Introducing tadpole

Today was a great day for Peter & I! This morning we went in to the hospital for my first ultrasound. It was awesome to see our little baby up on that screen - we couldn't believe how clear it was and how easy it was to see the head, legs (which were moving all around), belly and facial features including eyes, nose, lips and ears! Even the mouth was moving, almost like the baby was chewing a piece of gum. And at one point its whole body jumped, kind of like it had a hiccup - it was so amazing and wonderful! Also, they determined that I am in fact 13 weeks, not 12 so the due date was pushed back a week to April 30/08. I always thought I was 13 weeks, I think the midwife had counted wrong or something. It has made me feel so much more anticipation about having the baby and being its mommy - I felt quite emotional when I saw it, which surprised me. I never thought I could feel that way until I actually 'met' the baby, but not true - we are so thankful for this amazing gift from God. Enjoy the pics! The ones of my 'belly' don't show much, since there is still not much to show! But, I thought I'd post them anyway for you all to see, there is a slight difference ; )




Team PM & tadpole

Last week & my birthday

Last week Peter was away in Toulouse and was supposed to spend Thursday night in Northern England. However, on the way back from Toulouse the plane's windscreen cracked and they had to make an emergency landing at Boscombe. So, he was home on Thursday instead of Friday. In the meantime, I decided to go north and stay with our friends Dave & Kristy for a few days. Fletch and I headed up there on Tuesday and planned to stay until Friday, but we came home one day early to see Peter. While in Milton Keynes Kristy took me to the American base for some good 'ol North American groceries! It was great! I got some 'real' peanut butter (not the oily goo the Brits call peanut butter), some KD, and a bunch of other great stuff. Its amazing how much I've taken little things for granted that its such a treat to have them again! They have a great place up there - complete with horses across the street! In the picture you can see Kristy, Lily (who is still very unsure of the horses) and Flynn.

On Saturday we celebrated my birthday by heading to Longleat for a drive through a safari park! It was a good time .. there were camels, zebras, giraffes, lions, tigers, Canadian wolves, monkeys (who crawled all over the car) etc. We then headed to Pizza Express for dinner ... I know that sounds like a really bad, fast food-ish type joint, but its actually more like a posh pizza parlour with all kinds of specialty pizzas. Oh, and the best part of my birthday was the chocolate chip pancakes Peter made me for breakfast - a tradition in our house .. and thanks to the American base this was possible! Yay Aunt Jemima! I also got a new silver, Fossil watch which was a good surprise. I had seen in it in the duty free shop while we were on our Cruise, I did not know that Peter had gone back to buy it for me - and he kept it a secret all this time .. he's so strong!







There's not much going on this week ... though now that I'm pretty much back to my normal energy I've been keeping busy cleaning and cooking and walking with Fletch. The weather here has been beautiful, sunny and crisp, usually about 10-12 degrees - I LOVE it! Tomorrow Peter & I head to the Salisbury hospital for my first ultrasound! We are really looking forward to this - we will hear our baby's heartbeat and hopefully be able to make out an image on the screen. Can't wait for that - I'll post again tomorrow to let you all know how it went : )

Team PM & tadpole

Lions, lemurs & bird-eating spiders

Yesterday Peter and I went to the Bristol Zoo. Its not very far from here, though we ended up taking what felt like a very roundabout way to get there thanks to Mapquest. Once there we were surprised to find the zoo in the middle of a boarding school campus ... it was kind of weird since all the zoos we've been to seem to be way out of the way of civilization. Once inside, it didn't feel at all cramped, and was a nice size zoo for a day visit - especially for a pregnant and therefore much slower and easily fatigued version of me!

The highlight of the day were definitely the seals! We got there just before feeding time and watched them show off for the crowd for about 20 minutes. They were swimming around really fast and sliding on and off rocks, and screeching and very much enjoying the attention.

The gorillas were also pretty impressive, as they usually are, simply due to their sheer size. We watched them being fed also; they were fed through a fenced window and a zookeeper was handing them food through the holes of the fence. There was a little shelf for the young gorilla, and the mother to crawl up on and sit on to eat. But the best was when, Jock, the big male (who must have weighed at least 500+ lbs.) came in for his food and decided to sit up on the shelf as well, though he was clearly WAY too big to fit there. He had to bend his neck and lean down a bit to be at the same level as the zookeeper - it was pretty entertaining.

The lions were also quite spectacular, mostly because we were able to get so close to them which I guess is one of the benefits of a small zoo. There was still a barrier, and a chain link fence between us, but I think that is the closest we've ever been able to get to a lion before. After the zoo we headed into downtown Bristol for dinner and then came home - it was a good day indeed ... needless to say I was in bed by 9:30 and fast asleep ; )





Aside from our adventures together, Peter has had yet another flying adventure to report about. On Thursday he flew in the Tornado, which is a Cold War swept-wing supersonic air interceptor (I didn't just know that, he is saying it to me as I type!) So, for the first time he went SUPERSONIC! This occurred about 80 miles off the west coast of England over the Atlantic Ocean. Now, for those of you who may not know ... supersonic means that they broke the sound barrier - otherwise known as travelling faster than the speed of sound! Pretty cool ... though he says it was a little anti-climactic because there was no sonic boom or any big acceleration, just the changing of the Mach number. However, I think its still something that he will always like to talk about ; )

That's it for us for now ... Peter is heading out of town this week, to France. I will be possibly heading back to Milton Keynes to spend a few days with our friends Dave & Kristy just to get out of the house. Hope you all have a good week!

Team PM & tadpole

A further Thanksgiving note ...

Hello all - we hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! We certainly did, though we were having so much fun that we have no pictures of us enjoying ourselves! We got to Milton Keynes around 4:30 on Saturday and turkey was served around 6:00. We had a really nice chat and revealed to our friends the big news - we are having a baby! I am now 10 weeks along, so we've got a ways to go yet ... but we've just told our families and want to help spread the word. The baby is due May 6/08 and we are really looking forward to our new little addition. Although, that being said, so far pregnancy hasn't really been that much fun ... I've been quite sick, and I apologize to all of you who I've lied to about having the 'flu' ... nope, it wasn't the flu! We have our first ultrasound on October 24th and we will be hearing the heartbeat for the first time and seeing our little baby (who will mostly look like a blob) on the screen - really looking forward to that.

So ... we will definitely keep you posted on the next few months and we hope everyone is nice and full of turkey and pumpkin pie ;)

Team PM

Happy Thanksgiving

A little early, but I wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We are looking forward to celebrating with our Canadian Forces friends who live in Milton Keynes, north of London. Tomorrow we'll be heading up to their house for dinner and then spending the night. Fletch, of course will be joining us - he and their dog, Toby are quite good buddies ; ) Should be a good time and of course, the food is something to look forward to, especially the pumpkin pie.

Nothing much else to say ... Peter is busy working away on his latest report - he's been putting in 12-14 hr days for over a week and I think he's about ready for it to be done with! As for me ... just hanging out and trying to make the best of the time here. I'm starting to get pretty excited for our new house .. I've been thinking about how I'll decorate it etc. and what its actually going to look like, since we didn't see it finished. Other than that, Fletch and I are keeping each other company and enjoying the sunny weather we've been having here. I'll post again once the weekend is over - hope you all have a great weekend with family and friends.

Team PM

Girls' visit

Well, as you know, I've been expecting and anticipating the visit of 4 of my Algonquin friends for months. The time finally came ... unfortunately the weekend at the Savoy got a little ruined, but just for me, because I was really sick. They had a good time and took lots of pictures - I was disappointed that I couldn't go, but don't think I would have had much fun anyway. But, following the weekend they came back to my place (I was feeling much better), and we started our week. The first day we headed to Bath, where I've been many times, but this time we did a Redbus tour which was something different. It was fun doing some of the same stuff again anyway - like the Roman Baths. AND, the weather was actually sunny - I don't think I've ever seen Bath in the sun!


On Wednesday we had a Salisbury day where we visited Mompesson House and tea room, and the girls did some shopping. Later in the afternoon we took the Salisbury Cathedral spire tour - this is something I've wanted to do for awhile ... it was insane! There were hundreds of steps to climb up - but that wasn't even the worst part. Plus, Malcolm, our tourguide had to be at least 75 years old, so we figured 'if he can do it, we should be able to'! The worst part were the teeny weeny, super narrow, steep and winding staircases leading up into the tower! I'm not usually afraid of heights, but this was almost too much, even for me. Our guide gave us lots of really interesting information and talked about how some of the trees used in the construction of the vaulted ceiling (which we saw from the opposite side) were 1000 years old! He also pointed out some of the medieval and later construction techniques that were used, such as wooden dowels rather than screws to hold the logs together. We got to go outside at the top of the tower and saw some fantastic views of Salisbury and the surrounding countryside.Very cool.


On Thursday we drove up toward Oxford to Blenheim Palace; this is the home, rather palace, that Winston Churchill was born in in 1874. We took in an exhibit on his life, and then took a tour of some parts of the home. It is still the official residence of the Duke of Marlborough, so people live there! Pretty amazing since it is said to be one of the finest palatial homes in Britain ... following the house tour we visited the expansive gardens. There were the pleasure gardens which included a maze, a butterfly house, a huge park for kids, mini putt etc. Also, the secret garden was a smaller garden featuring small streams, waterfalls, fountains and really pretty foliage. Apart from Melanie falling out of tree and scraping up her shoulder pretty bad, it was a good time - it was a very long day - we spent the WHOLE day there to get our 16.50 gbp worth, but lots of fun.



Friday morning we drove up to Old Wardour Castle where I sat and read while the girls took the audio tour (been there, done that) ... sadly, by the time we got back home I wasn't feeling well again :( We had to cancel our plans to visit Avebury and while I slept all afternoon the girls had a movie day and a UNO championship. On Saturday they trained into Cardiff, Wales and I took it easy - wish I could have gone though. Sunday was the day for Mel and Melissa to head home, and Jen and Giselle headed off on a backpacking adventure in Scotland.

So ... I sit here alone again! Peter is home tomorrow so its not been too bad - he's been away in Brauschweig (sp.?), Germany since last Sunday. We realized the other day on the phone that he only has 2 more trips until the end of the course! One short trip in October for a few days, which he says is a 'fun' trip, as opposed to a 'work' trip. Then, a long 2 week trip in November - that will be challenging for him and for me! But, after that he's pretty much done and by early December he'll be on a month long vacation before we return home to Canada - which in case I haven't mentioned before, I am starting to really look forward too (no offence England)! Also, the end of the girls week here also meant the end of visitors coming from home ... that just reminds me how fast the time is flying! So, as always, it was great to have the girls here and we had a lot of fun :)

Team PM

Peter's a 'knight'

Peter got back from Sweden on Saturday ... he had a great time, especially the day that he got to fly in the Gripen. The Gripen is a 4th generation fighter plane made by Saab in Sweden (yes, the same as Saab who make cars). This is apparently quite an incredible accomplishment since the population of Sweden is only 8 million. During the flight, they pulled 7g, which is nothing for this aircraft as it can pull up to 9.3g! The reason they weren't allowed to surpass 7g was because recently a guy had carried out an inadvertent ejection by pulling more than that!! Needless to say, I am glad that 7g was the maximum :)


Because he was priveleged to be one of the few people who get to fly in a Gripen (under 1000 have flown it) he automatically became a knight in the 'Order of the Gripen' ... this is some weird airforce/military tradition ... anyway, as part of the process Peter was required to write a poem about his flight in the Gripen and the pilot he flew with. Then, on Friday night there had a formal dinner (Peter wore his new suit) where each person had to read their poem, and get hit over the head with a small replica of the Gripen. He now has a certificate declaring his 'knighthood' and a picture of the ETPS group who went to Sweden to fly the plane; in the background is the plane itself and its vertical tail is even painted especially with the ETPS colors and logo! Anyway, it was a pretty good time for Peter, he even got to land the plane, which was very exciting (so I hear).


On Friday, the first of my friends arrives from Canada, and then on Saturday we are training in to London to meet the other 3. We are going to have a lot of fun, we'll be staying in the Savoy hotel in London which is a really posh, swanky place! Should be a good weekend - then the 5 of us will come back to Amesbury and the girls are staying for another week and a half - two weeks.

Keep you posted!

Team PM

My parents visit

My parents flew to England last Wednesday for a week long visit. On Thursday we went to Windsor Castle for the changing of the guard, and also to tour the main parts of the castle. We visited Bath on Friday, and for the first time in the many times I've been, it didn't rain! It was really busy though because it was the last week of school holidays, it took us quite awhile to get in and parked. Saturday was market day in Salisbury and then my mom and I went to the Cathedral and hit the shops in town (the boys went home and came back to meet us later). On Sunday they came to church with Peter and I; my Dad had been before so had met many of the people, but it was a first for my Mom. While at church, John, an older man who attends the church invited us to his home, Netherhampton House, for lunch on Monday. But first, Sunday afternoon we went to the New Forest for a picnic lunch - our lunch was interrupted by some wild pigs who were trying to check out our lunch! Peter had to chase them off with a stick! Finally they left, and we were able to eat in peace. Back to John - he is a retired antiques dealer who used to use Netherhampton House to display the antiques he sold. Since retiring many of the rooms are empty, but are filled with paintings that he does in his spare time. So, on Monday at noon we headed there for lunch; John showed us around the extensive gardens and property which included a magnolia tree and a fig tree. Lunch was really good - John has a cook who comes 3 times a week to prepare his food ... she was a good cook! We sat and talked for a long time after lunch, and then once we left I took my parents up to Old Wardour Castle. It was a really sunny day and nice for exploring the castle and grounds. On Tuesday we headed to Bournemouth for the day. It was really warm and sunny out and we sat on the pier and had tea ... walked down the beach a bit, and then had lunch and did some shopping. It was a nice week, and the weather was fairly warm to my Dad's great enjoyment, but Mom enjoyed the dip in temperature at night ;)




Peter left early Monday morning for Sweden and returns on Saturday. He's there to fly the Gripen, which he was pretty excited about. Next week, I have 4 friends arriving from Ottawa for 2 weeks - so that should be a fun time ... I'm sure I'll have lots of stories and pics to post!

Team PM

Happy to be house poor!

Ok, so as you might have guessed from the title of this entry, we spent more than we had planned to on our house in Cold Lake ... but, there was good reason for it! First, there was hardly anything to choose from ... and second, it was our best option when considering re-saleability in 4-6 years from now. It is brand spankin' new ... the last day we saw it the drywall guy had just started the basement, and had completed drywalling the rest of the house. This was good because it gave us a really good idea of room sizes and helped us visualize the layout better. Also, we were early enough to be able to choose flooring, paint color, cabinetry etc. So that was lots of fun! We chose some upgrades and decided to do ceramic tiles in hallway, kitchen and eating area as well as the bathrooms; we chose hardwood flooring for the living room and then carpet throughout the rest of the house. In the kitchen, we chose some neat upgrade features - BluMotion drawer hardware so the drawers can't slam shut, also we got french frame doors for the two corner cabinets ... we also upgraded to solid oak cabinets to match our flooring in the living room. The hardest part was choosing the lighting! I never thought that would be a challenge, but because the main level has vaulted ceilings, we could only choose certain lights because they had to have a chain so they could hang properly - then we couldn't agree on a finish (brushed pewter or brushed nickel?!) But, despite all that we ended up way under budget in the lighting, so that was good to help make it up in other areas. As for the layout: it is a 1690 sq. ft., 4-level house, but looks like a bungalow from the front! The main level is living room, kitchen and eating area with french doors leading outside to an imaginary deck, which next summer should become quite tangible! Upstairs is Master Bedroom and 2 smaller bedrooms as well as a full bathroom. Then, downstairs on the 3rd level is another bedroom and full bathroom, and a family room; it also has french doors that lead out to our backyard (which is pure mud right now!). Then, the 4th level, or the sub-basement will stay unfinished and is where furnace, laundry, storage etc. will go. Plus, there is a two car garage and space enough for a huge backyard! The house is in Cold Lake North, which is the part of the city that is closer to the lake and the more 'touristy' parts of Cold Lake (if you can even call them that!) Its close to Kinosoo Beach and the Cold Lake Marina ... and, the best part is the we are literally 3 minutes down the road from the Cold Lake Provincial Park. It boasts TONS of fishing, hiking, trails, skiing etc. so we are really glad that it is so close. We drove through there early Friday morning and saw a doe with her two fawns ... we also picked up some flyers on how to handle bear encounters! There is quite a large population of Black bears and Grizzly bears in the area of Northern Alberta in general, and you forget that your in Northern Alberta until you are reminded of that fact!

So ... all in all, Cold Lake was pretty much what I expected: its got that cottage country feel to it, mixed in with a bit of a small town feel ... and there are a lot of wealthy people in the area as you can tell by driving through some of the subdivisions that surround the lake ... no wonder housing is so expensive there; we were well prepared for that though since we've been checking out housing prices for Cold Lake for years. Apparently the market has increased 35% every year for the last 3 years! Our closing date is January 15 and we are expecting to arrive in the area around the 12th/13th of January - which means that we will be in Amesbury for Christmas this year. It will be kind of sad not having our families around, but we have several friends who will also be here for Christmas without family, so we won't be alone.

On Saturday morning we left Cold Lake and headed back to Edmonton in our huge Ford F-150 pick up truck - it was either that or a PT Cruiser, and we figured, hey, when in Alberta ...Our plan was to shop at the West Edmonton Mall - it was overwhelming! I timed it though and discovered that I can get there in just under 3 hours from home - so its defintely not too far for the odd shopping trip ; ) I also learned never to go there on a Saturday! It was literally wall to wall people and you could hardly get through the crowd! I won't be doing that again ... weekdays only - I hate crowds when I'm trying to shop!

Fletch enjoyed the second week of his 'holiday', but is glad that we're back ... we now have to prepare for our next guests - my parents, who arrive on Wednesday morning ... so ... we'll write again soon. Check Peter & I out in the video below - this was at the beach and we were skipping rocks and checking out all the rich people's houses along the beach : ) Not too shabby a beach for such a small town.

Team PM

Home from Greece ... but not for long!

Well, Peter and I are back from our cruise through the Greek islands ... we had a fabulous trip! The ship itself was amazing; there were 4 restaurants on board (64 chefs!), the 'Marquee' was where there were shows every night performed by the ships' dance troupe ... also there was a casino, several shops, a cyber cafe, the Blue Bar and Connexions which was where the art auction took place, as well as stand up comedy. In addition there was a grand piano in the 'Village Square' which was where reception was, and Charlies' - the coffee bar ... but about the piano, there were lounge type performances there several times. AND, there was Top Deck which was where the two pools were, hot tubs, the Splash bar - which you could swim to to get a drink, there was also basketball, shuffleboard, golf, and a giant chess board .... needless to say there was LOTS to do! Oh, and there was a cinema where we saw 3 movies while onboard - a great time filler between other activities. We spent out first day on the pool deck lounging, we even ate breakfast out there - since this was a sea day we stayed on board all day and just relaxed, swam and read. The second day we were in Dubrovnik, Croatia and then each day after that we were in a new port: Corfu, Cephalonia, Katakolon and then Piraeus which is closest to Athens. Each day that we were in port we got off the ship and did as much exploring as we could ... my favorite day was when we were in Cephalonia. We did an 'Action Ashore' activity which are preplanned trips that you can go on from the ship ... so we went to Drogarati Cave, Sami, which is a small town where 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' was filmed ... and then finally to Melissani Lake which is a tiny lake that used to be inside a cave, but the 'roof' came off during an earthquake. It was spectacular and the water was the clearest blue I've ever seen! Athens was also really cool ... other than the fact that it was 40 degrees .... but seeing the Acropolis and Parthenon was a very incredible thing to do. There are TONS of pictures, so instead of posting them on here, I'm in the process of posting them on www.flickr.com/photos/teampm ..... so check them out there. Here's a few as as an appetizer ; )

In other adventures ... Peter and I somehow managed to get all the pieces of the househunting trip together (so not in our hands!) and we are leaving tomorrow for Edmonton! We will be back on August 27th and will be new homeowners by then! We are really excited, there is one house in particular that we really like and it seems pretty perfect in all ways .... so hopefully it will work out for us to purchase. As always, we'll keep you posted : ) In the mean time ... I am looking forward to going to Alberta and finally getting to see Cold Lake (we drive there from Edmonton). I've never been further west than Waterloo, ON. so I'm anxious to see some of Western Canada, as well as the new city that we'll be living in for the next 4-6 years. Oh, and in case your wondering ... Cold Lake qualified as a city in 2000, but it still only has a population of 12,000!

As a sidenote, for those of you wondering about Fletch ... Peter's classmate at school told us that his mother-in-law often dogsits for them, so we gave her a call and she was more than willing to take care of Fletch for us for both weeks that we are away. She has a huge back garden where he played ball all last week, and she also has a dog of her own. I think he got a little spoiled though since he wouldn't eat his food until this morning since we brought him home on Thursday evening. Her dog is quite old, so we're wondering if she put something over the food that she gave to her dog ... anyway, we're heading back to her place this evening to drop Fletch off again for the coming week. She is really nice and gave Fletch lots of attention and play time, so we were really happy to leave him there rather than in a kennel.

Team PM

More of Salisbury

Yesterday, after church Peter & I went to Queen Elizabeth gardens in Fisherton Park in Salisbury for a free string quartet performance. It was a really nice day, one of the nicest we've had this summer. It was about 30 degrees and not a cloud in the sky ... it was the first time we'd been to this park so I took alot of pictures and I thought I'd share some with you ... enjoy : )

Family of 3

Our latest attempt at a 'family' picture occurred last night on a walk with Fletch at Old Sarum. It was really nice and sunny out so after dinner we drove over for a walk and some play time for Fletch. We thought it might be nice to take a pic of all 3 of us together ... it didn't work very well because Fletch, typical of most 7 year olds, couldn't stand still and thought it was a game! But I thought I'd post the pics anyway :)



I don't feel the need to give updates alot because I am always posting something on here, but since its usually about my travels with our guests, here's an update from Peter's end of things. He is just about to finish his second semester at ETPS: can't believe how fast the time has gone! He's just handed in a huge assignment that took him many weeks and a lot of 14 hr days to complete, he should have his mark by next week so he is anxiously awaiting that. Also, next week his big summer break commences: he is off from Aug. 9-27. Once he goes back after the break, he's really only got 3 more months of school (Sept, Oct, Nov) because December is a 'tying up loose ends' sort of month with some formal events happening and a lot of 'fun flying' as Peter calls it, as opposed to work flying. So, its almost the last leg for him, and he's really getting anxious to be done working so hard all the time!

We are really looking forward to our Cruise in Greece; we leave next Thursday morning on a 6:50 am flight from Gatwick to Heraklion, Crete in Greece. After 7 nights we will come back home, and at that point we may be taking a househunting trip to Cold Lake, if not, then I will probably be going solo in October. So, if we're here the week after the Cruise we are planning a driving trip to Scotland, possibly. Anyway ... as usual, we'll keep you posted on what happens!

Team PM