Monday, July 13, 2015

Coronation Street-The best trip of my life

I don't drink beer, but here is my best impression of pulling a pint at The Rovers
My Dad taught Geography for over 30 years so it should come as no surprise that we spent a lot of time travelling growing up.  We took planes, trains and automobiles exploring Canada, the United States, exotic islands and historical Europe.  During my childhood, trips were regular occurrences. Looking back, I can see how my family was not the norm.  Some families are really into sports and eating out.  My parents decided that vacations were high on the priority list.

Let me be real though...I was miserable for a lot of these trips. They didn't seem like privileges and there were no ipads, ipods, portable DVD players (or even CD players yet #70s child) to entertain myself with.  I had a journal and books and my imagination.  In other words, my idea of heaven in the summer.

Now let's get to Miss Monica from I Heart Grade 3's linky topic this week which is all about the best trip of my life. It just so happened that this occurred very recently back in October 2014. It was a bit of an early 10 year anniversary surprise present from my hubby and it was over the Thanksgiving weekend. Yep, we went to England for a long weekend!  #crazykids

I grew up watching Coronation Street with my Mom and am a huge fan.  The show recently moved into a new studio in Manchester and they were giving tours of the old set until it gets turned into condos or something ridiculous like that.

It's always been a dream of mine to visit the set so...this was a bucket list vacation for just the 2 of us.

We flew into London, stayed at a posh hotel in Notting Hill, visited friends in Milton Keynes at their amazing farmhouse and then took another train to Manchester and flew out of there.

Here are a few pictures of our time in London-

The Tower of London's "Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red" installation of 888 246 ceramic poppies.
The King and Queen of our family of 4 (sans tiara sadly)
My Bobby with authentic British Bobbies
Donating my son's old Halloween "Fruit Bat" costume because donating is cool anywhere, anytime
London was amazing, as usual.  I think this was my 4th time there?  It never gets old, just more expensive. I only wish we would have had time to visit our relatives.

Now onto the dreamy part...visiting the Corrie Set!  I was soooooooooo excited and it was hard for me not to cry from happiness.  I did oohhh and ahhhh a lot.  Honestly, it was the best afternoon ever.

It was a drizzly day but I didn't care. I had a list of classic/cheesy pictures I wanted to recreate and I made my hubby swear that he would be patient and let me just live out my crazy fantasy.  It took me weeks of coming up with these and I had the BEST time posing. Unfortunately, you can't take pics inside the old set (no idea why...but you can't) so I had to really think about outside shots.

For your laughing pleasure, I present to you a taste of Coronation Street à la Bryn.

The alley way where all the juicy story lines go down (Peter and Tina made out here!)
Having a pretend "fag" (aka what the Brits call a cigarette) outside The Rovers.  This was a pen I had in my purse that I stuck in my mouth backwards.  Although smoking is not cool, Liz the barmaid smokes and I love her so had to just improvise in the name of artistic impression.
Trying to look sneaky/sultry like Tracey Barlow...total fail but this pictures cracks me up
Pretending to break in a window like David might with the overpriced umbrella we just bought from Buckingham Palace
Crying on the steps of Underworld (Fizz?) after not making my quota of knickers for Carla
Reliving Tina's tragic ending on set.  It almost looks like there's blood around my head too but that's just my hair...don't worry!
So there you have it, a few pictures of the best trip of my life in Manchester, UK.

Anyone else love Coronation Street as much as I do?

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Where I was 5 years ago

I'm linking up again with Miss Monica from I Heart Grade 3 to share where I was 5 years ago. Apologies in advance for the "boring" post as there were no exciting tales of travelling or adventures in the summer of 2010 (come back next year for the summer of 2011!).

Oreo kisses x x
My son was born 6 years ago in March.  For any of you not from Canada, we get 12 months off for Maternity Leave. I didn't see the point in going back to work from March to May and then be off again from July and August but still have to pay for full time daycare (at the time it was $45 a day). So, I decided to extend my maternity leave until September.

Watching big brother on a very hot day in July
It was one of the best decisions I ever made.

My son had some health issues and he was still nursing at the time of his first birthday. We definitely both needed to stay at home for a little while longer.  He wasn't even close to sleeping through the night yet for one thing.  No need to talk about the effects of sleep deprivation to any other parent reading this.  His father and I like to refer to those two first years as "the dark times".

No make-up, house is a mess, my little guy is in my arms...yep, just a regular day for us back in 2010
Five summers ago I was extremely anxious about going back to work. I was moved into a new grade level and a new room while on Maternity leave so I had a lot to get ready for. Plus, I honestly thought that I wouldn't be able to connect with my students as well as I used to.

Boy, was I ever wrong about that.

Although becoming a mother changed my priorities, it also helped me realize how much I love my job. On the first day of school I always tell my students that we will be like a family for the next 10 months and that we really need to take care of each other.  I am so happy to be off for the summer but I also can't wait to meet my new bunch of students in September!

Until then, I'm soaking up being a full time Mom again and having the best time with my almost Grade One cutie. #timeflies