Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star

So today we decided to take Robert’s mom to a cute little village east of us. This was our first visit to Lavenham, a village of crooked houses, as well. Easy parking, easy navigating—this village is a gem!

Almost every house on High Street was crooked. Literally. It was almost funny.

Look at the walls on the right.

I wonder what they feel like inside.

This little orange one is my favorite. The Crooked House. The timbers have warped over time causing the upper floor to look crooked - hence the name.

Some believe that a popular poem about a crooked man was inspired by this village. This is the beginning of the poem:

“There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile. He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile. He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse. And they all lived together in a little crooked house”. Maybe they lived in this particular house, who knows? The poem ends quite..um..disturbingly…with that crooked man killing his wife and children and then smiling a “crooked smile”.  Dum-dum-dum..

On a lighter note, in 2010, scenes from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2 were filmed here in the market square where…

…we sat and ate our sandwiches for lunch.

We also spent some time in a small antique shop. Kids better learn how to last longer while we are looking at knick knacks and stuff because I am really enjoying browsing through all the cool random things.

Mark waiting for Grandma to finish shopping, looking homeless.

After almost a couple of hours we headed towards Cambridge. Mark was determined to call Robert before we got into the car though (pretend, of course). The phones do work! And kids love them.

Another brilliant idea for a daytrip! We might have to come back here as well.

Lyana.

Warwick Time!

We were very lucky that Grandma Lorraine got to visit us in England this summer. She is a teacher, so the time when she can travel is based on when her kids have a summer break. We planned it so that even our boys were out of school as well. Their last day of school was on July 23rd (a very short summer holiday, if you ask me).

We decided to introduce Grandma to England right away. So the day after she arrived we drove to Warwickshire (it’s pronounced a lot easier than it looks) to visit Warwick Castle. Warwick Castle is one of the best castles in England! It was built by the Normans right around William the Conqueror’s time.  During the War of the Roses in the 15th century, King Edward IV was imprisoned here. In 1604, the castle was given to the Greville family (well, to Sir Duke Greville at the time) by King James I. It was in their possession till 1978, at which time it was sold and opened to the public. It’s amazing but the castle has had 35 different owners since it was upgraded to stone by Henry II (in the early 12th century).

Another amazing thing is that Grandma felt like she belonged here right away.

This castle is known for the amount of fun stuff there is to do on its grounds. The day we went, lots of families with children ventured out here as well, as it was the first Saturday of summer holidays for them. It was a bit crowded, but at least it was not rainy, the weather was superb.

Here is Mark playing one of the traditional games—one player throws a dead rat into the pipe, and another player has to hit it as it falls out. Fun and gross….even though the rats are not real, obviously (I HATE rats and mice).

We watched a couple of shows outside. One was about Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone. That was funny.

Next we watched this cool demonstration how this giant trebuchet (catapult) works. The music was dramatic and the narration was intense. Then finally we saw a fiery ball catapulted into the air. It was quite amazing, actually.

Here we are waiting for the show to start.

And that’s the trebuchet.

We visited the Victorian era as well. But all we found was this chimney boy…

The highlight of our visit was the jousting show. Really, it was entertaining to watch, it was well organized and practiced.

This is the king/MC.

The House of York competing against the House of Lancaster.

Kids enjoyed it, and so did Grandma.

Oh yeah, and that’s the castle in the background. It’s huge!

We almost lost Grandma…

There was a lot to see inside the castle, but there was also so much to explore outside. Kids did try to follow a kids’ tour, but it was a little too slow for their liking. We did buy them wooden swords as souvenirs though and they loved it.

At the very end of our afternoon, we also got to watch a very cool bird show. It was comparable to the one in Alnwick Castle (from last August). Awesome owl with lots of stories. I am usually not a bird show fan, actually, but this one was indeed interesting and entertaining.

If you are ever in England and want to see a FUN castle, Warwick is the one. It also helps to use 2 for 1 entry coupons found on many cereal boxes in the UK. The price of entry for a family of 5 at the gate could cost you almost $140. Yeah…castles in England are just expensive.

Well, our adventures with Grandma were just beginning. I just need to get my pictures organized to write about all of them.

Cheers,

Lyana.

Percy Jackson Camp Half-Blood Birthday Party-Alex Turns NINE!

For the last year and half, Alex has ben reading and rereading Rick Riordan’s book about Percy Jackson. I cannot think of one detail that he cannot remember from the book! His brilliant memory serves him well and he can memorize with ease all Greek gods, monsters, places and facts mentioned in the book. To his great excitement, this school year (during his winter term), their grade was studying Greek mythology in depth. So he got to shine with his knowledge of all the details (I am sure his teachers had to calm him down more than once).
When it came time to figure out what his birthday party should be about, he shared his dream with me of having a Percy Jackson party. It sounded a bit overwhelming, actually. All those demi-gods and camp half-blood stuff…At the same time, Robert and I decided that we could have some fun with it and so we agreed to it.

My inspiration came from this clue scavenger hunt. We used a couple of her clues, and made up the rest. Alex invited nine friends (as he was turning nine). It was a good mix of boys and girls.
Now, I am actually going to write down the clues we used on here because maybe someone can use it sometime.

So, at the very beginning, the kids got this message:

Welcome demi-gods to your quest
You’ve been chosen from the very best
There’s no room for fear and fright
You must be brave! You must have might!

Pay attention to the clues
They will show you what to do
But along your travels you must beware
Of trolls and goblins and maybe bears

So stand up straight and let’s begin
Take your first clue and march on in

Then Robert gave them the first clue.

Clue #1:
The golden fleece he once stole
And kept it hidden on his island home
That mean old Polyphemus you must now face
And once was lost you must now replace

Leads to “Pin the Eye on the Cyclops” where we play the game.

Clue #2 is given:
Training at Camp Half-Blood is not for chimps
Warriors are what we need, not demi-god wimps
I know you are all up to this next task—it’s fun
Play capture the flag and get a clue when you are done

Play Capture the Flag (we are lucky to have a huge park right over our back fence).

Clue #3 is given:
Grover’s would probably be covered in paper and tin cans
Polyphemus might prefer one topped with some parsley and lambs
Maybe on yours you’d prefer lotus flowers and cheese
Just pepperoni for me-that’ll be 10 drachmas please
Lead them to the kitchen where we had Pizza waiting for them (and berries).

Clue #4 is hidden inside the party centerpiece hanging down from the light:
Ares is the god of war, he loves to fight, and not much more,
He’s hidden a clue in orbs of gold
To find them out, you must be bold
So take his weapons and throw them well within the orbs a clue may tell

Kids have to use a sharp pencil and pop the blue balloons (I put them up next to the dining table as part of birthday decorations) to find the next clue inside one of them.

Clue #5 hidden inside the balloon
There’s much to fear in Hades’ home
for in his Kingdom
The dead do roam
Descend, descend to darkest black
And if you survive
A clue bring back

Leads you to the garage (or basement) where we placed a skull (from Halloween decoration) with a clue taped to it. To enter the garage had to throw some drachmas (I had some big foreign coins) into the cauldron (big bowl).

Clue #6 attached to the skull
Look above, beyond the wall
In the sky Zeus rules all
Climb to his realm and do not fall
If you’re lucky you’ll feel no jolt
From Zeus’ mighty Lightning Bolt

Leads kids to the cut out lightning bolt that we put up on the fence in our backyard. One of them had the next clue taped to the back.

Clue #7
Look about but half-bloods beware
You must never meet her gaze, don’t ever catch her stare
Cover your eyes, a blindfold will do
And with your sword strike fast and true
This clue led the kids to the piñata (Medusa’s head). Robert painted the face and made her snakes out of rope. Here is a close up of it (does she look like Uma Thurman?).

The next part was very exciting—hitting the Medusa piñata with a sword=perfect Percy Jackson entertainment.

Finally, the cake was a blue cake made by Robert. We were going to decorate it with a whole bunch of sea creatures, but couldn’t find any that were small enough to fit and not overwhelm the cake.

And here is the birthday boy—happy as can be!!

I, therefore, consider this party a great success! Kids had a ton of fun!

Alex, you are such a fun boy! You give the best hugs to us, love learning, talk like you are a news reporter, and always feel hungry. You are so resilient, full of dreams and well behaved (at school). We love you very much, so never forget that.

And just so I don’t forget this either, here are a few fun facts (according to Alex):

Height: 148 cm

Favorite Sport: basketball

Favorite Game: four square

Favorite Book: Percy Jackson series

Favorite Movie: Lego Movie

Favorite Color: purple

Hobby: playing outside, singing, dancing, learning about natural disasters

Future Profession: seismologist living in HI

Love you, Alex,

Mama.

Normandy: The Long Way Home

We love taking the Eurotunnel—it’s fast and comfortable, no seasickness, no need to get out of the car. When I booked our tickets to cross the channel, I used my Tesco points, which pretty much paid for the whole thing, all I had left was about $12 to pay. Sweet deal!
It turned out to be not such a sweet deal, but more of an adventurous deal. As we arrived to Calais Eurotunnel terminal at about 17:30 (our train was for 18:00 or so), we discovered very long queues of cars waiting to be checked in. In fact, we were actually lucky to be coming from Normandy and not Paris side as those lines were way worse than ours. At this point we patiently waited in line, moving slowly and trying to figure out what in the world was going on. Meter by meter we were directed into overflow parking area (that took about an HOUR!) and were told what the current situation was.
Basically, earlier that day (it was July 7th), the tunnel experienced a sudden power failure, first time in twenty years of its existence. So the train inside the tunnel had to stop, evacuate all its passengers, vehicles, etc. get them to Calais, France. In the meantime, the repairs needed to be done. On a regular day there are two trains going in opposite direction simultaneously, four times an hour. But because of the incident, they had to go down to one train using the existing repaired track and going back and forward (that’s what we found out later). Here is an article about Eurotunnel delays that day.
So back to that first point when we were able to speak with an overflow traffic controller. We were told—a wait till 4 or 5 in the morning. Once our initial shock wore off, and we started driving slowly following the line of cars…the realization of the severity of the situation settled in.

Oh, so that’s why we saw people walking from Lidl (supermarket nearby) carrying food and bags with blankets. Oh, that’s why so many people were out on the grass picnicking and playing games…everyone has been waiting for hours…and there was no end in sight for our problem.

We were directed to park in a designated spot and told that the delay is…undetermined. We could go and drive 20 min or so to Calais port and see if there is room on a ferry..but another thousand of cars was probably already doing that….

We were also told that Eurotunnel workers were walking around offering stand-by tickets for very late ferries (for 11 pm ferry, then for the added midnight ferry). But we were sure by the time they’d get to us, there would be no ferry spots left.
So we had no choice but wait. It was a nice July day, still light and warm outside. We had some dinner—French pastries, whatever we had in the car and Red Cross dinners. Katya was not a fan of those.  Such a great actress.

No, really, it was not bad. It was an adventure!

And endless queue of cars…still coming into our parking lot.

We, and many other families, made the most of it. Good thing we had badminton, Frisbee and football in the car.

Oh yeah, and since hundreds of cars were returning from the famous LeMons classic car show held that weekend in France, we got to see all sorts of cool cars too, free of charge!

I think around 10 pm, we were directed to another big parking lot that was right next to the terminal with food and shops. At the check point we were given a letter (“Z”) for our train, and that’s what we were going to wait for… “Z” train, departure unknown. Maybe midnight, maybe 4 am.

While I was waiting to find out more info about our departure, one woman in line said she was getting vouchers for free sandwiches and drinks. I was lucky enough to be there at the right time and got those vouchers. They were clearly not well advertised as many people didn’t know about them. Kids were so excited to pick out whatever sandwiches (and even drinks!) they wanted-haha.

Yes, we had fun.

After our strange dinner, we settled into the backseat of our van to watch “Frozen”. It was going to be a long night. The kids were LOVING it. They kept telling us, “We are fine! We love drama!”.

And so we waited and waited. Finally, around midnight, we saw that we could move to the next station where we were actually checked-in onto the train.

We were excited as the departure time seemed to have come at least two hours earlier than we expected. And then…the monitor info changed and our big line of cars, all ready to get on the train was stopped and made to wait for another hour….That was very frustrating. We were so close! Some people expressed their anger in a very rude way to the workers who directed the cars. Everyone was just tired and ready to get to England…After all, we’d been waiting for seven hours by that point.
Finally, around 1:40 am we got on the train, trying to get a quick power nap while inside the train. We still had to drive for 2.5 hours up to our house. The whole drive home I was keeping Robert awake. The roads were empty-it was 3 am. The sun started to show its face even, and that was beautiful. We barely made it. Seriously. Robert could have benefited from matchsticks for his eyelids-hehe. We got home around 3:30 am. Got the kids to bed and fell into our beds relieved to be home.
What a crazy adventure! I must admit (besides the tiredness part) it was still exciting to go through this “drama”. I guess our kids are at the right age that it’s possible to enjoy now these unusual fun times too.
Good night for now.
Lyana.

Normandy: Bayeux Tapestry And Mussels

Our time in Normandy was coming to an end. Of course, three full days is not enough at all to see even the main parts of this region. It is so beautiful here! So much history, so much of REAL France, if I could describe it like that.

On our last morning, we checked out of our B&B (which was a fantastic choice, you can book it here) and drove to Bayeux, a major tourist town that hasn’t lost its identity with all the crowds flocking to it. The main attraction is the Museum of Bayeux Tapestry—amazing that a whole place is dedicated to this amazing piece of history.

So what IS this Bayeux Tapestry? Well, here is a snapshot of a small part of it.

This tapestry is a 70 m long piece of embroidery that depicts the events leading to and during the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The embroidery was done, we believe, in the 11th century, but the origins are still not 100% certain, although it was probably embroidered near Canterbury, England.  The story that is covered in those 70 meters is a well-known one. King Herold’s betrayal of the agreement with William the Conqueror (that’s what he became known as) and how William sailed the sea to Hastings and pretty much destroyed the English army and conquered England.

At the entrance, you are given an audio guide that is about 25 minutes long. As you walk along the tapestry, the guide tells you what is depicted in each scene, by enveloping the events in great historical description.

We also watched a short documentary that went into more depth on the story of the tapestry. In summary, we all thoroughly enjoyed it! It is an amazing sight to see and it feels really cool to be so close to something so old (said in simple kiddie words).

Our time was short in Bayeux. We lingered just a little bit longer in this town-went inside the cathedral, wondered around a few stone streets, found a bakery shops and bought enough bread and croissants to last us a while (and it was a very good thing we did! you’ll find out in our next post).

For lunch, we were determined to find some MUSSELS! So we drove about 15 minutes north towards the coast to Port-en-Bessin, a quaint little town on the coast. It reminded us a lot of Porthleven in Cornwall. We found a café that specialized in mussels, got our pots of mussels…and couldn’t finish them all.

These mussels tasted different than any others we’d ever tried before. Some of the mussels had a crunch to them (inside) because they still had tiny CRABS in them. So it’s kind of gross when you think about it-- you have to be eating a mussel and then spit a tiny crab out so that you don’t feel the crunch as you are chewing them.  I actually came home after this trip and had to google about mussels and tiny crabs-haha. And apparently it’s normal!  I found this article about tiny crabs (they are called pea crabs) inside mussels.

After a big filling lunch we waddled over to the van…except the kids got ice cream first, and I got this amazing apple strudel thingie that was not German at all, but it was amazingly good.

We were about four hours away from Calais, so we headed towards that direction hoping we’d get on our assigned chunnel train without any delays. HA-HA-HA-HA.

Lyana.

Normandy (well, Brittany): Saint-Malo and Mont Saint-Michel (kind of).

Not many people get to say that they spent their birthday in Brittany. On her eleventh birthday, we drove about an hour and half west of our B&B to a walled city of Saint-Malo in….Brittany. So Katya got to celebrate her birthday in Brittany!

Our day promised to be sunny and warm, but after morning showers pass. When we arrived to the beach of Saint-Malo, we found heavy gray clouds hanging over the city with a few sprinkles of rain in between.

Not very warm looking, is it?

Less than half an hour later though, the wind swooshed away all the clouds, and the sun came out. The kids got digging.

This is the view of Saint-Malo from the beach. This walled city was founded in the Medieval times, but it got especially notorious for piracy in the 1600-1700. As many British ships passed up the Channel, the pirates of Saint-Malo demanded payments, so to speak.

This pretty cool building in the water is a fort built in the 17th century to protect the city. I heard there are some pirate legends surrounding it as well.

A few happy faces for you.

Our kids begged us to let them put on their swimsuits…and we let them, despite the fact that we were kind of freezing.

Look, I am wearing my JACKET and our kids are splashing in the water. Miraculously no one got sick.

I can’t remember exactly where we ate lunch in St. Malo…oh wait…no, I do. We had more crepes! Had to get our fill of those savory crepes, you know? I always get some sort of mushroom crepes and I love them!

After lunch we walked around up on the wall.

The kids climbed up this cannon only to see what they’d missed…

Look what the tide created! An awesome tide pool with a platform to jump off of. How cool is that?

Instead, since we didn’t want them to get wet again, we let them explore on the rocks around the beach by the city wall.

Awesome views from the city wall.

Topping it off with ice cream was not a bad idea either. Although ice cream is so-so around here…wish it were more like gelato.

After St. Malo, our original plan was to drive to Mont-Saint Michel, a famous beautiful Abbey situated on an island village connected to the coast by causeway. This cool thing.

We were in the area at around 4-5 pm and couldn’t justify the expensive parking price or a long way to get there. I guess we should have made it a priority more aggressively, but at the same time all of us did not feel particularly keen on fighting the crazy tourist crowds in July on a Sunday. So we took a picture from afar instead. That’s the closest you can get to the Abbey without paying for parking. So you can see that it’s a long way away, although a shuttle was provided.

We drove a bit further into the village neighboring Mont-Saint Michel’s parking lot and found a footpath that leads all the way to the island through the marsh…and quick sand? Alex and Mark ran out and played tag for a bit, covering their shoes with sheep stuff.

When we told our B&B owners about this path and how maybe we should have taken it, they said that it is absolutely crazy to do that as people get lost and get stuck in mud or whatever. They sometimes even had to get choppers to come rescue people over there. So good thing we didn’t do that.

For Katya’s birthday dinner we had pizza from the village café. Very French NOT. But it was good. Everyone had a great day despite not seeing Mount-Saint Michel up close. And Katya said she had a great birthday, even without a ton of presents.

Lyana.