Ye Olde Castor Chronicles

Some more snaps

2010-07-22T17:05:00.001-07:00

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Not quite, but nearly finished product!

2010-07-22T17:02:00.001-07:00

Don't think we'll ever quite manage to be done and dusted! But we are certainly enjoying living here now!

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First coat...

2010-05-21T16:53:00.001-07:00

Of stain on our beautiful floors!

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First sanding, floors revealed

2010-05-20T15:56:00.001-07:00

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Kitchen continued...

2010-05-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

Doors and moulding to come on Wednesday, fingers crossed. Floor sanding starts Thursday.

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Kitchen in transition

2010-05-16T14:06:00.001-07:00

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More tile shots

2010-05-16T14:05:00.001-07:00

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New color unveiled!

2010-05-07T18:21:00.001-07:00

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Those $&?! Bathroom tiles

2010-05-07T18:19:00.001-07:00

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Floors galore

2010-05-07T18:18:00.001-07:00

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Once was a barn...

2010-05-01T16:31:00.000-07:00

And someday our floor...

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Respite

2010-04-21T17:11:00.001-07:00

Nothing like a bday to provide a great excuse for well earned break from remodel frenzyland - to weekend in relaxation paradise! Thanks hubby & all who helped!

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More parental guidance

2010-04-21T17:07:00.001-07:00

After a welcome visit from andy's dad, we have the Aussie parents in town for a good sticky beak!

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Wet Paint!

2010-04-21T17:05:00.001-07:00

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Emotional support

2010-04-14T08:46:00.001-07:00

Andy's dad flew down from MT to check things out. He wanted a real before and after for himself. The blog photos just weren't cutting it. We enjoyed having someone with a little more building & remodel experience to assure us that everything was going to be alright! ... Well that's what I wanted, seems Andy was just after another person to talk golf with!

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Might look like more of the same ...

2010-04-02T18:33:00.001-07:00

But I'm just so excited!!

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Walls walls, glorious walls!

2010-04-02T13:45:00.001-07:00

We're so very excited & relieved to finally say goodbye to framework and helloooooo to the drywall!!

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Here' what you've been missing...

2010-03-25T14:27:00.001-07:00

Insulation, heating & a few doors! Drum roll please... We're hoping for a little dry wall in the next week or two.

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Yep John, we've finished the bathroom!

2010-03-05T18:48:00.001-08:00

Oh yeah, and we got garage doors too!

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Glimmer of hope

2010-02-25T15:29:00.001-08:00

Walls! Glorious walls ... Ah .. Er .. Plywood, close enough right?! Putting humpty dumpty back together again!

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Who needs walls?

2010-02-13T14:40:00.000-08:00

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Is that more demo I spy?

2010-02-09T11:46:00.001-08:00

This time, our floor! No more layers of lino!

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Finally some framework!

2010-02-05T09:36:00.001-08:00

Pool filling was officially completed earlier in the week. We were excited to see some sort of mini transformation finally take place, now that we've owned the house for a month now. But, low & behold, for the past two days we have seen even more demo take place! We're worried the big bad wolf will blow our house down as there's absolutely nothing inside holding it up!

We can't express how excited we were this morning to see two container loads of demo being taken away, and the faint smell of new wood start to take over...

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What the crowd wants!

2010-02-05T09:30:00.001-08:00

Or at least what John zimmer wants! More photos! Ask and you shall receive ...

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More pool filling

2010-01-16T13:10:00.000-08:00

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Filling the pool, day 1

2010-01-14T12:38:00.000-08:00

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The basics

2010-01-14T12:37:00.001-08:00

I worked out that I hadn't actually posted a photo of the house from the outside - I'd only been revealing the delicious demolition!
Here's a view streetside, and also a pic capturing the view from out the front windows.
(the dirt is being hauled in 5 gallon buckets up the stairs & into the pool!)

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Change of view

2010-01-12T16:42:00.001-08:00

Now we can see the entire second storey of our neighbors house.

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Hello sunshine

2010-01-12T16:40:00.001-08:00

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Let the sunshine in!

2010-01-11T12:55:00.001-08:00

Sorry tree, we are sad to see you go - but we promise to plant another smaller tree in your honor!

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Pool party anyone?

2010-01-11T10:01:00.001-08:00

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Happy Friday

2010-01-08T11:28:00.001-08:00

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Day two... More rubble

2010-01-07T11:41:00.001-08:00

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What we're looking at

2010-01-07T08:41:00.001-08:00

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The next adventure ... a little closer to home...

2010-01-06T17:05:00.000-08:00

We survived, and actually quite thoroughly enjoyed each others' company during our 3 month travels around Europe last year. 2010 brings a new test to the marriage - we're talking renovations, big renovation....

One more thing....

2009-07-27T09:17:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention - if you want to see more photos from our trip, the collection is growing on -

http://gallery.me.com/andycastor

enjoy!

Home

2009-07-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

That's right - I am sure you have guessed by now, indeed we are home again - back in sunny California. It is apparent that we fell "off track" regarding our blogability over the last two weeks of our adventure. Not only did we not find many wifi zones in the areas of France we were in, I'd like to think we were busy soaking up those last few weeks of fun, fun, fun.

Maybe we'll back catalogue those weeks at a later date. We enjoyed fun & adventures in the south of France - working in Yannick & Ingrid's Creperie de Lys, breaking down in front of opulent champagne chateaux in Champagne, and living it up in Paris before our return home.

For Andy, it was quite a culture shock, back in the USA - such wide streets, big cars & everyone speaks English!

Whereas I am still wrapping my head around the fact that we actually went on this huge, awesome, fun adventure - that the departure day actually came, we actually went on the trip & now, now its over?! WOw - what fun! And we recognize how extremely lucky we are that we were able to organize and go on this trip - we wouldnt have traded for anything!

Counting our lucky pennies, we both have returned to work, our house is still standing & we have sunny days to enjoy in Manhattan Beach!

We're also getting to know the 3 baby boys, born into the family while we were gone -

Ellis Castor

Leo Christopher Masters

Finbar Spartacus Ace Fleischer

All too cute!

It's not exactly wine with our picnic baguettes, followed by siestas, but it is great to see our family & friends and enjoy a little summer together.... even if it means working....

Back on track!

2009-06-24T04:10:00.001-07:00

Realigned and nimble after a week of our yoga in denia, we sadly leave & head back to the station - heading north.
9 hours of travel today- alicante via madrid, to San sebastian. To our delight it hasn't been as awful as that sounds! The Spanish know how to while away the hours - sparkling wine on arrival onboard the train, 3 course lunch with wine, more wine, more food, more wine! We've gotten our money's worth from the railpass today alone!!

Siesta time! I think we have the hang of the culture here!!

Spain

2009-06-24T04:09:00.003-07:00

Food Andy craved while at the veggie yoga holiday - lucky there was a kebab shop around the corner. This is the regular display in the cold cuts section of the supermarket.

This is "cinnamon", the hotel cat - thought of you Beryl!

Yoga Camp update - zen & tonic

2009-06-24T04:09:00.001-07:00

Balance - that's what it's all about. Yoga ... Life & also a good holiday.
When researching our yoga portion of the holiday, I wanted to ensure it was a little more everday joe, than a complete ashram experience - I mean we couldn't go cold turkey from our lunch and dinner vinos!
So, thinking we were among purests after our intro meeting where everyone sipped on fresh juice, we'd just had a cold cervaza in our room... We thought it would be an interesting week...
As with everything, balance was retained by midweek when 3 of the yogis sucuumbed to temptation - stayed up till 6am drinking with fellow English sailor hotel guests. Managing perhaps to tip the scale a little with their passing out in the bathroom and missing morning yoga! This was the yoga retreat for us!

A few of our yoga party animals with nicole, our fantastic teacher, and kirsten, the funniest Scottish lass we've met!

"after"

2009-06-23T11:39:00.000-07:00

I'll let you be the judge, as long as you're encouraging!

Before.....

After....

A look of zen in his eyes...

Or is that defeat?! No!!

Yoga camp

2009-06-18T07:39:00.001-07:00

Well, in a little under 30mins we are about to head downstairs for the welcome meeting for our week of yoga here in denia, Spain. Andy dubbed it yoga camp of course, and is eager to suss out the competition. The meeting includes refreshments before our first yoga session, do you think these are refreshments of the cocktail variety? Here's hoping!
We'll track andys progress and keep you informed - let's call this one "before".

O' Valencia!

2009-06-18T07:32:00.001-07:00

Excited we arrive, a little lighter, but en Espana nonetheless! Yes, Ryan air, cheap little beauties they are - but tough on their excess baggage rules. Happy to entertain, we "cleansed" our backpacks for all to see at the check-in desk. After our first tasty authentic tapas meal at the airport we caught a bus two hours south to Denia.
We arrived at 11pm, a little tired and ill prepared - I didn't have the hotel address written anywhere. You can imagine, bus station, 11pm = not so glamorous part of town. With neither of us willing to sense or scout out this hotel, we call a cab. The cab was more than happy to come and transport us the two blocks he could before we reached the pedestrianized zone wherein our hotel lay! Another day on the road with the castors!!

To be sure we enjoyed tasty fresh Valencia orange juice this morning.
The Spanish tiles are all so beautiful. The hotel is a restored manor, below is the pretty bathroom tile!

More photos from our "test" bike ride

2009-06-18T04:23:00.001-07:00

The bike trail followed this river the whole way.

Oh except for this little strech, it mostly followed the river.

Seconds before I went over the handle bars ending up in that river shown in the first photo.

You can always get a hold of us on skype. Just add brookecastor as your friend. If you don't get a hold of us just leave a text message and we'll call you from the next wifi spot. If it's not too late there.

Miss you all

Andy and Brooke

The Italian villa in Umbria

2009-06-18T04:22:00.001-07:00

About a mile up the driveway was this amazing villa. It was great to see our MB friends and the 3days here were action packed. We are still waiting to find out how much that marble table imported from Singapore is going to cost. Luckly Brooke and I did not break it because I think it would be around half of our Europe budget.

This pool was really amazing. But the view was no good. Ha! I kid

Now it's off to Spain for the Yoga adventure.

Sanary sur mere

2009-06-18T03:31:00.001-07:00

I first visited this seaside town in January 1994, it was great fun to return 15 years later with andy and a few more scraps of French to pull together a sentence or two. Other than us, only French tourists in town - a good test to get me back into gear with the language. Sanary is close to Toulon, bordering Provence and the French riviera.

La dolce vita

2009-06-15T07:50:00.001-07:00

Sweet life it was, staying on this little farm where the host shared a drink with us in his cellar, of his wine from the barrel - proscuitto for andy right off the bone, olive oil poured fresh for us and as many cherries as we could pick!!

Tuscany

2009-06-15T07:46:00.001-07:00

Return to italia!

2009-06-15T07:44:00.001-07:00

Off the night train, straight to the airport via that little tower in Pisa with all our belongings - to pick up a rental car. Following two days were spent rambling around the picturesque Tuscan countryside.

More fun

2009-06-10T00:23:00.001-07:00

Ok, yesterday was a pretty fun Brooke day. We're staying in a little village outside of Avignon, in Provence and I decided it was well worth the splurge to take a little wine tasting trip around the cote du rhone region. To both our delight, we were the only ones on the trip - so we were chauffered around the provencal countryside tasting wine into the evening. It was beautiful, however it's a little too early in the season for lavender blooms and sunflowers. We spent most of our time in chateau neuf du pape which was pretty special for me as I can remember learning about this wine in one of my first French lectures at uni, before we learnt any new vocab! So - these grapes are grown with pebbles scattered over the top layer of soil - serving as a blanket for the crops in the evening, releasing warmth from the days sun. Also these grapes must be harvested by hand and cannot be irrigated - the roots must find the water source - geeky, boring, I know! But they tasted pretty awesome. To complete the experience we had an eccentric French guy guiding us through the tasting - correcting us along the way and giving us a good education on tasting- watch out next time we're tasting with you - we're sure to embarrass with our slurping and swirling style!! Chin chin!!

Je m'appelle Andre

2009-06-10T00:10:00.001-07:00

Food's great, wine is cheap and andy has a personal translator. He no longer thinks about the basketball games he's missing - he now concentrates his time perfecting the moves on his rollerblades. Oui oui, c'est parfait!

Next Stop France

2009-06-07T04:03:00.001-07:00

Italy was pretty amazing, especialy the hiking we did here in Cinque Terre. Beautiful views such as this one as we hiked from town to town.

Prices however are starting to rise as we are now in full tourist season so dining out has been cut back. Not to worry though fellow readers, the food at the local supermarkets has been amazing.

And the wine grown right here in these hills is pretty hard to beat as well.

On the train right now. Brooke's trying to get some sleep but it's not going very well. She'll be less than pleased if she sees this photo of herself as well.
More from France!

Change in plans. Now we are in Rome

2009-06-03T09:28:00.001-07:00

On the ferry over from Dubrovnik, Croatia we met a bunch of fellow backpackers that were driving to Rome that night. Driving to make their morning flight back to new York from Rome, that is! So when the ferry got in at midnight (after being delayed for 3 hours) we decided (ie; captain adventure aka mr castor couldnt resist the adventure), to drive with them to Rome. We arrived in Rome at 5 in the morning with no plan and nowhere to stay. But it all worked out.
Right now we are in the hotel and dead tired from walking all over the place. We were extremely lucky that this hotel has had the best bed and shower on the trip this far!

Here we are at the Colosseum. Just outside a huge crowd had assembled for the winners circle of the cycle race. So while we were walking into the Colosseum the crowd outside was cheering for the champions. It was pretty impactful.

The Vatican

The Sistine Chaple. We were a bit exhausted at this point because it took around 3 hours in the tour to get to this point but still pretty amazing. Actually I take it back Michelangelo is a hack!! Haha

Off to Italy

2009-05-30T05:48:00.001-07:00

Sitting here waiting for the ferry to Bari, Italy. A real dump according to the Lonely Planet but is the only way to get to Italy from Dubrovnik,Croatia.
We've had a great time in Croatia and had some good laughs in Dubrovnik. We bought a painting from this guy on the street and talked to him for about half a hour then he volunteered to help us look for this Bosnian coffee grinder that Brooke had seen in Split,Croatia. We walked all over Dubrovnik and along the way our tour guide/street painter would point out little things, like the watermelon size creaters in the sides of buildings from bombs that had gone off in the city walls. And also how many of the roofs around the city had also been replaced from the bombing.

A pretty amazing little town with lots of fun places to eat along the little streets.

This bar was built right into the sides of a cliff and after your drink you could jump off the cliffs into the water for a swim.

Ok off to Italy!!!

Korcula, Croatia

2009-05-26T09:41:00.003-07:00

This is the view out our window. To the right you can see the town of Korcula, which is this amazing medieval walled town.

Our first day here and we ate at this little pizzera. This was pretty hilarious because this restaurant was actually two completly different restaurants sharing the same space. There was this line of demarcation where one side had blue table clothes while the other had red ones. This was explained to us by the maître d. "This is big problem, yes big problem" he said while we decided in which place we were going to eat.

Good stuff. And a liter of wine. Oh boy!

Croatia

2009-05-26T09:41:00.001-07:00

Here is Split, Croatia. Hot as hell and a bit of a tourist trap as all the big cruise ships dock here. The locals smile and say their price, then frown when you say "too much". Brooke and I have been enjoying learning some of the language and people tend to be a bit more accepting when you at least try.

We got a nice place just back from town and had a great night listening to the local little kids play on their bikes outside. Getting the most out of their Sunday before school on Monday.

Having some tasty wine before we get on the ferry to the little island of korcula. Supposed to be amazing.

Oh and no peeing on this street, but it seems that many other streets are fair game because everyone seems to do it since bathrooms are rare.

Budapest

2009-05-26T09:40:00.003-07:00

Spent the day here, marvelling at the architecture and enjoying the abundance of street performers playing music. I had thought we would spend the day basking in the thermal baths - on arrival, I thought of the empty thermal baths at our hotel back in tata. For the same price of basic entry we could have thermal baths, sauna and an hour massage - so we checked out the amazing building of the baths and high tailed it back to tata!

More tata

2009-05-26T09:40:00.001-07:00

As promised by wikepedia, tata did deliver on lakes, golf course, lakeside castle - less than an hour from Budapest. I think we were still a little too close to Austria to see any full blown gypsies and Huns in action - but the day is youngish, as we head south.

Oh yeah, tata was also the site of the crime I committed - mangling andy's beard. Attempting to trim with just scissors... I don't recommend this.

Tata

2009-05-26T09:39:00.005-07:00

Or "todo" to the locals as we now learn the correct pronunciation as we leave! Tata, Hungary that is. Why tata? We got this question a lot, didn't seem to be on any touring rador - which both appealed ... And scared us a little!! We wanted to be somewhere a little rural, but within daytrip distance from Budapest - a little country air after Prague, and of course, a golf course.

To add a little more suspense, we arrive into tata at 8:15pm- no hotel reservation - but our saving grace, a scribbled name and address of a possible hotel - one of the only few I found during my research!
After 3 nights here, we give tata the big thumbs up!! Two thumbs up to all tata bus drivers! Of course we arrive and have no idea where town is, or how to get to it - no lonely planet map to refer to .... Only info the lonely planet could provide was that Hungary's uniqueness didn't stop at it's incomprehensible tongue - yikes!! Well after a fun exchange of communication with the first bus driver - me, smiling with lots of large arm gestures and pointing - bus driver with lots of pensive looks, chin rubbing and a few phone calls - we were on our way! We were ushered onto two different buses and given directional instructions with more emphatic arm gestures. A cinch! Crucial first word we learnt was "thankyou" in hungarian. Great people as the warm hospitality didn't stop with the bus drivers and their free rides, extending to the cleanest laundry ever, and we both enjoyed the therapeutic touch from peter, the local massage whiz!

Czech happy snaps

2009-05-26T09:39:00.003-07:00

Lots of amazing castles and chateaux to serve as lovely backgrounds while sampling the many fine brews Czech had to offer. Cesky krumlov -

That's enough riding for us!

2009-05-26T09:39:00.001-07:00

Just kidding!! We had an awesome and enriching experience - what a way to see a country. Now we are back to team castor, sad to have parted ways with those riding maniacs, Shannon and Taylor.

We head south in search of a sea breeze, Shannon and Taylor follow the Elbe river along to krakow.

Off to Hungary

2009-05-26T09:38:00.001-07:00

Back on the train again after spending 3 nights in Prague. Had a wonderful time in the Czech republic. The 8 day bike ride was more amazing than we could have imagined and full of adventure and breath taking towns and vistas.

All the people we met were extremly kind and helpful. And the beer was amazing! Budweiser (the original Bud, before we stole the name for our own beer) was some of the best.

That's it for now. Off to Hungary for some more adventure.

Day 7 czech bike ride

2009-05-15T12:33:00.001-07:00

Last day of the bike ride is tomorrow. Pretty damn fun

Miss you all

Andy and Brooke

Day 3 Czech bike ride

2009-05-14T07:54:00.001-07:00

We did almost a 100 k's today and are feeling pretty beat again today. The country has been beautiful and the food and people have been really good as well.

The yellow from the canola fields look like it is right out of a painting. The yellow is so amazingly bright.

This was pretty spectacular as well. The last remains of the iron curtain. The Austria/Czech border. At the top of the photo you might be able to see the watch tower. Beyond this fence was a 100 meters of land mines and before that the Czechs had poisoined the land. Making it almost impossibe to breach or escape. They said the number of people killed here has never been published.

This is where we are staying tonight. Great little town called Telck.

Here is just a funny message for Jason and Alison from Switzerland. Get over here!!

Miss you all

Andy and Brooke

First day on Czech bike ride

2009-05-09T13:06:00.000-07:00

We are beat. This bike ride is pretty hard core. But very fun. Here are some photos and some from Switzerland which was amaZing.

Switzerland

You can always get a hold of us on skype. Just add brookecastor as your friend. If you don't get a hold of us just leave a text message and we'll call you from the next wifi spot. If it's not too late there.

Miss you all

Andy and Brooke

My New Roomate in Switzerland

2009-05-03T14:31:00.001-07:00

This is what 112 bucks gets you in Switzerland! No wonder I never met anyone who went here. A bowl of noddles cost us 50 bucks, well it was pretty good though.

Andy and Brooke

A day in the life of the castor's ...

2009-05-03T01:59:00.001-07:00

You can always get a hold of us on skype. Just add brookecastor as your friend. If you don't get a hold of us just leave a text message and we'll call you from the next wifi spot. If it's not too late there.

Miss you all

Andy and Brooke

En Bruges

2009-05-03T01:55:00.001-07:00

Mr castor was quite dissappointed to learn that the medieval city of bruges is certainly no secret on the tourist trail. Alas, it was still quite a treat, we blended in nicely - with the fellow tourists eating waffles and drinking beer. Andy left feeling a little empty that there were no midgets to party with.

You can always get a hold of us on skype. Just add brookecastor as your friend. If you don't get a hold of us just leave a text message and we'll call you from the next wifi spot. If it's not too late there.

Miss you all

Andy and Brooke

Test run on the bikes

2009-05-03T01:47:00.001-07:00

As many of you know, soon we will be catching up with friends Shannon and Taylor for a bike riding adventure from Vienna, to Prague, over 8 days. Shannon and Taylor have actually ridden their bikes from Belgium to meet us in Austria for this little novelty stretch of a ride! In an effort to be a little better prepared, we rented bikes yesterday in Luxembourg and enjoyed a 60km ride between villages along a picturesque river nestled amongst fairytale like forests. We survived, yah! Phewf! With only minor saddle injuries, I'm sure we'll toughen up! Of course we were pretty proud of ourselves and toasted this feat on our little picque-nique!! As the photos show - parents be proud, sun smart, and safety first, euro fashion falls in last place...!!!

You can always get a hold of us on skype. Just add brookecastor as your friend. If you don't get a hold of us just leave a text message and we'll call you from the next wifi spot. If it's not too late there.

Miss you all

Andy and Brooke

Diekirch, Luxembourg

2009-05-03T01:33:00.001-07:00

This is quite possibly the greatest statue I have ever seen. This is in the town center of diekirch. Just look at the whimsical expression on the boys face, as if to say " Mother Look!!! We are saved!".
Brooke and I were the only ones to find this funny as we saw many others pose for pictures and they always had serious face or a pleasent smile. If they would laugh it was always at how THEY looked in the photo. Are You Kidding Me? There is a donkey shitting gold coins behind you!!!
As you can see this provided hours of amusement for me an the wife.

You can always get a hold of us on skype. Just add brookecastor as your friend. If you don't get a hold of us just leave a text message and we'll call you from the next wifi spot. If it's not too late there.

Miss you all

Andy and Brooke

Ahhhh vacation!

2009-05-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

2009-04-24T04:05:00.000-07:00

IRELAND - WHERE PEOPLE TALK FUNNY

2009-04-24T02:44:00.000-07:00

Ok fellow readers sorry it has taken us a few days to get this post up. I'm sure you have all been waiting with baited breath for an update from the Castors. We have just returned from Ireland and are now in London staying with our friend Sandy from Wollongong University.
Brooke and I have been keeping a journal so we'll just take some excerpts to put in this blog. Brooke's journal is more based in facts, mine tends to embellish some of the facts and just outright lie at some points, so basically between the two of us, you'll get the whole story...kind of.

ANDY'S JOURNAL (mostly illegible)

04-18-09

Just arrived in Ireland. Drove for an hour and a half on these tiny little roads from Cork to Skibbereen. We are staying in this little cottage that was build in the 1800's which is relatively new for Ireland. It was once a small stable and where we are sleeping was originally a stall for the horses. An Irish home for Asthmatics is what I call it. Both of us are exhausted and after we walked around town and found no food we went to the supermarket and decide to make a traditional Irish dinner. Pizza.

4-20
Ok, new day here in Ireland. Been talking with my new accent all day. It's been a real laugh, just ask Brooke.
Took off this morning to see the sights. Drove up to this little hill just outside of Baltimore and hiked around a bit, Saw a castle from 1215, Took lots of video, just ask Brooke. Also saw lots of medieval condominiums in Baltimore, complete with rock walls. Brooke thought that was pretty funny. Chalk one up for me!
We have been having a blast the two of us. One funny game that Brooke has developed has been keeping us laughing all day long. It actually started back when we left from LAX. I was on the phone tying up some last second things when Brooke asked for my ticket to see about an upgrade or exit row seats. When she didn't return, I went up to the gate just in time to see her round the corner down the corridor to the plane. Lucky for me they still let me on the plane. You can imagine Brooke's face when she saw me walking down the isle. Oh we had a good laugh about that. Right before we took off I noticed Brooke quietly sobbing. I asked her what was wrong and she said "I'm just really gonna miss LA" ahwww sweet thing, I thought.

Driving around in Skibbereen has been quite an adventure. The roads are really tiny and while in town I there was this delivery truck coming right at us. He was not stopping so only thing left to do was drive up on the ol' sidewalk. Luckily the guy on the sidewalk was a few feet behind me and I didn't need to kill him.

Well sorry this post is all for today but will return with more stuff later today now that we have a computer. I do have a good Castor disaster that almost happened. It involves golf and my abilities, or lack there of.
Off to go see London! bye bye

Then onto the land of green, guinness & Andy's irish accent...

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Then onto visit Katie Bo bo in Philly.

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First stop, visiting the Grandparents in Ohio.

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And so it begins....... so far so good......

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tick tock tick tock...

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The Countdown is on! We've done the dishes, we filled the recycling with the evidence of Bon Voyage cheer, Brooke's even packed her bags! We're ready! Lets go!

Well maybe there's one or two loose strings we've yet to tie....

3 more sleeps till the journey begins! woohoo!