Matilda

We went to Cambridge Theatre last night to see Matilda. Fabulous. Amazing. Maddie was on the edge of her inflated booster the whole night!  

Chevely

We have had two nights in the English countryside and it has been wonderful. Time to wash clothes - and my first time ever hanging clothes on a line to dry. Also fit in a little picnic and a nap. 

We are staying in a house that once belonged to my family. It's a Tudor style (so lots of big wood beams, low ceilings, uneven floors) and has an amazing thatched roof. I'm basically a giant in this house, even I need to duck. The B & B owner is a French chef and has cooked supper for us - delicious. 

New Cousins

(Note:  this happened last week but due to dodgy wifi I couldn't get it to post until now...  The Paris post - next is actually the most recent.)

Yesterday we went for supper with Parker (8), Daisy (6), Hugo (3) their parents (older) and grandparents (much older). Want to know the cool bit?  Maddie and Parker, Daisy, Hugo all have the same great great great great grandfather. Wow so amazing to have met this part of our family. And we all got on famously. Although the girls have different musical loves (Maddie - JB, Daisy - 1 Direction) they were still instant BFFs. 

Dinner last night went so well they invited us round for tea  tonight. Tea was finger food, lots of wine, and chocolate. How I love this country. 

Tomorrow, Very Early, we leave for Paris. (PARIS). Haven't seen Freddie in 10 years I think. I'm looking forward to seeing her again. The other cool bit: I went to Paris 20 years ago in July with her so this is an anniversary kind of.

Ok. Better get to sleep. Here are pics of the cousins. 

Paris

Whoever said Parisians are unfriendly had clearly never taken the metro with two (small but still awkward) suitcases, one collapsed second hand stroller (bought in Paris), two back packs, and one 6 year old. 

Even if you haven't taken a subway, you have likely watched enough movies to know that there's a lot of stairs. And in Paris there are very few, if any, down escalators. Getting to the Eurostar today I think we did 5 or 6 sets of stairs. People helped us 5 times. I am so grateful to them. 

Thank you helpful Paris strangers!!!

Now we are at the station waiting for our train back to London. Then we take the tube and two more trains to go to a cottage in the country for a few days. Where I will sleep. A lot. 

We fit a lot into our 2.5 days in Paris. 

One last look on Freddie's balcony. 

One of Freddie's paintings. (She is an artist AND a banker. What a combo). I love that red jug! 

Missing Jason and The Beags tonight. 

Maurice Boscarelli. "Bosco"

Samantha Jane. "Sammy"

Secret Garden

In Tewksbury Maddie and I found a little museum. We toured a Tudor House and then explored what they called the "secret garden".  

Paddington knows a shortcut to Marks & Soencer. 

----- time passes----

"Um...ok so maybe not"

What Paddington's been up to...

Sorry, most pics are on my camera and I only brought my phone so I don't have a way to show you them yet. But I do have a few pictures of PB out and about. 

Heading out to get some deals at the car boot sale. 

Sheep Whisperer. 

Stopping for a cuppa at Anne & Mick's. 

Ahhhh coffee. Nothing beats coffee. 

Paddinton's Adventure

Here is your chance: choose Paddington's adventure! So far he's had a pint, found good coffee, been to church. 

Where should he go next? Give the ol boy a challenge. There's points for the best challenges. 

*points not redeemable anywhere. 

50 points

50 pts to Steph & Jenn for the comments!  125 pts for the next person who comments!  Feeling lucky?  

Meercat Manor

Our cousin, Mick, has a soft spot for the Meercat. He fell in love with the show and then one day they began to move in. Now there are meercats all over the house. In the garden. On the shelf, in a book, on a mug. A few have traveled (via kidnapping) to India. Mick loves the Meercat and the Meercat loves Mick. 

Of course Paddington needed to meet one of these friendly fellows. 

"Crikey, you're a tall one!"

They got one quite well. Bogdan (picture above) had been on holiday to India and so was able to pass on a few pointers. 

Wifi has been less consistent then I thought it would be. So far only at one particular restaurant. We have to pay for it in our hotel, but the first 30 min are free (ooooh thanks a bunch). That's what I'm using now and I should have written this offline. It's really cutting into my Pinterest time. (Kidding). 

In Shrewsbury (shrews'bree) now until Friday morning. This is where my great grandparents came from. It's bed time (so of course I'm wiiiiide awake - still can't get this jet lag sorted). But tmro there will be adventures. 

Wrote most of this post in the middle of the night. Couldn't get it to publish. We spent the 10 quid to get wifi in our room and it's still dodgy. But the room is clean and good and there is COFFEE downstairs. 

Jet lag, you old friend

So here I am at midnight. Bright eyed and bushy tailed and utterly exhausted (knackered) at the same time. Managed to get Maddie and myself to sleep just before 10 but my body says "thanks for the nap, now where the hell is supper?"

Well supper was 6 hours ago and it was fabulous, by the way.  We are in Tewkesbury (said: Chewks Bree, they love a good glottal stop over here). We are here with our cousin Anne and her husband Mick. We met them on our last trip and they are fantastic. So easy to spend time with. Their town is just lovely, it's one of the communities with the most Tudor style houses. Think Henry VIII. Today we went to a castle where his last wife lived after he died. It had an amazing and huge playground which is more of the flavor of this trip. 

Maddie has been tremendous so far. I sometimes forget she is only just six years old. She has been brave and polite and energetic. And the few times when she isn't its bc she just needs a little break or a snack.   I think my mom will tell you she  is behaving better than I have on past trips as an adult!

I don't have my iPad, all of this will be on my phone. Also don't have wifi in our 500 year hotel. Henry VIII wasn't on twitter. 

So back to Anne and Mick: wonderful. They have picked us up (they even borrowed a booster seat for Maddie!) and have taken us everywhere. Fed us meals. Tomorrow they are taking us to a Boot Sale (squeeee - could I be more excited??) and a BBQ at their house. I hope they visit us in Saskatoon bc I would love to return the favour one day. 

Ok I better try sleeping again. It's 12:43 here but I won't be able to post this until morning. There is wifi where we have our breakfast. 

Night. 

  

Red eye

Friday

We flew all night but it went well. Maddie tucked herself in and slept most of the way.  She is almost always easy to travel with. She is exhausted but still doing her best to keep up and help me find where we are going. 

We are on the train now, heading to see our cousin Anne. She will pick us up at the train and take us home for cottage pie (doesn't that sound like a hug?).  Then she will take us to our hotel where we will SLEEP!