...Continued from Part 1
Mark has been working a steady 3 days a week at his regular two schools and was just offered a 3 week PE (phys ed) cover at one of the schools. It will be from the 2nd of Feb to the 2nd of March with the half-term break in between. He's also started an online teaching course for Special Education through U of T so he'll be extra busy this month. Although he's not running with the Goyt Valley running club any longer due to scheduling, he's doing lots of independent runs and prepping for a 10mile race in the Lake District at the end of March.
I (Krystal) am finally recovering after a 3wk cough that lasted into the new year, another sore throat and a tummy bug! As Canadians, we all think we have the best health care in the world, but the NHS in England may (dare I say it) be better. Once I got yet another sore throat, I called the GP's surgery (office) and was told the triage nurse would call me. When I spoke with her she said she wanted to see me that day. The nurse checked me out and she wrote the prescription - wouldn't it be great if nurses in Canada could do this? With my prescription in hand, I went to Boots to collect my meds. They were £7.20. Then I saw a poster and found out ALL prescriptions in England are £7.20! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? Plus kids under 16, pregnant women, job-seekers, those with terminal illness and people over 60 get free meds! Something weird about prescriptions is that if you need repeats, the pharmacy gives you a form that you keep, take back to the Dr. when you need your repeat, you get a new prescription and take that back to the pharmacy - which seems like a real pain. Boots actually offers a service to do this for you with some surgeries.
I'm enjoying the walk into town each day to take Liam to Nursery. I thought walking the hills of New Mills with a pram was going to get me in really great shape before, but going into town twice a day is killer! And I'm trying to gain a bit of weight since I lost a bit too much after Gemma was born (I know, you don't usually hear that) but it's impossible with all the exercise I'm getting. We realized what's missing from my diet - the donut. So we've made a concerted effort to buy Krispy Kremes a dozen at a time from either Tesco (grocery store) or Selfredges (high-end department store) - the Terminal 2 Tim Horton's donuts are just too disappointing to pull out of a Tim Horton's bag and the maple Krispy Kremes are tasty.
We're finding grocery shopping getting easier now that we're more familiar with the different brands and names for products (buns are muffins, English muffins are muffins and muffins are buns, unless they're big muffins, then they're muffins, just for example). But we couldn't figure out why it still took us forever to shop until we realized that it was the store layout - instead of long aisles, the aisles are split in two so we ended up walking the store twice. Now we've figured out how to better work the supermarket, we don't finish with two starving children that need to be fed at the Tesco Cafe:)
We ended January with a great visit from the Rubery lot (Aunty Margaret's family) and a super delicious lunch at The Sycamore Inn. This was a visit that was supposed to happen at Christmas but the road (M6) from Birmingham was in bad shape from the snow.
In February we're looking forward to a visit from Gramma Barb and Grampa Eric!
Photos: Facebook
Thanks for reading - or skimming - this extra long blog.
Cheers,
The Nicholson Family
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
New Year in the UK - Part 1
Hello Family and Friends!
Heads up - this blog might as well be novel. Feel free to skim, I won't be offended.
In fact, I had to split it into two as the last bit got cut off when I first posted.
Well, we're already 5 months into our 8 months abroad and can hardly believe the Back to Canada countdown is on. We've made a must-do list and have plotted most on the calendar already. It's amazing to be planning things to do while still here and be planning things to do back in Canada (summer soccer and Junior Kindergarten for Liam!)
I've been meaning to write this blog for weeks however things came up - and then things came out - everyone but Liam got a tummy bug that has been going around. Gemma got it first, and I'm fairly certain she caught it at the Children's Centre during a new group for us called Peeps, Babes & Ones. She had a great time, but maybe too good of one. Gemma only had the symptoms for about 12hrs but Mark and I got it almost 40hrs later - at the same time. Our tummy bug lasted way longer than 12hrs and we totally phoned in our parenting (thank you Backyardigans with English accents). You know it's bad when you have to say to your 3yr old that if Mummy has to run to the bathroom to "barf" please make sure your little sister doesn't climb up the stairs because Daddy's busy in the other bathroom. We survived, but it wasn't pretty.
So far 2011 has been great for us (aside from the tummy bug) - we've got the Milk Man service going and it's so much fun to collect milk in the morning and leave the empties at night. He comes 3 days/week and lives real close to us so we just drop off cash payment at his home (you can tell which one it is by the truck) every couple of weeks.
The weather has been fantastic - 8C during the day, sometimes with rain, but it's been quite sunny. This is the winter we were expecting. It is great weather for the kids, particularly Gemma, and it's so nice not to have to spend a half hour bundling everyone up to get out the door. It's getting lighter earlier too which is a bit of a relief. At the end of December it was noticeably darker earlier than in Toronto. Lots of people (kids, joggers, cyclists, hikers) wear high-visibility vests and coats during winter here as it was pretty dark at 3:30, getting fully dark by 4pm.
On one of the sunny days this month we ventured to Chester Zoo - one of the top 10 zoos in the world. It was a great zoo, very similar to Toronto and has one thing that Toronto doesn't - penguins! They were awesome. Liam had a great time running around seeing all the animals. And Mum and Dad had fun stopping off at Terminal 2 for Tim Horton's coffee on the way!
On one of the rainy days this month we took the train to Manchester and visited MOSI, the Museum of Science and Industry - steam engines, hands on science experiments for kids - all of us had a great time here - it's like the Science Centre with trains! They even had a mini 'panto' for the kids.
We've been so pleased with our mobile phones. So far, in 5 months, we've only spent a total of £100 on our two phones - £15 each to buy the actual Nokia phones (pronounced Nawk-ia, not Noh-kia), £40 pay-as-you-go for Mark's, and £30 for mine. We've got voice mail and call display, plus each time we top up our phones with £10 we get free texting and internet for a month!
The big news in our house since 2010 is that (no, we're NOT preggers) - LIAM IS TOILET TRAINED!!!! Suddenly on January 2nd, he was into the idea of wearing his new underwear he got for Christmas and he was willing to 'go' on the toilet without a nappy on. And he just did it! There are no words to express how relieved, proud and elated we are - okay, maybe 'relieved', 'proud' and 'elated' are good words to use:) Every time he pees in the toilet (standing up, too!) I have a huge smile on my face! Liam is all 'Big Boy' now walkin' around in his underwear - he even randomly and out of nowhere told the 'Market Guy' he was wearing underwear! I was like - oh, Buddy, you don't have to tell everyone! The Market Guy and Gal thought it was hilarious - and it really was. They even asked the next week if he was still in underwear! I think what did it was me telling him that all the other boys and girls at Nursery would think he was a little boy if he wore a diaper. I know. I'm mean -but I was desperate. I had tried everything - a race track with car stickers, coloured toilet water and chocolate bribery to name a few. And I don't know how many times I did the Potty Dance. The method that finally worked was major baby steps to 'going' on the toilet with a diaper on. I'd like to find the chick who wrote the book on how to toilet train a child in 3 days and verbally berate her. I could seriously write a whole other blog on this. What kept me semi-sane during this time was hearing from other mums of boys that they were well over 3yrs old when they were trained. Liam still wears a diaper at nighttime - and will for a long time - but one step at a time. We've made it 4 weeks with toilet visits whist out (grocery shopping, restaurants) and minimal accidents all around- YAY for our Big Boy!
So Liam's had a huge month - he also started Nursery school mid-January and after just a couple of less than desirable drop-offs at the beginning, he's doing really well. Nursery in England is free for children to attend the term after they turn 3, but not required. The New Mills Nursery only has kids aged 3-4 and is just great - they had a parents night that I attended before he started and gave us a booket with photos of a typical day at the Nursery for us to read together. I also chose two books for his 'Treasure Chest' from the Book Start program (which has funding (for now) to encourage reading in the early years before school. All the hype got Liam quite excited to go. I was fairly sure he'd be fine and would likely ask me to leave during our two transition days, where he only went for 1hr of the afternoon and I was to stay with him. Sure enough on the first day he said I could go, but only to the door, not actually outside. One of his teachers could tell immediately he had been in a daycare environment because of his independence. So I thought his first day alone would be smooth, but turns out he wasn't ready to be totally left alone. He was fine about 10 mintues after plastering himself to the glass door in a fit of tears. It was surprisingly quite bad - I was literally laughing with sad tears in my eyes. I bought him a train-shaped biscuit from the bakery for when I picked him up as a special treat that day - now he thinks he should get a train biscuit every day! He goes to from half 12 to half 3 (12:30-3:30) and gets a snack there. Snacks cost 20 pence/day, we've joined the Jigsaw Library for £1/term and borrow a new puzzle each week, and his book bag costs £1 to use as long as he's there - we use this to bring a book home during the week and a different book on the weekend. Twice a month they also send home a 'Story' or 'Activity' sack. Liam's first story sack had two dinosaur books, two toy dinosaurs and little people figurines for the characters in one of the books. It was a roaring good time!
Gemma is getting bigger and stronger and just started standing up by herself this week! She's really pleased with herself and is just starting to get the courage to take her first steps. She is also getting teeth like crazy and has taken quite nicely to the English version of Tylenol dye-free grape - Paracetamol dye-free blackcurrant! She takes 5ml using a big girl spoon as opposed to using a dropper. We weren't expecting to go to the paracetamol (brand name Calpol) this soon, however her cousin Gavin had a Tylenol emergency whilst staying with us over Christmas and he got the last of our stash. She's enjoying Mummy-Gemma time while Liam's at Nursery and did enjoy her Peeps group before getting her tummy bug. It was nice for her to be in a group with just kids her size (even though they were all younger!). We're meeting a new group of mums and kids in this group - even a Canadian/Uraguay-an from Toronto!
Continued in Part 2...
Heads up - this blog might as well be novel. Feel free to skim, I won't be offended.
In fact, I had to split it into two as the last bit got cut off when I first posted.
Well, we're already 5 months into our 8 months abroad and can hardly believe the Back to Canada countdown is on. We've made a must-do list and have plotted most on the calendar already. It's amazing to be planning things to do while still here and be planning things to do back in Canada (summer soccer and Junior Kindergarten for Liam!)
I've been meaning to write this blog for weeks however things came up - and then things came out - everyone but Liam got a tummy bug that has been going around. Gemma got it first, and I'm fairly certain she caught it at the Children's Centre during a new group for us called Peeps, Babes & Ones. She had a great time, but maybe too good of one. Gemma only had the symptoms for about 12hrs but Mark and I got it almost 40hrs later - at the same time. Our tummy bug lasted way longer than 12hrs and we totally phoned in our parenting (thank you Backyardigans with English accents). You know it's bad when you have to say to your 3yr old that if Mummy has to run to the bathroom to "barf" please make sure your little sister doesn't climb up the stairs because Daddy's busy in the other bathroom. We survived, but it wasn't pretty.
So far 2011 has been great for us (aside from the tummy bug) - we've got the Milk Man service going and it's so much fun to collect milk in the morning and leave the empties at night. He comes 3 days/week and lives real close to us so we just drop off cash payment at his home (you can tell which one it is by the truck) every couple of weeks.
The weather has been fantastic - 8C during the day, sometimes with rain, but it's been quite sunny. This is the winter we were expecting. It is great weather for the kids, particularly Gemma, and it's so nice not to have to spend a half hour bundling everyone up to get out the door. It's getting lighter earlier too which is a bit of a relief. At the end of December it was noticeably darker earlier than in Toronto. Lots of people (kids, joggers, cyclists, hikers) wear high-visibility vests and coats during winter here as it was pretty dark at 3:30, getting fully dark by 4pm.
On one of the sunny days this month we ventured to Chester Zoo - one of the top 10 zoos in the world. It was a great zoo, very similar to Toronto and has one thing that Toronto doesn't - penguins! They were awesome. Liam had a great time running around seeing all the animals. And Mum and Dad had fun stopping off at Terminal 2 for Tim Horton's coffee on the way!
On one of the rainy days this month we took the train to Manchester and visited MOSI, the Museum of Science and Industry - steam engines, hands on science experiments for kids - all of us had a great time here - it's like the Science Centre with trains! They even had a mini 'panto' for the kids.
We've been so pleased with our mobile phones. So far, in 5 months, we've only spent a total of £100 on our two phones - £15 each to buy the actual Nokia phones (pronounced Nawk-ia, not Noh-kia), £40 pay-as-you-go for Mark's, and £30 for mine. We've got voice mail and call display, plus each time we top up our phones with £10 we get free texting and internet for a month!
The big news in our house since 2010 is that (no, we're NOT preggers) - LIAM IS TOILET TRAINED!!!! Suddenly on January 2nd, he was into the idea of wearing his new underwear he got for Christmas and he was willing to 'go' on the toilet without a nappy on. And he just did it! There are no words to express how relieved, proud and elated we are - okay, maybe 'relieved', 'proud' and 'elated' are good words to use:) Every time he pees in the toilet (standing up, too!) I have a huge smile on my face! Liam is all 'Big Boy' now walkin' around in his underwear - he even randomly and out of nowhere told the 'Market Guy' he was wearing underwear! I was like - oh, Buddy, you don't have to tell everyone! The Market Guy and Gal thought it was hilarious - and it really was. They even asked the next week if he was still in underwear! I think what did it was me telling him that all the other boys and girls at Nursery would think he was a little boy if he wore a diaper. I know. I'm mean -but I was desperate. I had tried everything - a race track with car stickers, coloured toilet water and chocolate bribery to name a few. And I don't know how many times I did the Potty Dance. The method that finally worked was major baby steps to 'going' on the toilet with a diaper on. I'd like to find the chick who wrote the book on how to toilet train a child in 3 days and verbally berate her. I could seriously write a whole other blog on this. What kept me semi-sane during this time was hearing from other mums of boys that they were well over 3yrs old when they were trained. Liam still wears a diaper at nighttime - and will for a long time - but one step at a time. We've made it 4 weeks with toilet visits whist out (grocery shopping, restaurants) and minimal accidents all around- YAY for our Big Boy!
So Liam's had a huge month - he also started Nursery school mid-January and after just a couple of less than desirable drop-offs at the beginning, he's doing really well. Nursery in England is free for children to attend the term after they turn 3, but not required. The New Mills Nursery only has kids aged 3-4 and is just great - they had a parents night that I attended before he started and gave us a booket with photos of a typical day at the Nursery for us to read together. I also chose two books for his 'Treasure Chest' from the Book Start program (which has funding (for now) to encourage reading in the early years before school. All the hype got Liam quite excited to go. I was fairly sure he'd be fine and would likely ask me to leave during our two transition days, where he only went for 1hr of the afternoon and I was to stay with him. Sure enough on the first day he said I could go, but only to the door, not actually outside. One of his teachers could tell immediately he had been in a daycare environment because of his independence. So I thought his first day alone would be smooth, but turns out he wasn't ready to be totally left alone. He was fine about 10 mintues after plastering himself to the glass door in a fit of tears. It was surprisingly quite bad - I was literally laughing with sad tears in my eyes. I bought him a train-shaped biscuit from the bakery for when I picked him up as a special treat that day - now he thinks he should get a train biscuit every day! He goes to from half 12 to half 3 (12:30-3:30) and gets a snack there. Snacks cost 20 pence/day, we've joined the Jigsaw Library for £1/term and borrow a new puzzle each week, and his book bag costs £1 to use as long as he's there - we use this to bring a book home during the week and a different book on the weekend. Twice a month they also send home a 'Story' or 'Activity' sack. Liam's first story sack had two dinosaur books, two toy dinosaurs and little people figurines for the characters in one of the books. It was a roaring good time!
Gemma is getting bigger and stronger and just started standing up by herself this week! She's really pleased with herself and is just starting to get the courage to take her first steps. She is also getting teeth like crazy and has taken quite nicely to the English version of Tylenol dye-free grape - Paracetamol dye-free blackcurrant! She takes 5ml using a big girl spoon as opposed to using a dropper. We weren't expecting to go to the paracetamol (brand name Calpol) this soon, however her cousin Gavin had a Tylenol emergency whilst staying with us over Christmas and he got the last of our stash. She's enjoying Mummy-Gemma time while Liam's at Nursery and did enjoy her Peeps group before getting her tummy bug. It was nice for her to be in a group with just kids her size (even though they were all younger!). We're meeting a new group of mums and kids in this group - even a Canadian/Uraguay-an from Toronto!
Continued in Part 2...
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Czech-ing Out Prague
Christmas was over and we were off to Prague (Praha), Czech Republic from 27th to 31st December (how Brits do dates - just something else backwards). Mark's brother, Paul and family arrived a day earlier and were staying a day later.
We booked with BMIBaby, which is the British Midland International (BMI) "low cost" airline - you have to pay extra for EVERYTHING -including checked luggage and booking online - I mean come on, seriously!?! So we packed very light with only one checked bag for all four of us and weighed our luggage before we left to avoid any further charges for overweight luggage. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I don't weigh very much, and neither does my family - the weight allowed on a flight should be total weight (person + luggage) especially for a 3 yr old child who only weighs 30-35lbs and whose seat costs almost the same as an adult's. But I digress...
Our 2.5hr flight was in the late afternoon getting us to Prague at 7pm and after collecting our luggage AND pram at the carousel (I hate it when they don't leave the pram at the plane gate on arrival even though you drop it off at the departure gate) we got to Hotel Pav via pre-booked transport at about 9pm. We were pretty hungry, but didn't feel like venturing out anywhere so we got chocolate and raspberry crepes from the hotel bar (yeah, kinda random) and Gemma had her jar of toddler spag bol (spagetti bolognese) that airport security in Manchester made Mark open and taste(!) -requiring us to consume it that day seeing as we didn't have a fridge to store it in - how annoying.
Now That's Random: the guy that checked us in at the hotel was a Czech-Canadian from Saskatchewan and went to U of T (knew exactly where Yonge/Eg was).
Prague is one hour ahead of England time so that combined with Liam sleeping with us for the second week in a row, Gemma waking up through the night due to teething pain and Krystal coughing her face off all night due to a '3 week cold', we were a bit off schedule in the mornings. Luckily, the hotel breakfast was until 10:30. The food in Prague consists of lots of salty pork - mmm... salami, bacon & sausage - which thankfully our kids love. So for breakfast, ridiculous amounts of bacon were consumed by Liam 'The Baconator' Nicholson. Other typical cuisine includes pork anything (Mark tried pork neck, goulash, cabbage, sour crout and dumplings (although we didn't end up trying the dumplings).
It was quite cold in Prague - nice in the sun, we had a lovely first day of -1C however one day was -16C and that was too cold for us to walk around outside for a few hours with small kids (yes, we're Winter Wimps now that we've been in the UK).
The currency, Czech Karuna, or crown, was going for about 6cad=100czk or 3.50gbp=100czk. I think we spent $18cad at Starbucks one afternoon for 2 large lattes and a cookie - yikes! The Czech haven't yet adopted the Euro, although it is widely accepted, and we saw on BBC news they may not due to the crash of the Euro a couple months ago (blame southern Ireland which is complete shite right now financially). We chose to use the Karuna for ease, which seemed to go over well with the locals (especially at the markets). It's not as cheap as it used to be even 10 years ago. It's really come out from communism well since 1989.
We felt pretty unprepared for our trip to Prague as we usually do a moderate amount of online research prior to travelling, but didn't have much time to do so for this one. Our sis-in-law, Dawn, on the other hand had an extra guide book that we borrowed and we pretty much just texted them to see where they were each day and went to the same place:) We didn't catch up with them until dinners though since our schedules were totally off - which was probably better seeing as Liam and Ella had seen so much of each other the week before.
The city is quite stunning and simply walking around, admiring the mixed architecture styles of centuries past is a lovely experience - but not so much when you're 3 years old. Liam enjoyed running around the grounds of the Prague Castle complex, and some of the alley ways and park spaces. We didn't bring his Kid Sit stroller seat as we read that the city is full of cobble stoned sidewalks and roads, which would make for a bumpy ride, so when he got tired, it was up on Daddy's shoulders. Our hotel was located in 'Old Town' and we could pretty much walk to sites and restaurants in a reasonable time (took us longer with Liam walking). Paul and Dawn's apartment hotel was just a 5-10 minute walk away. We felt quite safe walking around everywhere we went.
We did venture on the tram system and while looking for how we were to pay once on the tram we were told by a pleasant Czech woman passenger we were to buy tickets at news agents and then validate them once on the tram. This honour system of transit is quite popular in Europe - there must be just too many people to collect and check money/tickets each time. After our 'courtesy' ride we were good to go and took the tram a lot (Liam enjoyed the experience). The older trams look like TTC streetcars and the newer trams look like the streetcars Toronto is/was supposed to get - not up on current Tdot politics. Prague also has a Metro, subway system, however we didn't need to use it.
The Christmas Markets were still on until the 31st so it was nice to visit those each day for treats and shopping. The Czech have their own 'beaver tail' called trdlo, or a version of that. It's dough, rolled around a rod, deep fried then sprinkled with sugar, mmm... trdlo. The market stalls looked exactly the same as those in Manchester... hmm.
The Czech Republic is the birthplace of Pilsner Beer , so needless to say, Mark and Paul felt required to taste test. Every restaurant seemed to serve (and recommend) Pilsner Urquell, which actually does taste delicious (I'm not typically a fan of Pilsner lagers).
The best place we went to, according to Liam, was the "Train Restaurant", Vytopna Railway Restaurant, where they have a miniature train system delivering drink orders from the bar through to the each table in the restaurant! Liam (and the rest of us) were amazed! It was very exciting getting our .5L Pilsner Urquell's, juices and milks delivered by rail. Liam Hearts Train Restaurant. Choo Choo - good find Dawn!
Other Sights we saw were:
- Prague Castle and complex - current structure is largely from 14th century but previous structures existed since 9th c, we caught the changing of the guard, which occurs each hour, by happenstance (even got 'directed' aside by lead guard to get out of the way), where Kings used to be and where President of the CR holds office now, seen from just the outside due to a huge line up and Liam's disinterest in actually going into castles, complex includes palaces and churches;
- Charles Bridge - from the 14th century, crossing the Vltava River and full of statues and kiosks;
- Jewish Quarter, Josefov, which, again, we opted to see from the outside and not pay the fee (about $30cad each) to go inside the buildings and cemetery seeing as Liam wouldn't appreciate the strife of the Jews dating all the way back to the 13th century (truly horrible way to treat humans);
- Wenceslas Square - the main strip consisting of British faves M&S (Marks & Spencers), Debenhams and Tesco;
- Modern Architecture by Frank Ghery "Dancing House" (he's Canadian/American and also did AGO redesign);
- Astronomical Clock - from the 15th c, has an astronomical dial representing the position of the sun and moon and displays "The Walk of the Apostles" each hour where crowds gather to see 12 small sculptures appear through an opened doorway at the top and rotate as the bell is rung, other dials rep the calendar and zodiac (the 'old school' one with 12 signs).
There were tons of European tourists while we were there and as we were approaching the end of our stay, we could see that the vibe was changing in the city - instead of the older tourists there for the markets and history, the younger crowd started to roll in for the NYE party (Prague is a very popular destination for stags and party groups by Brits and other Euros thanks to its beer halls).
Overall, Prague was quite lovely. Very European - like one big Yorkdale Mall with 'trendy clothes', fur coats and hats, dogs carried in bags and, unfortunately, people smoking everywhere. Although the city introduced a smoking ban in some restaurants in early December, it's still quite a smokey city and the '3 week cough' I had worsened intensely whilst there. We would definitely recommend it, but realize your limitations if travelling with small children. And I feel like we could have stayed just 3 nights and still have done everything we did/wanted to do.
On our last night, we took the tram too far in one direction on the way to dinner with the other Nicholson's, but eventually got to where we wanted to go - a fun pizzeria with a kids play area. At the end of the evening, I got VERY misty eyed (okay, I almost started to 'ugly' cry... more than once) as it was our last time seeing Paul, Dawn, Ella and Gavin until next Christmas when they plan to come back to Canada for a visit from their 2 year stint in Malaysia. What can I say, I'm just not good with 'goodbyes', even if they are just 'so long for nows'. It was so great for the two Nicholson Family's to be together for two weeks at Christmastime after not seeing each other for 4 months. It was really great for all the cousins.
Best Liam/Ella Overheard Conversation:
Ella: "Do you know Buzz Lightyear?"
Liam: "Yeah, I know Buzz Lightyear. Do you know Woody?"
Ella: "Yeah, I know Woody."
After the kids were put to bed that night, Mark and Paul tried to catch a Czech World Juniors hockey game at one of the sports bars on Wenceslas Square but were totally puck blocked - none of the bars were showing hockey!!! In total shock, the guys opted for a couple Pilsners at an American Bar, an Irish Pub then an English Pub. They could have watched an NBA game though - how random, eh?
Our flight back to Manchester was fairly smooth (we did miss the call to board while sitting in the gate reading kids books and ended up getting on the plane dead last). I was a bit worried about re-entering the UK with my Visa as it was the first time we actually left the UK, but it was a simple entry and I wasn't required to show any other documentation other than my passport with Visa. The Border Agency lady asked if I had a job, and my 'nope' response was suffice. Then back to our house, via airport transport, to celebrate New Year's Eve with laundry - lots of laundry.
Photos: Facebook
New Year family update coming soon...
Cheers to 2011,
The Nicholson Family
We booked with BMIBaby, which is the British Midland International (BMI) "low cost" airline - you have to pay extra for EVERYTHING -including checked luggage and booking online - I mean come on, seriously!?! So we packed very light with only one checked bag for all four of us and weighed our luggage before we left to avoid any further charges for overweight luggage. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I don't weigh very much, and neither does my family - the weight allowed on a flight should be total weight (person + luggage) especially for a 3 yr old child who only weighs 30-35lbs and whose seat costs almost the same as an adult's. But I digress...
Our 2.5hr flight was in the late afternoon getting us to Prague at 7pm and after collecting our luggage AND pram at the carousel (I hate it when they don't leave the pram at the plane gate on arrival even though you drop it off at the departure gate) we got to Hotel Pav via pre-booked transport at about 9pm. We were pretty hungry, but didn't feel like venturing out anywhere so we got chocolate and raspberry crepes from the hotel bar (yeah, kinda random) and Gemma had her jar of toddler spag bol (spagetti bolognese) that airport security in Manchester made Mark open and taste(!) -requiring us to consume it that day seeing as we didn't have a fridge to store it in - how annoying.
Now That's Random: the guy that checked us in at the hotel was a Czech-Canadian from Saskatchewan and went to U of T (knew exactly where Yonge/Eg was).
Prague is one hour ahead of England time so that combined with Liam sleeping with us for the second week in a row, Gemma waking up through the night due to teething pain and Krystal coughing her face off all night due to a '3 week cold', we were a bit off schedule in the mornings. Luckily, the hotel breakfast was until 10:30. The food in Prague consists of lots of salty pork - mmm... salami, bacon & sausage - which thankfully our kids love. So for breakfast, ridiculous amounts of bacon were consumed by Liam 'The Baconator' Nicholson. Other typical cuisine includes pork anything (Mark tried pork neck, goulash, cabbage, sour crout and dumplings (although we didn't end up trying the dumplings).
It was quite cold in Prague - nice in the sun, we had a lovely first day of -1C however one day was -16C and that was too cold for us to walk around outside for a few hours with small kids (yes, we're Winter Wimps now that we've been in the UK).
The currency, Czech Karuna, or crown, was going for about 6cad=100czk or 3.50gbp=100czk. I think we spent $18cad at Starbucks one afternoon for 2 large lattes and a cookie - yikes! The Czech haven't yet adopted the Euro, although it is widely accepted, and we saw on BBC news they may not due to the crash of the Euro a couple months ago (blame southern Ireland which is complete shite right now financially). We chose to use the Karuna for ease, which seemed to go over well with the locals (especially at the markets). It's not as cheap as it used to be even 10 years ago. It's really come out from communism well since 1989.
We felt pretty unprepared for our trip to Prague as we usually do a moderate amount of online research prior to travelling, but didn't have much time to do so for this one. Our sis-in-law, Dawn, on the other hand had an extra guide book that we borrowed and we pretty much just texted them to see where they were each day and went to the same place:) We didn't catch up with them until dinners though since our schedules were totally off - which was probably better seeing as Liam and Ella had seen so much of each other the week before.
The city is quite stunning and simply walking around, admiring the mixed architecture styles of centuries past is a lovely experience - but not so much when you're 3 years old. Liam enjoyed running around the grounds of the Prague Castle complex, and some of the alley ways and park spaces. We didn't bring his Kid Sit stroller seat as we read that the city is full of cobble stoned sidewalks and roads, which would make for a bumpy ride, so when he got tired, it was up on Daddy's shoulders. Our hotel was located in 'Old Town' and we could pretty much walk to sites and restaurants in a reasonable time (took us longer with Liam walking). Paul and Dawn's apartment hotel was just a 5-10 minute walk away. We felt quite safe walking around everywhere we went.
We did venture on the tram system and while looking for how we were to pay once on the tram we were told by a pleasant Czech woman passenger we were to buy tickets at news agents and then validate them once on the tram. This honour system of transit is quite popular in Europe - there must be just too many people to collect and check money/tickets each time. After our 'courtesy' ride we were good to go and took the tram a lot (Liam enjoyed the experience). The older trams look like TTC streetcars and the newer trams look like the streetcars Toronto is/was supposed to get - not up on current Tdot politics. Prague also has a Metro, subway system, however we didn't need to use it.
The Christmas Markets were still on until the 31st so it was nice to visit those each day for treats and shopping. The Czech have their own 'beaver tail' called trdlo, or a version of that. It's dough, rolled around a rod, deep fried then sprinkled with sugar, mmm... trdlo. The market stalls looked exactly the same as those in Manchester... hmm.
The Czech Republic is the birthplace of Pilsner Beer , so needless to say, Mark and Paul felt required to taste test. Every restaurant seemed to serve (and recommend) Pilsner Urquell, which actually does taste delicious (I'm not typically a fan of Pilsner lagers).
The best place we went to, according to Liam, was the "Train Restaurant", Vytopna Railway Restaurant, where they have a miniature train system delivering drink orders from the bar through to the each table in the restaurant! Liam (and the rest of us) were amazed! It was very exciting getting our .5L Pilsner Urquell's, juices and milks delivered by rail. Liam Hearts Train Restaurant. Choo Choo - good find Dawn!
Other Sights we saw were:
- Prague Castle and complex - current structure is largely from 14th century but previous structures existed since 9th c, we caught the changing of the guard, which occurs each hour, by happenstance (even got 'directed' aside by lead guard to get out of the way), where Kings used to be and where President of the CR holds office now, seen from just the outside due to a huge line up and Liam's disinterest in actually going into castles, complex includes palaces and churches;
- Charles Bridge - from the 14th century, crossing the Vltava River and full of statues and kiosks;
- Jewish Quarter, Josefov, which, again, we opted to see from the outside and not pay the fee (about $30cad each) to go inside the buildings and cemetery seeing as Liam wouldn't appreciate the strife of the Jews dating all the way back to the 13th century (truly horrible way to treat humans);
- Wenceslas Square - the main strip consisting of British faves M&S (Marks & Spencers), Debenhams and Tesco;
- Modern Architecture by Frank Ghery "Dancing House" (he's Canadian/American and also did AGO redesign);
- Astronomical Clock - from the 15th c, has an astronomical dial representing the position of the sun and moon and displays "The Walk of the Apostles" each hour where crowds gather to see 12 small sculptures appear through an opened doorway at the top and rotate as the bell is rung, other dials rep the calendar and zodiac (the 'old school' one with 12 signs).
There were tons of European tourists while we were there and as we were approaching the end of our stay, we could see that the vibe was changing in the city - instead of the older tourists there for the markets and history, the younger crowd started to roll in for the NYE party (Prague is a very popular destination for stags and party groups by Brits and other Euros thanks to its beer halls).
Overall, Prague was quite lovely. Very European - like one big Yorkdale Mall with 'trendy clothes', fur coats and hats, dogs carried in bags and, unfortunately, people smoking everywhere. Although the city introduced a smoking ban in some restaurants in early December, it's still quite a smokey city and the '3 week cough' I had worsened intensely whilst there. We would definitely recommend it, but realize your limitations if travelling with small children. And I feel like we could have stayed just 3 nights and still have done everything we did/wanted to do.
On our last night, we took the tram too far in one direction on the way to dinner with the other Nicholson's, but eventually got to where we wanted to go - a fun pizzeria with a kids play area. At the end of the evening, I got VERY misty eyed (okay, I almost started to 'ugly' cry... more than once) as it was our last time seeing Paul, Dawn, Ella and Gavin until next Christmas when they plan to come back to Canada for a visit from their 2 year stint in Malaysia. What can I say, I'm just not good with 'goodbyes', even if they are just 'so long for nows'. It was so great for the two Nicholson Family's to be together for two weeks at Christmastime after not seeing each other for 4 months. It was really great for all the cousins.
Best Liam/Ella Overheard Conversation:
Ella: "Do you know Buzz Lightyear?"
Liam: "Yeah, I know Buzz Lightyear. Do you know Woody?"
Ella: "Yeah, I know Woody."
After the kids were put to bed that night, Mark and Paul tried to catch a Czech World Juniors hockey game at one of the sports bars on Wenceslas Square but were totally puck blocked - none of the bars were showing hockey!!! In total shock, the guys opted for a couple Pilsners at an American Bar, an Irish Pub then an English Pub. They could have watched an NBA game though - how random, eh?
Our flight back to Manchester was fairly smooth (we did miss the call to board while sitting in the gate reading kids books and ended up getting on the plane dead last). I was a bit worried about re-entering the UK with my Visa as it was the first time we actually left the UK, but it was a simple entry and I wasn't required to show any other documentation other than my passport with Visa. The Border Agency lady asked if I had a job, and my 'nope' response was suffice. Then back to our house, via airport transport, to celebrate New Year's Eve with laundry - lots of laundry.
Photos: Facebook
New Year family update coming soon...
Cheers to 2011,
The Nicholson Family
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
A Very Happy Christmas
Hello Family and Friends!
Happy New Year!
We hope everyone's holidays were full of family, friends and yummies! Sorry to hear that our Christmas post cards took over three weeks to mail! Oh Man!
After a massive grocery shop, house clean and kids bedroom reorganization, our visit from Mark's brother, Paul and his family (wife, Dawn and kids, Ella, 3 and Gavin, 1) was delayed by two days due to snow in Europe. Toronto and Manchester were fine, but their transfer in Amsterdam put a spanner (wrench) in the works. After everyone arrived safe and sound and visits with friends and family were rescheduled or cancelled due to snow in the midlands (Birmingham), Christmas in the UK was on. What made it even more special was confirming that online rumours were true and that there really is, in fact, a Tim Horton's - let me repeat that - a TIM HORTONS at Manchester Airport, Terminal 2! It's just a coffee machine with coffee that doesn't quite taste the same and previously frozen doughnuts in a kiosk at the Spar (glorified convenient store), but it was just nice to hold the cup again. It really did feel like a taste of 'home' and we decided that the experience would be worth another random trip to the airport, including the short-stay parking costs, sometime.
We took it easy the first day since both Paul and Dawn were feeling the effects of the minor flu Ella had a few days earlier. We took Paul and the kids along the Sett Valley Trail and home through New Mills town. Liam and Ella took turns on the sledge (sled) and sometimes went on together. Mark and I were amazed at how great Ella and Gavin adjusted to the new time zone, going to sleep at the same time as our kids. Liam and Gemma took forever to switch over and we expected their 'lot' to be up until 2am.
On the second day of Christmas, we had a lovely lunch out at the Packhorse (our local pub & inn) with our family friends, The Gorski's and The Woodwards, who got to meet Gavin for the first time. It was a set Christmas Fayre menu for 17 GBP a head in the dining room area (not the pub). This is a very popular thing to do here and you must book early with a deposit as many pubs/inns book up quickly. We were very lucky we were able to reschedule our dinner on Sunday to lunch on Wednesday with our large group. Due to the snowy weather in the UK, lots of pubs/inns were getting cancellations. It was a lovely visit and meal - the kids were excellent. Gavin fell asleep on the table - literally and poor Paul couldn't stomach very much. Back at our England House, we had gifts and cookies, although everyone was pretty stuffed from lunch and didn't need to eat much more the rest of the day.
The next day, after I queued (lined up) outside the local butcher's to pick up our pre-ordered turkey, we ventured out to Manchester to The Lowry to see a Peter Pan Panto (Pantomime Theater) - a quintessential British Christmas experience. It was a full-on 2hr production with intermission and we weren't sure how Liam and Ella would manage but thought we should 'have a go'. The kids totally got right into it and "boo-ed" Captain Hook (with coaxing from Daddy/Uncle Mark). Ella loved Tinker Bell and the dancing, Liam loved the Pirates, Gemma loved the clapping and didn't want to miss a second of the action, and Gavin stayed awake for probably half of the Panto. The performances and production were brilliant - Peter Pan was played by an actor from the English soap opera 'EastEnders'. Seems to be the thing to do as a soap star - other Pantos featured talent from 'Corrie Street'. Considering we purchased the tickets the morning of, our seats had a great view of the stage.
On Christmas Eve morning, Mark and Paul ventured out in the couple of inches of snow we still had left and went up Kinder (the highest point of the Peak District, and the view from our family room). It is usually a 2hr ramble (hike) but in the deeper snow on the fell (hill) it was more like 2.5hr. The views were spectacular and they got some great pics. In the afternoon, Liam and Ella helped Mum/Aunty Krystal make the apple cinnamon pie for Christmas dessert. it was Ella's first pie and she did a crackin' job. It was roast and Yorkshire puddings for Christmas Eve dinner - classic English meal. The kids decorated chocolates, wrote their letter, drew pictures and left milk, cookies and carrots for Santa and the reindeer. Aunty Dawn read 'The Night Before Christmas' and they were off to bed.
Christmas morning was a great success - 8 stockings, loads of gifts and lots of chocolate! The kids got exactly what they asked Santa for and the Mums and Dads came out with some goodies too. It was difficult to keep track of who was getting what as there was a bit of good ol' Christmas Chaos happening - wrapping paper everywhere, toys being built in all corners of the room! It was nice to really take our time in the morning and not have to worry about rushing anything to get out the door to start the Christmas visits. Most of the kids stayed in their jammies all day too (Gemma was dying to get her new 'Upsy Daisy' shirt on). Mark made a yummy English Christmas Breakie and Christmas Dinner prep started shortly after that. Everyone helped out in the kitchen (thank goodness) - Paul and Mark mostly watched the kids (and Toy Story 3). The turkey dinner was delicious - it was both mine and Dawn's third turkey - so third time's the charm times two? The pie that Liam and Ella helped bake was yummers in the tummers and finished the festive meal off perfectly.
I was worried about how well our tree would survive as I mentioned in a previous blog that our tree holder didn't keep water - the tree was barely still alive and I was nervous each time I skimmed it whilst passing by for fear of every single needle falling off! It was a nice looking tree though and was made even better by the decorations crafted by the kids - Ella even made a reindeer when she got here in 'Crafts with Aunty Krystal"!
I was so pleased with how the kids managed with each other, particularly Liam and Ella. I was worried that Liam wouldn't share his toys, but he was the ever gracious host and welcomed his cousins to all the toys (Santa was counting on him). He lets Ella do things that he doesn't let other people do, including us - like sit in the same chair as him:) Ella only needed 'alone time' from Liam once or twice, and I don't think they picked up too many bad 3yr old habits from each other. It had been 4 months since Liam has seen any of his friends from home so I think he wanted all the 'Ella Time' he could get:) Gemma just seemed pleased to have everyone around - she got on with Gavin great and even sorta said 'Ella' on Christmas morning:)
After a crisp winter walk up the lane next door to see the chickens and horses, the other Nicholson's left New Mills on Boxing Day to head to Prague where we would meet up with them the following day. It was such a lovely Christmas in England and having family over made it a holiday to remember forever. Mark's always wanted to host a 'Griswald Family Christmas' so this was one of his dreams come true:) Since Paul and family will be off to Malaysia for 2 years and won't be in Guelph when we move back, it was extra special to have them over and be able to see so much of them.
Photos: Facebook
The next blog on our Prague trip will be up soon...
Cheers,
The Nicholson Family
Happy New Year!
We hope everyone's holidays were full of family, friends and yummies! Sorry to hear that our Christmas post cards took over three weeks to mail! Oh Man!
After a massive grocery shop, house clean and kids bedroom reorganization, our visit from Mark's brother, Paul and his family (wife, Dawn and kids, Ella, 3 and Gavin, 1) was delayed by two days due to snow in Europe. Toronto and Manchester were fine, but their transfer in Amsterdam put a spanner (wrench) in the works. After everyone arrived safe and sound and visits with friends and family were rescheduled or cancelled due to snow in the midlands (Birmingham), Christmas in the UK was on. What made it even more special was confirming that online rumours were true and that there really is, in fact, a Tim Horton's - let me repeat that - a TIM HORTONS at Manchester Airport, Terminal 2! It's just a coffee machine with coffee that doesn't quite taste the same and previously frozen doughnuts in a kiosk at the Spar (glorified convenient store), but it was just nice to hold the cup again. It really did feel like a taste of 'home' and we decided that the experience would be worth another random trip to the airport, including the short-stay parking costs, sometime.
We took it easy the first day since both Paul and Dawn were feeling the effects of the minor flu Ella had a few days earlier. We took Paul and the kids along the Sett Valley Trail and home through New Mills town. Liam and Ella took turns on the sledge (sled) and sometimes went on together. Mark and I were amazed at how great Ella and Gavin adjusted to the new time zone, going to sleep at the same time as our kids. Liam and Gemma took forever to switch over and we expected their 'lot' to be up until 2am.
On the second day of Christmas, we had a lovely lunch out at the Packhorse (our local pub & inn) with our family friends, The Gorski's and The Woodwards, who got to meet Gavin for the first time. It was a set Christmas Fayre menu for 17 GBP a head in the dining room area (not the pub). This is a very popular thing to do here and you must book early with a deposit as many pubs/inns book up quickly. We were very lucky we were able to reschedule our dinner on Sunday to lunch on Wednesday with our large group. Due to the snowy weather in the UK, lots of pubs/inns were getting cancellations. It was a lovely visit and meal - the kids were excellent. Gavin fell asleep on the table - literally and poor Paul couldn't stomach very much. Back at our England House, we had gifts and cookies, although everyone was pretty stuffed from lunch and didn't need to eat much more the rest of the day.
The next day, after I queued (lined up) outside the local butcher's to pick up our pre-ordered turkey, we ventured out to Manchester to The Lowry to see a Peter Pan Panto (Pantomime Theater) - a quintessential British Christmas experience. It was a full-on 2hr production with intermission and we weren't sure how Liam and Ella would manage but thought we should 'have a go'. The kids totally got right into it and "boo-ed" Captain Hook (with coaxing from Daddy/Uncle Mark). Ella loved Tinker Bell and the dancing, Liam loved the Pirates, Gemma loved the clapping and didn't want to miss a second of the action, and Gavin stayed awake for probably half of the Panto. The performances and production were brilliant - Peter Pan was played by an actor from the English soap opera 'EastEnders'. Seems to be the thing to do as a soap star - other Pantos featured talent from 'Corrie Street'. Considering we purchased the tickets the morning of, our seats had a great view of the stage.
On Christmas Eve morning, Mark and Paul ventured out in the couple of inches of snow we still had left and went up Kinder (the highest point of the Peak District, and the view from our family room). It is usually a 2hr ramble (hike) but in the deeper snow on the fell (hill) it was more like 2.5hr. The views were spectacular and they got some great pics. In the afternoon, Liam and Ella helped Mum/Aunty Krystal make the apple cinnamon pie for Christmas dessert. it was Ella's first pie and she did a crackin' job. It was roast and Yorkshire puddings for Christmas Eve dinner - classic English meal. The kids decorated chocolates, wrote their letter, drew pictures and left milk, cookies and carrots for Santa and the reindeer. Aunty Dawn read 'The Night Before Christmas' and they were off to bed.
Christmas morning was a great success - 8 stockings, loads of gifts and lots of chocolate! The kids got exactly what they asked Santa for and the Mums and Dads came out with some goodies too. It was difficult to keep track of who was getting what as there was a bit of good ol' Christmas Chaos happening - wrapping paper everywhere, toys being built in all corners of the room! It was nice to really take our time in the morning and not have to worry about rushing anything to get out the door to start the Christmas visits. Most of the kids stayed in their jammies all day too (Gemma was dying to get her new 'Upsy Daisy' shirt on). Mark made a yummy English Christmas Breakie and Christmas Dinner prep started shortly after that. Everyone helped out in the kitchen (thank goodness) - Paul and Mark mostly watched the kids (and Toy Story 3). The turkey dinner was delicious - it was both mine and Dawn's third turkey - so third time's the charm times two? The pie that Liam and Ella helped bake was yummers in the tummers and finished the festive meal off perfectly.
I was worried about how well our tree would survive as I mentioned in a previous blog that our tree holder didn't keep water - the tree was barely still alive and I was nervous each time I skimmed it whilst passing by for fear of every single needle falling off! It was a nice looking tree though and was made even better by the decorations crafted by the kids - Ella even made a reindeer when she got here in 'Crafts with Aunty Krystal"!
I was so pleased with how the kids managed with each other, particularly Liam and Ella. I was worried that Liam wouldn't share his toys, but he was the ever gracious host and welcomed his cousins to all the toys (Santa was counting on him). He lets Ella do things that he doesn't let other people do, including us - like sit in the same chair as him:) Ella only needed 'alone time' from Liam once or twice, and I don't think they picked up too many bad 3yr old habits from each other. It had been 4 months since Liam has seen any of his friends from home so I think he wanted all the 'Ella Time' he could get:) Gemma just seemed pleased to have everyone around - she got on with Gavin great and even sorta said 'Ella' on Christmas morning:)
After a crisp winter walk up the lane next door to see the chickens and horses, the other Nicholson's left New Mills on Boxing Day to head to Prague where we would meet up with them the following day. It was such a lovely Christmas in England and having family over made it a holiday to remember forever. Mark's always wanted to host a 'Griswald Family Christmas' so this was one of his dreams come true:) Since Paul and family will be off to Malaysia for 2 years and won't be in Guelph when we move back, it was extra special to have them over and be able to see so much of them.
Photos: Facebook
The next blog on our Prague trip will be up soon...
Cheers,
The Nicholson Family
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