Uncle E & Helena

Helena & Benjamin loved having people around that they knew!  It was particularly fun to have Uncle E here without his kids, as it meant that our kids wanted to interact with him rather than their cousins, and he was more available to interact with them!  Helena particularly took advantage by walking & talking with him wherever we went.  They even shared fish & chips at a restaurant!

Blenheim Palace

At the end of October, we had our first visitors and visited our first British tourist site.

As there's no direct bus route from our village to the palace, our day started off with a 25-minute walk on a public footpath.  

 

Helena was thrilled to be at a real-life palace. 

 The palace was built in the early 1700s.  The land and 240,000 pounds were given to the first Duke of Marlborough as a gift from Queen Anne, because he had led the victorious Battle of Blenheim.  By the time the seventh duke was in charge, all of the money was gone and it was hard to get more, as dukes were not allowed to work.  He sold all the books in the huge library. After the ninth Duke of Marlborough married a Consuelo Vanderbilt and thus her money, he bought books by the yard in order to refill the library.  Can you imagine buying books by the yard?

  

It was the most gorgeous day we've had in the U.K., so exploring the neighboring village and the Pleasure Gardens of the palace was most enjoyable!

The kids were thrilled to take a train to the gardens.  Here's Benjamin waiting for the train to start!

By the time we were walking back home on the public footpath, the fog was settling back in.

The meaning of hockey coffee

What is Benjamin referring to when he asks for a hockey coffee?

A walkie talkie!

And what about a hooga cake?

A scuba tank!

It's a lot of fun to play Legos with him.

Benjamin's Latest Word

Benj is talking more and more all the time.  It's so much fun.  Here's his latest word:

"hockey coffee"

Anybody want to make a guess for what it means?

(It has nothing to do with this picture.)

Hint #2 - It has nothing to do with a drink, so Auntie Katie, it's not hot chocolate.

Hint #3 - He was looking for something in the pile of LEGOs... 

Guy Fawkes Day

November 5th is Guy Fawkes Day, also known as Bonfire Night.  There are firework displays and basically just a fun time, all because of a man called Guy Fawkes and a number of other Catholics back in 1605.  When James I, a Protestant, became king in 1605, a small number of Catholics protested by planning on blowing up the Houses of Parliament.  Luckily an anonymous letter was sent, giving a bit of warning, and the plan was foiled.  Guy Fawkes is the famous protester, as he was found with the barrels of explosives, waiting to light the fuse, when the cellar was checked.

Nowadays it's referred to as Bonfire Night, when there are firework displays and basically just a fun time for all. Unfortunately the fireworks have been canceled in our village tonight due to bad weather, so we'll go to a different display this weekend.

Helena has been learning about fireworks and "Guy Forks" all week.  Here's her rendition of the story:

Walking Paths

One thing that's fun about being a pedestrian in England is that there are always paths off the roads that are just begging to be taken.  Sometimes we take one and then have to take it back as we have no idea where it leads, but other times we've found great shortcuts and found nice new places to walk.  Here's Helena on on path that we use quite frequently: 

Since the path is so autumn-y, I can't help but post another autumn pic.  We have been really enjoying the colors this fall, as they're so much more plentiful than they were in downtown Toronto!

Shutting the Door

We're definitely committing all kinds of social faux pas every day without knowing it, but there was one social action different from our North American one that we noticed from day one.  Shutting the door when you leave someone's house - you don't do it here!  When you walk out of someone's house, you do not shut the door behind you.  It doesn't seem to matter who you are, whether a friend or a furniture deliverer, you just don't do it.  You let the owner of the home shut the door, even if they're not at the door with you.

We had observed this action but then I heard a friend tell a story.  She was saying how one morning the kids were going absolutely crazy and she just had to leave to go to work.  Her husband told her to just go and so she walked out CLOSING THE DOOR BEHIND HER.

Laundry

John commented this morning that our house is very British.  When I asked why, he said, "Because we have towels hanging everywhere!"

It's true - as soon as we're done with breakfast, we turn off the extra radiator and throw a wet towel on it to help it dry.  If the sun comes out and I'm not planning on doing laundry that day, the towels get put on the line to help them dry and to just air them out.  After the kids take a bath at night, their towels get hung on the railing upstairs to dry out.  Helena commented on the kitchen stinking a couple days ago.  Why was it stinky?  I'd washed towels but it was raining so they were hung up in the kitchen.  There's just nothing like the smell of wet towels - even clean ones!

But I don't really mind.  I'm just loving having a washing machine right in our house.  It's so nice not having to take at least 6 elevator rides to do laundry!  Plus, I have the greatest helper to hang up the socks.

Harvest

Canadian Thanksgiving was last week, American Thanksgiving is next month, but we've been celebrating Harvest for the last three weeks.  Harvest was originally a time to celebrate all the food that had been harvested but since the agricultural side of the country is much smaller than it used to be, it's mostly a time to be thankful for the food we have and to contribute food to those who may be in need.

Helena's school celebrated it by having an assembly to see all the food the students had contributed and to discuss where it was going to go.  The above photo was taken when Helena took her mandarin oranges and spaghetti sauce up - it's actually posted with a bunch of other Harvest photos in the entrance of the school. We've now celebrated it at two different churches, where we had a typical service about being thankful but many many flowers. Harvest is seen as one of the 3 big holidays for church flower arrangements (my friend the flower coordinator told me that!).



So we did our own Harvest activity, seen above.  We all took turns writing down things we are thankful for and then sticking them to our dining area wall.  I was amazed at how much our kids enjoyed it.  Can you guess which color was Benjamin's?

Helena and school

Helena loves school.  I'm having a hard time knowing what else to write!  She just loves it.  Every day she gets dressed in her school uniform and wears sturdy leather black shoes to school.  As soon as she enters her classroom she changes into her plimsolls, a pair of very simple black shoes.  Every time she goes outside, she changes her shoes.

She's been coming home and telling us about the different words that are used in her classroom than what we use at home: plaits instead of braids, pudding instead of ice cream, biscuits instead of cookies, swap over instead of switch, pants instead of underwear, trousers instead of pants, and bananas (said with a long a) rather than bananas (said with a short a).  She hasn't quite caught on to the idea of no school days yet, as every weekend day she has said something like, "You need to take me to school!  I'm really late!"

Livin' a British Life

Yes, you read that right.  We're livin' a British life because we are now in the United Kingdom.  This was not the plan when we drove away from Toronto.  We left thinking we'd be buying a house in St. Paul, Minnesota, John would be working, we'd be settling into our native country, and the kids and I would be home for one more year before school entered into our family's life.

The only thing that is true about our life now, 3 1/2 months later, is that John is working!  John was given a postdoc in Oxford, so our plans changed.  We are now enjoying life in a rented rowhouse, we're discovering new things every day about this country, and Helena is in school.

So the blog will continue - but now from Great Britain!

My Little Brother is Married!

So that's kind of old news - Rob has now been married for 3 months.  But the thought still surprises me.  How can my little brother be old enough to be married?

But he and Sarah just fit together in so many ways, and I'm so happy for both of them!

Helena & Benjamin were both in the wedding, and you couldn't have found a happier flowergirl!  Benjamin seemed to be doing well - until he noticed John wasn't walking down the aisle with him.  Then he was done.  Rob & Sarah had put ring pops on the ring bearers' pillows and in the flowergirls' baskets, and that kept Benjamin happy during the ceremony!

I just love family weddings.  And I love you, Rob & Sarah.

What a full summer we have had!

We left Toronto two and a half months ago now, and the summer has just flown by! 

 

John's brother allowed us to be introduced right back in American life by lending us his BIG truck for a few days.  A very fun yet funny re-introduction!

 

We celebrated the Fourth of July weekend with strawberries, and lots of backyard swimming! 

 

Then it was up to Bemidji to see everyone on my side and to celebrate my little brother's wedding.

There's just never enough play time with Uncle Rob!

We had our annual race around the track for a belated Father's day celebration.

Plus, we got to meet our new niece Avery and our new nephew Carson!

We stayed in Bemidji for a few weeks after everyone else had to go home, so there was time to ride bikes, 

cross the Mississippi River,

spend time with old friends,

make homemade ice cream, 

and swim in Lake Bemidji.

Then back down south for fun with John's fam!  We took walks with our babies,

had a lemonade and donut hole stand (1 donut hole = 5 dollars, 2 donut holes 25 cents!),

became good friends with cousin Mary Elise, 

read books,

spent a weekend at a cabin with Grandma and cousins,

cooked on campfires,

learned about hay bales

and farms,

 

acted like a good uncle should,

celebrated birthdays,

 

and painted.

 

Helena went down her first waterslide, 

and Benjamin had his first horse ride.

I also got to spend some extended time with my good friend Mandy - time with our families and without!

Then we've closed summer off by being back up in Bemidji, playing with a wubble, 

going on boat rides with friends, 

snuggling,

and meeting a real princess!

The summer definitely wasn't what we thought it was going to be, but it was great.  We were blessed to go on all kinds of boats - canoes, kayaks, a pontoon, a speedboat, a row boat, and a sailboat - and our kids really grew in confidence when swimming.  Benjamin's language development has grown by leaps and bounds this summer, and it was so fun to share that with the grandparents.  So much time with family was nice after being far away and then moving away again. It's been a summer that will definitely stick out in our memories.

Japanese Cheesecake

A new restaurant in Toronto that opened up at the end of March always has a line out the doors.  It's called Uncle Tetsu's Japanese Cheesecake, and as a lover of cheesecake, I really wanted to try it before we moved. 

Now Benjamin is up at 6:00 a.m. almost every day, so I figured I'd use that to my advantage, and have company while I waited in line. We went on a Sunday morning, and we still had to wait in line for 25 minutes. (They can only make 12 cheesecakes at a time, as they only have 3 small ovens.  But 25 minutes was nothing - from noon on the line-up is usually a couple hours long!)

The restaurant smelled divine, as it was like you were swimming in the wonderful aroma of cheesecake.  The cake itself has no crust and is extremely airy.  We had a few bites as soon as we got home, as it was still warm from the oven, and it was good warm. 

That night we ate the rest of it with friends, and we were all a bit underwhelmed.  It's only slightly sweet and not at all rich & decadent like a North American cheesecake would be.  Was it worth it to stand in line for 25 minutes?  Yes, for the joy of trying something new and knowing what the buzz is about!  Would I do it again? Sorry Uncle Tetsu, but no.