Hello dear friends! I'm pleased to say that Evy and I survived the great UK/France Adventure, 2008!
Evy was a champ on all flights, and was an all-r0und angel. She received a ridiculous amount of love wherever we went, and has a whole new fan club over in the UK.
After one night in the UK (and the imperative lunch at Wagamamas) we headed to France. I, stupidly, thought that the south of France would be warm, but alas, we had some FROSTY and FROZEN weather. The gite we stayed in had a few small space heaters and a woodstove, so the indoor temperature was, um, refreshing. After five days of animal husbandry and pain au chocolat, we headed back to the UK where I had a whirlwind tour of pubs, ploughman lunches, pints, a fabulous curry, fun with friends, and a shopping trip to John Lewis. Good times!
As I said, Evy was just SO good the whole time. She had a few minor meltdowns, but only for legitimate reasons, e.g. hungry or tired. And, in true form, she shat herself senseless about half an hour before the flight to the UK and about half an hour into the flight home. Nothing like going through your spare wardrobe right as your journey begins!
Sooo, fingers crossed we don't suffer from too much jetlag. And now, we're just looking forward to Chrimbo and to the next few weeks. Rob's off work until New Years, so, he will have lots of time to spend with Evy to make up for missing her for so long!
Here is a sampling of trip pics for your enjoyment!
Tucked into bed in the gite in France
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The not-so-friendly geese in France.
(We were taking care of geese, ducks, 2 pygmy goats, a pony, a donkey, a sheep, and 10 chickens - perfect wee farm!).
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Evy and her new friend - one of the pygmy goats.
I'm already trying to convince Rob that we need to get some - he'll never need to cut the grass again!!
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Having a visit with the donkey (or 'dunkey' as granny calls them)
Up in Northants with the Cranfield clan
(They desperately wanted to feed Evy the chocolates from their advent calendars!)
Bear, Evy and Helen have a cuddle. Evy was in LOVE with Bear and I suspect she'll love dogs even more than I do. I predict Rob will surely have to succumb and let us get a puppy!
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Evy tries valiantly to sample some Guinness.
(Don't worry, I didn't let her have any!)
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And finally, helping mum pack at the hotel at Heathrow last night. Um, she wasn't actually that much help as you can imagine.
Anyhoo, we are delighted to be home and are counting down the days until Christmas! We can't wait to see Lee & Chris and the lads when they arrive from Ottawa, and I'm pretty sure there are a few grandparents who are desperate to see miss Evy!
I hope you're all having a peaceful lead-up to Chrimbo and am sending happy wishes out to you all. Will add more pics if I ever find the time. Am off now to do about 42 loads of laundry!
Baby New Year!! 
