Shopping, online

When you first get to Cornwall, the fact that you live in tiny, quaint, quintessential English small town is actually pretty cool. Lots of small shops on the "high street", lots of character, lots of fun. Enter Christmas shopping. I challange you to find two T-shirts and a football in less than 7 towns and 3 weeks.

Enter online shopping. On this I am now completely sold. So much so that on top of the fact that we now order groceries on-line, only yesterday I just bought something as trivial as a pack of vacuum cleaner bags on-line. Even with delivery fees, it is cheaper than our equivalent of Canadian Tire (Trago Mills), and I don't have to drive a half an hour each way to get them.

Only gets better of course. If you go to topcashback.co.uk, you can get all of the referral cash that a website would normaly get for sending you to a particular store... so now everthing is about 10% less than it would be if I actually took the time to go to the store.

Scary really. Never need to leave your house. On the other hand... try living here. Now I might actually get a chance to finally mow the lawn... it is getting pretty long! My new Chirstmas charol:

On Amazon
On Next
On Curry's
and Argos
On Tesco
and
Marks (and Spencer)
and
Scott's of Stow
and ASDA
but do you recall
the most famous on-line store of all...

Ebay is awesome... well, actually, that is the end of the song.

Merry Christmas all!!!!!!

M

Happy 1st Birthday Olivia!

Olivia turned one on November 28th. My baby is no longer an infant but a toddler. It took us three tries to celebrate her birthday. We had people invited over for a party but had to cancel due to the girls and I having a stomach flu. Try 2 we were decorated, cake good to go and Mark and Lochlan started puking. So try three although everyone wasn't one hundred percent we manged a family celebration. We had balloons, a cake and presents, so according to Lochlan and Miah it was a party. Olivia tore into her cake. I cut her a full big piece and had to take a bit back as she would of eaten the whole thing and made herself sick! Her siblings blew out her candle for her and she loved the birthday song.

She is really starting to come into her personality. She's cuddly and quite cheeky. She gives kisses and hugs. She manages short little words like Yeah and Hi Dad. She'll have a whole conversation with you, although you won't understand a thing. She walks everywhere and is quite proud of the fact! I haven't weighed or measured her but I'd say she's probably about 18 lbs and a bit. She's fitting a bigger size of clothes and has stretched out. She now has nine teeth, one being a molar. Aside from the local viruses she's healthy and happy. So here's our blond haired, blue eyed one year old:

Christmas is coming (soon?)

Yep, our Christmas tree is up. Don't make fun... only 23 days before we are going back to Canada, so for us it is up right on time. Nothing else yet, but I am sure we will remedy that soon (little known fact that Laura used to date Santa Claus...) It will be nice going back, as it was never a tradition for me to mow the lawn to make the house look good for Christmas, but here it is a different story. Last weekend was nice... we went down to Praa (pronounced "prae") sands beach, and were lucky to hit a low tide. Went for a nice walk that Maggie really enjoyed as dogs are allowed off-leash on the beaches after October. Had lunch at a the restaurant (pub) on the beach... you definitely pay for the view and not the food! I was away a bit last week for work... a management "hug-in" where we slept in a barn and ate only things that were alive no less than 3 days earlier on said farm. Oh well, anything that includes free beer can't be all bad! It seems that we were lucky enough to get hit by a cold and stomach flu bug simultaneously. I am the only survivor! Must be the strong Ukranian genes :) I would say that the kids and family are good, but all of them are either coughing, puking, or, well, doing a number 2 a bit faster than the rest of us... but next week will be better! Laura is looking forward to her trip, and I am starting to prepare myself for a week alone with the kids... I can't complain myself... I managed to get attached to a Royal Navy "adventure training" trip to Bavaria, where we will go skiing/mountain climbing in the alps at the low, low price of zero for a week...

BTW, if you see the last few shots on the slideshow, wouldn't you agree that I am crazy lucky to be married to the most beautiful woman in the world!!! Other than that, number 3 is improving her walking abilities. I should feel pretty guilty because with Lochlan, I basically documented, by video, every day of the first year of his life... poor Olivia is lucky to act in a movie more than once a month. Anyways, the video at the bottom is of her yesterday. Hope all is well with you. M

Half Term and Halloween

Last week was half term for Lochlan (basically like March break). He has three a year. His school year also extends into July as well. Anyway, he had the week off so we did some Halloween activities, he went swimming with Dad and we went to see fire engines at the station on the base. He also got to go into a jet simulator as well. He thought it was all pretty cool. Miah wasn't as fussed and was happier to look on than participate. We met a couple at Trafalgar night and he works at the station, he was nice enough to tour us around and even gave the kids loot bags afterwards. Everyone was really friendly.

The kids went out for Halloween this year and had a great time, although I have to say the Brits have a lot to learn about halloween. It's relatively new here and not everyone participates. The kids here certainly have the hang of it though as there were lots of them out! Miah and Lochlan will probably pass out when they get back to Canada and count the stash they get there! All in all a good time though.

Here's some pics of kids from the past week.

11 Mos. Old

Our babe turned 11 mos. on the 28th Oct. She 's still our busy little babe, maybe even more so now that she's walking. I weighed her yesterday and she's 29 " long and 17 lbs 6oz. She's pretty small. She still wears 6-9mos. clothes even though she almost a year. It's kind of funny to see such a little one toddling around.

She's a happy girl except when teething, the happy teething days are over! She doesn't have any new ones but one is pushing it's way through now. She enjoys "playing" with her siblings alot more, much to their chagrin as she tends tear apart, push over and generally disrupt what ever their doing. She gives hugs and has become quite the snuggler. She's on whole milk for all except one feeding and has taken the cup really well. She loves to feed herself and eats everything in front of her (what a beautiful thing - as anyone with a picky eater knows). Rather than that she babbles a lot, tries to copy sounds, plays peek a boo and is a good sleeper (although we did go through a month of her getting up at 4:30 - 5am .....for the day, not cool!). Here's some pictures of our wee lass and her big sis too.

A Blustery Day

Today looked good at the start, so I figured I would get the kids and the dog out for a walk on the beach. It was nice, but summer is definitely behind us. The tide was out, and at Godrevy, it gives you about a quarter mile of extra beach. I was thinking of surfing today, but when we got down there, I am glad I left the board at home. There were only two guys foolish enough to go out into the double overhead high waves, and it didn't look like they were doing too well. I am not sure who had more fun at the beach, the kids or the dog. From October until April, dogs are allowed off leash on the beach so Maggie got a good run in. We are slowly coming out of a tough week... Olivia had pink eye (both eyes) and the flu, Laura has a bad flu, Miah has ??? that has her coughing all night and keeping her (and mom and dad) up as well. Lochlan is the man... no problems there. He is still having a lot of fun with school and I think he is pretty excited about reading. He has got quite a slew of phonics sounds under his belt and he is starting to put it all together. Although, to be honest, I think if all they did was swimming lessons and P.E. (gym class) he would be just as happy. Other than that, Laura and I finally managed to get out to a real event. They celebrate the battle of Trafalgar here each year with a very formal dinner. Basically, the Brits totally kicked French ass two hundred years ago (33 French ships sunk, zero British) and the Brits are still pretty pleased with themselves about this fact. It was also the battle where Nelson lost his life. Anyways, a very good time. Funny to see the guest of honour smash up a model French ship with his gavel! Take care all. M

Bustin a Move

Here's a video I thought was too cute too pass up!

Jimmy Visits

It was good to have some Canadian company again... Jimmy (a.k.a James Alexander Schauer) worked as hard as anyone to get down to see us. Delayed planes in Italy, missed flights from London, redirected to Plymouth and and unscheduled bus brought Jimmy here safe and sound. Jimmy is with RIM, as far as we can tell, having a great time traveling the globe and doing ??? to market the blackberry. Always very interesting conversations when Jimmy is down... happy to see that he still can pick a tune on the old guitar as well. On day 2 I took Jimmy out to Gwithian to catch a few waves. Kind of a washed out day, but we managed to get a few good rides. I was pretty warm, but I think Jim was in stage 2 hypothermia by the time we got out. A bite to eat, and a quick trip out to Loe Bar to see some bigger waves. A good trip out, and of course it had to end with Jimmy missing his train out and having to fork out $$$ for a last minute ticket. Getting a bit chillier here now, sad to say I think winter is coming. Can get a bit dreary here as it never snows, just kind of drizzles for 6 months. Laura and the kiddies are good... I put a short clip of Olivia playing with her walker-toy on for your viewing pleasure. I tried to get her off of that thing this evening and I found out that my #3 has a bit of a temper! Of course she ended up getting her own way. I hope this finds you all well. M

10 Mos. Old!

Olivia turned 10 mos old on Sunday. She's growing well. She weighs 17lbs 2oz. and is 28 1/4" tall. She's small but mighty! She has six teeth now and it has changed her appearance, she looks older, more toddlerish and less baby. Her hair is grown long enough that I've started pinning back her fringe with a barrett. Otherwise it gets coated in food and hangs in her eyes! It's kind of bazarre as I don't even pin Miah's back, but then her hair is curly. I checked Miah's baby book and it turns out Olivia and Miah weighed exactly the same to the ounce at 9 mos. There was a 1/4" difference in height but that's it! Olivia has taken her first steps but still prefers to crawl as she is much faster at it. She started waving hello and bye a few weeks ago and is much more vocal about what she wants! She is also eating more on her own and loves to feed herself. I'm going to start her on cows milk soon and start weening her. She's not a big fan of bottles but is good with a straw cup or a beaker, so I'm hoping it goes OK. Rather than that she's still our busy, happy babe. Here she is:

Long Time No Blog

I've been lazy on the blogging front lately, but I have to say since school and other activities have begun I have been much busier. What's new?

Lochlan is really enjoying school. He had a day or two witin the first week, but now is enjoying it a lot. I like hearing about what he's done/learned and there are a few activities he brings home to do. I hate to call them homework as he's only four but they're things to work on. It's nice to have an activity for him and I to do on our own.

Miah is turning more into a little girl and less of a toddler every day. She loves to do "colourings", dress up and dance, make "tea". She and I are doing a gymnastics Mom and tots class and Todlins which is a music/dance class that we did last year. She loves both and asks regularly if we're going to "mynastics". Mark has this thing with the kids where he asks "Who loves Miah/Lochlan?" Miah answered today saying Mom, Dad, Walkinin (Lochlan) etc. However, Mark asked her who she loved and she answered "Walkinin, he's my best friend". That made tears come to my eyes. It's so nice that they have each other, especially when we're so far from home and all our other family. OK so I'm sappy Mom but I still thought it was sweet.

Olivia will be 10 mos. on Sunday (Holy crap where did it go?) I'll do my usual update then.

Mark is doing well. He's taking advantage of the surfing, he's even switched to a higher level board and caught a wave further out, bigger, ride the wave before it breaks... he's really enjoyiong it.

I'm keeping up with the kids and life as it were. I've been a lot more social lately (going out with the girls) and plan on joining some activities of my own soon as I'll start weening Olivia soon. If all goes well I'll be going on a Christmas Market Trip in Nov. It's through PSP (Personnel Support Programs). It's from 27th -30th Nov. We'd start from London via coach, ride the Eurotunnel over and then visit Chritmas markets in Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. So many people have been interested that they have gone to a lottery. So cross your fingers for me!

Over the last while our activities here have included strawberry picking, cmaping inside, beach and hanging out with some of our friends. The weather has been beautiful (finally) and we've been taking advantage! That's the scoop here.

Cheers Laura

A bit of a rant from Marky

Hello,

I have been meaning to blog for awhile... lots has been going on that I have been wanting to write about.

The first bit is about the Green party being excluded from televised national debates. Now here is a subject we can get into. To me, this is dead wrong (hence the link on the right of the blog). There are a lot of folks who watch the debates closely, and television is probably the biggest source of information on political party platforms for a lot of Canadians. Excluding the Greens doesn't make any sense, since they took well over 600,000 votes last election and now have an MP. I encourage you to sign the on-line petition at the link on the right of the blog. I do have this subtle worry that this situation might be a bit more complex. Here is the worry story... On the surface, it looks like Steve Harper is thwarting democracy through his lack of support of the attendance of the Greens at the televised debate. The result is a large number of folks voting Green just because they are feeling bullied. However, if a large number of folks vote Green, they won't be voting Liberal. Result... majority Conservative governement. I hope that folks aren't this devious, but with politics, who knows. A final note on this is that I would encourage you all to at least have a look at the Green party website to see how closely their values are aligned with your own.

Second bit (this blog won't be short...). I am doing my best to get out surfing at least once a week. I honestly had no idea how much I would enjoy it. I have been out enough now that the locals are embarrased for me, and have been giving me a lot of useful advice to minimize my pain. The last time I was out, I had a fantastic time... didn't even eat any sand. Gwithian is a nice place to surf because there is usually some good swell, there isn't (usually) much of a rip, and most importantly for me, it is lifeguarded all year.
I still have a long way to go... when you look out over the water and see all the surfers strattling their boards and sitting calmly, I will be right beside them flailing around like an epileptic frog directly attached to a 12V car battery. The final bonus is that this is making for a great mid-mid-life crisis solution. PS.. the two photos are of Gwithian (my beach), although I can't take credit for them.


Ok, last bit. It turns out you can take shellfish right out of the ocean, eat them and not die. We went out to St.Ives with some friends over the weekend, and had a great (although somewhat chilly) beach day. We picked a bunch of mussels, and they were honestly some of the best I have ever tasted. I was very nervous, but luckily I am married to a maritime woman who showed me how to pick the right ones. While picking mussels is fun, I am still not convinced on the merits of "crabbing". Here is how that game works... you wait for low tide, then head out to the rock pools (kind of a sand/boulder type thing). You blindly stick your hand under these big rocks, and if something bites your finger... you win! If it really hurts, you know you have an eater... I did catch one, but it was rather embarassing. Our friend's oldest daughter is 5 years old. She was happily sticking her hands under the rocks and pulling out crabs (if you do it right, you can actually avoid being pinched). So she is right in front of me, and I stick my hand under the rock... I feel something move, so I try to pull it out. Bad decision. This tiny crab (about as big as a hockey puck, legs included), squirms and starts to really freak me out. Then it tries to pinch me with one of it's tiny quarter-inch long pinchers, and I believed I screamed in a distinctive high pitch tone, no decibels held back. Needless to say I wasn't impressing any 5 year old girls that day. Ask Laura some time for a similar story about me and a hermit crab :) Moral of the story: Crabbing is not fun unless you have saltwater in your veins (hard to come by in Saskatchewan).

There you have it. I am guessing most won't have made it this far through the blog, but that's OK. Looking forward to seeing Jimmyman in a few weeks. Going surfing tomorrow!

Take care all,

M

1st Day of School

Lochlan's 1st day of school was yesterday. He was pretty excited the day before but a bit nervous the day of. In the end he did great. He did so well that Mommy didn't even cry:) Daddy took the morning off work and we all walked to his school, which is actually a decent walk (about a mile). It was a nice day and he said "it was fantastic". What he actually did...I have no idea....it's like trying to figure out the secrets of Egyptians pyramids....cryptic. So all in all a good start. Although he absolutely hates wearing the uniform as you can see from the first couple of pictures. Here's our big "little man" on his big first day.

9 Mos. Old

My baby turned 9 mos. last Thurs. What's new and shakin'? She is! She's my busy bee and into everything. I measured last week and she is 27.75" long and weighs 16lbs 15oz. She is small for her age but doing great. She's still eating well and I'm trying to get her to drink some from a sippy cup, she mostly makes a mess, but it feels good on her gums. She has 5 teeth now! Maybe she'll have them all by the time she's one. I was thinking the other day how much different at one she'll be than Lochlan and Miah. She'll have lots of hair and lots of teeth. She'll probably be moving more too, guess she has to keep up with her siblings some how! She's not walking yet but she cruises around furniture and can stand on her own. She always stands on her tiptoes, always has, even when she walks. We had to put the baby gates on as we can't keep her off the stairs and her going up is better than her going down. Rather than that she's content and likes to be where the action is. It was hard to get some pictures with Manni but I managed a few . Here's some pictures of our little monkey. L

Vacation in Somerset

Last week we went on vaction in Somerset with some friends. It was a very British vacation and we had a great time. We went to a family resort called Butlins in Minehead. We were able to stay at Blueskies apartments with a waterfront view and backing onto the resort. By resort I mean amusement park rides, water park and all day shows/live entertainment. We went non-stop and the kids had a great time, so did we. The British are very into theatre, shows, live enterntainment and it was very prevalent there. Mark and I were saying how you don't see that much in Canada. It's too bad really because it's a lot of fun.

On our last full day we went into town and rode on a steam engine to another town where we trekked it to a farm house with animals, sand pit and toys, gift shop, pub and of course tea room. We had creamed tea and the kids played and fed the animals. The weather alternated between pouring and sunny, but we somehow managed to time it so that we were always sheltered during the rain. So thanks to Rhonda and Matt because we had a fantastic time! L

Entertaining Kids

Our weather has been less than ideal lately. So what do you do with three kids at home when it rains constantly? Answer: turn your living room into a great big fort with a chalkboard for drawing in the middle. Then you snuggle up and "nap" in it. Then of course there is the picnic in it. ie. You spend the entire morning under a pile of blankets in your living room. It never ceases to amaze me what kids find entertaining. Now on a sunny day you give them cups and a kiddy pool filled with water and oh a bucket. Your thinking swimming/splashing whatever, right. Wrong. They spend two hours filling the bucket with water from the pool til you drag them in at 6:45 pm for supper. There was a bit of a water fight and the bucket did move locations but still! Anyway, here are some pics of the kids doing what it is that makes them tick. L

Olivia

A better blog will come soon. In the mean time, a cute photo of Olivia and a video of her babbling away...

And here is the video...

Wonderful Visit

Glenda, Paul, and Kaeleigh (my sister, her fiance and niece) left on Friday after a two week visit. They were the first of my family to visit us here and the only ones to date to meet Olivia. It was great! We did some maxing and relaxing, some touring and lots of wedding planning. It's official, Glenda and Paul are getting married on July 11th, 2009 at the Alverton in Truro, Cornwall. The venue, photographer, flowers and cake are all booked. We even found a dress for myself and Miah. It's what I like to call power planning!

The kids loved Kaeleigh and miss her now that she's gone. She's grown a lot and has matured as well. She's going to make a great babysitter. It was nice to see the kids have such a good time together.

We had a great time and we we're very sad to see them go. Here's some pics from their time here.

The sun is exploding!

If you are interested at all in astromomy, here is a picture of what our sun will look like when it explodes 5 billion years from now:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080804.html

I can hardly believe that this is a real photo...

Take care,

M

8 Mos. Old

Olivia turned eight months on Monday. Four more months and she'll be a year...WOW! She's had a busy past month. She got her first two teeth, crawled backwards not long after turning 7 mos. and then crawled forward a couple weeks later. She also can pull herself up and talks (babbles) alot more. Her vocab includes mama now which Daddy was proud to say previuosly only included his name, not mine. She's working on her front two top teeth and I don't think they'll be long...bring on the steak! Rather than that she's extremely alert and busy. She's also a great eater, nothing so far that she won't eat. I may get lucky. So here's some pics and a movie of our happy little babe!

Summer Fun

We are finally getting some summer here... been doing our best to hit the beaches and catch some rays. Laura's sister Glenda, fiance Paul and niece Kaeleigh made it out to visit us here on Sunday and we have been having a great time. Glenda and Paul are actually getting married out here next summer, so they have been busy sorting out a bunch of wedding stuff in between the beer drinking :)

I am happy to say that I did "Spingo" Paul in... something about that beer that I will never understand... however much you drink, it does the damage of about 3 times as many as any other kind of beer. Paul also had a few pork scratchings, which are basically bits of lard fried in fat... very tasty.

Lochlan had his last day of pre-school on Wednesday... they put on a nice little graduation ceremony, and his god-mom was even able to be there too! A couple more months and he will be in actual school... very hard to believe.

Today was a lot of fun... we went down to Gwithian beach and did our best to catch a few waves. Even Kaeleigh was cruisin with the pros.



Hope this finds you all well,

M

I'm A Big Girl Now

Miah is potty trained. She sleeps in a big bed. She dresses herself. She drinks from a regular cup. She undresses herself (a little too often)and expresses her wishes very well (ie. talks a lot)....she's a big girl now. My little girl is getting bigger. She gets a little lonely and bored without Lochlan in the morning so we play dress up and dance (one of her favourite things to do), make tea, play cars, trains, play in the sand box and go to the park (when it doesn't rain which doesn't seem to be much lately). She especially loves a little dance group called Todlins on Fridays. Here's a few pics of our growing girl and her big girl room, dancing/bouncing on her bed. L

1st Tooth!

Olivia got her first tooth last Friday. Her bottom right. Here is a picture of her pearly white, as you can see from the picture her second one is not far away.

Lochlan's 4th Bday

Here are a few pics of the birthday. Lochlan enjoyed his first film in the cinema - Kung Fu Panda and his "rocketship" cake. We were supposed to do fire works tonight as well but it was raining with gale force winds so we had to delay them. He received lots of calls although didn't quite get to talk to everyone. I think overall he had a good day. Here's the big boy/little man.

Happy Birthday Lochlan!

Lochlan is four today... we were hoping to get outside but it is supposed to rain 2 inches here today... I bought about 35kg of fireworks, but it looks like we will have to delay that too. Lochlan and Mommy are going to see a movie in a theatre with some friends (first time for Lochlan), and if I can swim out to my BBQ, we will do a little of that for supper. Here is a quick hi from the kids...



And here is a video from June last year so you can see how much Lochlan (and Miah) have changed...

Happy Canada Day!

Well we may be in England but we didn't forget where we came from. It was pretty quiet as Mark worked today but we donned our red and maple leafs none the less. Lochlan took maple syrup to preschool and told everyone how it was Canada's birthday. Hope you all had fun at home, enjoyed some nice weather and a BBQ. Have one for us! L

7 Mos. Old

Olivia turned 7 mths. old on Sat. She's still a very content and happy baby. She's eating cereals and starting some veggies. So far she likes everything. I'm crossing my fingers that she'll be a good eater like Miah and not like Lochlan in that way. I'll find out soon enough. She is wriggly and squiggly. She gets up on all fours but can only managed to push herself backwards which means she's stuck under furniture... alot. She still manages to get to things though so I have to be careful of what's on the floor. I weighed her and measured her on Friday and she weighed 15lbs 9.5 oz and was 26.75 ". Growing nicely in other words. Her and Miah are starting to interact a lot more. Miah does all sorts of crazy things for her and Olivia laughs at all of it. She has a couple lumps on her gums and I'd say her first tooth is not far away. That would put her at least two months earlier than her siblings. She's not fussy at all though and if it keeps up I may have a happy teether (does that really exist?). Here's a couple of pics of our happy babe. L

Veteran's Day in Plymouth

Hello,

We spent a nice weekend in Plymouth... I needed to go down this weekend because there was a Veteran's Day Ceremony and I was laying a wreath for Canada. Plymouth was nice, and there was actually a few malls to do some shopping, so we had a nice vacation from Cornwall (Plymouth is barely in Devon).

Anyways, the service was very nice. Many WWII vets came up to us, and I think although it was easy for us to get down there, it meant a lot to them to see Canada represented. I think it is hard for Canadians to really connect to the great wars, because although we lost many men and women, our country was more or less untouched. Plymouth was levelled. Twice. The people there haven't forgotten, and it really adds something to a ceremony like that. What was really nice, is that I was able to take Lochlan and Miah up to lay a flower at the memorial after all of the other wreaths were laid.

A poem was read, which was basically an excerpt from "Celestial Flight" by Elizabeth Mackethan Magid, which I found very powerful. Here is what was read:

He is not dead - But only flying higher
Higher than he's flown before
And earthly limitations
Will hinder him no more

Thank God that now his flight can be
To heights his eyes had scanned
Where he can race the comets
And buzz the rainbow span

So all you loved ones dry your eyes
Yes it is wrong that you should grieve
For he would love your courage more
And he would want you to believe

He is not dead
You should have known
That he is flying higher
Higher than he's ever flown

The real poem is here for those of you interested:

http://wwii-women-pilots.org/Celestial_Flight/celestial_flight.html

Interesting to note that the original poem was by a WWII woman pilot, about a WWII woman pilot.

Ciao,

Mark

MY Son

Okay, up until now almost everyone has said Lochlan is a little version of Dad and how much he looks like Mark. Which may or not be true but as of late I have serious evidence that he truly is my son . Alot of people have a sweet tooth, as most of you know, so do I. I also have the habit of meeting that sweet tooth in somewhat different ways. What do you do when you get a hankering and there's nothing in the house? Some eat sugar (some icing sugar)- it's true! not me it's syrup. My old roommate can confirm it. I must confess that I have been caught having a squirt out of the syrup bottle. Recently after a breakfast clean up left behind a bottle, Lochlan was found not having a sip, but drinking it from the bottle! Oh and then there was the honey on the counter which he found with the spoon still in it (tasty) and don't for get a spoonful of PB (everyone needs fat sometimes right?) Too much sugar with no fat just doesn't sit right. Have to say I've done the PB thing too. Hasn't everyone? However, his father does none of the above. So you see.... he really is MY son.

One other thing that's really cute and that my mother would relate to is Lochlan's affinity for picking me flowers. He doesn't pass a flower without picking one for me. Today he went as far as to pick the only bloom from a longstem rosebush.....out of someone else's yard....oops! Mark didn't stick around to see if the people were home. Wonder why:)

Our wonder boy has also really taken to riding his bike lately. He wasn't really interested last summer but is flying along now. With the end of preschool and the start of school in the fall he seems like he's growing up. So here's a few picks of our sugar eating, flower loving, biking ride little man. L

Going to Plymouth

Howdy all. Mark here. Hard to believe almost a year is gone... two more to go and I am sure they will pass just as quickly. Today was a success... until now, each and every time someone from here asked me if I was "alright", I took immediate offense. Today, I found myself saying "y'alright" to someone myself. To quote Star Trek, "You will be assimilated, resistance is futile.".

Heading off to Plymouth this weekend for a few reasons. First, and foremost, I will be representing Canada at a Veteran's Day service on Sunday (Plymouth was bombed into the ground twice in WWII). Also for the shopping. Shopping in Cornwall seems a bit cute at first (all the quaint little stores) but after you live here for a while, you really, REALLY miss the good old-fashioned shopping mall. Plymouth, at only 2 hours away, is the first city which actually has one of these. Laura plans to get all of our Christmas shopping done by Sunday :)

A big hi to everyone.

Marky

PS Clay and Ev... I am already down one bottle of Clamato! Also, the chocolate syrup is getting hit pretty hard. Oh yeah, not sure if any of the pickles are left. In summary... Thanks for all the awesome stuff you sent!!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Yesterday was Father's Day here as well as Canada. We had a relaxing day, nothing too crazy. We went to church which is now at 9am (ugg). We had a nice brunch, followed by a nap for Dad and the two oldest. We then had T-bones, strawberry salad and potatoes with fresh raspberries for dessert. Yummy! So all in all melow but nice.

Jason Beschorner also arrived Sunday night. He is visiting for a few days and it is nice to see him. Yesterday we went to Loe Bar and the boys went surfing in the afternoon. After dinner at the Ward Room, Mark Spingoed him in. For those of you who don't know, it is a local beer that doesn't miraculous things to your insides:} Today we are heading to St. Michaels Mount. It is a fort built up in the middle of the sea, you can only walk up when the tide is low. We will be using our new kiddie back pack that just arrived today compliments of Clay, Eve and the kids. We love it! Thank you so much!

Rather than that Jason heads to London tomorrow and Mark heads to Torquay for a couple day conference. I'm just doing some wedding research as my sister, Paul and Kaeleigh are coming to visit in July. They will be getting married on July 11, 2009 here in Cornwall as long as everything goes smoothly. We're very excited! It's not an easy process and information has been mixed so cross your fingers.

Anyhoo that's the scoop. Hope all you Dads enjoyed your day! Here are some pics from Father's Day and Jason's visit. Cheers L

June Happenings

I've been a little slack blogging lately but the weather has been phenomenal. Who's wants to be at the computer when you can be outside? Not too much new. Been digging up the front flower bed to try and make it look presentable. Going to put a few things in there. I don't want to spend too much money as we here such a short time. However it was getting embarassing , especially as the Brits all have these nicely coiffed gardens (flower beds - not to be confused with the back yard). Rather than that Mark and I had a sitter Sat. afternoon. We went to Penzance, had lunch at a new restaurant/cafe, the food was phenomenal! We did a little poking around, some shopping and just enjoyed the time to ourselves. Sun afternoon we went to Flambards with one of Mark's co-workers and his family. We then came back here for a BBQ. They have two girls close in age to Lochlan and Miah and are expecting #3 in July. It's nice to meet someone with kids our age. He's Irish and she's Cornish. We had a good time. Tomorrow night we're having another couple in for a BBQ. Fun in the sun! It's supposed to be like this for the rest of the week. LOVELY! L

Darth Vader Attacks in the UK!

I found out a few weeks ago that there are some folks here in the UK (and actually thousands in Canada too) who belong to something called the "Jedi Church". Yes, these folks really enjoyed Star Wars, and now base their faith upon these movies. Too me, this is pretty funny in and of itself. However, I came upon a story about a drunken (and it would seem crippled) man who dressed up as Darth Vader and attacked the "Jedi's" with his crutch. And apparantly, the drunken, crippled man actually overtook the alleged "Jedi's" as they were practicing their light sabre duels... Alcohol 1, the Force 0. Funny story, please have a read:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7360871.stm

A Great Visit!

Today is the last day here for Clay, Eve and the kids. We had a great time and it was wonderful to see all the kids and great for them to get reaquainted. Lochlan, Brodie and Riley beat each other up, played soccer/football and made faces at each other, Grace and Miah took a bit longer to find their groove but ended up two peas in a pod, climbing (on things they weren't supposed to), walking babies and dressing up. Olivia and Fiona gobbed and smiled at one another. It was really nice to see them play together. The Mom's and Dad's had a good time too, enjoyed the scenery, some surfing (Dad's only)and just plain catching up. We also had a surprise visit from a family friend(Mark & Clay's old neighbour) Michael Dunham and his girlfriend Kelly. It has been since our wedding that anyone has seen Michael and we had a great visit. Kelly is English and Michael is spending the summer here. Even though I'm going to date myself I have to say that they are a really nice couple of kids and we really enjoyed their visit.

We're sad to see everyone go but are very happy they came. We just hope they enjoyed their visit as much as we did! Here are some pics of the last week and half. L

PS I would like to add that Miah was up to her usual tricks, involving her brother this time as they were sharing a room. Toothpaste (duo) and ahhhh of course diaper cream (see pic in slide show).

6 Mos Old

So our youngest hit the 6 mos. old mark today. Crazy! Half way through her first year and I feel like I just blinked. She is great. She is my little mover and shaker. I put her in one spot, leave for a minute, come back and she is in another. She rolls, shimmies and schooches. She is such an easy baby, content, travels well, sleeps well. Almost makes you want another...but not quite! She's quite alert and has a real interest in toys, which means we're entering the everything in the mouth stage, lovely. I haven't weighed her but she's on the petite side and I think may end up being short. Either way she's healthy and growing well. Here some pics of our special babe with her main squeeze Manni.

Fun Activities

We've kept ourselves busy the last few days, aside from looking after kids that is. Monday we went to Church Cove. We packed a lunch and had a picnic on the beach. The kids played in the sand/water and got soping wet and dirty and had a great time! Tuesday we went to Falmouth and had donuts and did some shopping (mostly window) and today we went the National Seal Sanctuary, followed by the building/installation of our new sand pit(box). The kids are having fun with their cousins and everyone is enjoying the activities. Other than that just thr regular stuff. Here are some pics from the last few days. L

Time is Flying

Spring is here, I can't believe it's the middle of May already. Everyone here is doing great (except for the most recent run of the flu/cold). We are all enjoying the weather and the time outside. Our guests Clay/Eve and the kids arrived last night after a long trip safe and sound. Bit on the tired side but none the worse for wear. We are just having a quite day, giving everyone a little time to recoup.

I wanted to post a few pictures of Miah from the other day. We had a dress up morning and she put on the tutu that Auntie Heather and the girls picked out for her. She also had her hair in pigs tails for the first time. Grandma and Grandpa Kotzer gave her some money for her birthday and she picked out barrets, elastics and a head band. Hairs a bit short, but really cute none the less. I'm also going to include a few pics of Major Kotzer #2 and some other pics. If it works, I will put on a video of Miah, however I haven't had much luck lately. Cheers L

Flora Day

May 8th was Flora Day in Helston. It is a pagan celebration, celebrating spring that has now become a town celebration. We took the kids down town and took in some of the festivities. There are three dances throughout the day and one ceremony meant to ward off evil spirits. We managed to catch two of the dances and view the decorations (the buildings are covered with fresh cut flowers). Some of our neighbours danced in the last dance of the day. Here are some pics.

News

Hi all. Mark here. So, it being May, we are getting near a full year of living in England. Sadly, my best faux accent is still horrible... the closest thing I can manage to a Cornish accent sounds like something more like a drunken New Zealander... still working on it though. Many thanks to Grandma and Grandpa K... we now have about 60 boxes of Kraft dinner... a year's supply as far as I can tell! Work for me is OK, a bit of travelling but all in all it the workload is more than reasonable. Good thing for that, because we will be pretty busy next week... Clay, Eve and the crew will be making their way out here from Kingston to stay with us for a few weeks. Miah and Lochlan can't wait to see their cousins... hopefully the time zone change won't be too bad for them... Summer seems to finally have arrived. It has been 18 C for the last few days, and I now need to mow the lawn weekly (arrrrrgh!). Oh yes, before I forget, all of you who complain about the $1.25 per liter of gas, well, diesel here just hit $2.40 a liter, so you have it pretty good! Not much else new, other than the fact that I know much more about Brit politics than I would ever have liked to! (PS Gordon Brown is going down...) Hope this finds you all well. M

5 Mos. Old

Olivia turned 5 mos. old on Monday. She is growing quickly, a little too quickly for me as she is my last baby! She is healthy weighing 13 lbs 13 oz. and measuring 251/4". She has changed a lot in the last month. She can now move about two feet and around in a circle. She gets her bum up and head down and kind of wriggles along. She also can sit, although shakily, on her own. She is starting hold her own bottle and had solids recently for the first time, which she really enjoys, although is still getting the knack of. She loves the jolly jumper and loves when her siblings talk to her. Her whole face lights up, even when she's crying. She's even moved into her own room, out of her bassinet and into a crib. That's longest, out of all my babies, that one has stayed in our room. Mommy's hanging on. All in all she'd doing great. Her are some pics of her and one of Lochlan with his special friend visiting from preschool, Jefferey. We have to write about their activities together. I'll write more later but we are having some computer problems at the moment and I'm just hoping that this will work. Cheers! L

Happy Birthday Miah!

Miah turned 2 yesterday. She is starting to look more like a little girl and less babylike. She stretched up while we were in Ireland She talks a mile minute and likes to dress up, colour, draw, read books and "make tea". She is an extremely loud and vivacious little girl and we love her to bits! I had a birthday party for her yesterday morning with some her little buddies from the rec. centre. They played, "fished" for prizes and had lunch and cake. She was a little shy at first but got into the grove and really enjoyed herself in the end. I think she has a better realization of what a present is all about now too! Daddy skipped home for a bit of extended lunch and joined/aided the festivities. I think Lochlan was probably the most excited about the party as he was asking about it days before. All in all fun for everyone and a big mess for Mom and Dad:). Here are a few pics of the birthday girl and some from the previous week. L

Back from the Emerald Isle (is that how you spell Isle?)

Hello all! Long time no blog... we just got back home from our tour of Ireland and wanted to provide you with a few snippets of our trip. Our itinerary was a bit ambitious given we were driving with 3 kids, so we modified it and ended up skipping Northern Ireland; still, we managed to see and learn a lot about Irish culture and history.

We were really surprised at how diverse the towns, topography, accents, and you name it differed from county to county. I (Mark) was expecting a big version of Cornwall, but did not expect snow capped mountains or rocky plains. And I didn't think that Guinness would taste better in Dublin, but it did!

A few highlights of the trip:

- Kilmore Quay (Quay is pronounced "key"), where Laura's Ancestors (the O'Neills) orinated. Best chowder on the trip.

- The mountains in Killarney, near Muckross house/lake

- Irish stew made with lamb... my God that was good

- Many very ancient sites... one (Newgrange) pre-dated the pyramids by 500 years

- Trinity college library and the original Irish harp (national symbol) - Road over Connor Pass on the way to Dingle Peninsula - The Guinness Brewery tour - Northern Wales... absolutely beautiful

Some funny things that happened on our trip:

- We dragged all 3 kids to the top of Blarney castle. I carried Miah, Laura carried Olivia and Lochlan walked up the steepest 11 stories of stone spiral staircase I have ever seen. At the top, it was basically a salad bar of places where the kids could step off to their certain deaths. I don't remember much more than being in a constant state of terror the entire tour (must have missed the chapter on safe parenting in the manual...)

- The one time we didn't bring the diaper bag, Miah had a huuuuuuge poop... she was commando as we checked out Ross Castle, and kept doing squats for some reason...

- A guy was sitting beside us on the ferry. He looked OK, although it was pretty rough. Lochlan started to puke big time, and for some reason this same guy had to run to the bathroom...

- In a simulation of a winter solstice solar lighting of Newgrange, they first turn off all the lights. In the silence that followed, Miah loudly stated the obvious... "I can't see!"

If you do feel like looking at a few more photos, we have some extras posted at:

Ireland Trip 2008

Four Months Old!

This will be the last time I blog for a while as we are heading to Ireland today. Olivia turns 4 months tomorrow so I thought I'd give a little update. She weighs 12lbs 10 oz. and is 24.5". In other words she is growing nicely. She's a happy little girl and is quite nosey. She has worn the hair off the back of her head from looking around and loves to interact with people. She rolls from front to back easily now and has almost made it from back to front. She is drooling and chews on her fingers quite a bit. I wonder if she'll be different from the othe two and get her teeth early, like her Dad. Rather than that she's just cute and cuddly!


Yesterday the kids and I went to to Traverno Gardens to check them out, something to do. Not too far from here it is an estate with beautiful gardens, a cool park and a nature trail.... and a very cool "tea room". The kids enjoyed the park, peacock, and fountains and I enjoyed the scenerey. All in all, fun for everyone. Too bad Daddy had to work!
Here are a couple pics of the babe and some of our adventure (as Lochlan called it).

L

It's Official!

My sister phoned last night with exciting news, she's engaged! Her boyfriend Paul proposed last night. Paul is a great guy and we are all very excited. Now to just find out what sunny vacation we get to take next year. Glenda for as long as I can remember has wanted a wedding in a sunny location near the beach, so we can't wait. It's looks around March next year we'll be getting a tan, or in my case a burn! Congratulations guys!

Happy Easter

On Wednesday Lochlan participated in the "Bonnet Parade" at preschool. It's an English tradition where the children make Easter Bonnets (hats)- at home I might add - and then wear them in a parade to Easter music (if there is such a thing). It was really cute and Lochlan really enjoyed it, which surprised me a bit because he's not always into that stuff. The parents were invited to watch and they had sweets,tea and coffee and a raffle afterwards.

We had a nice Easter weekend including lots of chocolate, eggs, church, shopping and friends. The weather wasn't fantastic this weekend so we spent a lot of time indoors, hence the shopping on Sat. We had our friends Fran and John and their new baby Imogen for Easter dinner and spent quite a bit of time organizing our trip to Ireland as we leave Thurs. The kids enjoyed looking for their Easter baskets and eggs that the Easter bunny hid and did well in church considering it was a long service.

Here are some pictures of the Bonnet Parade and of Easter Weekend. Cheers! L

Flambards

Lazy Sunday, tried hard to get out of the house before 11:00 and almost succeeded... we finally went to Flambard's amusement park, which is basically across the road. A good place for the kids... although I think Lochlan is better forklift driver than me!!!

Hope this finds you all well... M

The Grass is Greener...

Howdy all...

I am not one to make fun (yeah right..!) or "take the mick" as they say here, but it has come to my attention that Ottawa (our last home of 6 years) has had a record snowfall of 4 meters! I mowed the lawn two weeks ago. :) Truth be told, I do miss the snow because winter is a season that does not really exist here. That might sound good, but trust me, snow can really brighten things up where the rain can be pretty dreary at times. We had a crazy storm here on Monday... winds around 80 Mph... I took a look at the ocean and it was so rough (I figure at least 30 ft waves) that it was literally making me nauseous.

I joined the surf club and for 20 GBP and got a surfboard and wetsuit for the year... luckily I have a neighbour who surfs a lot and should prevent my certain death (little known but true fact is the last two times I went surfing I had to be rescued, and the very last time the guy who first attempted to rescue me also had to be rescued by a guy who swam out to us with a rope tied to his car on the beach...)

So, we are enjoying the Brit weather and I bought some doo-hickey that mounts on the back of my bike so Lochlan can get dragged along with me. Pictures of that, although for some reason in those photos I look like I weight 200 pounds...



The most exciting thing for us is our upcoming trip to Ireland. On March 29th we will be driving over to the "other island". Our goal is to get around both the south and north, but as I found out here in Cornwall it can take 2 hours to drive 60 miles so we will do our best. Hopefully when we get near Dublin we will be able to scoot off to Navan which is where Theresa Gunther (family friend) grew up. For me, as long as I get to the Guiness Brewery and Bushmills Irish Whiskey Plants I will be happy...

To any of you thinking of visiting us out here... I was checking out the internet recently and it was cheaper to fly to London from Ottawa that it was to fly to Saskatoon... come on out and you will be well looked after!!!

I hope this finds you all well. We have been out of Canada for almost 8 months now, and we do miss all of you very much.

Mark

P.S. Our KD stock is getting critically low. If anyone wants to mail some out here, let me know and I will send you a cheque!!!

P.S.S. Clay and Ev... I will need to put in my duty free order soon for it to arrive for your trip out here... if you have any special requests (other than Crown obviously) let me know so I can set it up.

Olivia's Baptism

Our friends, John and Fran, just dropped off a CD with pictures from the baptism along with a lovely photo album. Very nice of them seeing as they just had their own child, their first, 3 weeks ago. She's changed so much already! She rolled over for the first time last week. So here are a few more pics of her day.
L

Happy Mothering Sunday (AKA Mother's Day)

Today was Mother's Day in the U.K. A bit earlier than Canada (strangely Father's Day is on the same day). A nice day all in all... we went down to the wardroom for Sunday Carvery (roast beef and roast pork), and they had an inflatable bouncy castle set up for the kids to play with. Needless to say both are sleeping soundly right now. We had tea (supper) at Matt and Rhonda's place, and enjoyed a mellow evening. A nice change from yesterday where I attempted to hang 2 blinds. Three hours seemed enough, but I was proven very, very wrong. Alledgedly, the blinds could be "cut to size". This was I guess technically true because anyone with a plasma cutter in their garage would have handled the task handily. This mixed with the instructions (yes I do look at the instructions, ever since the "Ikea Incident") that were obviously written by someone who's english was their 4th language at best, and also I might add applicable to a different style of blind made the activity drag on a bit longer than it should have. I have also learned that "blackout blind" actually means "moderately but still dicernibly light-reducing blind". All good fun! Anyways, happy Mother's day to all the moms out there! M

3 Months Old!

Yesterday, Olivia turned three months old, time is flying! She is healthy and growing. She had her second set of shots on Monday and weighs 11 lbs. 9 oz. She now measures almost 23.5 inches, which means she has gained 1.75 lbs and 1.25 inches. Needless to say she is eating well! She's a pretty content baby and does all the normal stuff, cooing, giggles and the lastest and greatest lay on her stomach and look around. She's quite nosy so laying flat doesn't cut it anymore!
Lochlan and Miah are well. Lochlan attended a friends bday party on Sun. and seems to be growing older all the time. Hard to believe he starts school in the fall! He still loves his books and is quite the little runner. He is turning into a quiet (well outside of home) but affectionate little boy.

I wonder somedays if I will make through to Miah's teenage years and shudder to think what that will bring. She has started to throw regular tantrums and "assert herself" with No being a regular word. I seriously think it's a gene attached to the red hair. She however does has a soft side and can be warm and funny. She also talks a mile a minute and picked up a Brit accent on some words such as Mummy and No. It's quite bizarre to hear it come from your own child!

Here are some pics and a couple of movies I thought were cute. L

Oh Miss Miah!

Where to start?

Monday morning we're getting ready for the day, everything is going smoothly, kids are ready, I showered the night before, I just have to run upstairs to brush my teeth and slap on some clothes 3 mins (literally). I come downstairs and check on the kids: Lochlan's reading books, check, Olivia's coooing in her chair, check and Miah is hmmm awfully quite. Another look confirms that Oh yes.... she's found the diaper cream and has decided to moisturize with the "cream"....hair, face, clothes and we don't want to leave out Maggie, she looks dry too! Oh and that carpet that Dad steam cleaned literally last night, well of course it needed a little something!

Tuesday Lochlan and I are playing in the Rec. Room and I hear noises on the stairs, Miah coming down from her nap. I go to say hello and realized she's commando. Ah oh! I run up stairs to her room and see a tiny bit of poop on the floor. Not too bad, not rubbed in. The sheets are clean nothing in the diaper. Phew. Miah's saying "poop potty" so I put her on...nothing. I go to put on a diaper and lift up her shirt and more poop falls out, lift it completely up and realize her chest and belly are covered, smeared in it. Gross! I bath her, put clean clothes on and then go to figure out how her stomach got covered in it when her hands and everything else are completely clean. I check the sheets, floor and then the new quilt, yes arrived last week from Canada, there it is. Not just on there but smeared in. She must have pooped then turned around and slid off the edge of the bed through the poop. Lovely!

Wednesday. Is it only Wednesday? The kids and I are upstairs. I'm doing laundry, Lochlan just went down stairs and Miah is playing with the toys. She comes along with a couple bath toys, but wait how did she get that soap in her hair? Oh well, it's probably just a few bubbles from the bath toy, wait a minute, that's not bubbles that's ???? - vaseline! But how did she get that? It was in the nursery closet and the closet door and the main door were closed (purposefully). So I check it out and sure enough the two doors are open (she has a new skill)and there's the jug of vaseline on the floor. Lucky for me that's it. Miah wants to go downstairs with Lochlan (who left the gate open)and starts down the stairs. No big deal she is pretty good on the stairs except lately she's been wanting to walk forward down the stairs which we have a lot of. She's about halfway there when I realize this and tell her to turn around, she looks up at me and turns at the same time which causes her to fall down the remaining stairs, I fly to the bottom of the stairs and pick her up, (she's crying but ok) just in time for the doorbell to ring, it's one of the neighbours from down the street, with her son...they've dropped in to play!

I'd like to also add that my couch has Crayola marker on it and the back of the bathroom door has crayon on it (bath crayons that are meant for the bath not doors!)......Oh Miss Miah!

In my defense, she has never bothered with any sort of cream until now and has just recently started opening doors. Hope your week has been better than mine!

Laura

PS here are a few pics of the kids.

Trip to St. Ives

Well, we decided last minute to head north about 15 miles to a town called St. Ives. It was much bigger than I thought it would be, and there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the layout. A big surf town, some of the best beaches are between St. Ives and Hayle, and there were plenty of folks out catching waves. I couldn't believe people were out in the water on Saturday, because it was absolutely freezing... (for Cornwall, that means 8' C) We managed to stop at a nice pub for lunch, and were happy to find that they had Cornish Cream on tap, one of our favorites (and Grandpa Kotzer's too, if I remember correctly).



We will have to get a babysitter some time and head back... lots of art galleries and shops to check out. Hope this finds you all well, M.

Are you alright???

If any of you have been checking the translation section, you would have noticed that "y'alright" in the U.K. = "how's it goin'" in Canada. When I first got here, I found it really strange when someone would ask me if I was alright. My first response was usually, "why...?does something look wrong with me...?I think I am OK, yep, I feel OK..., why are you asking me if I am alright?". So I mentioned to a lot of the folks I work with that in Canada, when someone, specifically a stranger, comes up to you and asks if you are alright, it almost always means that you look like something is very, very not right. A ramble I know, but here comes my point... Today at work, someone in the shop asked me, and I quote, "how's it going?". So long since I have heard those three words... took me right back to Canada. I said I was doing fine, and thanked him for his Canadianese... he laughed and told me that he spent 3 months in Suffield (Alberta) and told me he said it that way on purpose because he knew that was how Canadians's said it. That is what it is like coming here. It seems the same on the top, but there are so many little things that are different. Hope this finds you all well. M

Good Morning From Lochlan

Lochlan wanted say good morning to everyone. We were up a bit earlier today... 6:00 here, so for some of you, that is still yesterday! Lochlan wanted to show off his new sweater...

Olivia Cooing

Here is the video that I tried to post last week... a couple of weeks old now but still cute.

The Eden Project

Today we went a bit touristy... we travelled about an hour to a place near St.Austell called the Eden Project. It is kind of like Montreal's Biodome, but different in a few ways. It is much bigger, and the founders have a purpose of trying new ideas with the goal of supporting sustainable development. They collect their own water from rain, make the fuel for their tractors from vegetation they grow on site, and try to recycle almost everything. Pretty cool (we did a little ice skating on the only rink in Cornwall), but also pretty warm (especially the rain forest bit!). Take care. M

Sunny Long Weekend

I will be the first to admit I miss the snow, and we probably won't see any of the white stuff for 3 more years. Still, when you get the kind of day we had on Friday in the middle of February, it kind of offsets it a little bit. Very warm, even for here, so we packed up the crew and went off to the boating lake (i.e. duck pond) for a picnic. On our return, a good nap gave us the energy we needed to mow the lawn! (Actually, Laura did that). We miss Grandpa's lawn mowing effort's that's for sure... Yesterday Miah was looknig out the window at our neighbour across the way mowing the lawn and was saying "Grandpa! I miss Grandpa..."



It is really easy to get outside, which is nice when you are carting a 2 month old around. Tomorrow we will head off to the Eden Project... it was once a decrepid strip mine, but has been converted to a series of bio-domes with flora from all around the globe.

In other news, we have some Canadian's who will be up to see us in May, and we are really look forward to that! Uncle Clay, Aunty Ev and the whole crew will be putting on some serious miles to see us (please bring some Clam juice, rye, KD, etc..:). Should be a good time, and whether it is warm enough or not, Clay and I will have to go do a bit of surfing. Or, we could alternatively rent "Point Break" and drink a few beers... either way I am happy. It will be great for the cousins to see each other again... it will almost have been a year at that time.

Oh yes. Something also very new for us here in Cornwall. Music. Nice Music. The type of music that reaches into the depths of your childhood soul and makes you want to dance, but especially run. Run and chase. Chase the....... ice cream truck! That's right, the ice cream truck. Coming to a neighbourhood near me, every day. I am guessing the Ottawa ice cream truck business would be very jealous.

Hope this finds you all well. M

Olivia's Baptism

Well, it has been a busy week/weekend. Mark made it home safe and sound Thurs. night. Fri. night we hired a sitter and celebrated Robbie Burns night a week late with our neighbour from Edinburough. We had haggis from Scotland and other traditional dishes. Very tasty! Sat. I attended a girls night and Sunday Olivia was baptised. The ceremony was lovely, albeit short, as it was done after mass instead of during mass as is traditional. The priest is a dodgey sort of bloke and had his own ideas about things. However, our neighbours John and Fran, Simon and Tracey and Canadians Keith and Mandy attended. John acted as proxy Godparent as Jeff and Heather (my brother and sister-in-law)couldn't make it. It turned out to be a really nice event with a luncheon at our place afterwards.

Things are a little more normal this week and I'm trying to catch up on laundry. It is GORGEOUS here today, sunny and plus 12 in the shade. There is a long weekend here this week with Fri. and Mon. off so Mark and I are thinking we may do some local exploring, check out some of the touristy stuff. The kids are doing well, keeping busy and keeping us busy! Here are some pics of our babe in her beautiful dress that Nana made and a video of her cooing another day. Our neighbours took pictures of the ceremony and I haven't received them yet. I'll post a few later. Cheers!

Quick Hello From London

Hi all. I am out in London until tomorrow for something called a Joint Study Session. It is pretty cool, as they basically gather up all of the folks here on exchange for briefing and discussion for a couple of days. It has been a lot of fun sharing stories about all of the "fun" bits about integrating into British life and culture... most have a lot the same experiences. Like how when you first get here, you think it is cute and quaint to shop at all of the high streets in all of the little towns, but then at a time like Christmas when you have to actually get some real shopping down, it takes 3 weeks to buy a few shirts and a football because to have to travel to 7 different towns hoping for a store that is selling what you are looking for. My Kingdom for a shopping mall!
The events here are quite nice... last night we went out for dinner with all of the air force officers. A very different meal... I would like to tell you what we ate but I honestly don't know what it was. The appetizer looked a lot like a slice of that balogna you can buy with the alphabet noodles cooked in, but to be honest, I am not even certain if it was meat. Tasty all the same. London has been nice, no rain but a little cool. Tonight is the first and last free night here, so I hope to find some cheap tickets to see a show as our hotel is in the middle of the theater district. A few more briefings tomorrow, then back home. I am sure that Laura is lookin forward to a break! Hope this finds you well... Mark