Winter Wonderland 2014

Today our family traveled to Telford Town Centre to go to Wonderland Theme Park.  The park is nestled in the woods within the Telford Town Park.  The theme park is all based around fairy tales (and there is a random Dinosaur Valley....so really something for everyone).  

For about four weekends out the year, they have a special section of the park called Winter Wonderland.  You can ride a reindeer roller coaster, travel to the North Pole to meet Jack Frost and Elsa, ice skate, and ride a winter carousel. 

The kids couldn't believe it was snowing.  They decided it was because Santa, his elves, and reindeer were there and that they had brought the snow with them.  

In order to get to Santa, you had to travel through Santa's mail room.  Four elves were there to help us find our way.  Jingle the Elf took us to see Santa.  The kids have been very concerned that Santa would not where to find them this year because they were no longer at the yellow house in South Carolina.  He assured them that he knew where they were.  He gave each kid a gold coin and a small gift.  

After visiting Santa, we visited Snow White's Cottage and found several fairy houses on our walk. 

We stopped for lunch in the castle which had a food court and a large indoor playground for the kids.  After lunch we spent a lot of time in the Alice and Wonderland portion of the park.  You could sit at the Mad Hatter's table for a cup of tea.  Zach and the kids found their way through the crazy maze which was actually pretty difficult with 10 foot hedges.  

The kids' favorite ride was the White Rabbit Hole.  They rode in a Cheshire cat with figures from the story of Alice and Wonderland all around them.  Paul Bunyon was randomly located here and was at least 15 feet tall.  Both kids were just slightly nervous that he would come to life.  This is as close as they got to the friendly giant. 

Their least favorite ride was the Teacups.  Mom loved it, but both of them were mostly petrified the entire ride.  They finally loved it right as we exiting the ride. 

The remainder of the day we spent visiting all the fairytale characters.  Desmond's favorites were Humpty Dumpty and the Three Little Pigs.  He kept telling the Big Bad Wolf that he needed to stop "eating those pigs and that he was in time out."

Sierra loved Hansel and Gretel's house I think because it looked like it was covered in candy.  However, she was slightly nervous about the wicked witch and the jail inside.

Sullivan, being the true boy that he is, loved the french fries the most (or chips as the the Brits call them).  He pretty much had nothing to do with us until he finished the entire container below.

All in all it was another great adventure for the Steele family and was a fantastic way to kick off the holiday season!

Sierra's First Day of School

Sierra started at Dothill Primary today.  The school is 2 miles from our home in the town of Wellington.  She is in Year 1 which would be the equivalent of Kindergarten in the States.  Her teacher is Ms. Preston and she has a class size of about 28 students.  We didn't learn who her teacher was until the first day of school.  However, we liked her from the beginning.  The minute we walked into class Ms. Preston assigned two students to be her buddies for the day.  They took off for the kitchen and dress up area of the room.  Sierra fit right in.  As you can see they are required to wear uniforms at their school.  The uniform policy is relatively strict in comparison to the United States.

Here she is asked to do the following:

- Light Blue polo or button up
- Blue jumper (British term for sweater/cardigan)
- Gray pants or skirt
- Gray socks or tights
- Black school shoes

Overall her teacher said she did "brilliantly" on her first day and that she had made "loads" of friends already.

The Iron Bridge

With only two more days with Nana in town for a visit, we decided to take her to see one of the local tourist sites known as The Iron Bridge.  The Iron Bridge Gorge is home to some of the most historical iron makers in the world.

Here's a quick summary: 

The birthplace of the Industrial Revolution was the Ironbridge gorge in Shropshire . Here the world’s first iron bridge was constructed between 1777 and 1781 and spans the river Severn. During the 18th century, this area was rich with raw materials including coal, iron ore, water (which was used for both the generation of power and transportation), sand (for moulding cast iron), limestone to flux the slag in the blast-furnaces, and clay to make tiles and bricks.

This wealth of materials first attracted the attention of Abraham Darby to Coalbrookdale in 1708.  In 1709, Darby became the first person to smelt iron using coke as a fuel rather than charcoal, as was traditional. This proved to be one of the most important technological breakthrough's ever discovered. At the time, there was a significant fuel crisis in Britain. Charcoal, which was made from timber, was the only source of fuel used by the iron industry, which had resulted in large areas of deforestation. In order to fuel a single blast-furnace that produces only a few tons of iron each day, several tons of timber was needed each day.  The process meant that high-quality iron was available in quantities undreamt of using the traditional charcoal smelting. It was this process that formed the basis of the industrial revolution that would transform Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries.

During Abraham Darby’s III’s lifetime, Coalbrookdale was the most famous and successful industrial area in Great Britian. Engineers and investors of renown came to visit and stand and wonder. 

Crossing the Iron Bridge was a lot of fun.  Sierra said, "This is the biggest bridge I have ever seen!" They both were a little worried that the bridge would be shaky.  They jumped on it just to be sure.  As you can see from the pictures, it is extremely picturesque.   The River Severn runs through the town.   The town was so quaint with its local shops and beautiful church.  We stopped in a local cafe for a cappucinno and some cakes.  A lovely day for all at the Iron Bridge.

We have noticed all over England that there are lots of red poppies which represents fallen soldiers in WWI.  Every city has their own memorials to the fallen soldiers.  This was a statue and garden next to the Iron Bridge.

Desmond's First Day of Pre-School

In England, all three years are offered 15 hours of free pre-school.  I traveled to several pre-schools and fell in love with Shawbirch Little Chicks Pre-School four minutes from our house in Admaston. They were friendly and loved Desmond right away.  It was the only school where he actually talked to somebody.  The director even got down on one knee and said, "I think I saw your moving truck come through your neighborhood.  Did it bring all your toys?"  Desmond was all smiles from there.  They wouldn't allow any pictures on the inside, but I managed to get a few from his first day.  He was so excited to go because the day before he had seen a gray castle with bad guys and knights.  He kept talking about wanting to see "the bad guys and the castle".

Gingerbread Houses

Nana has made it a tradition to make gingerbread houses with the kids.  They look forward to it each year.  This might be the most adorable gingerbread houses yet, but hey I'm the mom so I may be biased.

Thanksgiving 2014

Tonight we celebrated Thanksgiving a week or so early just so we could celebrate with Nana while she was here visiting us.  Just to make it feel a little more official.  We all got dressed up in our Sunday best. Sierra had a great time picking out outfits for everyone including me.  Hence the bright blue dress also the photo shoot.   Here are some highlights.

 
Now onto the important stuff, the food!!  Nana whipped up lots our hometown favorites including but not limited to....

• broccoli casserole
• homemade gravy
• macaroni and cheese
• turkey
• pumpkin pie
• sweet tea

Delightlful!  Sullivan was especially entertaining during his first Thanksgiving dinner because he was really into the food.  He cleaned his plate too.

Overall, we all had a great Thanksgiving together.  Sierra even helped me decorate the wall and the table for the big meal.  When we asked the kids what they were thankful for, Desmond and Sierra both said named the people in their family.  That's exactly how I feel.  You can be thousands of miles away from home, but as long as you have your family all is right with the world. 

Backyard Campfire & Italian Wine

Our good friend Denny found an amazing wine store and purchased us a bottle of wine from the Italian vineyard where he and his wife Lauren were married last month.  We thought the perfect way to celebrate was to share the bottle of wine over a backyard campfire.  The adults enjoyed a taste of Italy.  The kids had some smores and a spooky story read by Nana.   It was a great way to cap off a visit from Uncle Denny.  

 

Shrewsbury: Wyle Cop

Today, all of us decided to travel to Shrewsbury. The city center is just a short 20 minutes from our home in Admaston.  The town most well-known for being the birthplace of Charles Darwin, but its origins date back to the 8th century.

Every time someone suggested we travel to Shrewsbury they pronounced it differently.  The locals had us quite confused regarding the proper pronunciation of the town's name.  Here's what the history books say.

Origin of the Shrewsbury Name

Scrobbesbyrig
The original Saxon settlement was named "Scrobbesbyrig". It is thought to have been derived from two Old English words - “scrubb”, meaning be scrubland and “burh” which means fortified place.

Thus it is the fortified place in the scrubland, probably referring to the nearby plains which in Saxon times were sparsely populated with alder trees, especially in the boggy regions alongside the River Severn.  Over the years this became corrupted to Shrewsbury, which nowadays is pronounced usually in two different ways: “Shrows-bury” or Shroos-bury”. Both variations seem to have equal merit amongst the townsfolk, so prepare for a good debate if you choose to discuss the subject with a group of locals!

This is probably the most picturesque town we have traveled to so far.  We stepped out of our car park onto the beautiful street known as Wyle Cop.  It has the same feeling a San Francisco hillside street as all the Tudor style shops sit upon a steep incline.  It is an interesting irony to see such historic building housing modern stores. 

  

Shrewsbury: Church of Saint Mary's & the Chocolate Festival

After climbing the steep Wyle Cop street, we headed to The Church of Saint Mary's the Virgin.  The church was having a local chocolate and Christmas craft fair.  Local chocolatiers from across Shropshiere and beyond had booths and best of all samples.

Little did we know that the church itself was going to be absolutely gorgeous and also riddled with history.

Here's a quick summary of the history of the church:

The church dates to the 12th century.  It is the only remaining completely medieval church in the historic town of Shrewsbury, St Mary's stands on a rise in the centre of town, opposite the main post office. The church spire - said to be the third highest of any parish church in England - can be seen for miles around.

The spire collapsed in 1894, which some people believed was a sign that God was unhappy over plans to erect a statue of Charles Darwin outside the nearby site of Shrewsbury School. Biblical signs notwithstanding, the repaired spire was erected in 1897. 

from http://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=4167

The church is also well-known for its stain glass windows, carved ceilings, and floor tile.  They were absolutely stunning.

One of the most interesting parts of the church for me was this random monument and the story of a tightrope walker who fell to his death from the top of the church's spire.  Here's what the monument says and the story behind the fall.

Monument to a Robert "Steeple Jack" Cadman

Robert Cadman walked the 800 feet up the rope that connected the 222-foot high spire on St Mary’s Church from where the rope was fixed to the ground in Gaye Meadow. Climbing up the rope, performing tricks on the way, across the River Severn. When at the top, near the pinnacle of the spire, he then fastened on a wooden breastplate with a central groove for stability and hurtled to earth along the rope.  Sadly On 2nd February 1739 he plummeted to his death when the rope broke.  

So enough about this amazing church, and let's dive into the good stuff...the Chocolate Festival.  We traveled to booth after booth of delicious chocolate samples.  Probably the strangest chocolate concepts we came across were Chocolate and hot curry spice & a local favorite chocolate and whiskey.  

They had a really neat spot for kids sponsored by an engineering school where kids could take chocolate squares and rub them against a glass bottle filled with hot water.  The chocolate would naturally melt and then kids could "glue" squares together to build bridges and chairs that could withhold some weight.  An awesome experiment for our little engineer, Sierra.

Shrewsbury: Pride Hill and Market Square

After the chocolate festival, we headed to an area called Pride Hill which is full of modern day shops and even houses a mall entrance.  The best part of the area for us were the street performers and an amazing balloon artist.

At the base of the hill is Old Market Hall.  The beautiful building behind Sierra was built in the 1200's and used to house the town's magistrate.  During World War II, it served as an air shelter. The day we were there they had a farmer's market with tons of delicious organic fruits, vegetables, and desserts.