Sunday, December 22, 2013

Trip 12: Grandma Visits London for Christmas!

We were fortunate enough to have Grandma come to visit for Christmas!  Yesterday was her first trip to London.  Although it rained, we saw the Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Oxford Street, Covent Garden, and severals trains in-between.


Both the train rides were a little interesting:
On the way to London, we had the entire train car to ourselves.
On the way home, our train hit a tree.  It broke a window, delayed us an hour, and we had to get a new train at the next stop.  I suppose it could have been a lot worse!

The next few days will be focused on Christmas cookies, our traditional Christmas roast cooked by Grandma, and I'm sure a few trips into town.


Saturday, November 30, 2013

Trip 11: Paris insights and highlights


The Louvre, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.

Bonjour,
Here are a few additional highlights from our trip.

  • Crepes = awesome. We sampled whipped cream, Nutella, ham and cheese, and jam; all good.
  • We only were turned away from one restaurant because we have kids and spoke English. They said it was because they couldn't seat 6 of us, but the restaurant was empty.  To be honest, most Parisians were very nice and accommodating - especially if you made any attempt at speaking French.
  • In Le Louvre, an Asian man stopped Mara and wanted to touch her hair and take her picture.  We let him.
  • On Jeryn's sixth birthday, she opened presents on the top of the Eiffel Tower; on my sixth birthday, I got a bike that I couldn't ride because I had the chicken pox.
  • Vin chaud = hot wine.  It kinda grows on you. It is like spiced cider with alcohol.
  • Do not attempt to have dinner before 7pm.  Repeat: don't even try.  This also goes for attempting to have breakfast before 9:30am.  One night, we had a dinner reservation for 7pm, and were the first ones in the restaurant at 7:10pm when they opened the doors, and they were surprised with us for being early.
  • A three day visit to Paris = about 10 miles walking, depending how strategic you are about riding the Metro (note for next visit).
  • McDonalds sells beer.  We did not confirm if you can get your Happy Meal with a Heineken (another item to explore next time).
  • Two people wished us Happy Thanksgiving.  One was our family.  The other was a great hotel staffer.  Well done.

Here's an additional exhange that Christina had:
Christina:
"Parlez-vous anglais?" (Do you speak English?)
Server:
"No. I don't speak English." (In perfect English).
Christina:
"Oh, Ok.  Um, can I have this?"
Server:
"Ok"

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!


Happy Thanksgiving!, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.

This Thanksgiving felt a little different than most.
We were blessed to still be able to spend it with family and have the opportunity to see some new things in an amazing city!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We miss you!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Another Sunday Afternoon

Jeryn is now teaching Mara how to ride the balance bike...
Girls on their bikes, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.
Sisters on Balance Bikes, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.

Guy Fawkes Day

Since there is no 4th of July celebration in England for obvious reasons, we are celebrating the next closest thing: Guy Fawkes Day.  It is also known as Bonfire Night, and is always the 5th of November.

The City of Chester had fireworks last night that we enjoyed in some traditional British weather (rain).  On Tuesday, maybe we'll learn how to have a bonfire in the rain.

Chester Fireworks, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.

Paddington Likes PB&J

Paddington Likes PB&J, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.
Mara's kindergarten class has a special Paddington that gets to visit all the kids in the class for a week.

Mara introduced Paddington to PB&J straight from America.  He's a big fan:)

Paddington also spent some time with his good friend, Paddington:
Jeryn and Paddingtons, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Sunday Afternoon at Dee Hills

In between the downpours, Jeryn gave her balance bike a little ride...
J
Ahhhh, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.
Balance bikin', originally uploaded by josh77anderson.



Sunday, October 6, 2013

Self Portrait

Self Portrait, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.
The girls tried on their Halloween costumes today, and won't take them off. They even wore them around town.
Jeryn drew a lovely picture of the two of them all dressed up...

Wonderful October Day in Chester

The weather has been unseasonably warm here lately (mid 60's).  The girls and I went down to the City Centre to see the Chester Marathon this morning...


Friday, October 4, 2013

Tooth Fairy!

Jeryn has had a busy week.
The Tooth Fairy visited Thursday night:

And Friday night!

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Trip 10: Hilbre Island


Hilbre Island, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.
We had a short day trip to Hilbre Island today.
Mara walked the entire way: two miles to the island, and two miles back. It wasn't really walking though, because she splashed in every puddle along the way.

Oh, and it is pronounced "Hill-bur".  Silly English spelling.  Also, don't go at high tide, you'll get trapped for 6-8 hours!





Saturday, August 31, 2013

Edinburgh


Is Mara mad?, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.
We took a long weekend in Edinburgh. Experienced all things Scottish...bagpipes, Scotch, St. Andrews, funny accents, and wonderful people.

There are many difficult and frustrating things about living in a foreign country...meeting all new friends, not knowing the customs, no peanut butter or dill pickles, banking, and being half a world from family.

The positives are wonderful though...lots of new learning experiences, tremendous opportunities for travel, becoming comfortable as a tourist, and reliying even more on each other as an immediate family.

Our girls are becoming good travellers and pretty comfortable going just about anywhere. We probably walked about five miles today, and Jeryn handled it like a champ. Probably much better than I did to be honest:). Mara made it most of the way without being carried. Not bad for being almost 3.

We miss you friends and family.  Here are a few picture highlights from our trip.

Roar!!!

Roar!!!, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.

Mr. Scottish Bagpipe Man

Mr. Scottish Bagpipe Man, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.

Trip 9: Edinburgh


Edinburgh Castle, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Trip 8: London

Buckingham Palace is So Funny...at least if you are a toddler.

Jeryn and Mara got their first trip to London this weekend. We saw some dinosaurs, butterflies, and whales at the Natural Museum of History and Science.

We also found a Chipotle, and took a stroll by the Buckingham Palace before it started to "chuck down" on us as the English say.

Via Flickr:
The girls at the palace

More English Oddities...


Untitled, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.
Our hotel scale measures weight in stones...

Friday, August 2, 2013

Trip 7: Norway

Most Europeans take 1-2 full weeks of consecutive vacation every summer.  We had our first 'proper' holiday with a week in Norway.

Here are a few things we found quite interesting:
  • Norwegians are really friendly, and more than willing to help you out - especially if you are looking lost:)
  • Almost everyone speaks English as a second language.  In all the touristy spots, the signs are in English.
  • Norway is very expensive as a country.  It is quite common to pay $10 or more for a beer.
  • The scenery is incredible.  It reminds us of Yosemite, only there are no crowds and half the country looks like Yosemite valley.
  • It rains almost every day.
  • Since we all have blonde hair, everyone assumed we were Norwegian.
  • We spotted several Minnesotans.  It turns out that we are relatively easy to pick out of a crowd.
  • Norwegians find it unusual to pay with cash.  Everything is by card.  Even to use the public toilet, is a 10 NOK credit card only fee (about $1.50).
Here are a few picture highlights...

Norway Fjords, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.
Norway Fjords, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.


Mara's Hats, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.
Bergen Fisherman's Wharf, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.

Bergen, Norway

As with many popular tourist areas, there are a lot of street performers.  These guys caught our ear and put on a traditional Norwegian show.  Jeryn and Mara seemed to like them too.


Saturday, July 6, 2013

Trip 5: Anderson's at Cader Idris

Anderson's at Cader Idris, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.
Here we are at the top of our hike. We decided not to go quite to the very top since it was cloudy and we were tired. We still made it up over the clouds though!
Way to go Jeryn and Mara!
 
Walking in the Clouds, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.
 

Big girl Mara, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Good Friends Travel Long Distances!








I never would have guessed that this summer would be so busy at the English Cottage with friends visiting! We were blessed to have our good pal Jody from our California days come stay for a week! It was so much fun hanging out. We didn't do anything too over the top exciting as Jeryn had school all week and Mara is still napping, but we did enjoy a couple nights out to dinner, day trips to London and Liverpool, a tour of Old Trafford arena home to the Manchester United Futbol team and quality time together at the house laughing!

Then two days after Jody went home, Amber my college roommate, happened to be in London for the week. She was sweet enough to train over a couple times to visit while she was in the area. So good to catch up and hang out.

Love these girls and it was such a bright light in my life to have them come all this way to visit!

Saturday, May 18, 2013

School Fair 2013


IMG_5150, originally uploaded by josh77anderson.

Jeryn and Mara LOVED The Firs School Fair today! There were fun rides, swings, junk food, balloon teddy bears and best of all FACE PAINTING! The lady who did their faces was so sweet! I think Jeryn told me she would like to have 'Facepainting by Anni' for her birthday party in November. Needless to say, it was tough getting them in the bath tonight! What a GREAT DAY!