November 2017

In early November we took a trip to Scotland while the kids were still on school break. We spent a few nights in Edinburgh then a couple days in Inverness. We loved Scotland and hope to get back there again sometime.

We had a full day at Edinburgh Castle and learned lots about the castle. The tiny chapel there, called St Margaret's Chapel, is the oldest surviving building at the castle, built around 1130. We even saw the crown jewels of Scotland.

Windy day!

The castle at night

The kids have a way of finding toy stores no matter where we go! We stumbled upon this floor of toys in a department store.

One day we went to see the Royal Yacht Britannia, a yacht that was once used to transport the royal family. It was fun to see the queen's quarters and those of her family. She was quite practical and didn't want the rooms to be too lavish, a testament to her character.

A Rainbow!

Following along with the audio guide

We stayed in an apartment in Edinburgh that worked out perfectly - thank you Expedia! Outside the back window Carson and John admired the cars that belonged to our neighbors.

On to Inverness! We took a train a few hours north to Inverness and what a gorgeous day for a train ride. We were treated to amazing views of Scottish countryside the whole way.

First impressions of Inverness - COLD, much smaller then Edinburgh, has almost a small-town feel to it, people very friendly.

We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast in Inverness and this is their cat, Milo. We snuck Milo into our room for a few minutes to get our 'cat fix'. The kids sure miss having a cat.

This is when we know Rachel is unpacked, her pillow looks like this. The Welsh Corgi was purchased at the Royal Britannia, sold in the gift shop since it is the favorite breed of Queen Elizabeth (she has owned more than 30 corgis as queen).

Look what Grandma found! A branch of her church in the middle of no where.

We rented a car for the day in Inverness to have a look around. We drove out to Loch Ness where there are still many tourist traps attempting to give you the 'real' story of the Loch Ness monster. Seems obligatory after coming all this way, so we stopped for an hour to hear about Nessie then carried on to Urquhart Castle, seen below. This beautiful remains of a castle was fun to explore and offered great views of Loch Ness.

Sheep in the road, we had to ask them to move over so we could get by.

Back at home near London, we spent an afternoon in Windsor with Grandma. Rachel's drama club had their production in Windsor and while she was doing her last dress rehearsal, the rest of us paid a visit to Windsor Castle just down the street. We learned that when the flag is flying over the castle (as seen in the picture below) it indicates that the queen is in residence at the castle. She often spends weekends there. BTW, this is the castle where prince Harry will be married in May 2018!

Here is Carson during a rugby game at school, wearing his school rugby uniform. He is learning to tackle better. Rugby is just ok for him, he prefers football (called soccer in the US).

October 2017

We continued our visit with Dave and Lisa in October. We had a wonderful day at the Tower of London, a great way to learn some of England's history. There are many great photo ops of the Tower Bridge from the grounds of the Tower of London.

We took Dave and Lisa on our 'sheep walk', one of our favorite foot-paths near our house. This path gives you a real sense of English countryside - grassy fields separated by hedgerows with occasional sheep and horses. Here the kids are wearing their 'wellies', short for Wellington boots, a necessity with the perpetual mud in England.

In mid-October Carsons's class at school had a field trip to the National Gallery art museum in London. Here is Carson with his classmates working on their assignment at the gallery.

Rachel turned 12 years old this month! Hard to believe she is almost a teenager. For her party this year we went to a pottery-painting studio with a group of her friends and they each got to paint an animal. After the painting we walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch and cake. Her party theme was emoji's!

Since the party with her friends was a week before her birthday, Rachel waited until her actual birthday to open presents from the family. Two birthdays ??

Towards the end of October Grandma arrived for a visit! We were hoping to see her sooner but she finally got her passport renewed and was well-overdue for a visit. She brought her friend Chris with her for part of her visit and we had a great time. One night 'the girls' went into London to see Phantom of the Opera, what an amazing show!

The kids were on a school break during most of Grandma's visit so we all went into Kensington Palace one day.

The kids liked the old game tables in the palace - no video games here.

Gorgeous gardens surrounding Kensington Palace

No visit to England would be complete without afternoon tea! We found a great place right next to the palace that served a traditional tea, complete with the tiered trays of sandwiches and cakes. The kids loved the hot chocolate. They even had a gluten-free option for me!

The big debate here is which goes first - the jam or the cream? We decided cream first, then jam. Yummmm...

During Carson's school break he and some friends took part in a den-building activity in a nearby park. Almost like building your own house in the woods, the boys loved it.

Halloween is celebrated quite mildly in the UK compared to the US. Our favorite activity at Halloween is trunk-or-treat with the American Women's club. This year the kids each brought a friend and here they are ready to go collect candy! For Carson's friend, this was his first time ever trick-or-treating - he was amazed at all the candy.

September 2017

September was back to school month for us and what a difference from last year. Last year we had just moved in and the kids were starting new schools with everything unfamiliar. This year they went back to the same schools, familiar places and familiar faces!

I love the school photos this year so I'm breaking tradition and posting them on the family blog!

In early September we drove to Oxford for the day, about an hour away. We let the kids pick where we ate lunch - here they are with their cheeseburgers and milkshakes at Byron's.

We happen to love Magpies (the bird). Like us, they live in both Utah and in England.

We stopped in for a quick tour at one of the colleges to learn a little about Oxford. We didn't realize that the University of Oxford is actually made up of many small colleges - 38 total. So even though it is a large university it has a small college feel to it.

Rachel's favorite pen here is the Lamy, a German fountain pen that she uses at school. Here she is standing beside a life-sized Lamy at a stationery store in Oxford.

A popular activity in Oxford is 'punting'. This refers to boating - a punt is a long, flat boat that is very stable in the water. The punter stands at one end of the boat on a small platform and uses a very long oar to propel the boat through the water (similar to a gondola). This is a narrow section of the Thames so many punters get stuck in frustration, especially when there are lots of boats on the water. We decided to rent a pedalo instead and pedal our way down the river.

September brought with it some visitors! We were very excited to have Dave & Lisa spend a few weeks with us and enjoy the UK. Here they are in Trafalgar Square the day we saw the National Gallery.

A day out at Hughendon Manor, a nearby National Trust site. In the 19th century it was the country house of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. The gardens and grounds were as impressive as the house and we were lucky to have a beautiful sunny day.

Rachel wanted to create her own slime so we found a recipe online, got the ingredients, and 'gave it a go'. The kids had a great time and the result did bear some resemblance to slime. It was a few days before the kitchen stopped smelling of shaving cream.