UK TOUR! and unplanned Budapest trip....

Thursday, June 5th was the day we were to leave for UK. The girls were staying home from school so that we could be ready to go at 12:00 pm. A great opportunity to sleep in a bit and rest up before a busy but wonderful weekend. OR NOT! At 6:00 am I was awoken by a bang. I thought one of the girls had fallen out of bed so I listened for tears. (Some people would get out of bed and check on their children but my bed was really cozy that day!) I heard no tears so I new the kids were okay. Suddenly I heard 2 more bangs followed quickly by a third which sounded farther in the distance. David came out of the bathroom, (I hadn't even noticed he was out of bed. I'm like a mole when I wake up, barely opening my eyes) and asked me what I was doing. Suddenly 5 or 6 more bangs from what sounded like right in front of our house.

"David go see what's going on!" I ordered him. He crawled into bed and said "okay..." Two seconds later he was snoring. Typical! So I ran down the stairs to look out the front window. I sounded like my house had been lifted up and placed in the middle of Iraq. Gun shot after gun shot, the noise was everywhere and yet I couldn't see anything. I did notice that people were walking down our street like nothing was strange or out of the ordinary though.
What the hell was going on?
I ran back up to our bedroom to meet David who was now getting concerned also. He walked to the end of the driveway and looked toward the gun shots. I, however, was back in bed hiding under my comfy duvet.

A crow cull! Too many crows, too many walkers getting pooped on so they had a crow cull at 6 am to 8 am on a Thursday morning. We had not gotten any letter in the mail saying "Hey, just wanted to let you know... or If you hear gun shots in your front lawn, don't worry! Just us, no need to duck and cover!"

This is a bizarre place!

The kids all slept until 8:30 am. I could have slept until 8:30 am!!!! URGH!!!!


So we were off for our long weekend in Northern England. I was so excited and so were the girls. We flew from Iasi (pronounced Yosh) to Budapest and had a 2 hour lay over. We toured the airport, shopped and had some Borsht and as we were leaving one of the gift stores David said,

"I would really like to come back here one day and experience this city. We should put this on our list of places to see before we leave Europe."

If our life were a movie, dark ominous music would be play right now. Thundering in our ears alerting us to something ironically unforeseen. But I'll get back to that later.

We were at the gates waiting to board the British Airways plane to London Heathrow, (more thunderous and ominous music) when Evelyn ran up to me excitedly with eyes bulging out of her head and Gabrielle close on her tail.

"Mommy, Mommy, I just heard someone speaking English," she said with a huge exhilerated smile. Bless her! When I told her and Gabrielle that everyone in England speak English they were thrilled. No more miming, signing, grunting and pretty much looking like an absolute idiot to get your point across. We were going to communicate in comfort for the next 4 days. Alleluhia!!

We rented a car in London and David drove up to Wetherby (near Leeds, Bradford) where we were to stay with David's cousin Simon and his family Julia and William. Long drive but unavoidable. David did very well driving on the other side but I was a terrible back seat driver. Gasping and pressing my foot to the floor in an effort to slow him down. "Stay left, stay left." I did relax eventually mind you, eventually.

Simon's house is beautiful and I felt a bit like I was at a bed and breakfast. How wonderful! The countryside was beautiful and serene. There were no wild dogs barking their heads off. No gun shots, no rooster telling me off for stepping into the backyard. Just loviness. Friday was a relaxed day where we caught up in sleep, toured Wetherby and visited David's Aunite Marjorie and Uncle Dereck for some fabulous tea and surprised our girls with their Grandma Carole. Very cute! Carole had arrived the day before and was coming back to Romania with us at the end of the weekend. It was a surprise for the girls. When we stepped into Auntie Marjorie's house I said "Let's go meet Auntie Marjorie!" My girls have never actually met Auntie Marjorie. As I turned the corner into the living room I saw Grandma Carole sitting there but no Auntie Marjorie. The girls walked in, looked at their Grandma then Evelyn turned to me and said,
"She looks a lot like Grandma?!"
"Yes," I said, "it is Grandma, SURPRISE!!!" The girls immediately realized the woman sitting in front of them was their real Grandma and not their Auntie Marjorie. How cute! The girls quickly lost interest in our reunion when they heard Auntie Marjorie had a dolls house. Not just any dolls house though, this was a hand made mansion that Auntie Marj had made herself as well as all the pieces inside. The lights light up! The music machine plays music! Gabrielle was in her glory. Makes our dolls house look a bit pitiful now though!

Saturday our UK tour began. We started out in Harrogate which is about as posh as you can get and so me! The shopping was phenominal as well as our very English lunch at Betty's. Yorkshire Rarebit served with you're own pot of hot tea. How english can you get?
The afternoon was spent in York which was fantastic! So old and rich in history. Everywhere I looked I would picture how life would have been in the 1500's. Laundry hanging from building to building. Children playing in the streets not even noticing that raw sewage is running down the street behind them. I guess I don't have it so bad in Romania.
I pictured knights riding on their horses up throught the gates of York. The towns people selling and buying in the streets. How wonderful to be walking in their footsteps! We lack this in Canada. It is amazing how so much has standed the test of time and war and is still standing today. As I walked around Yorkminster Cathedral which is dates back to the time of Constantine in the 380 AD time I am struck. I stand and stare and imagine and picture. No words. Just starring in amazement... then a pull on my sleeve,
"Mommy I have to pee"
Back to reality!

The next day we headed sea side to a lovely little town called Finley. Beautiful and just like I've seen on HGTV Location, Location! Lovely! The weather however was not. It was very windy and cold but that didn't stop a chubby couple from setting up their wind sheild, wrapping themselves in blankets and catching the odd ray of sun breaking through the clouds. Julia wanted me to take a picture and call it "Going to the Beach, Yorkshire Style." But I couldn't!
We did the fish and chips thing which came along with a dreadful, cigarette smoking, unhappy waitress. God she was awful and didn't appreciate us laughing and trying to change our orders! We then moved up the coast through Scarborough and stopped in Robin Hood's Bay. What beautiful little towns these are! Really! So colouful and cool! My girl Sue Bird would have done a much better job with the photos of these gorgeous towns but we tried to do it justice! We continued moved up along the coast again and stopped for some shopping and supper in Whitby. Apparently the Goth capital of the UK. Interesting things in these shops I must admit! We finished off the day driving back to Wetherby through the Yorkshire Moors which was a picturesque and positively lovely way end our tour of Yorkshire country. Thank you Simon, Julia and William for such a wonderful weekend!

We woke up at 2:00am and piled ourselves into the car to head towards London Heathrow. Our flight was at 8:45 am so even if we hit some traffic we should be fine. Right?! (Ominous music again.) All 3 girls and I dozed in the back while David and his Mom struggled to stay awake and find our way back to the car rental place. Well to make a long story short, the GPS failed us and lead us toward Gatwick Airport instead of Heathrow. Gatwick is on the other side of London. No where near Heathrow. By the time we had realized it we had to turn around and head directly back into London at prime traffic time on Monday morning. Then... parking lot! What was supposed to be a 3.5 hour drive turned into a 7 hour car ride. (The girls and I crammed illegally in the back all together) We arrived at the airport just as our flight had taken off. #@*&!
So we bought ourselves tickets to Budapest, Hungary, would stay overnight in Budapest and then catch the next days flight back to Romania. $$$$$$$$$$$$!

Budapest was actually a surprise and we decided instead to feel lucky about getting the chance to experience this beautiful city. It reminded me in many ways of Paris. There are sections of the city rich with culture, history and architecture (actually most of the city is) and then there is a section with fantastic shops, high end fashion, fine dining and cafes and a marvelous market! The city is split into 2 by the Danube River and connected by beautiful, old and intricate bridges. Very nice!

Tuesday we head back to Romania where we could hardly wait to introduce David's Mom to our new world!

But I'll save that for next time!

Miss you all!

Alison xxxxx

ONE YEAR AGO TODAY

One year ago today I was up early. Shower, shave legs touch up the toe nails.
One year ago today we parked at Patti and Greg's house and walked up to St Joseph's Health Care, for a last stitch effort that it would induce natural labor.
One year ago today natural labor never occured.
One year ago today my water was broken by a doctor for the first time.
One year ago today went into labour. Hard and fast!
One year ago today I was stupid and answered "No" when the nurse asked if I would like an epidural.
One year ago today I screamed like I have never screamed in my life.
One year ago today I saw fear in David's eyes.
One year ago today, 2 hours and 55 minutes after my water had been broken, Ruby June Armstrong entered our world. A whopper at 8 lbs, 13 oz.
One year ago today I told David that Ruby was the last baby I would ever deliver.
One year ago today we were both relieved, happy, thankful and humbled.

We are so happy we had you.

Today we celebrate you Ruby on your first birthday away from our family and friends in Canada. Instead we toast you with our new friends in Romania. David, Cindy and Brittany, Sacchin, Payal, and Sacket, Doiina and Costel, Nelly, Gabriella, Semona and Alex.

We are so happy you chose us.

Happy Birthday baby girl

Love Mommy xxxxx

WELCOME TO MY ROMANIAN HOUSE!!!

I want to first thank everyone for reading my blog. I'm so honoured everytime I get an email telling me you've read it and enjoyed it. I appreciate and love hearing from all of you. It makes me smile to know you are thinking of me. I try to write back but having only bits of time I am slow at writting people back. Please do not be discouraged if I don't email back right away. I do appreciate every message I get!

Welcome to my Romanian home. David and I have always wanted to live in Old North and now we do. Only it's in Roman, Romania. We have a cute old home, made entirely of concrete and painted white. The concrete makes the house very sound proof which is great in one sense and not great in others. Great is you want to watch a late night movie or have a party but not great when you're trying to call everyone for dinner and no one can hear you. That or they ignore you!

It's a lovely place really and we feel very lucky we got it. A small patch of grass to the east of the house and marble driveway leading to marble tile terrace at the back. The thing we most love is the grapevine ceiling above our outdoor eating area. It feels very much like we are in a movie sitting under those grapevines. With the breeze blowing through the leaves, they sway slightly and shift the sunlight that peaks through on your face. It would be such a romantic scene if we were in Italy with a glass of red wine and eating fresh brushetta. Instead I'm running after Ruby who wants so badly to walk will wipe out so quickly and smack her head on the marble tile. VERY unforgiving is that stuff! Instead I am in Romania. Instead I am my childrens entertainment. Life was so easy back in Canada. This time of year and especially in the summer, the big girls would be outside at 10:30 playing with their friends on the circle. I would force them in for breakfast at 12:30 athen they would be out all day again. In the backyard, Ann's backyard, the circle the driveways etc.... I would reel them in again for a quick supper and they would play outside again until dusk. It was non-stop fun for them and it was easy for me. Empty house, loads of free time, I could sit outside and watch the kids play for hours with not a care. Talk to my friends in the hood, plan a party. SIGH! Not so here. The kids aren't aloud to play outside of the gates for safety and even if they were there are no children around to play with. It's all up to me to keep them from beating eachother up out of boredom. I must say that for the most part they play very well together but there are far more arguments now that they have no one else around. I'm a bit afraid of the winter time when they can't even get outside. These 4 walls will very likely be closing in and fast. Can't wait to be back at Christmas. Can't wait.

Anyway, back to the house. Behind the white fence in the backyard are our new neighbours who are loud and constantly going at eachother. They are Rocky the rooster and Holly the hen. Rocky gets going around 4 am every single day and doesn't stop till the sun goes down. I am not joking! He's my alarm but he is also my Romanian guard dog. He tells me when the kids have gone in the backyard by cockle-doodle-dooing slightly crazier than usual. He does the same when David drives in after work. Funny, this is the closest I've ever lived to a downtown (5 minute walk) but it's the first time I've ever lived beside farm animals.

We had some of our ex-pat. friends over last weekend for a Long Island Ice Tea party. We had just spent the whole day with our friend Sachin and his family who are from Banglor, India and here also on contract. We had, all together, prepared an authentic Indian supper under the close supervision of Sachin's wife, which took all afternoon. It was a fantastic meal. I now know how to make a curry from scratch along with the vegetable rice and fresh rotiis. We were comfortably full of food and ready to enjoy some night bevies on the back terrace.

Sachin is the funniest guy I've known for a long time but I think what makes everything he says so hilarious is the thick Indian accent he poses. He has been here over 1.5 years and had picked up a lot of Romanian so sometimes will mix all the languages making it hard to understand him at times.

We were all listening to Rocky next door, who we believe was trying to have a night cap with Holly. Holly wasn't buying what he was selling lets just say. Sachin turns to me and says in a very honest and sweet way,

"How do you like your Romanian coq?"

There was silence for a minute as David and I exchanged quick looks. I could tell we were thinking the same thing. Do we laugh our asses off or do we tell him that in english it is a rooster, not a coq. Then David opened the door,

"And I said, PARDON! Snap I loose it!" in a deep burly voice like the champ.

The laughter charged out of me so hard I was wheezing like a 20 year smoker. Sachin loved that we were amused but it was clear he wasn't entirely sure why.

"Yes, " I said trying to gain composure. "I love my Romanian coq," loosing control of my laughter and loosing my breath.

"She wakes up to Romanian coq every morning," David managed to force out as he wiped tears from his eyes.

"She can't get enough of her Romanian coq," added Dave, another ex-pat who had joined us and was equally amused.

It took us a few minutes to compose ourselves then we let Sachin in on the joke. Like the good sport that he is he laughed along with us.

Mike Lindsey, Joe McDonald and Audrey Wharton would have had a field day with that one. It reminded me of the time a patient came in with a penile/scrotal injury and was triaged by Mike and Joe. The conversation went something like this,

"Your doctor today will be Dr. Ball... The wait will be long and hard but there's no need to get teste! ...this cuff is just going to get a bit firm" and on and on. The funniest part was the patient was giggling more than anyone else! I do miss them and everyone else at work!

Anyway, like I said a few emails ago, it is a 2 bedroom house so all of the girls are in one room. Thank god for white noise machines. So far it seems to be working out okay. The big girls go to bed first then I bath Ruby and give her bottle then put her to bed. Luckily once they are asleep, they are really out so Ruby's midnight wakenings don't bother them much.

Our kitchen is a fair size and easy to get around even if the washer and dryer are in there. It can make for a loud room though at times. Dryer running, washer going, washing dishes at the same time as cooking supper and three girls running around my legs. You get the picture! The oven is small so it's a good thing I'm coming home for Christmas cause I'm not sure how I'd cook a turkey in there. My large cookie trays don't even fit. Have to bake on the Pampered Chef stone.

We have a large dining room which is all white like the rest of the house but this room has a seafoam green border with inset fluorecent lighting. You would have enough light to do the most delicate surgery on my dining room table. Unfortunely it also means you can see every speck of dirt on my white marble floor. Sigh! In the front of our house is our living room which is nice comfortable room with laminate flooring and 2 large windows. This is the place the children play the most when inside and therefore the place that gets the most tossed up. We took the armoir that was in our room in London and put it in here to store (hide) some toys. Keeping busy here in Roman! The girls go to a private kindergarten every morning until 12:30 and then have tutoring from 3:00 - 5:30 pm with our French speaking tutor. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I go to the company gym that no one else uses and meet up with some other ex-pat family members. They are Brittany, (CEO's daughter, 21), Payal (Sachin's wife) and Sacket (Sachin's son ,14). Together we have formed a training group. Brittany is a black belt and trains us in self defense. Payal is a Yoga instructor and trains us in Yoga, body contortion and head standing. So far I have not been able to stand on my head. Bit scared of breaking my neck. Nothing big! Sacket is a Tae Kwon Do genius with springs built into his legs and takes us through his physical training he does in his classes. I fight the urge to vomit during these sessions in particular. We hop like frogs across 2 rooms then creep on all fours (feet and hands) like spiders then run on all fours like monkeys. OH GOD HELP ME! I could barely walk after the first time.
What do I bring to the group you ask? Cause I know your asking Ann! I think I bring an example of what you never want to do to your body. If nothing else, comic relief. It must be some kind of hilarious and ridiculous watching me try to get through some of these kicks and exercises we do. Often I'm too focused on bladder contol to get the moves anywhere close to where they want to be. GO KEGELS! Good thing I have a cheerleading background. I can kick almost as high as they can but every once in a while will let a GO BRONCOS or SACK THAT QUARTERBACK cheer out. They look at me a bit strange. I guess there are no cheerleaders in Cricket are there?! They think I'm crazy....

Missing everyone so much.

Until next time, keep it and have fun ;)

Alison