A Cross Country Run and the beautiful CONWY

This blog is dedicated to Aimee. We are soo sad that you have been really sick and hope that you soon feel better. We want to come and see you in hospital to make you feel better. We love you!

We all piled into the car early to make it to Saint Davids College in Conwy for Sophia's cross-country. It was the second in a series. As we drove we had beautiful views of open countryside. After a few minor route re-directions we made it in plenty of time to get familiar with the route she would run.

Holly really enjoyed the setting of the boarding school which has many suitable climbing trees and stairs. She was constantly exploring which made keeping an eye on her a real task! I was concerned that I would miss Sophia's race as she was constantly on the go.

Sophia ran exceptionally well, putting in a sprint finish to finish 3rd. We were soo proud of her, at the end of her run she was really out of breath and it took time to regain a slower breathing pace. She really puts in 100%!! Sophia is racing the best of the runners in the under 11 category in the area. She made the comment "Wouldn't it be good if Elouise was here?!". Elouise is a runner from Nelson New Zealand and would have easily won.

After the race we were en route for some lunch and a castle to explore.....we stumbled upon more then we had bargained on!!......

Couldn't get the camera out quick enough! Time to clean that car window!

Leaning just a little too far out to capture Jules poking her head out!

The beautiful most picturesque town of Conwy...Conwy is all about the castle, one of Wales' finest! It is a World Heritage Site, and another great bastion in Edwards I's Welsh defences. It was built in just five years (1282-87) following the conquest of Gwynedd. From the battlements, views across the estuary and to the peaks of Snowdonia are exhilarating!!!

Look Granny and Oma, my teeth have grown through! The views out of this castle must have been a distraction for the soldiers?!

View of the township from the wall. The 1200m-long wall helped to guard the residents at night. You can walk part way around the wall; the best views are at the Upper Gate.

Chester city walls, and a national treasure...

Autumn has elbowed summer out of the way and in a weeks time we will turn back the clocks.

The river Dee

This weekend we have enjoyed the changing seasons as we explored the heart of Chester in its autumn splendour. Entering the centre of the city is a real feast for your eyes and a place that seems to invite re-visits.

Walking the city walls, pleasure boats in the background.

Our eclectic views included, roman gardens, a roman amphitheatre, the river Dee and its pleasure boats, a vintage omnibus, a shopping centre, outdoor umbrella covered stalls, canal boats, the Roodee Chester race course, and the beautiful Tudor era buildings that are so aplenty in this city.

Beautiful autumn along the river Dee

Eastgate Street Chester, I think?

So much to see, can you spot the whanau?

The whole afternoon was just perfect, but what took it from a great day to an exceptional one was the Chester Cathedral....1000 years of history! 

In 1541, it became the cathedral of the Diocese of Chester

I have a friend who in recent years shared with me how one day she had been walking past a church and was really captured by the singing she could hear...this started her search of faith which today is now apart of her life. I marvelled at the time how that could lead someone to Christ. 

Today as we walked the cathedral, I to had a 'God' experience. 

We were fortunate to have timed it during a choir rehearsal. The humour of the conductor combined with the exquisite singing of the large choir and two plaques which read simply 'these stained glass windows were erected by people who admire his character and have benefited from his labours', the one on the floor read 'dedicated to the memory of Luke Allan who at this altar enjoyed marvelling at the mysteries of the devine'. All of these 'little things' combined to create a pondering of gods grandeur....this cathedral was built in a time when people had a real strong sense of God and wanted a God presence at the centre of their lives. I love the way that churches are spotted around the local villages right in the centre. I'm sure as with everything human that is linked with God there is always a certain duality of purpose...however during some occasions the balance is skillfully tilted and today was one of those.

The brochure of Chester Cathedral reads.....'Chester Cathedral is a living Christian community, dedicated to prayer and the worship of God. It is a holy place in which people make time for God. I hope you will find this a space for prayer, peace and comfort. 

We all had an opportunity to sit, pray and reflect.

 Fav pic of the day, capturing the 'warmth' of the day! Hope we have a few more before winter.

We're Going on a Berry Hunt

One of our favourite things to do is explore the pathways just out our front door.

We're going on a berry hunt.

We're going to pick some big ones.

What a beautiful day!

Uh-uh! Grass!

Long wavy grass.

We'll go through it!

Swishy swashy!

The blackberries are just everywhere, along with stinging nettle.

Swishy swashy!

We're going on a berry hunt.

We're going to pick some big ones
What a beautiful day!

Uh-uh! Stinging nettle!

Prickly, stickly.

We'll go around it!

Carefully now!

Uh-no! Mud!

Thick oozy mud.

We can't go over it.

We can't go under it.

Oh no!

After school on friday, mud, cow poo, adventure in public pathways.

We've got to go through it!        

Squelch squerch!

Wish I had my gumboots!

We're going on a berry hunt.

We're going to pick some big ones.

What a magical day!

Uh-uh! A horse!

One of the horses actually ate berries from Hollys container! Bit slow with the camera :)

A big poking his nose into my container horse.

Oh no!

Better walk past him!

Stumble trip!

Stumble trip!

Yeah, we have picked some

Success, tasty and enough to make desert to share with James Megan, Peter and Melanie!

beautiful tasty blackberries!

Lets eat them!

Quick! Back through the mud, cow poo, past the stinging nettle, through the grass.

Back home to cook blackberry pikelets and blackberry crumble.

Mmmm, you should have seen the number of small white worms we found!!

YUM!

Blackberry pikelets!

Yummy,yum, yum! We had our neighbours over for desert and a drink.

Getting Down and Dirty on the Sporting Front.

 Sophia has had a great couple of days with sport. On Saturday we traveled 50 miles to do a North Wales club cross country race in Banger. The ground is somewhat different here. Because it seems to rain at some stage in every day, the ground is totally water logged. Well it was where Sophia was doing the race anyway. I wished I had warn gumboots. Heres a before picture. It was a mile long but because of the swamp like conditions it seemed further.

By the time she had finished she looked like this.

The good news is that she ran well and came in second. 

On Sunday she had to travel 80 miles each way to play in a qualifying tournament for Hockey. It is a mixed U11 competition and there are 6 Northern Wales tournaments where the top two teams qualify for the national tournament later next year. They had 6 games, winning three and drew two so they are off to a great start. It is 7 aside and Sophia seems to be well regarded placed in mid field. Its a boys comp but teams are allowed to play three girls. There another girl in her team who is also superb.

Chirk Castle

We have had the opportunity to get around lately and the weather has been reasonable. So our first adventure was to explore Chirk Castle. The National Heritage Trust is a great undertaking where many castles, manors and other places are open to the public. It is free to trust members and we joined while still in NZ.

The castle had magnificent walls and dates back to the 13th century. We ventured in and toured the living areas. This is what many of the locals call posh. It was great for the kids as a teddy bears was hidden in each room. 

Later a show was put on for the kids involving a knight in armour and lots of children with sticks. Sophia hopped on her horse, raised her lance and charged the knight. She went so fast that having hit the shield so hard the knight fell over which I suspect was part of the act. Later we found the armoury and the kids enjoyed the opportunity to dress themselves up. There was also an array of weapons to try.

Our favourite was the dungeon. Very simple with just two rooms at the bottom of a circular staircase. We also wondered around the gardens immaculately kept.

Feet on the ground in Wales,(Well almost!)

I'm wiring (do you like my u.k vocab), to be in contact with everyone!

We are now in our furnished rental with a young family to our right. Holly and Megan (3) are already bff's, and Jules is coaching James (7) in football. Peter his father is grateful as he has been trying for years to create some  football interest in his son. Sophia has made a friend with Katie, she is 3 doors down and also 9. Its amazing how having a steady stream of kids through the house can make it seem like home. Neighbours in our attached bungalow are nice as are our self confessed 'canny' neighbours across the road.

Holly and Megan both 3yr years old

The last 15 days have been a whirlwind of call centres, cut of calls, all in an attempt to set up the phone/internet/t.v, register at the medical centre etc, all the basics of life,... after hours on the phone we have all of the above now despite the need for a visit from several service men. The first service man on day 2 of being here, informed me that the leaking gas levels were alarmingly high and that the house could have exploded and possibly the one next door. My reaction was disbelief, I was all a bit overwhelmed considering we had just slept a night in the house.

Anyway,... too much to do to get too concerned. Finding a suitable school has been a challenge as there is a bulge in numbers in year 3 students, so we have a 4 mile school run. Was really hoping to be able to walk to school with the neighbours but it is not to be. We are however entitled to a taxi service as they can not provide schooling closer to our address, so as the kids settle I will take advantage of that. The parents and teachers at the school have been very welcoming, one day I was literary swarmed with hand shakes, questions, talk; very nice. It is a small school Northop Hall (178 chn), and has a simple site with an old church in the back drop... I almost expect to bump into Aimee, Kylie, Tracey in the playground. Its the usual school run chat with a few "oh we are off to Greece for a wedding this week", and "our holiday in Turkey was hot"...or from our librarian 2 mins down our street "you wont see me next week, I'm off to Cyprus for a week". :)

"Ah mum, not ready for the photo yet!" No 'fixed' playground , joining the PTA next week, hoping to join fundraising for onsite playground.

I've had three families simply knock on our door and introduce themselves, with offers of help. Louri who has 3 children similar in age to ours just lives around the corner, her house was burnt down last dec after their dishwasher blew up. She is bi-lingual, so I'm hoping to learn some Welsh while here to satisfy that pint of welsh blood running through my veins. Almost a week ago while following her home from a holiday programme, I got mildly lost ( have had to give myself a sit down map reading inservice since!) After this event...she turned up at our house just to make sure I had got home...bless her! It was rather funny when 2 days later in her drive a driver stopped to ask me for directions!! What was even more amusing to me was that I could give them as I already knew where the local golf course was!

Stephen Parrys extended family have sent us house warming cards, have taken us on a tour of the area and have taken us out for afternoon tea... we have had 2 dinner invites in as many weeks, so I think its fair to say that we are surrounded by a friendly bunch.!!

I'm making an effort to articulate my words as sometimes I think words are missed, the girls are picking up different terminology and also welsh which is taught at school. Its all a bit of a challenge at times. Getting used to driving the picturesque yet narrow roads, indicating with the left lever rather then the right (Mmmm Holly couldn't stop giggling one day when I couldn't work out how to turn the blasted window wipers off, and when I finally did the back ones started!!) All this change...(Loving ASDA Sarah!!) has got to stimulate more brain growth?!

The few runs that I have managed to squeeze in are along those pathways that cut through farm land, I feel really lucky to have access to them only 2mins from our front door. Henry has explored the rolling hills on his bike, he tells us that the roads continue through the paddocks and that you have sheep on either side. I can't wait to get up that high to experience that and the view!

Managed a good run this morning after dropping Holly at nursery. She looks ever so cute in her uniform. The teacher told me later that she cried for 13mins (she had clocked it!) When I collected her she looked really happy and proud of herself and her picture.

It was a tragically boring run with squirrels scurrying past my path and the occasional badger...o.k, the badger was a stretch ;)...I jumped in the car at 9.16 and locked our Skoda @ 9.22am and entered the 160 acre woodland which is named Wepre Park. As I glided past Ewloe Castle, and under the over hanging trees I amost expected to run into Robin Hood!

* p.s boring run  is really code for all of the housework/job hunting I'm doing ;) ;) if you are talking to Henry.

After school today we are looking forward to seeing Sophia, she has just spent 2 nights at Nant Bwlch Yr Haearn an outdoor education centre. I have been so impressed with her adaptability, she has slotted in and gone off to camp after only 4 days at school!! Jules is doing well, she however had a really teary day on day four of school here, I softened up and took her home as she was soo upset and also has a good dose of a cold. On the following monday she cried again, it was soo hard for me as she is generally so 'tuff' about everything...so I knew it was hard! I had to remove myself emotionally from her and be firm. The teacher at the end of the day said she had a good wail, but after that was quite happy. On the Tuesday she said in the car  on the way to school "mum I feel like I might feel a bit like I did yesterday morning", I said thats o.k, she had a little cry in the car and then started telling Holly about how she was starting on Wednesday. When we arrived she asked "do my eyes look red", they didn't and she happily walked in holding Hollys hand. She is very brave and I think the fact that Soph is away at camp makes it harder.

xS

First Week of Teaching

Its certainly different teaching in an English school. Well maybe not that different. Will I ever get used to wearing a suit and tie? I certainly wont be playing much sport out on the field with the kids.

The kids are great. They are very polite and even the lower streams are intelligent. The school has an entrance examination. There does seem to be a real emphasis on knowing rules and process. Every time I ask the question "why" I usually get blank expressions. I have a student who is new to the school and has immigrated from the states. He has a much better concept of why mathematical concepts work.

The staff at Kings are very friendly and it has made my start here much easier. I have even been dedicated a buddy who loves Rugby and is Welsh. Rugby isn't big here. The school is covered in soccer fields, maybe 10 and there is 1 Rugby field. I only wish I could have spoken at the sign-up meeting. I have been given a two period weekly slot for sport as part of my allocated timetable. Of course it is to take a soccer team.

Here's a photo of some of the Maths faculty. Neil is in the middle being the Head of department. Very relaxed. We do work long hours tho and I usually get home by 6pm. It takes me 20mins to get out of my suit and into my riding gear and 30mins to bike home. 

We are given a free lunch every day. It is to die for and will be motivation enough to arrive at school each day. They have cooked meals and enough fruit to even keep me going. So much for trying to loose weight.