The Cambridge Diaries: Settling in

Remember this?

It was taken the day after we arrived in Cambridge. We have now been here for three weeks and I finally feel like we are settling in. 

Things are finding their place and there are places to put our things. This is Ben's corner.

The kids' bedroom. We put them together not only for their own sense of security but also so the 3rd bedroom can act as a study/guest room for any of you who would like to come to stay.

I am slowly but surely getting more comfortable cycling in Cambridge...staying on the left side of the road and am digging my new wheels. Jakob loves the trailer too! Ella....well, she's getting better.

I am about 1 in 20 that wear a helmet. Not only do I feel safer but how can I expect my kids to wear one if I didn't? The bike trailer cuts down our commute time to Jakob's school by about 20 minutes and by the time he is settled in his class, I am ready for second breakfast. I have alluded to it before but for those that knew he busyness of our life in Three Hills can imagine how much I am loving life here in Cambridge. I have no responsibilities outside of my family and no agenda beyond getting Jakob to and from school. I drop him off at 9:00am and since most of the toddler activities don't start until 10am, it allows for a leisurely mid morning coffee hour. Cliche as it may be, our favourite place has been the Starbucks at Market Square. I love watching the people in the market and it is cheaper than the place you see across the lane. Sadly, we may be the only people in Cambridge that drink drip coffee.

Today we checked out yet another play group at Eden Baptist followed by a picnic in Christ's Pieces with some friends. It has turned out to be a gorgeous day despite the foggy start and the week is only supposed to get better! 

London

This past Saturday we went to London....
Apparently the kids were excited because they woke up at 5:30am....so someone was a little grumpy.

We stepped off the train into complete chaos. It's a whole different ball game travelling with children and I would consider this our first "real" time travelling with our kids. Even our journey to Cambridge was not too much of a challenge as we had someone to meet us at our destination and were able to settle into our house right away. It's like doing anything for the first time. It can be uncomfortable and things take a little longer but I am hoping we will only get better at it and it will become more enjoyable. I have also vowed never to go to London on a Saturday EVER AGAIN! It was CRAZY busy. Busier than Vancouver, busier than Seattle, busier than New York. Wall to wall people everywhere.

As we emerged from Green Park crowds swarmed in front of Buckingham Palace. We had arrived just in time for the Changing of the Guard.

From there we went straight to a tour bus company. We thought this would be the best way to get a good overview of London and comfortable and entertaining for the kids. For the most part, we were right. We used the Big Bus Tour Company primarily because its first stop is right at Green Park Underground station which is where we got off (by educated guess). For £27 (kids under 5 were free) you got you a ticket to hop on and off at 30 stops around main London attractions and a free pass for a boat "cruise" on the River Thames and all the walking tours the company offers. On the red buses you also have a live tour guide (big deal to me: it always makes it fun and interesting).  Our tour guide's name was Benedict and I found it quite enjoyable, especially at the start of the tour when there was a crowd of girls at the back of the bus swooning over him and cheering him on.

Near Oxford Circus and the BBC buildings

The London Eye...no we didn't go on it.

St. Paul's Cathedral and Big Ben

The Parliament Buildings and fun with Photoshop filters

Tower of London and more fun with filters

The kids did absolutely fantastic. Jakob was THRILLED to see Big Ben as it is on the movie Cars 2 when Lightening McQueen races in London. We had also taken some books out of the Library on London so he enjoyed identifying everything we saw in the book. In fact he was quite upset with me today when I took it back.
For dinner it was Jakob's choice and he chose Pizza. And while I am sure few of you will be travelling to London anytime soon with children (because only we are that crazy) I strongly recommend The Spaghetti House. It is family friendly, the service was excellent, the food was good, prices were reasonable and I am pretty sure there was no difference in the adult portion size and the children's.

All in all, it was a great day but we were all thoroughly exhausted by the time we got home....except Ella who made friends with everyone in sight on the train and bus home.

The Cambridge Diaries: Everydayness...

Ben will eventually write on his musical experience eventually, I promise.

But for now, as I walk between the shadows of the Great St. Mary's Cathedral and King's College Chapel there is an everydayness which transcends the mystery of Cambridge.

And that, my friends, is what I know and what I can write about.

The extravagant in this one, rather ordinary, beautiful life.

Autumn has arrived...

And while the UK has not yet discovered the culinary masterpiece of the Pumpkin spice latte it is starting to shed the vibrancy of summer and embrace sweet root vegetables and the sound of leaves crunching under foot.

The orchard at St. Edmunds and Queens Road

I love Autumn. I love the harvest. I love apple-everything, beets, even parsnips. In Cambridge, apple trees are plentiful and yet go completely neglected. The ground is littered with rotten apples, which makes the good ones hard to find. I am up for the challenge however, and have settled into an evening of conversation with a "lovely" apple pie (as Jakob would say) and eased into morning with apple porridge.

My love affair with food has struggled since my arrival here as I have no one to share it with...except you. So let me indulge a little and tell you about the parcel that arrived at my door Thursday morning.

Abel & Cole stamped on a box of delicious fresh produce. I fell in love with Spud.ca when I lived in BC and here, in Cambridge grocery delivery is plentiful and popular as so many people don't own cars. You see, as romantic as going to the market for groceries everyday sounds, hauling it home with book bags, diapers, and a camera is not as picturesque as you might think. VERY excited about this.

Life is definitely slower here. Mornings come early as I take time, drink coffee, fill my big boy's Lightning McQueen tin lunchbox, prepare a hearty breakfast, pack bags, tie a silver and yellow tie and head out the door to take Jakob to school. The streets are busy with other families doing the same.
We arrive at the autumn covered mansion just in time to get Jakob settled into class with his 10 classmates and say goodbyes.

This past Thursday, like the days before, we head down town to grab another cup of coffee and take time, time to talk, time to see, time to dream.

We take a stroll through Downing College because we never have and past the Sedgwick museum.

We wander into empty silent churches. Door open just waiting for a worshipper in need for the presence of God.

Like any city with old buildings however outside of these sacred spaces there is refurbishment constantly staining the view. Its a huge reality in Cambridge. Scaffolding litters the streets and reconstruction blares through the street noise. Hammering outside a Sunday Service, jackhammering in the early morning. Life.

It is, regardless, easy to see past. As we move from Trumpington onto King Parade where we stop for second breakfast.

I start to feel anxious as I am still adjusting to the idea, neh, reality that I have no place to be. I have nothing to do, no job to finish.

Cambridge city is starting to fill up as students arrive, there is busyness in the colleges and on the cobble stone roads but as you move out of the city and onto the fen things calm.

Just beyond the Cam River livestock is free to roam and even swans take their time.

Three o'clock comes and it is back to pick up Jakob from school. He is excited but tired and seemingly always ready for a treat or a trip to the park. Everydayness...

It follows you where ever you go. Watching cartoons with Larry boy or on bike rides to the playground.

Meeting friends for coffee, or having ice cream on Parker's Pieces. All part of our everydayness.

Even tonight, everydayness calls me back while I wait for my husband to come home from singing in King's College Chapel (something only he will be able to tell you about). The toys on the floor have yet to clean themselves up and the dishes to be self-cleaning.

Just a note: more pictures of our everydayness and everything in between, can also be found here.

Have a great weekend. We are off to London!

The Cambridge Diaries: To The Market

Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page and turn off the blog music will you....

Cambridge: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

The weekend was overflowing and after our first full week here I had begun to wonder what Cambridge looked like at night. When you have children your quiet evenings become a luxury savoured in the comfort of your own home but one of my favourite times to take pictures is at dusk and at night time when the streets are a little emptier and lighting a challenge. So we set out after dinner in search of ice cream...we managed to find some....can you tell?

On Mill Road there are all sorts of treasures like this liquor store where you can find almost
 any kind of beer from any country.

As promised the city was enchanting and mystical. The stained glass windows glowed with pictures of saints, warm and reverent . Alleys stood eerie yet romantic as we watched for Sherlock Holmes to emerge from a doorway into the single lamp light upon the cobble stone walk.

But here is the thing about Cambridge: while it seems to pop right out of a history book it is still a real place, with real people, that eat fast food....and then throw their garbage on the street or in the canal. So just yards from the most amazing architectural structures and glimmering canals....

there is garbage, streams littered with pollution and waste.

I will say, Cambridge is a relatively clean city, but I want to show you all of Cambridge, not just the pristine college greens or crisp autumn scenes. I want to capture the parts of Cambridge that other photographers/tourists don't publish. So there you have it.

Anyway, after a glimpse of the finiteness of humanity we headed over to the Food and Garden Festival on Parker's Pieces. It was wonderful. There were rides for the kids, samples galore, steak and kidney pies, archery, crafts, wood carving: you name it.

And contrary to what you are probably thinking the pollution was just the "bad". The ugly was the kids after a full day in town after being up late...we'll just leave it at that. So we went home full of mini sausages and danishes and vegged out with a glass of wine and a new blockbuster membership.

Today, being Sunday, we went to church at The Great St. Mary's. Review to follow in another post but  I will say that there is something to worshipping in a Gothic Cathedral only to emerge afterward into Market square ready for lunch.

From there we hopped on the bus out to Fulbourne. Fulbourne is one of the many small villages which comprise Cambridgeshire. The reason for our mini-tour was the Cambridge Down Syndrome Group's summer party. That's right, Down Syndrome does exist in Cambridge and the families are just as amazingly delightful as the ones in Canada, (including the kid that pulled Ella's hair with both hands- the poor girl, this is the second time this has happened since we arrived.)

There was a tonne of fun activities and of course, lots of food, and good company. It was so good to get connected and share stories with seasoned moms whose children were much old than Ella and a new mom who was brave enough to come and show off her adorable six-week old angel.

The house is really coming together. The living room finally feels warm and welcoming, the kitchen is getting worn in (despite my attempt at chocolate chip cookies tonight...no recipe+British ingredients+Gas oven with no temperature gage=Epic Fail) and everything is starting to become familiar.

Jakob and Daddy building our 3 pound dresser from IKEA.

I will have to have you over for another tour soon :)
Tomorrow begins another week, Jakob in school, running errands and picking up stuff for the house.
But for now, savour the Sabbath.

This was taken just before the porter of St. John's informed me that you are not allowed to use a tripod on college grounds...lots more to say on that but let's just say he even said it was a silly rule.

Happy Sunday from Cambridge.

Maybe Down Syndrome doesn't exist in Cambridge

We have officially been in Cambridge for over a week. We have met a few people and had some longer interactions and some not so long. Many questions have been asked about where we are from and what we are doing. How many children we have, how old they are, what their names are, etc. etc. etc.
And naturally or unnaturally the topic of Down Syndrome has not once come up.
Now, I understand that most people would not bring it up. Even I don't want to be the idiot who asks you if your kid has Down Syndrome when they clearly do not, but its just a little weird. Before we came I thought about how I would have to explain it all over again. I rehearsed the script in my mind preparing for the questions I have heard a thousand times. "What is Down Syndrome?" or "She must not have it very bad".
Not only that but Ella, at this point, has no therapy, or PREP, or friends. DS just doesn't exist in our world right now. And while this summer has been a welcomed hiatus I am starting to get restless with Ella's lack of non-physical progress. It's time to get creative! If only I had the energy of Courtney.

On a side note: I have been asked if the kids are adopted. Surprise, surprise.

Here's one from a little while ago. I found it today as I was going through some older pictures and just couldn't resist.