The United Kingdom

At the end of June Andrew and I dropped the kids off at my parents house and we headed off to the United Kingdom for 10 days (including travel). It was amazing...at least for the first 7 days. Just kidding! The whole trip really was wonderful, but by day 7 I was missing my kids something fierce!! Who knew I was so attached to those kiddos? ;) In hindsight, I probably should have changed my watch to the local time. It really didn't help that I kept looking at my watch saying things like, "Oh, it is Clara's nap time."

BUT, we felt beyond spoiled to take this trip. Our itinerary was extremely ambitious, but were able to see so and do many incredible things. (If you like to relax on your vacations, then you probably shouldn't ever plan a trip with us.) We stayed at some beautiful B&B's and I fell in love with the English breakfast.

Day 1: Arrive in London, rent car, tour Windsor, Stonehenge and arrive in Bath
I would not recommend this for day one! It is not the smartest thing to learn to drive on the opposite side of the road when dealing with jet lag! Plus, the roads are tiny, windy and those Brits drive fast! But all of the stops were wonderful and Stonehenge surpassed our expectations. You can't really tell from the pictures, but it really is massive!

Day 2: Tour Bath, Roman baths, boat cruise up to Bathampton, hike back to Bath, guided night city tour
We loved Bath- so much to do and see. Beautiful and relaxing city!

Day 3: Tour Cotswolds villages, bike ride through English Countryside

Day 4: Hadrian's Wall, Edinburgh, tour castle and city

We loved Edinburgh! The castle was awesome and the city had a great vibe to it.

Day 5: Scottish Highlands bus tour
This was a 12 hour bus tour, starting in Edinburgh and heading through the highlands with a boat ride on Loch Ness, and a few other scenic stops along the way. We really debated weather or not to do this, but we were so glad we did! It was a great Scottish History lesson with many amazing sights. 

 My first (and last) Fish and Chips

Day 6: York
I think York was our favorite stop on our trip. Such a fantastic city with something to see everywhere you looked. Andrew literally drooled over the cathedral (that man loves him some cathedrals) and we had the best tour guide for a night walk through the city.

Days 7 & 8: London
The last potion of our trip was spent in London and it was the perfect ending to our trip. We toured the Tower of London, hopped on and off the double deckers, took in an art museum and Andrew even made me sit through a parliament meeting (picture sitting through the British version of C-SPAN).

And thanks to the discovery of the timer on my camera, we have plenty of shots of the two of us- imagine that!

Summer Time- Part 1

We started the summer out like rock stars. I was full of energy and full of ideas and plans. Of course this didn't last very long (summer is 10 weeks for crying out loud!), but we sure started out with a bang.

 We joined our neighborhood pool this year and we spent many a mornings there. 

The secret to my summer success were books on tape. After lunch I would put one on and the kids would start like this...

...and inevitably end like this. It is my most brilliant move to date.

We did some berry picking at Butler's.

We explored the butterflies and gardens at Brookeside.

We hit up lots of playgrounds.

 And my efforts were rewarded with things like this:

Not a bad gig I have. Not bad at all. 

Harpers Ferry

The Saturday before Memorial Day was spent in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. This is where Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia meet, as well as where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers converge. There is a lot of Civil War history here, and today it is a national park which the Appalachian Trail goes through.

The plan was to go camping along the river the night before, but it dropped down to near freezing temps, with strong winds and a flash flood warning. We wisely skipped the camping and came to hike the next day.
We arrived early, found the town empty of tourist, but filled with staged old timers who told us the history of the town. Awesome.

We took a 5 mile hike (not on the trail) up the "mountain" shown in the background. The kids all rocked it. 

The view from the top

Below is Jefferson Rock. In 1973 Thomas Jefferson stood on this rock and later wrote that "this scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic".  Agreed Mr. President. 

This cemetery is above the town and as you can see, has beautiful views. I would think it a little strange to stop and hang out in a graveyard, but we were not the only ones to do it! 

Luke was so inspired by the beauty that he started to decorate Afton's hair with wildflowers.