Wendover: Five Years Later

Five years ago, we had just arrived in London, starry eyed and in culture shock.  We didn't know where to live, what things were called, how long we would be here.  We were very aware of and self-conscious about being foreigners and frequently found ourselves struggling to figure out what every day products at the grocery store were called (paper towels/kitchen towels, crushed red peppers/chili flakes...it's hard to remember the things we couldn't figure out now!).  We were in awe of London and we were excited to explore more of England.  So, five years ago, we went on our first country walk to Wendover.  If you want to read about that, click here.

It was a spectacular walk and we were spectacularly unprepared for the English weather.  We had no waterproof clothing or shoes. I walked over 13 miles in J Crew wellies.  We got soaked to the bone, lost (because we didn't know what things like "stiles" were and couldn't understand the directions in our English walking book) and were frightened by the prospect of walking through a field full of Rams. We didn't bring enough food and we almost didn't get back to the train before it was pitch black.  But we were so charmed by the English countryside and the beautiful Chilterns and the village of Wendover and the idea that we could get to someplace so lovely by train in less than an hour that none of the hardships that we faced on the walk really mattered.

Last weekend, we decided to revisit Wendover.  We got out our ratty, tatty, outdated Time Out Walks book, dressed in our waterproofs and Gore-tex boots and lots of layers, left the girls with the babysitter and headed to the Chilterns. 

It was a cold and rainy day, just like last time, but we were upbeat and warm and dry thanks to what we have learned after five years of living and walking in England.

We knew what stiles were this time .

And did not lose our shoes crossing muddy fields.

We discovered that the Wendover community is vehemently against the High Speed Rail plan (as evidenced by this 'train as monster' poster, which was posted all over the town and throughout our walk).

Jim broke in his new hiking shoes.

We remembered the last time we did this walk and being very impressed by the beauty in this particular area.  It's amazing what you can remember five years later.

Jim sat upon a "hillock."

And also at the foot of a church.

And when it was time to cross out of this pasture, a very large horse was conveniently parked in front of our exit stile.

Not being a horse person, I was scared to take much action from any distance closer than this (and my cajoling didn't convince the horse to move)...so we found an alternate exit, after which the horse, of course, moved.

It was really nice to go back to Wendover and enjoy being there again, but we were also happy to get back home to these guys. Someday we'll ALL go for long walks in the country.

On Christmas day in the Morning...(and on Christmas Eve)

This is the first year that Jim and I have had real Christmas excitement since we were both little kids. Now that Evie is an embracer of all things Santa, we were able to really get into the spirit of things! The days leading up to Christmas full of chaos and desperate attempts to keep ourselves entertained.  Evie and Millie as Cinderella:

Dancing in anticipation to the Nutcracker music:

Making (and eating as she made) a gingerbread house:

 

I spent some time on the internet learning how to cut out the perfect paper snowflake, which the girls decorated (not that, even with tutorials, I managed to make nice snowflakes).  I also had the brilliant idea of getting Evie some glitter...which resulted in my having to spend a lot of time cleaning up glitter.

 

And there were some healthy snacks in between all the cookies and treats:

On Christmas Eve, we started our day off with a walk to the big playground.  Evie astounded us all with her scooter skills:

Longing for summer days at the paddling pool:

 

Enthusiastic Christmas Eve swinging:

And sliding:

After which, we were all cold, so we went home.

Back at home, we discovered Spotify and were able to dance away several hours to fun Christmas music:

And then it was time to get ready for Santa!  The girls wrote a letter:

And left some Snickerdoodles and Milk for Santa:

And don't forget about the reindeer!  Millie was in charge of quality control:

In the morning, we didn't hear the pitter patter of little feet until almost 7:30...a Christmas morning miracle!  Evie quickly put on her boots and checked to see that the reindeer had eaten the carrots.  They had!  Then she confirmed that Santa had also scarfed down the cookies and milk. 

The stockings were filled with fun goodies!

And we all got some pretty wonderful gifts from Santa and beyond!

Matching PJs are super cute!

Merry Christmas!

Dollies got mixed reviews...Millie wasn't so sure.

Evie was smitten.

A Disney Princesses sleeping bag continues to provide daily entertainment:

And Santa was really paying attention!

The princess dress inspired instant stripping down:

The queen of Christmas!

I'm happy to report that there were no meltdowns at any point on Christmas morning thanks to lots of rest between all the excitement:

....and a lot of coffee.

We have made some wonderful friends in London and Di and Andrew (who we met under unfortunate circumstances: Jim's chicken pox) were kind enough to invite us to their family Christmas lunch.  On Christmas in England they pull Christmas crackers and doing it with a truly British family made it even more fun!  Evie was a cracker enthusiast!

Millie was not as much of a fan, but once she got settled in with all the noise, she was happy again.

Andrew and his sister Henrietta shared their cracker jokes.

Di and Archie.

One thing that we haven't quite managed to embrace is Christmas plum pudding, although it is pretty spectacular as it comes to the table all aflame.  But, as Americans, we just can't get used to the taste.  Everyone else thought it was delicious, though.

The girls had a blast playing with Di and Andrews grand-nieces and Evie, in particular, was very distraught when we had to leave.

But we had to go home and get some rest before the Nutcracker the next day!  The English National Ballet does a couple of family friendly performances, so I bought tickets back in July.  Unfortunately, Millie doesn't have the attention span to sit through a ballet, so she stayed home, but Evie dressed up in her special dress and her fancy coat and we headed to the London Coliseum for the performance.

Window shopping on the way:

It was a great excuse for Jim to wear his new alligator belt.

Waiting patiently for the green man in Covent Garden. Evie is very dedicated to traffic safety and will tell you that you are naughty if you cross on red.

Waving to Daddy in front of the London Coliseum.

Inside, we made a toast before the ballet.

And read the story of Clara and the Nutcracker.

Evie made a friend and demonstrated her graceful ballet moves:

And then we met up with her real friend from school, Hannah, who shared some chocolate coins and then headed to her superior seats.

The theater was beautiful and ornate and it was fun to look down onto the orchestra with a very excited little girl.

...although she was a little distracted by her chocolate coin.

At first, because she had never been to a live ballet before, Evie was a little confused by the stage.  She seemed not to realize that it wasn't TV, but we finally cleared that up.  During the first act, she kept saying she wanted to go home, but once the fighting with the mice and the dance of the snowflakes started, she got very interested. Since it was a family friendly production, it was fine that she chit chatted through the entire thing. And it's always fun for me to see a new (to me) production of the Nutcracker because they are all a little different.  In this one, children played Clara and her friends and brother in the first act, but once she fell asleep and started to dream, all of the main characters were played by adults.  Also, the Nutcracker was one person when he had his Nutcracker head on and someone else when he didn't.  The mouse king didn't die until well into the second act and in both the English National Ballet and the Royal Ballet, it's a dream, but then, at the end, Clara meets the young man who plays the Nutrcracker prince again (as her uncle's assistant).

After all that action, we were hungry!

Somehow, Evie kept spaghetti sauce off of her fancy dress.

And before we headed back home, we wandered through Chinatown, which was fun.

There was a tube strike, so we took the bus back home and discovered that we can go, on the bus, straight to a TK Maxx (same as TJ Maxx...don't ask me why they switched the letter.  I wonder if there are also TL and TM Maxx somewhere in the world)!  So, I'll be doing that sometime!

It was a great day out with Evie and a wonderful way to end a very fun Christmas.