Kotzers in England

Catch Up

2010-12-14T17:09:00.000-08:00

OK I'm so far behind I'm never going to catch up so I'm going to try to pick a few moments from each month instead.

In October we headed down to the Valley for Thanksgiving. We had dinner with my parents and my sister's family. We went apple picking and pumpkin picking, and for a lovely walk in the research station too. We then had so many apples we ended up having a mini factory to deal with them: pies, dumplings, apple sauce and more. The kids also had their first Canadian Halloween that they remember. They had a great time and ate candy for weeks. We also raked leaves for the first time in three years. I had a lot of help but most of it was destructive rather than constructive. The kids had a blast!

November brought more activities, hockey tournaments, parades and Olivia's birthday. Olivia and I continued playgroup and swimming and I started skating with both girls for the first time. They love it and we go once a week now. Lochlan had a hockey tournament at the Metro centre and it was a fun day for the whole family. We also went to the Bedford Light Up which kicked the Christmas season off. Olivia's birthday was a skating party with my family followed by food and drinks. She had a fabulous time and she was the last one off the ice after an hour and a half!

That brings us to December which has been a swirl of parties, concerts and more. Mark hit the big 35 and we celebrated at his DND Christmas party which happened to be the same night (haven't downloaded any pics yet). We are looking forward to the arrival of Mark's parents next week for Christmas. I am finally done my shopping and only have a few other things to finish getting ready. The kids are uber excited and it should be a wonderful time this year.

Hope all is well you! L

Back in Canada

2010-09-15T06:03:00.000-07:00

We're back and settling in. The move was relatively uneventful(thankfully)and our stuff only took three weeks to come.

About a month after we landed we headed out west to catch up with Mark's family. It had been three years and it was great to see everyone. Mark's parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary party with a big bash so we had a great time partying it up with everyone. We headed to the Lake of the Prairies where although the weather wasn't great we had fun with camp fires, a bit of tubing, water skiing and fishing, and of course more visiting. We finished our visit in Oakbank with Mark's brother and family at their new home. We went to a beach not far from their place at a lovely provincial park, did some hot tubbing and the kids had so much fun with their cousins (the entire trip), definitely the highlight for them I think.

We are now back in our new home and loving it. Mark's Mom came for a visit and was a great help getting us organized. We still have some stuff to finish around the house but it is mostly nitpicking now. Mark is enjoying his new job at Shearwater and is starting to find his groove. Lochlan has started school is settling in. Miah loves her new preschool even more than old one and wishes she could go everyday and Olivia is kicking it at home with me. Miah and Lochlan have started music lessons for the first time and are loving it. It's a really great program aimed at making it fun for young kids (what a novel idea) and they actually enjoy practicing. Something I never did! Lochlan will also start hockey this weekend. We have sorted all his gear and it should be fun to watch, he's quite excited. I am getting my bearings and getting on top of the new schedule. Although I plan to look for work eventually I think I'll give it a bit of time to let everyone get settled and start slowly to figuring out for what and where to look.

So that's us in a nutshell. Hope everyone is healthy and happy! Some pictures of our adventures below:

Loc's 6th Birthday and Our Last Days in Cornwall

2010-07-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

Today is our last day in this house. I'm not sad to leave the house but I am sad to leave Cornwall. There has definitely been some adjustments but it is such a lovely place to live and great for young families. Our last days here have been busy as the ladies at the community centre had a going away party for Olivia and I, and our church had a going away party yesterday for us as well. Top that with Lochlan's birthday party Sat and the packers being here Friday and things have been movin'and groovin'.

Lochlan is six today. Six! When did that happen? As I said we had his party Sat., we went went bowling. The kids had a blast! A little scary to see some of them biff the ball down the lane (they were the big Fred Flintstone type) but a lot of fun for them. It was especially nice for Loc as he said on the way home the only thing he's going to miss is his friends.

Mark recently went for his last surf in Cornwall. The girls and I tagged along to catch some of Daddy's moves. I have to say pretty good! We went to his favourite beach Gwithian and I took some pics to remember.

This is my last blog for a while as our stuff will take three weeks to get to us on the other side (if we're lucky, cross your fingers). Take care all, here are some pics:

Time is Slipping Away

2010-06-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

Well we have 4 weeks left in England...wow that is hard to believe. Our last few weeks here have been packed full of things and we are getting excited to go home (and a bit sad to leave).

About three weeks ago we had some Canadian friends come and visit from Ottawa. It was Sheridan and Erin's 10 year anniversary and they came to stay with us for a week before moving on to Paris. We went to the beach, visited Land's End (which we hadn't visited)and they did some touring of they're own. Overall, I think they had a good trip.

A couple days later we went for a last visit to our friends Neil and Justine and their kids Ellie and Owen outside of London:( We used to be neighbours until they moved last Oct. and it was so great to see them. We went for a bear hunt in the woods, played garden cricket with the kids, drank Pimms and Moose Milk and went to Legoland. Legoland was a huge hit with the kids and we all had a great time together in the garden.

We returned home to have our family photos done on our favourite beach here and a mess dinner. I even had a great girls' day out shopping with Mandy in Plymouth (because that's how far you have to go to shop around here....literally).

This week it is back to the grind (Lochlan and Miah had half-term last week). We have moving stuff to complete and lots of social events planned and are looking forward to a visit from Mark's brother Clayton in a week's time. We also have Lochlan's birthday to celebrate our last weekend here, which will be nice for him as we'll be able to have a party with all his friends.

Here are some pics from our activities:

PS I commented on the pics but they may not be showing as I'm having trouble with that lately, so double click on the slide show to enter the album and see the comments.

Miah Turns Four!

2010-04-26T03:48:00.000-07:00

Miah turned four last Thursday, April 22nd. I have really seen a change in Miah in the last few months. She has stretched up and has matured as well. She loves to take charge and do whatever possible. She is still enjoying her activities and moved up to the next level in both gymnastics and swimming, she even skipped a level in swimming. She's very proud of her badges:) Miah loves preschool and has made lots of friends there. She has the most contagious and hearty laugh so that you can't help but smile at and is very thoughtful. She still has her red hair and is our beautiful porcelain doll. However, don't call her beautiful or princess!

To celebrate her birthday we had a picnic at the boating lake for tea and went to the park there. The kids and I had a fantastic time. Unfortunately Daddy had to miss out as he was away for work. Sat. we had her birthday party at the football club. It has a nice size room and saved the house from massive damage! We had a bouncy castle and a pinata and all the kids had a great time. Miah was really excited about her birthday and insisted on handing out the party bags at the end. Here's some photos of the birthday girl and party. L

Birthday, Easter and House

2010-04-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

We are back from our house hunting trip and are very happy. Happy to have it done and happy to have found a house we like. We bought a place in Kingswood, Hammonds Plains and it seems like a really nice neigbourhood. The commute for Mark will be about 30-40 mins. as he goes to work early. Lochlan is registered in school and we found a preschool for Miah. We even drove some vehicles as it's been a few years in the North American market. All in all a productive trip.

I turned 34 while I was there. Mark managed to somehow bake me a cake in the chaos and my family had lobster for dinner...truly spoiled..gotta love the Maritimes:) We also found our house and had our offer accepted at 10:30 pm the night of my birthday, something to celebrate! It had been looking grim the night before as we had seen everything in our price range and the only two that suited us had major problems. Imagine our elation! My hubby also wrote me a beautiful poem in my card. Wow, I can't express how I felt..truly loved and in love, after almost nine years of marriage, a gift!

We also had Easter while we were there. It was great. We had my whole family at Mom and Dad's, had an egg hunt and Turkey dinner and 24C weather. Luuuuvely! We also had a combined Birthday Party as my, both my parents, my niece Emily and Miah's birthday all fall within 24 days of each other. We were able to visit both my brother's and sister's families at their houses, which was a nice treat. The trip would honestly been a horror if it weren't for the help of my family. Having to take the kids and sort it all on our own would not have been fun!

We are truly looking forward to moving home. We've enjoyed our time here but being home makes us realize again how much we miss our family and friends. We're really looking forward to our trip Saskatchewan this summer to catch up with the family we haven't seen there in three years! Here are some pics:

Catch Up

2010-03-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while. There has been lots going on and at the same time it's the regular routine. We have received our posting message and are exciting to moving back to Canada and to Halifax.

What's new...the kids are doing well and are wrapping up another term at school (there are three here). Their activities are the same and they are enjoying them and doing really well. Miah has received her first badge in swimming and her second badge in gymnastics and she is just glowing. She deserves it as Miah puts her all into things when she does them. Olivia....oh Olivia. Is it the age or stage? Not sure. She is very independent these days and very communicative. I have to say also very cute, hard to get after her some times. We are enjoying a lot of one on one time lately and it's really nice. Lochlan is about the only one of our children who really gets that we're moving and is really excited. The only thing he isn't fond of is the thought of a new school and leaving his friends behind.

We are heading to NS this weekend to find a house. We are both excited and anxious. Lucky for us we have lots of family to lend a hand as we complete our search.

Football is on the down slide for Lochlan and myself. The season ends in May and that will be it for "football" as we know it here. I've really enjoyed it and will miss the munchins! I think that is all for now...honestly my brain is other places but thought I'd do an update as someone recently pointed out that I've been a little slack:) Here are some random picks of the kids. L

PS Put in captions below a couple pics.

Growing Up

2010-02-01T10:43:00.001-08:00

It seems like my children have all "grown up" all of a sudden. I have noticed differences that make me realize my babies are hitting new stages.

Lochlan has taken to making breakfast for him and his sisters lately. Although he has done this before, he has progressed... he used to just get cereal and milk for everyone but has moved onto cutting, toasting, buttering english muffins as well. He has even given porridge a crack (successful but a bit messy). At the same time he helped his baby sister get off her nappy when she proclaimed "poop potty!". Mark and I listened to it from our bed. Really sweet. He made his bed this morning as well. I haven't shown him how to do it and he did a pretty good job I must say. Getting older and taking responsibility.

Miah likes to help dress her sister in the morning. She's become the mother hen and loves look after her little sister. She also sudsed up her legs in the bath tonight and used Loc's play razor to shave (oh oh!). She loves to set the table for dinner and help in any way she can.

Olivia is potty trained and doing fabulous. My quickest yet. I have to say I'm glad the hardest was first and the easiest was last. I hate potty training! She talks constantly and I am amazed with some of the things she comes out with. Like laying blame on her sister! Her vocabulary is growing all the time. She takes on everything her siblings do without a thought that maybe it just isn't going to work out. She's a cheeky spitfire!

Here are some pics of my "big kids".

What Do You Wanna Be When You Grow Up?

2010-01-27T08:35:00.000-08:00

That was the question that the kids were talking about on the way home from school today. I love listening in on their conversations. Anyway, Lochlan was talking about how he wanted to be a policeman (that's the new thing)when he grows up. Miah piped up and said she wanted to be a ballerina. Miah asked me and I explained I was already grown up and an engineer. So Lochlan asked Olivia what she wanted to be to which she actually replied "I want to build a snowman". I thought it was really funny! First of all that she answered at all and second her answer. I thought it was a pretty good goal for a 2 year old! Just wanted to share the moment. Hope all is well, with everyone. Mark is in London for the week, so I am flying solo. So far so good! L

Snow Day!!!

2010-01-07T01:26:00.001-08:00

Today is our second snow day in a row! Unheard of around here. Lochlan has had only one day back to school and now 2 off. The kids have been uber excited. I think Lochlan would live outside in it if he could. He loves to make snow balls. Miah just had to make a snow man and everyone enjoyed eating it! Here are some pics from the last couple days and a few others.

Christmas English Style

2009-12-28T07:41:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas Eve and Day despite some challenges. By challenges I mean, Tonsilitis, ear infections, full body rash (chicken pox? the doctor thought so), conjunctivitis, nits (yes I mean Lice) and of course the good old seasonal flu/cold. Who thought you could pack so much into one week:) Anyway, despite all that we thoroughly enjoyed our last Christmas in England.

Christmas Eve the kids and I walked downtown with our buggy (wagon) and collected our turkey from the butcher(Olivia in the back, turkey in the front), Mark "manned up" as our friends like to say and made his Ukranian Christmas Eve meal even though he could barely swallow it, we spread reindeer food on the lawn (compliments of Auntie Heather), put out cookies, "hot chocolate milk" and carrots for Santa and the reindeer and opened a few gifts. Lochlan even heard reindeer on the roof:)

Christmas day we opened presents, went to mass where Lochlan read a prayer (very confidently) and the kids sang a new Christmas song. Miah stood shyly with her finger in her mouth, but was very brave going up;) We then played with toys and finished with English Christmas dinner, which means we added sausage stuffing, pigs in a blanket (sausages wrapped in bacon), Christmas crackers and Christmas pudding with Brandy Butter alight to the regular fair.

Hope you all had and are having a wonderful Christmas holiday! All the best as we look towards 2010! L and the gang

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

2009-12-14T09:29:00.000-08:00

No it hasn't snowed here. Although we have had sub zero temperatures and it called for snow on Thurs. Well, it did...now it's calling for rain. Ah well, next year! We had loads of Christmas activity this past week and bought and decorated our tree this weekend. One of the highlights was Lochlan's Christmas play. It was too cute! Lochlan did a fabulous job and we all throughly enjoyed it. The girls even sat through it all.
Loc and Miah had their swimming parties and Olivia had a Christmas party at her new playgroup. Mark went out for a "Christmas curry" on Tues and served dinner to the junior ratings as is the tradition on Wed. I went out with Mandy after Mark got home on Wed. to catch up. After picking up our tree and wreaths we went to a friends place (Tracey and Bill's) for dinner and some hot tub action Friday night. Sat. we decorated our tree and Sunday the kids had another party (Lochlan actually had two at the same time so missed one). So between all the Christmas activities and the addition of our tree and wreaths, it definitely seems like Christmas around here. Hope you are all in the Christmas spirit too! Mark would just like to note that he went surfing the day we picked out our tree. Not likely to do that when we return! L

Happy Birthday Mark!

2009-12-08T12:08:00.000-08:00

December 4th was Mark's birthday. He had cake, presents and a relaxing day. The next evening we went out to celebrate at a place called Country Skittles. Mark has been wanting to go there for a while to try it. Skittles are bowling and they have three lanes there. They also have a restaurant, bar, games room and board games to play while you wait for your meal. I'm not sure who had more fun Mark or the kids! L

Two Years Old!

2009-12-08T11:42:00.001-08:00

Olivia turned 2 on November 28th. As we already had a party when Grandma and Grandpa were here, we had a melow day and some leftover (frozen) cake. What to say about our Olivia. She's 2 going on 20. She talks a mile a minute, tries everything her siblings do and accomplishes most of it and absolutely will not be ignored, even if it involves screaming...which it usually does. She doesn't sleep much, although sleeps well at night unless she has napped then we have an early wake up call. One morning it was 4:30 am ... for the day. She's cheeky, cute and knows it. One of her favourite sayings is NO WAY. She's still small weighing about 24 pounds. She likes Dora and loves the park. She adores her siblings and wants to do everything they do. She's our blond haired blue eyed bombshell! Here she is: L

Travel, Friends and Christmas Tree Lighting

2009-12-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

A couple days after Mark's parents left we headed to London, actually, Surrey, just outside, for the weekend. We stayed with our friends the Howe's (Neil and Justine) and had a great time. They have a little girl Ellie who used to be in Lochlan's class and a little boy Owen who is Miah's age. After a melow Friday night we headed into the Natural History Museum in London on Sat. I had no idea it was so huge. It had real dinosaur bones (whole dinosaurs), a space area, different mammals, etc. The kids loved it, except for Olivia who slept through almost the entire thing. I was really surprised at how interested Miah was, I thought she might be too young. Anyway, we headed back, put the kids to bed and had some adult fun. A really nice diner compliments of Neil and some Wii action. Turns out I'm not so shabby in the Wii sports. The kids had a blast and the adults too.

November 27th was the annual Tree Lighting here in Helston. For a little rural town they do a pretty good job. Live music (drums and singing), stall with food, candy and games. Even rides and fireworks. The kids had hot chocolate, a ride and loads of fun. It was quite nice. Lochlan and Miah were even in the West Briton (local paper) in a picture with a couple of buddies. Here are pics. The ones from the museum are a bit blurry as they're taken with the

video cam. L

GO RIDERS!!!

2009-11-29T03:08:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone,

The big game is tonight, but since it would start at 11:30 p.m., we are going to watch it with some Canadian friends tomorrow. Please, please do not call us between the end of the grey cup and bed-time (your time) Monday.

GO Riders!!!

Grandma And Grandpa Come to Visit

2009-11-26T11:43:00.000-08:00

Mark's parents came to visit us for two weeks. We had pretty good weather and a great visit. The kids loved having Grandma and Grandpa around! They couldn't wait to take them to all their activities. As it was their last visit to Cornwall we did a bit more touring including Heligan Gardens, a walk to Looe Bar and Kynance cove, a last visit to Porthleven and their favourite pub there. Grandma kept the kids busy baking and Grandpa and Olivia bonded while mowing the lawn and playing football (soccer). Needless to say the kids are sad their gone. We also got a sitter one night and went to dinner to a newer place down the road for some adult time.

We had some celebrating to do as Susan had a birthday while she was here. Won't say how old but you might be able to figure it out from the pictures:) We also had an early party for Olivia as Grandma and Grandpa were here. All in all a good time. Oh and the girls owned the boys at cards! Here are some pics. L

Halloween and Half Term

2009-11-02T03:45:00.000-08:00

Last week as Mark mentioned was half term (kind of like March break) here so I had all three kids home for the week. It was nice to have a break from the regular routine. The weather didn't cooperate so I had to get creative in my entertainment. We searched for leaves and nuts (in the rain), made pumpkin muffins, made leaf imprints with paints once the leaves dried, rode our bikes between showers and went to the duck pond amongst other things. Nothing fancy but it kept everyone busy.

Our last Halloween in England was the quietest yet. We usually have loads of children but only had about 40 this year. However there were more houses that participated overall so the kids had a great time. Olivia was surprisingly interested. She caught on quite quickly even saying trick or treat. Of course she also managed to dip into her candy before we hit home. Here are some pics from the last week and of our bat, ladybird and Angelina ballerina. L

Surf's Up

2009-10-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Today was a great day... we are definitely getting wimpy and used to the warm weather in Cornwall (20 C today). I made the most of it and managed to get a few hours of surfing in.

It is half term, i.e. the kids are out of school all week so Laura is super busy. Opposite for me... since almost everyone at work took this week off, things are super slow.We are looking forward to Grandma and Grandpa Kotzer coming out next week!

Don't forget to ring Grandpa tomorrow as he turns 61, and I won't say how old Grandma will be when she is here in England, but you can phone us at home at (dial this exactly) 011 44 1326 560 423.

The only sad part about their visit is that they will probably be the last Canadians to visit us out here... there is still time! Come on out!

Our good friends Justine and Neil moved away this week, so it was a bit sad. They have 2 kids (Ellie and Owen) who are the same ages as Lochlan and Miah. They moved out towards Surrey (about 5 hour drive), so we hope to get down there before Christmas if we can.

Hope you all are well.

BTW, the convertible isn't mine, just a loaner as my car was being serviced that day. Too bad... it was a lot of fun.

Give Jason Mraz a Listen

2009-10-09T10:43:00.001-07:00

I like Mraz... maybe you will too after this...

Ciao,

Mark

Sunday Afternoon

2009-10-04T06:40:00.000-07:00

We decided to take Maggie for a walk on the beach as she is now allowed again (dogs are banned from many beaches here Easter through Oct. 1st). We went to a beach that is not far, but we had never been to called Kynance cove. Boy have we been missing out. It had lots of caves and cliffs and rocks. It was really quite cool. Rather than that just a bit of cleaning and organizing. I've decided to clear out before our move next year and I've started with the baby stuff. Wow it's amazing the stuff those little farts require or at least acquire. Here's a couple of pics of Mags and kiddies. L

Fall Activities

2009-10-01T02:16:00.000-07:00

Well Sept has come and gone, hard to believe. Into the next school year and the kids seem to have changed so much.

Olivia grew up overnight. The third week of Aug. she went into a bed, got rid of her soother, the baby gates were removed (they had been redundant for a while)and she pooped in the toilet. Woah what happen to my baby? She has really grown and talks a lot. She's cheeky, loves to climb and has to dress, get into the car, wipe her face all by herself, which was a favourite saying of Miah's at this age. She's very independent just like her sister.

Miah started preschool this Sept and is really enjoying it. She goes three mornings a week, which gives me some one on one time with Olivia. She couldn't wait to be "dropped off " like Lochlan does. Although now that it's not a novelty there are some days she wants Mummy to stay. She has continued with her gymnastics which she now does on her own. She even has her own leotard (body suit) - too cute. She has also started swimming lessons by herself and loves it. She feels like such a big girl and I'm happy that she is getting the time in the water.

Lochlan started year 1 and has so much more confidence this year. It's really great to see. He likes his teacher although not nearly as much as his one last year. He is also taking swimming lessons and playing soccer. Having fun at both.

Mark and I are anxiously awaiting any news of where we are heading next year. Although I'm not going to hold my breath as I think it will still be a while. We've had a pretty busy Sept. catching up with friends and getting back into the routine. We managed to take in a play at Minnack Theatre. It is an outdoor theatre in roman sort of style built into the rocks by the sea. Stunning. We went with our friends/neighbours Neil and Justine, ate pasties and drank champagne as is the tradition. We were a little frosty by the end of the production (Othello)but it was a great experience. Hope this all finds you well. L

Bath and Stonehenge

2009-09-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

On the way home we stayed in a English city called Bath. Bath is known for it's Georgian architecture and Roman Baths. What a fantastic city. I loved it! We visited the Abbey, saw the Royal Crescent, the Circus and Pulteney Bridge and did some shopping. As we were there the night before our eighth anniversary my parents offered to babysit yet again so we could have a night out. It was the nicest anniversary we've ever had and will be hard to top. We went to the spa for the twilight package which included access to the three pools fed by the water from the natural hot springs, four scented stream room, foot baths and a dinner/drink. We then toured the Roman baths at night and finished with dessert and a drink. Yee haw! Thanks Mom and Dad!

On the final stretch home we stopped at Stonehenge as it's not far from Bath. Below are some pictures with captions. This also ends the saga of my summer blogging. It has been one the best and busiest summers ever and we won't be soon to forget! L

The Highlands

2009-09-20T13:33:00.001-07:00

We next headed up to a tiny town called Contin in the Highlands. From there we did trips to Ullapool and Isle of Skye and generally just enjoyed the beauty of the area. We also took the kids to a water dome in Inverness for some fun. It is truly a beautiful untouched place. Although we were told we'd be rained out and devoured by midges, we had lovely weather and only saw midges once (teeny tiny flying bugs that bite). Mark and I were dying to camp but were not set up to do so. Simply fabulous. Here are some pics again with captions.

Edinburgh and Area

2009-09-20T13:06:00.000-07:00

The last week of July and the first week of August we drove up to Scotland for a holiday with my parents. We first stayed in a self catering place in Edinburgh. We visited Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh Castle, shopped the Royal Mile, did a "haunted" night tour of the vaults (areas underground that poor people ended up sleeping/living), took a day trip to some of the surrounding sites and of course took the kids to a place called Almond Valley which was fabulous for kiddies. Here are some pics. I have captioned some of the pictures again in the album. L

The Magic Porridge Pot

2009-09-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

Brought to you by Lochlan...

London

2009-09-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

After the wedding Mark and I flew to London. We rode the London Eye, toured West Minister Abbey, Tower of London, saw a couple of shows and attended a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. Although we didn't meet the Queen she was only 10 ft from us, we toured the gardens not usually open to the public and were served afternoon tea (sandwiches,cakes and of course tea). A truly unique and wonderful experience. Here are some pictures, unfortunately none of the tea as no cameras were allowed.

Dan and Victoria's Wedding

2009-09-07T03:08:00.000-07:00

A week after my sister's wedding we were lucky enough to attend the wedding of a longtime friend of Mark's. Dan's wife is Swedish so that is where the wedding was held. My Mom and Dad were nice/brave enough to watch our children so we went sans kids. We spent our first day/night in Stockholm and then headed to Lovstabruk where the wedding was held. We then had one more day of touring before our plane left that night. A great weekend! It was really cool to take part in a Swedish wedding and everyone was extremely friendly and spoke great English. Here are some photos, I put some captions below some of the pictures so that you would know what your looking at, however they don't show on the slide show, just in the album. It kind of reminded us of Canada (the land in the rural areas).

The Wedding

2009-08-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

Well the weather was crap (poured all day) but the wedding was lovely. Lochlan was a star ring bearer and Miah was a bit shy (to say the least) and although she did throw all her petals, I'm pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be once she sat down. Glenda and Paul looked fab and were glowing (like you do when your first married). The meal was awesome and we had a mini dance afterwards. There was even entertainment for the kids. All in all a good time for everyone. Here is a load of photos for your perusal.

Pre -Wedding

2009-08-19T12:35:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know my sister was married here on July 11th.

On Wed. the 8th the rest of my family including the bride and groom arrived and Lochlan also had his first sports day at school. He did very well, and had a lot of fun. That night I held a pamper party as a stagette for my sister at a friends house. It was a surprise theme with massage and wine/chocolate/cheese tastings. The theme: to max and relax, before the big day.

On Friday the 10th there was the traditional rehearsal and Mark and I hosted the rehersal dinner in our garden. It poured but thanks to a tent we rented, everyone stayed nice and dry. We had traditional English fair and enough drinks to float anyone who hadn't already drowned in the rain.

Here's pics from the events leading up to the wedding:

Lochlan's Birthday

2009-08-18T07:59:00.000-07:00

We're back! I'm going to try catch up and blog about the last six weeks. They've been jam packed so it'll take me a while but I will get there eventually.

Lochlan turned five on July 5th. He was SOOOO excited about his birthday this year, not sure why. We decided to do it up big and .... not in the house. So we had 28 kids and a batman theme, we made our goodie bags , had entertainment and face painting. It went surprisingly smooth (thanks to the help of Auntie Heather and Uncle Jeff) and Lochlan had a fabulous time. He was really chuffed because his big cousins Emily and Sarah could be there too. Here is our big little man on his big day.

What's New?

2009-07-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

I thought I should update before things go a little crazy here which will start in about 2 days. What's new? Well Father's Day was busy as I had to count collection and Mark volunteered at the Motor Show (it's a big fundraiser for Lochlan's school). So it included church, smoked salmon eggs benny, the Motor Show (visiting and working) and a BBQ in the garden. It was a nice sunny day and I think over all Mark had a good day.

I went on a beginner surfing course this past weekend and although the conditions weren't great, I had a lot of fun and even caught some waves.

The girls both had their first hair cut on Tuesday, Miah at 3 and Olivia at 19 mos. Funny thing is Olivia's hair is already thicker than Miah's.

Canada Day was hot and humid here. The kids and I donned our red and white. I made over sixty pancakes and took them into Lochlan's class with maple syrup, flags and a book about Canada. It was fantastic to see all these little brit kids waving the Canadian flag. A bunch of them even thanked me today so I think they enjoyed their little bit of Canadian culture.

Rather than that we are preparing for Lochlan's birthday and my sister's upcoming wedding. My brother and family have already arrived in London and the rest of my family arrives at our house next Wed. That'll make fourteen of us here. I'm getting excited and it is going to be action packed week. Lochlan has two more weeks of school and the little man already has plans for a sleepover at a friends for summer holidays. We've met his new teacher and he is excited about going into year one. So that is the scoop here. Happy Holidaying! L

More surfing stuffer

2009-06-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

I am heading out to Praa Sands this evening in the hopes of catching a few waves. I thought I was doing alright after surfing a year, but then I saw this video... I still have some work to do!!

Ciao! M

My biggest wave yet

2009-06-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hey all... I had a great time last Thursday... there was a hurricane swell and some seriously big waves off Godrevy... a buddy of mine with a Ski-doo came out with us and towed us into some of the bigger ones. It was awesome! My other buddy Keith happened to be out on a training exercise with the Merlin, saw us, and grabbed this video of my last ride of the day...

Hope this finds you well,

M

Summer Stuff

2009-06-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that we are only a few weeks away from Glenda and Paul's wedding... not sure if all of the "i's" are dotted, but we received a pretty hefty booze order on Friday so if nothing else we will be well lubricated. We had a pretty mellow weekend... a bit of gardening, some ice cream at Coverack, but nothing particularly exciting. I hope the sun keeps shining... we have already hit the beach more this summer than we had in the entirety of last year. Hope this finds you all well. M

My wife is hot!

2009-06-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I am by nature a generous person, so I felt obliged to share a few shots of my gorgeous wife... try not to drool all over yourselves!!!

Jason Mraz

2009-06-11T23:19:00.000-07:00

Hey all...

Life out in Cornwall is great... a bit rainy this morning, but we have actually been pretty lucky so far. I am off to French lessons this morning (yep, French lessons in Cornwall!), and for some reason I thought of a popular artist out here. His name is Jason Mraz and if you want to hear some of his stuff, go to the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYhrYHmUPn0

Ciao,

Mark

Sweden exposed... Part II

2009-06-11T06:58:00.000-07:00

If you liked the last one, you will like this one too...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 2

thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Newt Gingrich Unedited Interview

Mark

Sweden exposed...

2009-06-10T10:04:00.000-07:00

My old buddy from Lanigan is getting married out in Sweden, and we are really looking forward to going to the wedding. Dan took the time to prepare us for what we would see... just when thought Sweden was an innocent country...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 1

thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Newt Gingrich Unedited Interview

Ciao!

M

Why Surfing is Cool

2009-05-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

Here is how they do it in Ireland... I enjoyed this and hope you will too.

Sorry, had to remove the video because it wasn't playing properly. If you haven't had a look at it yet, I highly recommend it, and you can still see it at:

http://www.relentlessenergy.com/films/view/powers-of-three

Ciao! Mark

Happy Mother's Day Canada!

2009-05-10T12:46:00.000-07:00

I hope all you mother's had a wonderful day! I had to date the best Mother's Day yet. We went to Sennen which is about 35 mins from here for the first time today. It has a beautiful beach and a beach side cafe over looking the water. After a nice lunch the kids and I played in the water and got soaked. We had to strip the kids to nothing to get them into the car but we had so much fun! After that we came home, played in the garden and had a great steak dinner compliments of Chef Marky. The day ended with a bath (for the kids of course) which included swimming hats Lochlan found and promptly shared. Here are some pictures of our day. I've also included a couple of Miah on her new bike and her during her pedicure earlier this week.

Cheers L

Beach Day!!!

2009-05-02T07:23:00.001-07:00

Today was a gorgeous day, so we decided to head out to the beach. The water was cold but that didn't stop the kids from getting good and soaked. Olivia isn't quite sure if she like the surf or not, but she had a great time in the sand. Had a a nice lunch, and now I guess I better get the lawn mowed while the sun is still shining. Long weekend here, so we will just be haning out. Hope this finds you all well... M

Happy 3rd Birthday Miah!

2009-05-01T00:28:00.000-07:00

OK so her birthday was actually the April 22 but I've been a bit slack in blogging. As her birthday landed on a Wednesday we had a picnic at the duck pond and had cupcakes instead of a birthday cake. The weather cooperated and the kids had a great time. We then had a birthday party for her on Sat. It was a princess theme so the kids all made their own crowns, played pin the crown on the princess and pass the parcel. Followed by food and cake and everyone was happy.

Miah has started what I call the pink princess phase, which every little girl I've known goes through. The more frilly/sparkly the better, she loves the princesses and Dora and of course her favourite colour is pink. She still loves to colour and draw and do crafts and loves the parc. She partakes in "mynastics", Todlins (singing and dancing) and swimming whenever I can get her there. She will start preschool in the fall a few mornings a week and it will be really good for her. She is quite social and enjoys constant activity. So here are some pictures of our little princess. I've also included some pictures from Easter holidays and a robins nest that a bird built in pushchair in the garage. Unfortunately a cat got it. L

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T10:20:00.000-07:00

We're enjoying a lovely Easter weekend in the sun. Lochlan has two weeks vacation from school and Mark has four days over the weekend. We headed to Trevarno gardens on Friday as Mark hasn't been there and the weather was nice. The kids enjoyed the walk, peacocks, reindeer and playground. Mark and I enjoyed the flowers and untouched beauty. Yesterday was a day around the house/yard getting a few things done. With playmates in the morning and a Birthday party for Miah to attend in the afternoon. Today we had an easter egg/basket hunt, church, egg wars and of course lots of chocolate. We spent the afternoon in the back garden enjoying the sun and ended with a ham dinner. All in all a relaxing weekend. Noting else too new, except Mark held a surprise birthday party a couple of weeks ago and truly spoiled me with gifts. It was a great time, even had Karaoke (dangerous!). Hope this finds you all well and enjoying your weekend.

Cheers L

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-18T10:51:00.001-07:00

Here is a little jig with the family, sent to us compliments of Ev:

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Spring is Here

2009-03-18T03:35:00.000-07:00

Spring has arrived here and we have had some truly beautiful weather lately. We have spent the entirety of the last four days outside, lovely! What's new... the kids planted some seeds and they grew so well that I had to put them in planters as it is just a bit soon to put them in the ground yet. Lochlan had Red Nose Day at school which is a big charity day here in the UK and got to sport his new spidey costume in class (very chuffed about that). Miah is enjoying her activities and we are going to "aqua shrimps" for the first time tomorrow. She still talks a mile a minute and has a new "Little Miss Chatterbox" plate and matching cup (hmmm wonder why I chose that one.) Olivia is my new disturber. She likes to climb and sports a new head injury every few days. She had three purple lumps in a row across her forehead at one point and I figured child services were on their way. She also likes to steal from her brother and sister and has been caught pushing a 2 year old boy and making him cry(he did take her toy...she was just reclaiming it.) Olivia is the new owner of a "Little Miss Naughty" plate and cup. Mark and I are enjoying the weather and clearing up the garden. Mark is getting some more surfing in and has acquired a new board(he'd gladly tell you all about it). I am enjoying running outside again as the weather has been so nice and the scenery here is so beautiful. Here are some pics of the kids below. You may see some similarities between sisters:) I've included a couple of pictures of the kids sleeping as I truly think there is nothing like a sleeping angel. Note Lochlan's newly acquired oversized dog. He slept with this dog snuggling him like that most of the night!

Snow Men and Valentines

2009-02-16T00:38:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines! We spent a romantic(?)day for five. Lochlan and Miah made valentine hearts and had a fancy dress (ie. dress up) birthday party to attend. We then had a meat, cheese and chocolate fondue. The kids loved it. I've also included a couple of pictures of the mini snow man we made when we had snow. I think we used most of the snow in the front yard. Lochlan had a snow day from school that day! Also a pic from the Eden project which we visited last weekend. L

Ukrainian Christmas

2009-02-09T01:09:00.000-08:00

We celebrated a belated Ukrainian Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Kotzer upon our return. They arrived here only two hours after us and were able to spend a week and a half with us before Grandpa had to return to his new job. We had a great visit and it really was Christmas all over again! Grandma did some baking and attended "mynastics" with Miah while Grandpa built Meccano with Lochlan. I think Olivia just kept them amused as she ran for the stairs every time the gate opened. Grandma and Grandpa also toured St. Michael's Mount as it was one of the few things they missed when here last time. Here's some pictures of our time together.

Christmas in Canada

2009-02-09T00:21:00.000-08:00

We headed to Nova Scotia on the 14th Dec. for Christmas. It was much anticipated as it had been 18 mos. since we'd seen my parents or my brother's family. It was also the first time they met Olivia. My entire family met us at the airport with welcome signs and balloons for the kids. It was great! My sister put on a nice spread back at her house and then it was off to Nanny and Grampy's. We had LOTS of snow and a white Christmas, exactly what we ordered. The kids had a wonderful time with their cousins and Mark and I had some adult time at my brother's Christmas party. All in all a wonderful Christmas. Here are... a lot of pictures.

Let it Snow...

2009-02-02T13:01:00.000-08:00

Yes we are still in England... It snowed here!!! First time in 10 years! A few photos to prove it.

Bye!

Birthdays, Plays and Christmas Markets

2009-02-02T01:02:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone! I know a little late considering it's already Feb. but better late than never. I'm a little behind on the blogging so I'm going to try and do a bit of catch up.

Dec. was a busy month for us(isn't for everyone?), Mark turned 33, Lochlan was in his first Christmas school production and of course the usually parties and decorating. We had a quiet family celebration for Mark's bday. Lochlan helped me make his cake (one of the few that will cook in this oven)and we had a scallop dinner. Lochlan did great at his performances (he was a shepherd)! He really has come a long way. Our shy little boy sang and did actions and even smiled. It was really cute to see, I was a proud Mommy. Here are some pics below.

I also went on a trip to Belgium, the Nertherlands and Germany to see the Christmas markets. I went with Mandy (another Canadian down the street). It was fab! We stayed in Valkenburg, Netherlands and did day trips to the other places visiting Brugge, Belgium on the way home. My favourite markets were probably German: Monschau and Aachen, but I would love to go back and visit Brugge, what a beautiful medieval city. Maastricht, Netherlands had great shopping. Valkenburg (where we stayed) had two Christmas markets in caves with displays which depicted a story about elves which they gave you when you entered. Neat, but I didn't find the products nearly as nice. Valkenburg also had a spa (with mulitple pools - not hot mind you) and lots of restaurants/stalls with Deutsch food. On my trip I also discovered Kriek, cherry beer (Belgium) - yummy! Overall a fantastic experience and lots of fun! Kudos to Mark as well as he had the three kids on his own (for the first time)for 5 days and two out of three ended up getting sick. Thanks sweetie!
(To see my comments go into the album by double clicking on the pictures.)

Shopping, online

2008-12-08T13:55:00.001-08:00

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!

2008-12-07T07:52:00.000-08:00

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?)

2008-11-21T08:27:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-05T03:07:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-05T02:18:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-10T12:04:00.000-07:00

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

Jimmy Visits

2008-10-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-04T07:15:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-03T06:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-20T06:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-20T06:04:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-19T11:52:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-06T02:28:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-01T01:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-26T12:14:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-07-09T06:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-07-05T00:19:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-07-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-01T05:41:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-17T01:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-18T02:07:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-18T01:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-30T05:21:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-04-23T07:09:00.000-07:00

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?)

2008-04-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-27T06:36:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-25T04:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-03-14T13:17:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-08T02:35:00.000-08:00

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)

2008-03-02T12:19:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-02-29T11:17:00.001-08:00

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