"Thats enough Pictures Mommy"

Today we road in the top of a double decker bus to Swanage. The route the bus took happens to go across Poole Harbour on a ferry. It was quite the ride going on the ferry up top. I still feel a little dizzy from it. Too bad for Lara, it had to be the rainiest, coldest day to go. For lunch we went to a small fish and chips joint, the fish was caught by Ramion and the potatoes were provided by Mary Tipsis. I love the local feel there. From Swanage we boarded the Steam Train and travelled to the ruins of Corfe Castle. Corfe Castle is a ten year olds dream come true. I would have loved to be there when i was younger and run around with friends pretending to be there back then fighting off attacks and attending fancy feasts and balls. But then again we had to go on a cool and rainy day so we didn't do too much pretending. On the bus ride home we were on a double decker again but this time half of the roof was missing on the back half. Rain, cold, not for me but Lara being from the arctic of Edmonton road all the way home up top in the open cold and rainy night. I would love to ride like that in the summer, you couldn't pay me to do it in December. Tomorrow we are headed to London. We're going to watch Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre and do some exploring. I love having visitors. It makes you feel like a tourist all over again. Oh and the pictures are not edited, the grass just gets greener and greener here. I'm still not use to it. Oh and the title to this blog, Raven was really mad the entire trip. She was cold, she was tired and she was hungry (there was no way she was going to eat our fish and chips). I kept on taking pictures and she kept on saying "thats enough pictures Mommy". I can't help it that she's so cute. Am I the only one that has over two thousand pictures of my 2 1/2 year old?

Corfe Castle




They still have lots of buildings with thatched roofs.


Lara


Mardy and Raven

Christmas in the German Valleys

We just got back last night from our seniors tour to the German Valleys. On the way home we drove on the bus through Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France and England, in one day. I'm exhausted still. We had lots of fun on the trip. All of the old ladies adored Raven. Some of them even gave her presents. She deserved them too because she was so good on the bus all the way there and all the way back.

The fist day we were there (Christmas Eve) they took us to Koblenz to quickly go shopping because all the stores were closing at noon. The German people celebrate and open presents on Christmas Eve. We didn't spend nearly as much money as we would have liked but we made up for it buying Belgian chocolates on the way home.





After seeing Koblenz they took us to Cochem which is a cool little village with a neat little castle. To view the history of the castle click here.









The next day was Christmas day. Now in Germany unbeknownst to us, everything closes down. Nothing stays open because everyone is celebrating with family. The tour guide took us on a mystery tour and we traveled through all the little villages and saw the many many vineyards. Finally we came to a little village that was surrounded by a circulate stone wall guarded by giant wooden toy soldiers. The village was really beautiful. We heard music coming from the church so we peeped inside just in time to see the end of Catholic mass. The church was very ornate and beautiful. The construction was incredible. It was very spacious, very big and very rich.





The next day, Mardy, Lara, Raven and I stayed behind while the rest of the seniors went on an extra paid excursion. We walked around the village that we were staying in, Bad Selzig, and again found ourselves going to a Catholic mass. I can't help myself. I love looking at the intricate detail of these old churches. This time it was near the begining of the mass so we only stayed for a little bit and didn't take any pictures. After mass we made our way down to the Rhine river so Lara and Mardy could dip their feet in the dirty water. It was getting time for lunch and we had been told that it might be hard to find a place open to eat but finally we found a pub open serving food.









Kiss me, I'm under mistletoe!


The next day we boarded our bus home and again Raven did so well travelling. I'm so proud of that little girl. Today we are stuck at home waiting for our groceries to arrive and tomorrow we are going to try and take Lara to one of the English Castles close by here. We had lots of fun on our adventure and are so glad that Auntie Lara could come with us.

Christmas

Christmas came a few days early for the Litchfield clan of Bournemouth. Mardy had a little chat with Santa and asked him to come before we left. Lara came on the Sunday. We are so excited to have her with us for the holidays! On our Christmas Eve Raven was so excited. As she was laying down to sleep she whispered to me "Is Santa here?" I told her no and that he wouldn't come until she was asleep, then she whispered even softer to me "I'm so excited for Santa to come."



Raven still has to get the hang of waking up early Christmas morning, I was anxiously waiting forever. Finally she woke up and was really excited. As she walked into our living room she wasn't too sure about seeing a Raven sized piano in the room. After she figured out that it was really hers she loved loved loved it. She had fun opening all the presents from family back home, auntie Lara helped her. She loves her dress ups and she loves her little toy playhouse. Raven kept on talking about her piano in Germany and when we came home and she finally saw it again she ran up to it and gave it a hug and a kiss.





We forgot to bring our Christmas stockings. Don't worry these ones are washed.

A few of my favourites from 09

Yes I realize that I have too much time on my hands. I also realize that since I have about two thousand pictures of my two and a half year old daughter that I need to have another kid to soak up some of my excessive energy. Anyway here are only a few of my favourite pictures of 09. There were oh so many more.

Snow in Bournemouth

Today as I was waiting for Mardy to get home from school he called to tell me that it was actually snowing in Bournemouth. I looked outside and sure enough it really was. We would have gotten outside faster if Raven was wearing pants (trousers not underwear). She had either peed her pants or spilt water on them while she was "doing dishes". So I got Raven dressed and we headed outside. We took a few pictures and then it stopped. I'm betting that is all we'll get all year. No white Christmas here. Hopefully we'll get one in Germany.

Finally!

We found him, we found Santa.......We caught the bus to Poole and was able to see the Jolly Old man himself. He was really nice to Raven and she was talking to him like crazy until it was time for the picture. No way was she going to sit by herself so Mardy and I joined her and this was the best of the 4. The quality of the picture is better in real life, we just haven't figured out how to use our scanner properly yet.