Europe #3 - May

So far I have been updating in the group i created... however i figure since most people just message me or write on my wall anyways it would be easier to just write notes... All my pictures will be in albums on my page anyways...
Since i last updated my group i have:
1. Gone to South End, a inlet beach along the coast about an hour outside of London... well an hour if you dont end up getting diverted half way across the world because of an accident on your way home... but we will get to that in a moment...
South end is amazing! So far my FAVOURITE place in England... it is actually what i would picture a proper beach to be.... it has a sea side fair with over 100 rides, seperate aracades, a casino, proper fish and chips, the worlds longest peir, a quaint little fishermans village with little vacation apartments, old style lawn chairs to rent (there only £1.50 for a day, which i thought was quite good!), little sea side shops, and YES of course ICE CREAM!! lol .... although on the sunny day we went parking was very hard to find it still was very pretty. (I have a few picture in my May album)
2. Had a hot spring evening out with Julz
We spend a whole afternoon/evening walking around what would be similar but 10x's bigger as downtown Vancouver... the center of London even on a Sunday afternoon gets verry busy!!! The bars are so packed that people stand along side the building and gather outside to enjoy there ice cold lager (similar to beer). We went to Soho and enjoyed a smoothie at the gourmet hot dog company... trust me they had EVERRY flavour you could imagine... even Salmon hot dogs... but at £4-5 each ($8-9) they looked to be hardly worth it! We also went to a pub called Camden and had the BEST drink ever!
Part pomigranite juicepart rasberry juicepart soda and then Vodka... it was delicious!!
Really funny thing is most people were drinking pints or just a glass of something or another but ours came in a hugge piture and the whole VERY busy pub was loooking at us and our selection....
We also went to trafaglar square, went through lecster square, and i had to buy a t-shirt because the sweater i was wearing was deff. too hot for this beautiful weather.... we then went home because after spending about 4 hours walking around london you do get verrry tired!
3. Took Spencer swimming, on a few occations now... he LOVES it! deffinatly one with the water.. we spend generally over an hour in there, but on the way home everrry time he falls asleep!! He has a little tube he can go in so he floats and sometimes he falls alseep in there... prolly cause the waters really relaxing and calming... he also has taken to going down the slide into the water.This whole swimming experience has been good for him... its alot easier to wash his hair in the bath now... he doesnt mind the water on his face at all
4. Had a picnic with julz in Kensington Gardens... we enjoyed the nice summer weather with a picnic from Tesco shopping (like safeway, saveon, etc) The park was busy... but not as busy as we had thought it would be... which was good... We also peeked in a lot of shops down kensington high street and then took the tube to goto Primark... i got three pairs of shorts and a pair of pijamas too
5. Met up with Steph and her bf for a few drinks at a few local pubs by my house... we went to the Steam Passage and then another one i think was called the works? It was a thursday night and i did have to work the next morning so i came home just after midnight... it was a good night out... i love how i can take over 4 buses home 24 hours a day that drop me basically on my door step!!
6. I took spencer to kensington gardens princess diana princess of whales memorial playgroud.. it was really lovely.. just like in peterpan... all sorts of little areas for kids to run around and hide, in the centre there was a hugee pirate ship, little indian huts, little row boats, and lots of other lovely things... the park would be perfect for 4-7 year olds that are a big more mobile then spencer... tho he is verrry verry close to walking!! he is clinging onto EVERYTHING and trying to get the motion going lol
7. I enrolled in an interior decorating diploma program online! I am quite excitied.. i already did my first exam and got 100%... so thats a good sign
8. I FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY got a UK bank account... it took nearly 2 full months to get all the correct information and documents together... but i have one now... so i must NEVER close it lol... i even got my own cheque book... first one ever... so i am quite happy about it

Europe #2 - April

So here is my update for the first bit of April....During the first week in April I took Spencer on the bus all the way down to Oxford St. It was the farthest he has every travelled on the bus, and he loved it... i like the buses here too (there all CLEAN) except when they are veryyy verryy busy! We walked around and i got lunch at Boots (kind of like Shoppers drug mart, but they sell food too like lunch food... alot of buissness people run in there to get sandwiches or wraps, etc.) We walked down towards St. James park and had lunch overlooking the park at George the VI statue... it was very pretty. After lunch we went down a whole bunch of steps (me carry the prem/push chair [ie. stroller]) and watched the end of chaning of the guard. It was really neat to see them all wearing there funny hats!! Afterwards me and Spencer walked up to Oxford st. and looked aimlessly for Primark but my feet got sore and it was so crowded and busy, but not rush hour busy so i decided to head back home before everyone got off work and the buses and tubes would be so crowded... Me and Spencer have also taken two trips to two different parks, and lots of long walks around home.... its kind of fun walking in any directions because i truelly do not know where i will end up... but i some how alway manage to make it home... usually via. bus. The first trip to the park was with Gran (Sandra's mom). It was after my long and exhausting trip to Oxford street... it should only take 25min tops on the bus... this time it took me an HOUR to get there... and i couldnt find any trainers i liked, i did manage to return a pair of trouser to H&M but not my jacket to Primark it was a complete zoo in there... instead i just bought two pairs of sunglasses, and some socks.... and at superdrug i got the new UK edition of Cosmo... once i finally made it back me and Anne/Gran walked amlessly (my speciallty) till we found this nice little toddler park. Spencer had a blast on the swing, and went down the slide a few times too. That night i went to bed i think at 930 i was soo exhausted. This month we have also booked Spencers christianing for June, Me and spencer went a checked out the local pool/gym so we can go for a swim as the weather gets a bit nicer... very strange weather; it is soo sunny and nice one moment and then next thing you know you are being pelted with hail stones....The second trip to the park was short... but we did manage to find a new park... its a really quite park just minutes up the road... its really rare to find parks were there isnt a zillion kids running around so this one was nice! I have deffinatly found my fav. food here.. baguettes... i know i know we get them at home... but here i eat them basically EVERY day with dinner... i love them....Today i signed up for my very on british library card... kind of funny, they didnt even check my id or proof of address... i was suprised... kind of dissapointed becuase i could have thought up a really cool pretend name or something, but oh well... I am starting to look at were i want to travel in europe, and what cruises, tours, and places i want to visit and see... (verry convienant that Sandra works in travel, i can get REALLY REALLY good deals!!) so if anyone would like to join me in a year and see europe just let me know!! it would be fabulous to have someone to see the continent with... Tonight im going to a midnight movie (stepup 2...) so tommorow i will probably have a lay in... and then just have a day at home... hopfully get some laundry done?With my lack of clothing here i have to do it more then once a month! Oh and also today Jamie's sister Debbi and her son came over to visit (Debbi's staying the night; her and Sandra are going to a Hen party/bachelorette party to some theatre show) So it was nice to meet some more of the family here. Anyways this next week i dont really have much planned for me and Spencer, we are hoping to go on the river thames for a little boat trip... and maybe see some more sights but we will see what happens.. I hope to write more and will get some pictures uploaded in the next week or so....I miss everyone!!!

xoxo. Nicolee.

OMG i forgot to tell everyone... Spencer got his first tooth about a week ago!!! that sucker is sharp im telling you....he also got really yummy pudding treats..... we share them.. one spoon for me ... one for spencer... haha...thats all.... for now

xoxo. Nicolee. <3

Europe #1 - March

March 19, 2008
So... when i got to the airport on Monday i found out that i had REALLY REALLY like 30kg over packed my suitcases and had to re-pack quickly at the airport. I now only have 2 pairs of shoes here.. and one purse... I guess that just means i need to go shopping!!! After a supper long flight and about an hour delay leaving YVR I finally made it to London Gatwick airport. I had my first drink at the airport at a cafe called Costa. We drove to Islington, London taking a tour through the town and seeing all the parlament buildings and driving past the london eye; which were all really neat! The roads here are very narrow and driving on the oppisite side is weird... but not as weird as having to look the oppisite way when crossing the street. I managed to stay up almost until 10:30pm London time after having a couple hours nap in the afternoon. So it helped to get me adjusted to the new time. We had chinese food take out for dinner, and suprisingly i found it better then in Canada. Today me, Sandra and baby Spencer went for a walk to the bank (Yes, me i walked!! apparently everyone here walks!!) but it didnt quite work out because i dont have any ID with UK adress its a bit of a problem, so it may be up to a month before that silly thing is sorted out! After we went to a little restraunt called Giraffe!! it was really neat. Although i found out that i really dont care for the batter on the onion rings and also thought it was weird that in my chicken club sandwich i had corn kernals; it was rather tasty! After lunch we walked back towards "home" and tried to get my registered with the doctor but at the doctors office they get TWO hours for lunch!!! lucky eh? anyways i think im going to go lay down for a bit because tommorow i need to be up and out by 630am!! i know early eh? But i will get to do some shopping!! which trust me is good.. i had to leave so many things at home hahamiss you all!!! and will keep you upated
♥Nicole

On Saturday the 29th of March:
Today i ventured out on my own and took a bus down to piccadilly circus (its not really a circus just were a bunch of roads meet up to a round-a-bout with a statue of cupid in the middle) from there i walked up regent street towards Oxford street. I stopped at Hamley's which is a famous toy store... its like 5 levels!!! It had EVERYTHING... (Piccadilly and oxford circus are famous for all the shops around there) Afterwards I wandered around a bit (but didnt go shopping because i was going on Sunday) I did pick up a "tourist" map which is actually very useful. I ate lunch at Apstrophe (a sandwich and some nasty lemonade) well actually my whole meal wasnt too good.. I DO NOT reccomend it... I wandered back down and ended up in St. James park (very nice with a big lake in the middle.) It was very pretty there and not so crowded because it has rained a little so alot of people went home.. I walked the whole length of st. james park which is like 4 or more blocks i think? and took some photos at buckingham palace and the statue in front as well. There was a police officer on a hourse out front with loads of kids crowded around and the guards were behind the gates and not in the bearskin hats i was kinda disapointed. They were in just short hats (ill add photos asap). Afterwards I was soo exhausted i just wanted to go home... i didnt really know where the tube station/bus's where so i just walked a few blocks down and caught a bus to Victoria station, from there i took the 73 back home... it was a big mistake... it took FOREVER.. it goes straight down oxford street which is really crowded with people walking everywere!! But i did eventually make it home. All in all the day was pretty great I got loads of pictures... On sunday i went SHOPPING again.... it was wonderful... they have a store called primark and it is the BEST!!! everything is like 4£ which is like 8$ canadian... i got a jacket with kinda short sleaved for only 8£ haha...great deal! I also bought two shirts, and a pair of sweat pants and some underwear, and a pair of the same idea as ugg boots (only 3£) and black flats! Then at M&S (Mark & Spencer) I got a purple shirt, At next i bought a new purse, and at H&M I got two pairs of casual "trousers" and i thinkk thats all i got... The best part of shopping here is the tax is all included so the price you see on the tag is how much you pay. So basically Sandra, Jamie, Spencer, and I were at the mall from 11:00am when it opened to 4:45pm (it closes at 5)... and again... i bought the most haha.... but now at least i have more then just three pairs of pants... On monday i registered at the doctors across the street. I also went up to woolworth and got a battery charger, and some rice krispies from sainsbury. Did you know that no one has anyidea what a rice krispie square is!! and marshmellows only come in pink and white and they are hard to find haha! I am going to make some rice krispie squares for them. Well actually barly anyone in London/England/Uk does there own baking,,, its usually all just store bought... weird eh? They dont even really have a baking isle in the grocery store. Ive also been eating a lot of ben and gerrys ice cream... which is still as good as at home... Usually every night for dessert after dinner we all have a bowl... its sooo good... or strawberries and real cream... thats good too haha! anyways... Spencer just woke up so I have to get going... ill write some more later and hopefully add my pictures on the computer in the next day or too!!! Miss you!!
♥Nicole