And the tone for the evening was set...



Dawn arrived on Saturday morning looking gloriously beautiful and I saw a number of people smiling out of the corner of my eye as I jumped up and down when I saw her walk through the arrivals door. My excitement was exacerbated by the fact that Andy and I had just that moment got there ourselves.

Despite the fact that Andy, Dawn and I were shattered late Saturday afternoon, our Canada BBQ was great fun and we all managed to keep going until after 1:00 a.m.



So far we've been to a movie, to a Bodypump class at the gym and today, to one of my favourite restaurants, The Mill House, for lunch with Beryl.

The wait is almost over!

It's just after 10:30 p.m. and I will soon take myself off to bed. Whether I will sleep or not is another story. The reason behind this is that tomorrow morning we pick Sage Miller Longbottom up at Gatwick Airport. We celebrate her arrival tomorrow night with the postponed Canada Day BBQ, and next weekend Andy will have the pleasure of turning 41 with two extremely wicked, and I should mention younger, babes.

Here's to three weeks of making even more fantastic memories.

There's no point in denying it...

Yesterday while I was at work I received a phone call from my father-in-law Dave, saying that he had been down to the house to check on Molly since it was thundering quite a lot and he knows how much it upsets her. He was a bit worried because he couldn't find her anywhere.

I couldn't help smiling as I thanked him for being such a sweet and devoted Grandad, but he wasn't to worry as she was at her friend's house for the day. He laughed, be it the fact that Molly spends the days I work at Abbey's house, or that he's finally accepted that silly or not, he is Molly's Grandad. Wendy never fought Grandma, but then again, how could a woman that has upwards of six dogs in her house at any given time, argue the fact?

I knew this clan was the right one to marry into.

Addiction

The new hoover that we bought around Christmas time proved to be as useful at vacuuming as a little plastic vacuum you'd find in any pre-school. Once the start button broke, Andy gave in and took it back, swearing he was just going to buy another Henry, a little pull hoover he'd used for years and swore by. Now I was never overly fussy for the Henry myself but since I knew it worked better than the broken hoover, and that the much coveted Dyson was so far out of our price range, I relented.

Andy and Alex surprised me though. They didn't come home with a Henry at all. They came home with this:

Its called Hetty and is the newest model from the Henry range. The boys were so pleased with themselves for this purchase, figuring I'd love it if only for its colour. I could only laugh. Hetty is cute and she's not a bad hoover, and I had just begun to accept her. Until...

Until I borrowed something from my friend called a VAX, to actually clean the carpets. Elaine loaned me the Vax Hoover at the same time and now I don't even want to touch poor Hetty. I want to put her back in her box and take her back to the store for a full refund, and get myself a VAX. Hetty works well enough if your willing to get on your hands and knees to get the dog hair up with the hose, but the Vax just sucks it all up, especially those little lint balls that Hetty won't touch. I can't believe I'm blogging about a household appliance, its really astounding me if I were to be truthfully honest. But I need this hoover. I need this hoover like an addict needs his next fix of speed.

A Beloved Aunty

The Allenby clan were out last night for a family dinner at a lovely restaurant called The Beeches. Wendy had planned this a few months previous but didn't tell us there was any particular reason for the evening, we figured it was just another occasions for her to have an enjoyable evening with her family. Although the evening was exactly that, it was also in memory of Wendy's much loved Aunty Olive who sadly passed in the winter, leaving Wendy a very small sum of money. Wendy thought that this would be one of the best ways to share a portion of Aunty Olive's gift, and of course of celebrating her life. Which it certainly was. I believe she would be proud of the wonderful devotion of the family she has left behind.

My Home and Native Land



I didn't manage to post yesterday as I was afflicted with a very fuzzy head from a small gathering that involved a lot of Chinese food, and way too much vodka and wine. Dancing with a few of my friends in the living room at 12 a.m. soon led to some very competitive contortions that left one of my friends very sore the next morning. The things we do when we are drunk.

Connor spent most of yesterday running around wrapped in the Canadian Flag, telling his mate how it wasn't fair his Aunty Stacy gets to go to Mercy River whenever she wants and he doesn't.

When I consider where I am at this moment in time, here in England in our new home with my fantastic family, so many good friends around us, and a job I thoroughly enjoy I can finally say that England is now home to me too. Its also both amusing, and touching to realize that not only has England had this affect on me, but that my Canadian roots are rubbing off on the boys, something that is visible in small ways, but is definitely there. I'm over-joyed that they have the opportunity to experience the love of two great countries.

I proudly wore my red Canadian sweats from Roots all day, and my husband hung our Canadian Flag outside in the garden. We do intend on still having our Canada Day BBQ, however it will have to wait a few weeks until the ground is once again dry. But it matters not to me on what date I celebrate the country that I carry within me no matter where I am.

And any opportunity to have a party works for all of us.