Frommbly from far away!

Many of you may have met our pet sock monster, Muzzypug who we adopted one sunny Saturday while we were in Edmonton. Muzzypug has since gone on road trips and joined us on our spring break trip last year to  London, England.

Well after being in Cambridge for a few months Muzzypug was feeling down and wishing he had a friend that was  more like him, so he (with some help) sent a letter asking for a friend that might look like this:

Well at long last Muzzypug got word that his new friend would be traveling by air all they way from Canada. All he knew was his new friend likes chocolate biscuits and collecting antique spoons. So wanting to be a very good host he went out and got these things so his new friend would feel more at home. Muzzypug worried about his choices and waited, and waited, and waited....Often checking for the postal carrier (twice a day as the post comes TWO times a day Monday - Saturday).

At long last the post came this week and what came....

The excitement was almost too much! Muzzypug checked it was ok to cut the package open as he didn't want to hurt his new friend.

Muzzypug woke up his sleeping friend, and with a little help.... Frommbly was free from his carrier.

 

 

The cookies seemed to be a big hit... and Frommbly couldn't believe his luck when he opened a gift to find...

AN ANTIQUE SPOON!

Muzzypug and Frommbly seem to be becoming the best of friends already :)

Olive you!

Stephannie's parents arrived safely in Cambridge after some adventures on the London Underground and National Rail. After being in the UK for about a week Stephannie's father was really looking forward to going to the Jamie Oliver Restaurant.

Brendan and Stephannie's mother where delighted to see that they could start their meal off with olives, which were listed as:

WORLD’S BEST OLIVES ON ICE 

Large green olives, black 

olive tapenade & crispy  “music bread”

Given how clean the dish was, the dish seemed to live up to its name. The rest of us shared something was was called:

PUMPKIN &  SMOKED MOZZARELLA NACHOS 

Crispy fried & served with  fiery arrabbiata sauce

This was more like a baked pasta. It was a great meal enjoyed by all.

Happy Easter!

After only being in the UK for about 48 hours Stephannie's parents cooked a turkey and all the trimmings for Easter dinner. We were happy to share our large meal with one of our neighbours, Richard and his visiting friends.  (Note: The napkins folded into bunnies, guess they were Easter bunnies all the eggs they laid.)

HAPPY EASTER EASTER EVERYONE! 

Christmas in January!

At long last after waiting for what seems like ages our things came! The boxes left before we did, and the went by van, train, boat, lorry to our street. It felt like Christmas for us with all of our things :)

 

 

Brendan and I are so thankful for Richard's help to move all the boxes into the house. Thanks Richard!

 

Learning for a New School

As the week started Stephannie started her new job as a year 1/2 teacher in a neighbouring city called St. Neots. Not only did school start but winter seemed to start too. Here is the field near the school were Stephannie teaches.

As the weeks continued so did the snow. Which in the UK means that most students stay inside and do not go out for recess, which for a Canadian having grown up with snowy cold winters on the Alberta prairies seemed so odd.

English is not English

Today was Stephannie's first day with her new year 1 & 2 class. Though she has found to be a steep learning curve she has discovered that English as she knew it in Canada is not English in England.

You see Stephannie was doing an active with the class where they had to build things will Lego (Yay, as we know how we love Lego). She asked the students to tidy up at the end of the lesson by saying, "Please put the Lego in the bin closet to you table."

Cries of shock and horror rang out  across the class. When one student piped up and asked, "Why do we have to put the Legos in the bin?"

Upon seeing what she had done Stephannie explained that in Canada a box or tray can be called a bin, and that we was asking them to clean up and not toss away the Lego.

Funny thing is she knew that and had called the trash can a bin for most of the day, but when she was not over thinking how to speak British English she shocked her new students thinking that thely had to toss out their Legos. (Yes the British seem to love to add "s" to many words...Brendan says that English started the Language but they also BREAK all the rules too).

English 101 for Canadians 
bin = garbage can

Happy Birthday Stephannie!

The morning of ...
Stephannie awoke to breakfast in bed, or maybe she woke to the smell of bacon wafting up the stairs, either way it was yummy!

As you can see from this photo Brendan had to improvise for what  to use for a tray, given that our things have still not arrived from Canada. Thank God for boxes. (In the top another box being used as a side table) We have a number of boxes as we have had to get things to set up a basic home, so grateful that some Tesco orders things are in boxes and then put into a larger box to hold all the smaller boxes, it is like English nesting boxes?

The day before...

A trip to London to get Hummingbird gluten free cupcakes, because what would a birthday be with out cake? After walking around the city stopping for lunch and tea, Brendan took Stephannie to Piccadilly Circus where most of the box offices are so she could pick a show to go to for her birthday. Surprise, Surprise, she picked on with DINOSAURS! 

Walking With The Dinosaurs was shown in the large O2 arena. It was a Spectacular show, and we loved it! We were good and didn't take any photos during the show, but you may recall Brendan's Facebook post "This is what the public thinks of 'no photography or video recording'. " Where you look down and see all the people with their cameras/cell phones taking photos and videos of the show.

We had a blast! It was a joy to watch Stephannie watch the show, it is like what she might have been like a littler girl, on the edge of her seat enjoying every minute of it. Brendan got her a new plushy dinosaur to add to her growing collection, who she has named Huxley. (photo to follow when found)

The evening of ...

Even though we had planned to have over the few friends we made for pizza, games, and cupcakes no one was able to come. So Brendan rounded up some of the friends we brought with us to wish Stephannie a Happy Birthday!

A good time had by all!