First week back.

I am back in the routine of school and embracing my new theme of Peter Pan. I think it will be a really good topic and the kids like it so far! As well as getting my room ready, I have fostered a cat! Her name is Saphie and she is approx. 9 years old. I will look after her until she finds a forever home. She is the sweetest cat and loves to cuddle most of the time! She makes us smile and she is nice to come home too!

This past weekend, Jess, Josh and I went to Ascot Races... where the Queen goes! She wasn't there this weekend, but it was a Food and Wine Festival. There were 8 races and we all bet on all of them! It was a bit more complex here than at the races back home, but we figured it out quite quickly! I won money off three horses and there was even a horse called Bay of St.Malo! I bet on him and he came in 3rd... so we did get some money back! Usually people wearing fancy hats and headbands to the Ascot races but you didn't need to for this festival. Although, there were some ladies wearing them. It was fun to get dressed up and experience something very British!

I spent today planning for the rest of the week at school..the first week of proper lessons with my new class!!

Saphie cat!

Mermaid Lagoon

London Skyline

All dressed up.

At the races!

My guy:)

The parade ring.

My Visit home to Canada.

After my week spent in Greece, I set off to spend the rest of the summer in Canada! It was so amazing to see all my family and friends and show Josh around Winnipeg and Montreal!

I went to Karleighs cabin, saw Folklorama, visited my friends at their new apartments, went to the farm and much more! It was also neat to show Josh some areas of Winnipeg that I would usually not spend a lot of time at, or atleast not spend time wandering and reading information! We went to Assiniboine park, The Forks, The Human Rights Museum and much more! Josh and I really enjoyed spending time with my parents, who are just so wonderful! :) We wish we could go back and play more games of Quiddler, have more bonfires and make more smores!

Finally got to meet this angel :)

My lovelies

One of the best days of the whole trip!

The bugs were so bad!

At the Human Rights Museum

Such a good holiday.

After 2 and a half weeks in Winnipeg, we set off for Montreal to stay with Susannah. We explored the entire city and absolutely loved it! We went to Mount Royal, did some shopping, introduced Josh to Poutine (he loved it!), went for delicious suppers, swam in a rooftop pool, went back to Candi Bar, up the Olympic tower and explored the botanical gardens. We also forced Susannah to watch one of our favourite shows... Locked Up Abroad! She hated it. We also went to this Cat Cafe, where they have about 5 cats you could play with while having your coffee. It was called Cafe Venosa!

Cafe Venosa!

Candi Bar

Mount Royal

Showing Josh a Canadian tradition!!!

Rooftop pool

Musical Swings!

From the top of the Olympic Tower!

It was quite sad to leave for both Josh and I, however it is back to the work life with a new bunch of kiddies. I have been working hard on my new classroom theme... Peter Pan! I will post pictures when it is complete! This weekend I also went into London to experience the Notting Hill Carnival and see Kiara! It happens every year for the August Bank Holiday and is Caribbean themed. It was very loud with tons of people enjoying the music and food! They also had a parade but we didn't see very many floats. I am glad I experienced it, however I don't think I would go back.

My Greek Adventures

After a bittersweet ending to the school year, Josh and I set off for a week long holiday in Crete! We were so excited for a beach holiday and enjoy the all-inclusive.

We stayed near Heraklion at a resort called Arminda Hotel & Spa. The food was absolutely fantastic and so were the people! We had a wonderful week of sunshine and EXTREME heat!! Our favourite spot to relax was by the pool and usualy spent our early evenings swimming in the ocean! It was so nice to finally be completely relaxed and not think about school!

We took a day trip to Santorini, which I was really excited for. I wanted to see the picture perfect white washed houses and blue domes.. and that is exactly what we saw! We went to two towns on the island and were able to explore and take many pictures! We also went swimming in hot springs that are created by the volcano that used to be there. It was really neat! The water was rusty coloured and quite warm in places! It was a 2.5 hour ferry ride from Crete and so worth it! Easily my favourite day of the entire trip.

Here are some pictures!

At our hotel beach

Hotel beach

On the boat to the Hot Springs

A donkey in Santorini!

He makes me laugh.

On the ferry !

24th Birthday Weekend!!!

I truly had such a great birthday weekend! On my actual birthday, my kids had sports day. It was nice to be out in the sunshine and watching them try their hardest. I was most impressed with their enthusiasm and encouragement towards one another. I am definitely a proud and blessed teacher! Josh spoiled me by breakfast in bed, more presents and a lovely sushi dinner. I hadn’t had sushi since Canada and it was sooooooo good. We had an early night because of the adventures I knew I would have on Saturday.

Birthday Flowers:)

Saturday was the day I was most looking forward to… Taylor Swift in Hyde park with Jessica!! We all met in London at 1 pm and Demi came along before the concert. We had some Pimms at a pub and then made our way to Hyde Park. Ellie Goulding was on before Taylor and she was pretty good. Taylor was absolutely AMAZING. We spent the night dancing, drinking summery drinks and having such a carefree time. The sun was shining and she was so amazing. She mostly did songs from her new album, with the exception of ‘Love Story’ and “We are never getting back together”. Such an amazing night! 65, 000 people all there to see her! It was such a great summer night and I am so happy I bought a ticket. I am sad the night and weekend is over.

Sunshine and Ladybirds

Great Oak Stage.

She is amazing.

Bracelets that lit up to the beat of her music!!!

Happy girls. 

Warsaw, Poland

Last weekend Josh and I set off for Poland! It was truly the best birthday present. We left from Gatwick on Friday after school and landed at about 10:30 Poland time. After some confusion of finding the right hotel, our cab driver dropped us off. Our hotel was so wonderful and we were upgraded to a suite! It was nice with a fancy coffee machine. My experience with the chain Mercure has been great so far.

We woke up early to make the most of our short stay there. Our hotel was in the central part and right next door to a mall. We went to get breakfast and to take out some zloty. Everything was so cheap in Poland! We bought these hop on hop off bus passes and headed out into Old town. It was beautiful and a typical European city. The rest of Warsaw was more modern as most of Poland was destroyed in the war. We wandered around the university, stopped at a traditional perogie restaurant which was absolutely delicious !!! I had blue cheese and Camembert perogies! We hopped back on the bus and toured around the rest of Warsaw. Right next to out hotel was the palace of science and culture which had a viewing terrace. We went up there to see the sights and then had a light dinner and drinks. We woke up early on Sunday as well and made our was to the Warsaw Uprising Museaum. It was a fabulous museum with interactive displays and 3-D movies. We even got to crawl through a sewer system, similar to those in the war. For the last few hours we decided to go back to the old town, our favourite spot! We also went back for more perogies. So delicious!! We made our way back to the airport for our 8pm flight back into Heathrow. We didn't get home til midnight but that was okay because we had an amazing weekend. I am so happy I had a chance to go to Poland to see where my Papa was from :)

Our favourite!

From the viewing terrace.

A castle in Old Town.

In front of their famous statue in Old Town.

Still exploring old town.

Palace of Science and Culture, right near our hotel.