Three (little) things the British have right

People are always asking me how things in the UK are different from things in  America.  The truth is, I find the countries much more alike than different.  There are, of course, a few big differences, and many small ones (which happen to be a little less controversial, so we'll discuss those, for now).  There are many obvious things the British do well (i.e. football (soccer), tea and driving on the left), here are a few lesser known strokes of genius:

1.  Two controls for your shower.  The first turns on the shower and controls pressure; the second controls temperature.  This is brilliant because you set your water temperature once and you can turn the shower on and off without messing with it.














2.  Traffic lights that turn yellow before AND AFTER they turn red.  This is handy for drivers because you know the light is about to turn green and can get ready to go (especially here, where pretty much everyone drives a standard).  It is also nice for pedestrians because if the light hasn't turned yellow you know you have enough time to get across before the traffic will be moving.






3.  Cell phones numbers that have a different "area code."   If the first digit of a phone number is a 7, you can rest assured that it is a cell phone number.  Knowing which numbers belong to mobiles means you always know when you can send a text and if you will be paying for the call.

I'm sure there are more I'm not thinking of at the moment, so watch this space...

Baby Yoga

Eli and I have been going to baby yoga at the Balace Studio in Hale since he was about 10 weeks old. I've had a lot of questions from my friends and family in the states about what it is like so I thought I'd share a little bit about it with you all.  Baby yoga can be split up into four parts.

1.  Yoga for me- When we do yoga for the mommies, the babies lay on the mats or play with toys.  I would divide the yoga for us into three parts:  A. Poses that help strengthen the pelvic floor and other muscles that were used (and abused) differently in pregnancy and childbirth.  B. Poses that help stretch out the muscles we use (and abuse) the most as mommies (i.e. back, sholders, wrists, etc.).  C.  Much-needed relaxation time!

2.  Yoga for Eli- During the yoga for the babies, we sing songs with motions, do different stretches with the babies, and put them into various poses that are reminiscent of adult yoga poses.  These stretches help Eli learn about his body and help me learn how to play with him in engaging ways.  They also came in very handy when he was colicky or gassy.

3.  Yoga for us both-  Some of the poses we do allow for interaction with the little ones in the process.  For example, when doing a swooping cat pose, I can tickle his tummy with my nose and play with him.  We also do different lifts and swings that are fun for us both.

4.  Social time- After we practice our yoga, we have time for tea and a little chat with the other moms.  This was one of the very first social engagements I had after moving to Hale with newborn Eli and we have made some dear friends in class who I'm sure will be around for a long time to come.

This is the link to the website of my fab teacher (Jess) if you would like more information.  There is also a picture gallery; just click on Treetots Yoga, then Baby and Toddler Yoga Pictures.

http://www.treetotsyoga.com/

The South of France

Last week, we had a lovely, relaxing trip to the south of France, thanks to some dear friends of ours who let us use their vacation home.  Their place is in Fontjoncouse, which is about 45 minutes from Carcassonne and an hour north of the Spanish border, in the Corbieres mountains (home of the Corbieres wine country).  Each day we spent half the day at the house catching a little R&R (either sleeping in or coming home for naps before grilling out and enjoying dinner on the patio with a glass of wine).  The other half of the day, we went to check out some of the sites in the area.  A rundown of our week:

We did a lot of relaxing on the weekend, but we did get out a few times.  We drove around the area and did a little hiking/walking in and around Fontjoncouse and saw some of the local scenery, including the village church and cemetary.

Monday we went into Carcassonne to see the Medievil City, which is completely walled-in, and even has a moat.  After we took the audio tour of the castle in the Medievil City, we had a traditional French lunch (Duck Confit and Casoulette).  Then, we went to Carcassonne Plage and enjoyed Eli's first beach experience!  Unfortunately, the water was a little cold for him to spend much time in it.



On Tuesday, we went into Narbonne and checked out the Cathedral and walked around the city.  We enjoyed another afternoon at the beach on the Mediterranian at Narbonne Plage.  It was everyone's first time in the Mediterranian Sea (if you count wading in knee-deep); the beach was beautiful, but the water was too cold for Eli and mommy.



Wednesday we went into the village of Lagrasse, which was developed on the River Orbieu, around an abbey that was built in 799.  It really is a lovely village with beautiful views and it was very refreshing to cool off with a wade in the river.

Perhaps the most awe-inspiring visit we made was to the Gorges of Galamus on Thursday.  There is a hermitage built into the gorge with a chapel cut right out of the rock.   It took us what seemed like ages on windy, narrow, mountain roads (that Drew likes to call horse trails) to get to the gorges, but the views were worth it once we arrived!

As you can see, we really enjoyed our trip to France and were especially happy to be able to spend the week together as a family.