more often now. If you are interested, here are a bunch of pictures that start from our plane trip to London and end here. The beach is Praa Sands, about 3 miles away, and as nice as it is, I am told there are much nicer out there.



I hope this finds you all well. I look forward to updating the blog a bit more often in the future.

M

PS. Brucey: Cask conditioned ales and surfing lessons... see you soon!

Real Airplanes!

I must say it is really nice to be working around real airplanes again. Today on the way back from work, two Hawks in formatino flew over me on final approach, probably no more than 20 ft above the car. Tomorrow is the big international airshow, so a lot of cool aircraft are showing up.

I am a bit further ahead with learning about my job, but a lot more to learn. It will probably be a few months before I am any use... it is a bit of a penalty off the start when you aren't even familiar with the rank structure.

We had a nice night tonight. Laura and I went downtown Falmouth (thanks Sally for babysitting!) and had a sit down in a nice place on the harbour. Very pretty tonight, and very calm. Big day tomorrow... we will do our best to buy a car. Right now it is either the Peaugot (pronounced purrrrrgeot here)370 or a Ford (yes a Ford, I know, found on road dead, ha ha) Galaxy. Maybe we will even pick up a toaster for good measure. Take care all. M.

First Day at Work

So today was my first day. I found out that I am the "Merlin Depth Officer", which as I found out, is a pretty complicated job. The Brits farmed out all the heavy (depth) maintenance to Augusta Westland (AW). So AW runs the maintenance show in terms of managing the maintenance processes, and they employ a 50/50 split of military and civilian technicians. This is where it gets a bit complicated (I will write again when I have it figured out, probably next year). I look after some parts of all military techs, but not all. I look after their welfare, excluding their day to day work (leave, hr problems, etc). Now there is another group of folks, called the Merlin IPT. These are the military engineers (like an AEO shop), so I am the link between them and AW. As well, there are operational engineers (like SAMAs for you AERE types), and again I am the link between them and AW. I also moniter everything to do with the contract and staffing, and that is about all I figured out today.

All of the Brits I met have been fantastic... very friendly. The weather has finally turned around here, so the everyone went to the beach today while I was at work. Still trying to find a minivan (MPV in England), and we have narrowed the search a bit. Laura's Mom is only here until the 11th, so we have to hurry a bit on that. Hope this finds you all well. M

Sunshine!

We decided to beat the rain and headed out to The Lizard (a small quaint town)today and saw the coastline of Lizard Point. Beautiful! We had oour first meal in a real english pub which is nothing like home...the food was fantastic..homemade roast beef, chutneys, chicken nuggets (sort of ) local cheeses and casks ales (of which I only tasted). The pubs only serve food during a short period of the day during meal times, but well worth it. Finding restaurants that accomodate children has been challenging but they were great. The rest of the day was spent TRYING to find a vehicle. Something we realized is not going to be easy. Because we need a vehicle to accomodate 3 cars seats and kid stuff, it limits us as all the cars are tiny. Late afternoon the sun came out and we took the kids to the park down the street. All the kids were a bit older, hopefully it isnt a trend. Good none the less to get the kids out. Mark starts work tomorrow, finally find out whats going on (hopefully!). Thats all for now!

Here comes the weekend!

Today went quite well. We got all of our appliances delivered, and they all work fine. For Jason, who told me I might not have good luck with English customer service, yet again I found that to be the exception. They appliance guy and I drove around for an hour looking for a part that I should have had to buy to hook the clothes washer up to the sink in one of the upstairs bedrooms (3 of for bedrooms have sinks, don't ask me why). Very good service. Our phone is almost hooked up. I am pretty sure that as of tommorrow, we will be able to make unlimited calls to Canada.
The house should work out fine...Lochlan already picked out his room, and we will get in there tomorrow morning and try to get things a bit organized. This evening was nice... we went for a quick drive out to Porthleven to see the beaches. It was very beatiful... we may even get brave and go for a swim this weekend. Second priority will be finding a new car. Some are pricey (like Fords, seriously), and others cheap (like Range Rovers). In fact, we say a 2002 Range Rover, Discovery I think, that was selling for 9000 pounds. It would be a $50,000 vehicle in Canada. You don't pay sales tax on used vehicles here either, so that makes them cheaper. I will have to go to work on Monday, so we will see how that goes. Other than that, so far we are really enjoying it here. Special thanks to Keith and his toolbox that enabled us (after an hour) to switch the hinge location on the fridge doors.

Made it to Falmouth!

Well, our trip is finally over. We hopped on a train and went from London to Penzance, about five and half hours. We rented a VW Touran, and by some miracle, we managed to cram in all of our luggage without leaving anything (or anyone) behind. About another 40 minutes, and we were in Falmouth. Falmouth is a cool little touristy town, about 20 minutes from Helston (our new home). Apparently our furniture made it to the UK, and just has to clear customs, so we could be moving into our new place as soon as next Friday. They are hooking up the phone in our place tomorrow, and bringing all of the appliaces. The fridge is very small by Canadian standards, and the clothes dryer is a condenser, meaning you have to empty the holding tank by hand every few loads (instead of venting steam outdoors). We are beginning to explore the beaches and close towns, but will probably focus on picking out a new vehicle this weekend. I have to go to work on Monday, so we will see how that goes! Hope this finds all of you well.

Off to Penzance

Well, we did get a bit of a tour of London yesterday. We hopped on a double decker bus, went down through Picadilly Circus to Trafalgar Square. From there we went down to see Westminster Abby and Big Ben, and finished with a Tube ride back to the hotel. We are supposed to take a train to Penzance in a few hours, but there has been a lot of flooding in the area we will travel through, so I hope it is passable. Kids didn't truly fall asleep until 4:00 a.m. this morning, so they may take a bit longer to adjust to the time difference.

We Made It!

Just a quick note... we are all safe and sound in London, and enjoying a full english breakfast in the Hilton Exectutive Lounge... kids are crabby, so am I!

A Few Days Left in Canada

Not too much time left in Canada, and it is really flying. We are officially homeless and van-less, and all of our details are now looked after. Flying out Monday at 18:30, and that will be that.

We have been having a great time this week. On Saturday, Samer and Sandra hosted a huge going-away party. We had a great time, got to see a lot of friends and family. As always, Samer and Sandra went all out cooking things I can't pronounce (but still very tasty). Bruce's beer was a nice added touch.

A few more family events, and we will be off. Next post from England!

Uncle Clay's (and Happy Birthday Grace!)

Well, a bit too windy for skiing, but the kids did have a lot of fun in the pool! It's our niece's first birthday today, so we should have a good time.

Clay is going to show us his new jet engine lab, so we will take off for the big tour right away. Then, back to Ottawa tomorrow.

Two Weeks and Counting...

Well, most of the loose ends are tied up. A few things left to do like transfer the ownership of our van, but we can see the light (ie a Boeing 767) at the end of the tunnel. Ottawa is really nice right now, great weather, so we are trying to get out and about as much as we can before we leave. We are heading to Kingston tomorrow for our niece's first birthday, and weather permitting, maybe to slip on a plank and have Uncle Clay give us a tow or two. Then, off to Helston (ie 7 hour flight to London, 6 hour train ride to Penzance, and half an hour to our place). I am sure the kids will be screwed up for a month after that.

Our stuff is gone

The last of our stuff left the house today. Last night was a bit aggrevating because the movers, who were supposed to show up at noon, didn't make it until 7:00 p.m. Still, with 10 guys they managed to move most of the house in less than two hours.

Now that our stuff is gone, we should have a little more time on our hands. We will do the tourist thing in Ottawa, and try to see as many people as we can in the next few weeks before we go. Miah caught a cold today, so hopefully that will be over and done with... I should have know better than jumping in the ballroom at cosmic adventures with a bunch of (literally) snot-nosed kids. Busy times... Laura's Aunt Emily's tomorrow, Aunt Doris on Sunday, Clay and Ev's Wednesday, Samer's Saturday... we have never been so popular! Take care all.

Moved out!

Well, we are officially out of our house and into the hotel. The hotel is quite nice... two bedrooms, kitchen, laundry room... all we need to survive for the next three weeks in Ottawa. They are bringing a sea container today to pack up the stuff we are sending to England, and will finish packing the rest of our stuff on Thursday and Friday. Right now, we are at Les Suites (613-232-2000), room 1208.

Canada Day 2007

We had a really nice night last night... went downtown Ottawa for Canada Day celebrations with our friends Mark and Andrea Wagner. As always, there were a ton of people. We spent most of our time on parliament hill listen to Eva Avila and Toni Swift... the fireworks were great and we are really happy we went.



They are packing up our computer tomorrow, so it will be a bit harder to post anything for the next few weeks. We will still be able to get our email anywhere:

kotzersinengland@gmail.com

Hope you have a great summer,

Mark Laura, Lochlan and Miah

Our House in England

Here are a few pictures of our home in England, the back and front yard and the park down the street.

Photos of Cornwall

Here are some photos I took in Cornwall on my trip out there a few weeks ago.

First Blog

First blog...

Just a test really. They started packing today, and we are getting ready to finally leave for England. Keep checking the blog...

This is a front view of our coming baby... we are expecting him or her to arrive in November.

Mark