HALLOWEEN....

The morning we'd been waiting for had finally arrived. Halloween was upon us. Donning the unusual outfit - telling the kids I'd be a ghost (they thought that was lame!) we arrived at school, setting up many Halloween activities - to keep the day as normal, or weird as possible (problem solving - halloween style, writing tasks - very funny - what type of holiday a witch would celebrate etc).

The kids arrived, with most dressed in unusual costumes - varying from Tinkerbell right through to Dracula and even 2 girls joined as a pumpkin - hilarious (they did EVERYTHING in class together - writing, drawing and even dancing...rather amusing). Begging for a party, the students each bought in some goodies to share with the class - which were delicious. A very fun day!

During the week each class had to submit a carved pumpkin, which would be raffled off at the end of the week (Period 6 Friday). Our class made a few "interesting choices", first carving a massive pumpkin into terrible shape, then practising twice more, before finally arriving at a good design - see photos.

Some of the posters / comics / stories will be photographed and put on the blog for your amusement - very clever and humorous. Tonight we will don another costume for a co-workers party - which will be interesting. We have about 5-6 choices....not sure which way we'll go.....

October 29 - SNOW!!!!

Yep - you read it right! Last night around 10pm (so technically the 28th) 20cm of snow fell in Ottawa city region. The car was again covered, with Kate and I having to break out the old "ice-scraper", gloves, scarves, beanies (toques here) and get the car ready for the day ahead.
Luckily we woke early this morning, as the power had also gone through the night. They say the snow may not last until Halloween - but it is cold enough at the moment....who knows!

It was awesome being able to drive through the city and out to work again seeing the magnificent white powder on the trees, covering everything from the ground to the many houses.
Maybe a good opportunity to make a snow man.....who knows.....

But a surprise to us - considering it only stopped 6 months ago.....a pleasant surprise!

After a busy week of dinners and catching up with friends, we had a nice sleep in Saturday morning (with the weather obliging for us - pouring with rain - making it sooooo much easier to rest up that bit more). A slow start (watching the replay of the International Series - Aus v's Ire) we braved the wet and cold, heading out to a Pot luck dinner with the CLEE members, both past and present. Catching up was great - telling stories of our year - with the main focus being our summer!

The event was also put on to allow us to participate in the halloween festivities - carving pumpkins, taking a trip to Saunders farm etc, but the weather worsened, so we decided to fill our bellies and continue on with our story telling in the warm.

Sunday came too quickly, with both Kate and I thinking we should get our costumes etc ready for the coming Friday night party (and for school), as the Canadians LOVE Halloween! From the elderly to the young, most have been seen buying candy (ready for the trick or treaters), organizing what they are going to wear on Friday and decorating their houses. Even some of the treats that have been taken into school have reflected the halloween spirit!

Spending some time deliberating what we'd wear (we've got it now....you'll just have to wait for photos later in the week!) ;) Kate and I made our purchases, but not before grabbing a pumpkin to carve. Picking up a few tidbits for school as well, we made our way home (with many bags of halloween gear) and begun the planning.
It's a tough decision to make - does your pumpkin smile? is it scary? do you use shapes or just dive right in and carve? Either way - we were bound for fun.
We prepped the kitchen area with newspaper, readying ourselves for the coming mess. After a few quick sketches (very quick) we used the wonderful tools we picked up from the Dollar store to carve the pumpkin.
Kate and I both had fun removing the top of the pumpkin -then grabbing the wonderfully gooey centre, scraping it out with the cheap and nasty plastic tools we'd bought.
10 minutes had passed and we had immersed ourseves in the pumpkin, the seeds and insides stringing from our shirts, fingers and across the newspaper (but rather easy to clean!).

We then grabbed the sharp knife (from the dollar store) and started removing our "triangular eyes" and mouth, before testing out our "jack-o-lantern" with a candle - passing the test (in our eyes). Over the moon with excitement, we posed for a few quick pics - let's just hope it's up to the standards of the locals! (considering we've got a pumpkin carving contest at school - not sure how we'll do - it will be the kids teaching me that's for sure!) What a week it's going to be!!!!

Day #5 Arsenal

After a slight sleep in (8:15) we made our way to the tube, heading north towards Arsenal – the home of Emirates Stadium (Arsenal Football Club). Arriving just in the nick of time, we headed in through the diamond & directors suite – to participate in a tour of the stadium. First stop was the directors lounge (great view), before moving on to the players entrance. A short tour of the players lounge / dressing room (we took a number of photos) and were able to see the facilities that they have there (spa, workout area, doctors area etc).

From there we headed out to the arena itself, taking photos from ground level of the pitch and the stadium. Loz wanted to “boo” constantly, as Arsenal are fierce rivals of her team – Liverpool.

Departing Emirates Stadium around 11, we caught the tube into Kings Cross Station – where we posed for numerous photos at platform 9 ¾ (Harry Potter) – quite the laugh!!!

Another tube later and we arrived at Trafalgar Square, where we indulged in lunch, before making our way through the shopping district (Oxford Circus / Regent Street). Wandering past Calvin Klein, we noticed a large number of people crowding around the area. After inquiring to one of the many men standing there, we were told there was a celeb arriving very shortly – none other than the gorgeous Eva Mendez (star of Hitch!!!). All the paparazzi crowded near the door. A chauffeur driven car arrived not too long after – with the wonderful and gorgeous lady in tow. I quickly made my way to the car (getting extremely close) and almost took the perfect pic!!!! Our camera caught only side profiles, but the experience was quite exciting.

Loz decided we should head up to Primrose Hill after an hour or so wandering the shops. Heading up there, we took in the magnificent view – where we had another brush with fame (a C grade celeb – who had dated on of the S Club 7 girls a few years ago and has starred in a few home grown products) – Loz was very impressed!!!

We headed home for an hour of R & R – before heading out to the GBK (Gourmet Burger Kitchen – a Kiwi owned burger company) where we had one of the most delicious burgers ever – then it was on to the pub, to say our farewells etc and knock back a few lagers!

A wonderful time has been had since we arrived. Fast paced, loads of sight seeing and catching up! It's going to be hard to go back to work after such a short, but fun filled time!

Day #4 Bournemouth

Today we made our way down to Bournemouth, where Kate had previously worked for a year (2000). Boarding the train relatively early, we took the two hour journey, reading our A-Z London guide, in case we'd missed anything of importance! Arriving around 10, we made our way to the pier, where we spent some time snapping pics and indulging ourselves in “shakes away” - a milk shake parlour that has over 70 different milk shakes (I had a mint aero, Kate a Hersheys.....YUM!)

After taking in the sights of Bournemouth we caught up with Paul & Sue, two people that Kate worked with during 2000. Enjoying a beer and a great catch up with them, we wandered the local area, before boarding the train around half five – ready for the trip back to London.