Sans stabilizers

Stabilizers or training wheels... whatever you call 'em at your house (we use both words), Mary is riding her bike without them now! She is so happy about it too. What a cutie.

And the stabilizers have been put to good use once again on the next bike rider in the family. He doesn't seem to mind that they don't match the bike.

Sulgrave Manor

Sulgrave Manor is the home of George Washington's ancestors. A book that we bought indicates that Sulgrave Manor is unique in that it belongs equally to both sovereign nations, hence the flag of each country flying in the grounds.
George Washington's great-grandfather left this house and emigrated to Virginia in 1656. Four generations of Washington's lived in this house and it was an intriguing place to visit.

I was interested to see that the family coat of arms above the door is stars and stripes. Origin of the design of the American flag?

It was another beautiful day in England and we had a lot of fun in the gardens. At the start of our tour, the kids were given a clipboard with items for them to spot around the gardens. Here they are searching the apple orchard.

The boys figuring out how to read the sun dial.

Benjamin in the rose garden.

Our kids with the bust of Washington. This was a great opportunity for us to have a little American history lesson.

The children's play area was a favorite. The older kids completed a maze wearing these stilts.

The boys played an intense game of checkers.

And Mary played this type of bowling game.

She loved it!

Another great day out.

Polesden Lacey

I've added a new favorite to my list of favorite places in England. This mansion was built around 1630 and sits on 1,400 acres in the hills of Surrey, southern England. In 1906 Polesden Lacey was bought by a woman who was the sole heiress to an immense brewing fortune. Money was no object as she restored this beautiful house and its property. The house is absolutely incredible with intricately carved woodwork and expensive custom made china. It actually feels like a home inside, rather than a big, cold mansion. I'd love to have a Thanksgiving dinner in the dining room of this house.

The king and queen were missing from this chess set, so we filled them in with pieces of our own.

Even though the inside of the house was spectacular, my favorite by far was the incredible view and the gardens outside the house.

We spent most of our afternoon playing with the kids in the gardens. We didn't even make it to the end of the estate where the adventure playground was.

We had fun running...

rolling down the hills...

being silly...

and pretending to be superheros.

And then we rested and ate Oreos.

And then we watched worms.

And rested again amongst the flowers.

And held hands in the rose gardens.

And watched the clouds in the sky.

And developed strategies about how to tag big brother.

Days like this are perfect. I love exploring beautiful new places with my precious family.

First theatre experience

Last weekend, Todd and I took the boys into London for their first West End Theatre experience. We saw Stomp--it was brilliant and very funny! The actors use brooms, sinks, newspaper, etc... to make music. The boys loved it. There was never a dull moment. I never expected it to be so entertaining and funny. We left there wanting to bang out a rhythm on a rubbish bin.

After the theatre, we took a walk past Trafalgar Square and Big Ben to see it lit up at night. Then, much to the boys excitement, we took a taxi ride to the train station. We treated the boys to a mid-night snack of a Cornish pasty and both boys fell asleep on our laps on the train ride home. That's a great date!

Baby update

I had my first pregnancy doctors appointment last week. The doctor ordered an ultrasound for me. It was so exciting to get a glimpse of this new little person for the first time. He or she is measuring just right and has a strong heartbeat. Since Todd is a twin, I always wonder in the beginning if we'll have two babies, but there is one baby this time too.

So far, the most noticeable difference of my doctors appointments in a different country is getting there. I took a train and a taxi to get to my appointment. On the way home, it was a beautiful day and so I skipped the taxi and walked to the train.

Also, in the States on my first pregnancy appointment they drew my blood. They didn't do that in this country. No complaints here!

St. Paul's Cathedral

Last Mondy was a UK Bank Holiday (no work or school!). We took the kids into Central London to visit St. Paul's Cathedral. It was amazing.

As we approached the steps, I thought of Mary Poppins and wanted to sit down and sing, "Feed the birds, tuppence a bag, tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag..." (BTW, A tuppence or twopence, is the sum of two British pennies). My family probably would've been embarrased, so I just walked up the steps singing it in my head instead :)

Our whole family walked the Cathedral floor and then climed the 257 steps to the whispering dome. It is said that if you whisper against the wall it can be heard on the opposite side of the dome. There were too many people for us to be able to tell for sure, but the boys did a lot of loud whispering to try out the theory.
Then, Todd took the two younger kids back down to the Cathedral floor and I continued to climb with the older boys. We climbed another 119 steps to the stone gallery. The view of London was fantastic. We were fortunate to have a beautiful clear day and we loved walking all the way around the stone gallery looking at London.

From the Stone Gallery, we climbed another 152 steps to the Golden Gallery which runs around the highest point of the outer dome. From there we were able to look down to the Cathedral floor below.

It's hard to tell in this picture, but those little brown spots are chairs. And the spots in them are people. Wow! I didn't realize how high we were until I saw this. 280 feet from ground level.

The boys looking out over London from the Golden Gallery.

After enjoying the view we started our decent down the 528 steps that led us to the top.

What a great day in London. We ended it with dinner at Santucci's--our favorite Italian restaurant. What a fantastic bank holiday. I vote every Monday a holiday.

Edinburgh, Scotland

Todd and I went to Edinburgh, Scotland last weekend. We took a 4 hour train ride from London to Edinburgh. We saw beautiful parts of the English countryside and the last hour of the journey was along the coast. The weather was sunny and the scenery was beautiful.

We spent some time sightseeing on Friday afternoon. Here we are in front of the Scott Monument. It was built in honor of Sir Walter Scott, a Scottish novelist and poet best known for Ivanhoe. The cute girl that took our picture included lots of grass and missed the top of the monument, but you get the idea.

After dinner that evening, we hiked to castle hill for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. A little history as to why this show is called a tattoo... the original meaning of military tattoo is a military drum performance. It dates from the seventeenth century when the British Army was fighting in Belgium and The Netherlands. Drummers from the garrison were sent out into towns at 21:30 hrs each evening to notify soldiers that it was time to return to barracks. The drill was known as doe den tap toe. Tattoo, is an alteration of the Dutch word taptoe.

For the last 60 years, Edinburgh has held a fantastic Military Tattoo with armed forces bands from all over the world. I bought our tickets back in January and they were nearly sold out then.

The outdoor stage is set on castle hill with the castle as a backdrop.

A view of the castle from the audience stands.

A view of Edinburgh at dusk from the stands on castle hill.

A picture of the actual performance. I can't even describe how incredible it was. I am a big fan of bagpipes and so to hear so many of them together was incredible.

Saturday we spent the day sightseeing. We toured the Edinburgh castle which is so full of history. I was so excited to finally put the English/Scottish histories together in my mind. I finally understood why James became king of England following the death of Elizabeth I (Henry VIII's daughter). King James was responsible for our version of the Bible.

We witnessed the One O'Clock gun fire from the castle.

After lunch we went to Holyrood Palace. It is the official residence of the Queen of England when she is in Scotland. It is open to the public when the Royal Family aren't in residence. This palace is at the bottom of the Royal Mile, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle.

Holyrood Abbey was founded in 1128. The remains of it can be seen in this picture. It was destroyed in 1691. Holyrood Palace was built west of the Abbey and shares a wall with what remains of the Abbey.

The gardens at Holyrood Palace.

Some more of our favorite pictures from Edinburgh. It is such a charming and beautiful city.