Canada: 3rd - 10th Dec part 2 (Chilliwack & Vancouver)

We were met after a (mercifully) quick flight from Kelowna to Vancouver, by my niece Maria (confusing!) and her hubby Eugene. Our flight had been delayed so we didn't get a chance to look round Vancouver, we just headed away back to their home in Chilliwack (south towards the US border). We struck rush hour traffic to the journey took about 1 hour, 40 mins. It was dark when we arrived, which gave us a chance to see home cool Christmas lights on houses.

Their home was stocked with a grand animal population - four cats and one dog called Scooby. The kids loved it. They stroked and patted and tickled the dog and Baby (ginger and white long-haired), Audi (large black & white short-haired) and Twitch (small black & white short-haired). We didn't see much of Valmer (very large black & white long-haired) as he was shy of new people.

We had a very cosy room downstairs and installed our bags, then enjoyed a delicious dinner of massive slabs of steak meat, rice and veges. My grand-nephew (!) Steven showed up with the rock band game for the PS2, so Oskar and he had fun with that for a while, Oskar showing strong persistence on the drums, and even I had a go at bass guitar (and I was OK at it, on the Easy setting using just three keys). No-one was keen to sing, unfortunately.

On Wednesday we got up and about early and headed off with Maria and Eugene. Our first stop was the stables where their young gelding, Daze, is looked after. He was a little shy but accepted some hay from us and posed for photos. We then went by the fire station where Eugene is based, and tried on helmets and sat in multi-million dollar fire trucks. They are impressive.

A quick stop at the supermarket to stock up on last minute items for the flight (and lollies for Niamh and Oskar's classes), and then we drove to Vancouver, which took much less time at this quiet time of day.

In Vancouver, our destination was the Science Centre, and amazing building shaped like a golf ball. It was brimming with interactive science-related activities, such as puzzle solving, testing your strength, body- and water-related activities, and a really cool room dedicated to sound and light. There was a huge kaleidoscope through which I took photos of Niamh and Teddy.

We stayed at the Centre for as long as possible but eventually we headed for the airport. Maria and Eugene had a bite to eat with us and then we had to give them a hug goodbye, and of course, the big THANK YOU for a great catch up and a fun day before we left.

The overnight flight back to NZ was horrible, as usual, and we were very glad to be back on home turf. It's been a really special experience but after five weeks we were ready to come home. James collected us from the airport and we returned to a clean, tidy house which was very welcome.

Canada: 3rd - 10th Dec part 1 (Vernon)

The 10 hour flight from England on Wednesday was pretty good, really, but the 5 hour wait in Vancouver pushed us beyond our wakeful limit, so by the time we got to Kelowna the kids were exhausted and fell asleep in the car back to Vernon. I immediately recognised Maria, my cousin who I hadn't seen for almost 30 years, who had come to collect us. We snuck into the house quietly so as not to wake Matthew (7) and Adam (3), as it was already 9pm, and I plonked my two into bed where they snored happily till morning. I said hello to Blair and took myself off to bed.

We had a marvellous week in Vernon. I love the place - it's in a wide bowl of a valley and has a lovely big sky that reminds me of my growing up days on the Canterbury Plains. We weren't able to ski/snowboard as there wasn't enough snow, but there was definitely enough for sledding, which we did on Friday (and Oskar went again on Saturday morning). Niamh unfortunately got sick so spent a couple of days in bed, but we had Maria and Blair's downstairs area to ourselves, including a family room with a huge TV, so Niamh wasn't too distressed.

Luckily she was well enough to come out on Friday night to an ice hockey game. That was a neat experience - the stadium was small enough so we weren't overawed and the game was engaging. Best of all, the home team won.

Blair and Maria's, and my kids got on remarkably well. Oskar and Matthew spent many a happy hour with heads together over the PSP, watching TV but also playing other games. Occasionally competitive, they seemed to work things out eventually. Adam was quite taken with Niamh, and the other way round, and I could see that my girl will be a great babysitter one day.

There were another couple members of the Hansen family around also. One was Blair's brother, who owns a self-contained suite on the ground floor of their house (next to our rooms). Uncle Lyndon was quickly adopted by my kids also, who followed their young cousins into his place without knocking! And there was Emmy, the beautiful but slightly nervous chocolate laborador. She spent the first day barking at us, but by the end of our stay was delighted to receive tummy rubs and ear tickles. She still woofed, but usually just in greeting by that stage.

On Saturday Oskar and I caught up with a writing mate of mine from the marvellous Dragon Writers online forum - Jim - and his wife Jen, and young Malcolm, who is one of the smiliest 7-month-olds I've met, as well as their two cats. They made us a yummy lunch and Jim, Jen, Malcolm and I chatted while Oskar played Super Mario!

I also went out on Saturday evening for some grown-up activity, with Maria and Blair to Maria's work Christmas event - an opportunity to see her secondary school teaching colleagues let down their hair a bit. All four kids were meanwhile looked after by two young ladies from Maria's recently successful volleyball team, and it was very nice to come home to a house of sleeping children.

Maria very kindly (and bravely) agreed to host an influx of my nephews and nieces, their mum and their partners, children, children's partners and grandchild (my oldest brother's family). We had a great catchup and pot luck lunch on Sunday. I think about 15 people turned up and I managed to get photos of everyone except Jorja! Sorry honey - I got the back of your head in one photo. :( It was wonderful to see these guys again. I grew up with them in NZ but had a gap of about 22 years when they moved back to Canada. And this was another 6 years since the last time we'd seen each other, so we're getting better. Maria had never met them so that was a new bit of family for her.

On Monday I started to think about moving on again, and repacked bags. We were flying to Vancouver on Tuesday so I organised suitcases so we would only have to get into one at my niece's house on Tuesday night. We made another trip out to the supermarket to stock up on provisions, and Maria made a traditional Hungarian dish for dinner, that both our mothers used to make - paprikas chirke (phonetic spelling there, it's chicken in paprika sauce). The kids enjoyed it and I observed the cooking closely so I can make it at home.

Tuesday it snowed, and the snow mountains opened. Too late for us, but we had the compensation of building an excellent snowman in the back yard. We said our goodbyes to Maria and Adam (we'd said goodbye to Matthew on Monday night), then Blair drove us to the airport in Kelowna. We saw some of the nephews and nieces (Denise, Shane, Jason and Linda) as they were heading back to Edmonton. We grabbed some lunch and said a fond farewell to Blair.

Another big THANK YOU required here to Maria and Blair for an awesome stay, for making us so comfortable and it was just really good to catch up. It was great to meet Matthew and Adam and is very special for my kids to meet some of my family as we are very scattered across the world.

Lake Okanagan

Silver Star Village

sledding at Silver Star

The Vernon Vipers vs the Pentucktin Vees

15 rellies. Missing - five kids (and me)

Blair, Maria, N, O and Emmy

N, O, Adam and Matthew

last day snowman - took about 15 mins to build

England: 23rd Nov - 3rd Dec (Benson)

On Monday, we left Brighton and lugged our luggage onto the train to Reading where we were collected by Maarten, and driven to Benson, near Oxford, where he and his family are living. It was lovely to see them all again and their house was very cool - it is part of a converted barn, the biggest such building in England.

On Tuesday Kath was home as well so they treated us out to a yummy lunch at a pub. The pub itself was significant as it was the location of the making of the Midsummer Murder television series. Maarten dropped us home and went to watch Ben's rugby, and Kath took us into Wallingford to the supermarket (to stock up on provisions for our flight), the post office and some of the local shops, which were very quaint.

We had our last night's sleep in England and Maarten took us to the airport on Wednesday, for another very long, boring flight.

The pub.

The barn.

England: 23rd Nov - 3rd Dec (Covent Garden & the Eye)

On Sunday, we made our final trip to London, with Margs and Tim, for a very elegant lunch at Covent Garden. We had our own private room and a couple of delightful waitresses, one of whom was a primary school teacher. When we went down to the restaurant a lady was standing at the bottom of the stairs in the open area of Covent Garden, singing opera and promoting her CD. Obviously a better class of busker than Cuba Mall.

After a sumptuous lunch where the kids enjoyed bangers and mash we left M&T and met up with Brenda and Annabel at the London Eye. We got tickets for the Eye but went round the Aquarium first (as it was due to close). I have to say, I liked Brighton better, but it was still interesting. It was dark when we emerged and went on the Eye, so we had views of London by night. The kids loved it.

This was our last night in Brighton, as next day we headed northwest to stay with friends in Benson (near Oxford). Margs and Tim and made us very welcome and put up with us taking over their house and either terrifying or monopolising Gary and Louie (the cats). A big hug and THANK YOU to them. xxx

England: 23rd Nov - 3rd Dec (Isle of Wight)

On Saturday we took a train to Portsmouth, then the Fast cat to Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, and met up with Vicky, Ali and Jack, who used to look after Niamh and Oskar when they were little. The weather was appaling but we went ten pin bowling and had a very pleasant afternoon catching up. It was great to see them again.

England: 23rd Nov - 3rd Dec (Raynes Park/Motspur Park)

On Friday we headed back to London with Margs to visit the places where we used to live and where the kids were born. Then Margs went back to Brighton and we all went into London to see a real West End show. Spamalot!

England: 23rd Nov - 3rd Dec (Brighton)

Our trip up to London was pretty tiring to we spent Tuesday to Thursday relaxing in Brighton. On Wednesday, we visited the Brighton Aquarium, which was really great. The layout is imaginative, and the access to the tanks is excellent - very easy to see the creatures. There is a huge open tank with sharks, turtles and various fish, with a perspex tunnel through the middle of it. Also, a tank where small rays surf the currents like blunt-nosed angels. I was very impressed with it. Afterwards, we emerged into some rotten weather but as the Pier is right next door, we ran in there and spent about half an hour on the 2p machines. By the time we were done the rain had eased and we were able to get the bus back to Margs and Tim's without getting too wet. On Thursday evening we went to Stomp! with Margs and Tim, at the Brighton Dome. It's a great show and the kids loved it. They also loved the pre-show nibbles, which included strawberries dipped in chocolate with white chocolate swirls. Yum!

England: 23rd Nov - 3rd Dec (London)

After a couple of days' recovery, catching up with Margs, and welcoming back Tim (from Aussie), and of course, cuddles with Gary and Louie, on we felt regenerated and headed for London.

We visited the Tower, taking a tour to find out all about its bloody history. We also checked that the ravens were still about, and they are. Plenty of them. Plus lots of pigeons and some very brash starlings that took food from our hands. We experienced authentic English sausage and chips (the fish looked too dried out), and pie and chips. We spent a good long time looking at two of the largest diamonds in the world, on the Crown Jewels, got caught in a hailstorm (which wasn't pleasant), and poked about the gift shop.

Then we headed off on the Underground for Regent Street, surfacing at Picadilly Circus just after dark. We wandered up Regent Street, which was a little lit up for Christmas (but not overly much), except for one shop which appeared to have shares in an electricity company. Hamleys Toy Store, the biggest in England (apparently), absorbed our attention for a good couple of hours and resulted in a big hit on the credit card, but no matter!

After exhausting ourselves over Hamleys 7 or so floors, we staggered around the corner to Carnaby Street, below the enormous blow-up Santas, and consumed some enormous and very tasty hamburgers. Then it was back on the Underground and the train from Victoria back to Brighton.

Italy: 17th - 22nd Nov part 14 (Venice)

After Murano we headed back to the main island, and took a gondola tour. This was another special Venetian treat, poling through tiny canals and seeing strange and interesting vistas and historic buildings. It was getting dark (night falls at about 4.30pm here already), so the photos weren't great, but the experience was pretty cool.

One disappointment was the Bridge of Sighs swathed in construction works, so it looked rather odd.

After the tour, we grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant (pizza for the kids, again), and then caught the water bus to Marco Polo airport, and taxi to the hotel where we stayed the first night. This time we asked for a room with two beds, and got a junior suite, which the kids loved as it included a big double bed on a mezzanine floor, which they claimed. Meant I got a very good night's sleep on my own!

Italy: 17th - 22nd Nov part 13 (Venice)

One thing I really wanted to do in Venice was visit the island of Murano, and see the glass blowing. On Friday we packed up our belongings and asked the hotel to look after them for us, and took a boat to the island. We ooohed and ahhed at all the little shops with absolutely gorgeous glassware in them. We saw glass blowing in one of them, too. We sat in a clean, bright (and modern) sandwich shop by the boat dock eating massive pizzas and microwaved spaghetti (which was still delicious), listening to Katy Perry singing her latest hit and thinking the world's a pretty small place (well, I was, anyway).

Italy: 17th - 22nd Nov part 12 (Venice)

The Metropole has a very sophisticated restaurant - in 2005 it even earned itself a Michelin star. We didn't really want to eat there, so I asked the concierge at the hotel, who recommended a restaurant within walking distance, down a couple of alleys. It was amazing to walk around in Venice, as there were all these tiny alleys between ancient buildings, where I was ready for villains to come out and try to mug us, but we just ran into ordinary citizens and I realised that this was where everyone walked, as there was nowhere else. At least, nowhere dry. Because of the time of year, it was also very quiet.

The restaurant was perfect for us. We sat down and I scanned the menu, and realised I could see nothing I thought the kids would like. When the waitress (who I think was actually the owner) came to see us, I said I needed some help with the menu. She immediately turned to Niamh and Oskar, and in accented but perfectly good English said, "pasta, yes, with some rich tomato sauce?" The kids nodded happily and breathed a sigh of relief. Then paper and colouring pencils were brought out while we waited. I had something grown-up and very tasty accompanied by an extremely nice glass of red Italian wine, and we followed up with the usual impressive desserts Italians are expert at.

Italy: 17th - 22nd Nov part 11 (Venice)

Florence had lovely shops, but so did Venice. Here are some of them!