Chelsea tour

A couple days before we went to the Chelsea game, we took a tour of the stadium. It was a great tour that gave us a lot of history and background.

Paris

We did a quick day trip to Paris while in England. It is a 2 1/2 hour train ride and then a quick subway trip to city center. It was a long day but I am glad the kids got to experience France. We did a river cruise, saw the Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame cathedral. We had a great lunch at an Italian restaurant and had some crepes!

The first thing we did when getting off the subway was walk up on the street and see an addidas store! The kids thought that was great so we went in and looked around!

Chelsea Game

One of the highlights of our trip was the Chelsea game. We were in the front row and showed up nice and early to be able to experience the warm up.

The pic of the empty stands shows where the guest fans sit. They leave a whole section of empty stands filled with security people between guest fans and Chelsea fans.

River Wye

These are pics we took while canoeing and kayaking down the River Wye in England/Wales (we were right on the border). It was about a 3 hour paddle and we saw lots of birds, swan and sheep.

We left from a town called Hay on Wye and ended at a pub in Whitney on Wye. We think that Whitney on Wye is where my grandmother's family is from!

Drew loved the river kayak experience.

Hereford

The barn we are staying in is outside of Hereford. These pics show the town. The Cathedral has been there 1200's. In the Cathedral is the Mappa Mundi, one of the earliest written maps of the world.

The pic of the black and white building shows a typical building type here in this part of England and Wales.

The street view pic is just a typical shopping alley. The pub right to the left in the pic is where we ate dinner. The pub owner grew up in Cyprus and he made butter beans using his mother's recipe (which were delicious!).

Llanthony Priory

These are pics from an old Priory (1100's). It is located in a beautiful, quiet, remote Welsh valley in the Black Mountains. We walked into the field behind Grace and Jim and pet the horses.

On our way back, we saw two lambs that had escaped from their field. Of course, we stopped the car, jumped out and tried to save them! Despite our efforts, they ran into the woods.

The Snug

In this renovated barn, the family room is called "the snug". It is a tiny room that has a low entrance way that Drew keeps hitting his head on. When I sent Marty this picture of the crew watching tv, he said they looked like "giants in a fairytale cottage"!

Raglan Castle

This is a castle we went to see in South Wales.

Although in partial ruins, it was not as dilapitaded as most castles of its time. It was really big and even had a moat.

Yummy Mummy

I have been using this mug while at the barn in Hereford and I love it! I need to find one for home.

Easter 2011

Woke up this morning in the English countryside in a 500 year old renovated barn. Everyone else was still sleeping, so I decided to go out for a run. I ran a couple of miles and saw a bunny (the easter bunny?) and a horse and pony. It was totally cool to run here and see all that.

After my run, I had a spot of tea and then went to church. The church is literally at the end of the driveway. The church is from the 1200's. It is a little country church and had about 20 people at the service.

After that Grace, Jim and I went to see a castle and gardens.

A pretty nice way to spend Easter.

Aga

This is what we use to cook in the barn where we are staying. It is called and "Aga" and it is on all the time. Each of the doors has a different use: baking, roasting, etc.

It is super cool and we are having fun playing with it. We will use it tonite to make a pork roast for Easter dinner.

And just now, we are removing our chips that we will smother with beans and cheese for an afternoon snack.

There is something for everyone....

Gracie and I ran into these at a chocolate shop in Bath, England....yes....you see that correctly....those are chocolate boobies!

Chelsea Game

This pic shows how close our seats were at the Chelsea Game. We went last Wednesday and then watched a game on tv yesterday. When we went it was about 70 degrees and yesterday's game it was pouring rain! You could hear the thunder thru the tv.

Doggie Daycare?

When your kids get too old for daycare, you ask the daycare people to look after your dogs! The doggies are staying with Tina and Marty while we are gone. That's Daisy trying to look British in a bad wig and Ahi trying to look like a queen on a throne!

Travel

We have been traveling for a week in England and France and it has been one adventure after another. I will add pics when I can find a way to get them off my camera. But here are some highlights to date:

1. We did a day trip to Paris from London. We took the Eurostar train at 7 am and got back at 9:30 pm. We did a cool boat tour, saw the Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame Cathedral. But there were really two highlights: a trip to the Addidas store (really??? - but the kids loved it) and me getting on a train and Jim and the kids not making it on before the doors closed! I thought Drew was going to have a heart attack when the train left with me on it! But I was not worried - I knew we would all meet up at the train station. However it was quite traumatic for Drew - the GIANT 15 year old.

2. We did a tour of the Chelsea Football (soccer) stadium and went to see a game. The best part - we were in the FRONT row! At one point the ball came flying out of bounds and almost hit me in the face. Luckily Jim caught it!

3. We went to Salisbury to see the Cathedral with the tallest spire in England. When we got there after a 2 hour drive, we were hungry, so we stopped at a pub for some grub. After chowing down (Drew had a turkey sandwich, fries AND nachos), we all headed to the bathroom before the trip down the street to the Cathedral. But one of us did not quite make it! My mom missed a step, fell and hit her head on the corner of a wall. It was a bloody mess because she cut two arteries. (We have great pics!) While my dad and her took an ambulance to the hospital, we decided to see the Cathedral....after all, it takes forever to get seen at the hospital. The ambulance trip and treatment were all FREE - health care in the UK is free to everyone. Nice system. She had to wear a scarf around her head for a couple days because she could not wash her hair and it was a mess!

4. We are currently staying in a 16th century renovated barn - and although that sounds cool....it is WAY cooler than even that! This place is the most beautiful and interesting place I have ever stayed. I can't wait to post pics.

5. They must be used to seeing short people here because we have had a bunch of comments about the tall members of the family. When we first got here we were at Heathrow Airport buying underground tickets and the attendent looked at Drew and said "we don't grow 15 year olds like that here in England!" And then when we were renting a car, we each walked in separately - me, then Grace, then Drew, then Jim... the lady helping us finally looks at us and says, "wow, that's a tall family".

Hank's new home

Hank has made the transition from the kitchen to the backyard. We were waiting for weather to warm. We fed him 40 crickets and then put his habitat outside with him so he had "transitional housing". He seems happy!

Loving the spring weather

Soccer pics

I thought these were some great pics showing how aggressively Gracie plays soccer. Colliding with the goalie. This shows the size difference of Gracie and other players.

A little collision while playing goalie. That is Coach Cindy carrrying Gracie off the field. Well...its probably Coach Cindy getting a sore back trying to haul Gracie off the field!

This pic reminds me of the way Drew looks while playing goalie!

Steamroller

This is what happens with Gracie meets another lesser soccer player! Grace is left standing and the other player is left on the ground. This is from the tourney last weekend and what really happened is Gracie and the other gal's legs got tangled and since Gracie's are so long, they were more stable and she was left standing!

Time for a road trip?

I just got contacted by a recruiter for a job in Afghanistan!!!

I love a good adventure but....this one is NOT for me!

Soccer Weekend

We are away for the weekend for a soccer tourney. Grace's team played two games today - lost one (3 to 0) and tied one (0 to 0). Then most of the team went to Red Robin for burgers and then swimming at the hotel!

It's been really fun hanging out with the team.

I took some time this afternoon and went to got a pedicure which was FABULOUS! I now have purple toenails!

headache

I have suffered from migraines since I was about 16. I had one two nites ago that was brutal. Drew went to check on me in bed at about 8:15 pm and thought I was dead! Actually that is about how I felt. Two days later and my brain still hurts.

Snooze

I have insomnia....my dog does not! I am on the computer working because I can not sleep and she is snoring!

Field Trip

I went on a field trip with Grace yesterday to learn about the watershed. While I was nosing around at the lake we were at, I found this super cool goose nest!