The roadtrip ... part 1

Our first stop was York ... we stayed at a bed and breakfast just outside the city, and very close to an outlet mall, which we had to stop in, of course. We only visited the Gap outlet where I picked up a few cute baby things, and some t-shirts for myself. We headed into York to visit York Minster, Clifford's Tower, and we walked around the ancient city walls. We only had one day here, so it was crammed sightseeing. York Minster was beautiful - and huge! Very hard to take a picture of the entire thing. As one of the most important cities in England, and an important base for holding and administering the north in the Middle Ages, York was the site for two of the castles William the Conqueror built in the years immediately following his conquest. Clifford's Tower is all that remains of the original castle, and was rebuilt in the 13th century when the old wooden tower had been destroyed.


York Minster is said to be the largest Gothic Cathedral north of the Alps. It also boasts the largest medieval stained glass window in the world! I know that might not sound interesting to all of you, but if you study stained glass techniques it is really easy to spot the differences from over the centuries. Medieval stained glass does look quite rudimentary when compared to more modern stuff ... anyway, I digress : ) Needless to say, the Cathedral was spectacular.




We then decided to walk part of the ancient city wall of York - something the 3 of us could do together. The wall was originally built in Roman times as a fortification, and York today has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England. (And LOTS of towns I've seen have at least some wall left!)


Nearby to York we found Scarborough Castle on the very east coast of England .. since Scarborough wasn't too far we decided to drive up there also so we could see the coast. (I sang 'are you going to Scarborough fair ... parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme' the whole way, much to Peter's delight). The Castle itself was mostly a ruin, but the view was amazing - and the nearby beach as well. There was something to be said for the wind, which at one point nearly knocked me over when I was putting on my hood and the wind decided to use it as a sail! Thank goodness Peter was nearby ...





After leaving the Castle we headed down the hill to take Fletch to the beach. Believe it or not Fletch has never been to a saltwater beach - we were very curious to see how he would react. But first, we got some yummy chips and gravy from a little, and very busy, roadside snack stand. Then it was beachtime - Fletch was in heaven! He loves the water anyway, so he ran right to it and laid in it, drank it etc. He didn't react to the saltwater taste like we thought he might ... but he did react to the waves coming toward him; once he noticed what was happening he sort of ran away from the waves and kept looking behind him to see if there were others !! Very funny! From there we headed back to our hotel for a good nights' sleep ...

Christmas 2007

Well, its been a very busy few weeks for us and I haven't had much time to update our blog. Now, I'm just into the procrastinating stage because there is so much to say and I don't know where to start! I have some time today because the packers and movers are here to clear out our house here in the UK. We will be flying home on Saturday ... well, 'home' as in Canada ... but we are heading to our new home in Cold Lake, Alberta. We are very excited about this transition and have been looking forward to it for a long time. We've come to terms with the fact that Cold Lake is a very small town and will take some adjusting to - but we have so many reasons to think that its going to be a great experience too: new house, new baby on the way, new church to make friends at, tons of outdoor activities practically on our doorstep, a new job for Peter that he is excited about and oh yeah - we get to be back in our own country!! Having a Wal-Mart less than 10 mins. away is a very exciting thought for me - and two Tim Hortons each within a 5 minute drive ; )

So, I'll start with telling you about our Christmas. We spent Christmas with our friends Dave & Kristy, their daughter Lily and dog Toby. We drove up to their place on Christmas Eve; we had a great time hanging out with them. On Christmas Eve we had Chinese fondue for dinner - very yummy. For dessert we had chocolate fondue with fruit - also very yummy. Lily didn't quite make it through the meal and fell asleep in her highchair. It was very funny watching her trying to stay awake and not managing that very well - it looked a little she was drunk! On Christmas day we had a nice big breakfast ... and then a second breakfast initiated by the still hungry pregnant ladies! (Kristy is just 2-3 weeks behind me in her 2nd pregnancy). Opening presents was fun, though it took a little longer thanks to a very inquisitive Lily - but it was fun watching her with all her new toys, and outfits.








We had a nice turkey dinner on Christmas Day, played boardgames, talked to family from home etc. We were a little sad to be away from family this year, but so thankful to have our friends here to spend the time with - it was perfect! It was also lots of fun to play with Lily and be around her ... gave us a glimpse into our very near future! On boxing day we went into the local mall and did some shopping, wandering around ... Dave & Kristy showed us some of the neat stuff in their town, such as an indoor ski hill. On the morning of the 27th we left the Chown's and started our road trip with Fletch - I will continue that adventure in a new posting or else this will be the longest post ever!

Team PM & tadpole