What we appreciate

On the flight back from England, Sebastian and I sat together and listed all of the memorable moments of our 11 day trip. It was a long list of 33. That evening, each family member selected his or her personal top 5, plus 2 top meals. As parents, we found it helped the children reflect on what they had experienced and appreciate what people had 'made happen' for them.

Hopefully, I will be able to show you more photos over the coming week, but this shot is of one of the 'winning' meals - lunch with the Brighton cousins at their favourite French bistro. (The other meal was the "big Norfolk breakfast" in Aunt Dorothy & Uncle Peter's comfy kitchen, where the spread and company were mighty fine).

Dessert was so good that the rest of us didn't even get a taste.

A few snaps of our English summer holiday

And summer it was, with some pretty lovely weather - and great friends and family who took time off to be with us.

Most of the snaps were taken on the book researcher/writer's fancy new camera but here are 2 outings that I had captured.

The rollercoaster - actually, it was a VERY blowy day out to the South Downs on an open top doubledecker

Hands up for old friends - in this case, my boarding school roommate, Emma, and her 2 delightful poppets

Sophie in the water maze at Hever Castle

The goal of the maze was to get to this tower - dry

because some stepping stones activate fountains

that drench you!

But then again, the lesson is that in a life well-spent, the journey is the destination.

Some oldies but goodies (part 2)

We are still away, so here are some more; this set is from our trip to BC in May and time with the "A Team" cousins. BC-re-bound in the Summer of 2014!!

There is no cuter smile in the world than this child of mine.

happy time with dear ones

A lovely snap with Nana

and another with Gramps. I can't believe these weren't made into billboards yet.

Hanging with the cousins

Never met a piece of bacon the duo don't like

Messin' about Egyptian style

5 little monkeys

Tree-climbing

Looking toward the future (once the swooping bangs were out of the way)

Reading is a ray of light

My ray of light

Some oldies but goodies (part 1)

After Grandparent Camp 2013, we got access to G&L's camera and found some sweet snaps to share from earlier on. While we are away in the UK for 10 days, I thought I would share them. First up, Christmas 2012.

Meeting Taryn

Fantastic breakfast as usual

Just missing one fine fellow

All dressed up and somewhere to go (Old Mill Inn)

Two can play at that game

Boxing Day table (last one at Atkins)

One of my favourites of the year

All dressed up to head into the kitchen for the Boxing Night feast

Medieval day in the village (2013)

One of the excitements of the day is the pony rides through the village - with which Sebastian is old enough to assist 

Leading a young rider right past our house

Taking his sister right by our front door

She seemed pretty thrilled

Some of the medieval (?) dancers

A medieval marriage ceremony

Turns out that you could volunteer to get "hitched"

It's that time of year

It's the annual Harry Potter family read.
This year it is book 3, the Prisoner of Azkaban.
The kids keep trying to sneak it away and read ahead.

But the even bigger news is that they have just received VERY early birthday presents from their Nana & Gramps of mini e-readers. I don't expect they will have time to talk to me again until next month. Perhaps by then we will have figured out how to borrow books from the Toronto Public library.

Home again

I guess I hadn't actually updated the blog with the news that the fellas returned home. A day early in fact but mighty pleased with themselves for doing the whole trip without any major hitches and getting home by public transport (see photo of the daily bus).

Just the paddles; the canoe was stashed at the end point where we collected it with the car 3 days later

Someone was happy to see her dad

So the next day we went out for a celebratory meal

More light meals

Fresh, quick to make, delicious on the tongue and easy on the tummy.

Views from the house

Full moon over the village

View from my desk

Start your day right

My view across the breakfast table

Actually, it's been more like this recently

But to be fair, this has been her view

Sophie's perspective

What Sophie wishes I did more of

What Sophie wishes I did less of

Pulling out all the stops

By day 12 of solo parenting, trying to work with no childcare, and living in a small village when I don't drive, I am running out of ideas. So far I have:

• hosted a sleepover
• given the lass a pedicure, complete with nail polish
• fed her lots of pastries and some bonbons
• ordered books on line
• played dog, and school field trip to the potter's, and take care of baby
• shared my bed too many times to count...

Amazon to the rescue

sleepover

morning treats

Truth is she has been wonderfully easy-going 98% of the time

berry helpful

 It looks like 2 days to go