On the Road Again

Last time I'm pretty sure I told that soon I'd have some fun adventures to tell you about, as long as everything worked out. Well! It did. And I do....have adventures to tell you about, that is. Since our time here is counting down, we've been talking about doing one more big trip while we can. And with Brian's parents here visiting us it was the perfect time. So last weekend we loaded up the car and went back to Scotland. (Eeek!!) Pretty mountains, fluffy cows, castles, and potato scones! 

I am happy to report that this time around, I did not come home with any injuries. My booty remained unbroken this trip and I'm extremely happy about that. Although we did visit with the offending boulder in Glencoe and I tried to make peace it, in the rain. ((You know, forgiveness and all that for breaking my ass.))

This is the boulder. And those smaller rocks in front of it are actually what broke my ass. The boulder and I did not agree on me using it to take pictures and I may or may not have fallen and landed on those smaller rocks. And that is the story of how my ass was fractured in Glencoe, Scotland.

Probably my favorite part of the trip was driving through the highlands towards Isle of Skye. Let me tell you - it was absolutely breathtaking!! That is scenery that you will not be able to find just anywhere. But I'm telling you now....find a way to go up there and see it. I could take a million pictures of it....you could Google even more...none of it will be the same as standing there. Pictures just don't do these mountains justice in any way.

  

**Sorry for the rain spots in this one. I had to take it while we were driving, in the rain, because there was nowhere to pull over without risking death. And I needed a picture of it.** 

I wish we would have had time to visit the list of things we want to see on Isle of Skye but there just wasn't time. But I was sufficiently pleased with just staring at these mountains for hours while we drove. 

Aside from staring at these gorgeous mountains, we also visited castles...lots of castles. And I was reminded, yet again, that those Scots like to make you work for anything you're going to enjoy. The walk to Stirling Castle wasn't as bad as Edinburgh Castle but I was still cursing someone for the uphill climb on slippery pavement. 

Half-way up and I'm just glad it's not cobblestone anymore. 

It was raining, of course, and very slippery.

Inside the gardens of Stirling Castle

The Palace of Holyrood House - where the Queen stays when she's in Scotland.

Unfortunately, she was not in that day. So sad. I know she would have enjoyed visiting with us

The ruins of Urquhart Castle over Loch Ness

Eilean Donan Castle over Loch Tummell

And of course, what vacation would be complete without wierd stuff? Well, I don't know about your vacations but ours are full of the weird. And we embrace it!

We found Kierstin in our suitcase!! Lol

We found a street performer dressed as an Alien (as in the Ridley Scott movie). He was awesome!! And funny enough...2 blocks over, there was one dressed as a Predator! ((Fabulous))

Standing in the middle of the smallest 2 lane road I've ever seen. Driving was interesting, passing cars was even better. It had great views, but it is an experience I'd like to not repeat.

We like to stalk the Highland cattle. ((It's so fluffy!!))

I have no explanation for this other than the fact that they're fluffy/furry cows. And we don't have them in America. But it could be that we're a little weird. Whichever explanation suits you.

So that is our trip in a nutshell. We actually saw a lot more stuff but I would be sitting here forever and a day trying to tell you the stories and upload all of the pictures. 

For being our last big trip, I'm glad we chose to go to Scotland. There are still about a dozen places we'd like to visit but unless we stay here for another 10 years, and some bazillionaire decides to give us all their money, it's just not going to happen. ((One day we'll make it to all of those places, but they will have to wait.)) 

We're still counting down the last of the kids' summer break, though I get to go back to school on Monday. (yay??) Are you jealous? You shouldn't be. Lol I do hope you are having a wonderful summer! Much love sweets!

Summer Time Adventures

It has been such an amazing week in our house. ((And I hope yours has been the same.)) We've been on the go pretty much non-stop but we have loved every single second of it. It was one of those weeks that come around every so often, where everything just lines up perfectly. Brian's family is visiting us right now so we have been trying to take them around as much as possible to show them everything we can. 

There's been a lot of that whole sightseeing where we live, but we are totally cool with that. We live in a beautiful place and try to soak up as much of that as we can. Showing it off to others is just icing on the cake of life. Last weekend we took them to do market day and see the Ely Cathedral, which you already know that I absolutely love. 

No matter how many times I see it, I am always amazed by this cathedral

Sidenote: If you've seen Jupiter Ascending, this might look a little familiar to you

This is a Russian cannon captured during the Crimean War...that my kids needed to climb on. They're cute so it's ok, right?

We did some shopping...ate some tacos (eeek!!)...and walked around inside that beautiful church. 

And(!!) last Sunday, Kierstin went with some people from her school to run in the 5k Race for Life in Cambridge which gave us the opportunity to show them Cambridge as well. Double fun!!

We were so proud of her! She wanted to run the 5k for two reasons: a) it's for cancer and she couldn't imagine a better race to be involved in, and b) she wanted to challenge herself to run the entire 5k. 

And she did. She ran it in 31 minutes and didn't have to stop running once. And afterwards we walked through Cambridge to show our family the older city center -- always an amazing thing. Cambridge is a beautiful place! Showing you pictures doesn't really do it justice, but it is one of the places I will really miss once we're gone.

Punting on the River Cam

St. Johns College (part of Cambridge University I think)

Yesterday though was probably the most exciting, yet sad, days of the entire week. We got up, sent the girls off to school and then a little later walked over for a school assembly for the Year 6 children. With handfuls of tissues we watched the Year 6's say goodbye to primary (a.k.a. elementary) school. They sang and talked about everything they will remember, and there was even a slideshow that showed each of the kids growing up from babies til now. ((This mama did not have dry eyes once.))

She is officially in middle school. (Sad, sad mama!)

((Makenzie has also moved up to Year 5, though apparently she's too cool for pictures. Lol)) 

I think the hardest part for both of them is that it's finally hitting them that our time here is counting down. They have both made so many friends here and they are not ready to leave. Knowing that we will in fact leave, and will be so far away from their friends when we do, has made the end of this school year much harder than others.

Even with all the tears...it has been a great week! And if all goes as planned I will have some super awesome adventures to tell you about soon. ((Keep your fingers crossed for us!)) 

Until then...much love!

St. James Church, Stretham

Celebratory Fun!

Happy post 4th of July!

Was yours amazing? I really hope so! Whether you chose to party it up or opted for the more quiet route, I hope you had an awesome day.

Thankfully ours was not nearly as eventful as last year. No boiling hot water coming out of the shower. No butterflies plotting the demise of my sweet son, which is always nice. I do enjoy the catastrophe-free holidays around here.

It's always a little weird to celebrate American holidays when you're in another country. But celebrate we do! We had some amazing friends over. There was tons of food! And we shot off fireworks...of course. Because what self-respecting American, living in another country, wouldn't drive everyone crazy with that. It is our nation's (& my daughter's) birthday after all!

Celebrating Miss M's birthday was wonderful. Brian and I were lucky enough to find her a minion cake that she was ecstatic about! And her presents? Well, yet again, I wish I had video'd her opening the last one. That was really fun to watch. (Some day I'll remember to do that....take video instead of just pictures.) 

Can you believe she's 9?! I can't!! It seems like just yesterday she was a teensy tiny baby.

Where did the time go?? And can I get it back??

That face was priceless! But she was uber excited to get her new tablet! 

Which, by the way, is fair warning for anyone she knows. She is now learning to email...

As always, she will tell you that this was her best birthday ever. But like at Christmas, she and brother and sister say this every year. So really, I'm not sure you should believe her. Lol

Our 4th of July (aka America's birthday) celebrations were just as awesome. First off, I should go ahead and tell you that Brian and I bought our fireworks a few days ago with absolutely zero idea about what to get aside from sparklers. They have different names here so we were clueless. We ended up picking out a few different things that had really fun names like Night Bugs and Mutant Space Cherries. ((I don't know who could resist anything with a name like mutant space cherries!))

Thanks to that weird daylight thing we the kids had to wait forever to do fireworks because the sun takes forever to go down enough to see them. But once it did we were outside in a heartbeat! And it was awesome!! Ok, really, the night bugs were not so awesome. They would be awesome at a fireworks show, but not in your driveway. In your driveway they're just really really loud! (How any of us can still hear is a miracle.) And there are no pretty lights to go with it. Just loud noise. (In hindsight, that one was not a great choice.)

Writing with sparklers is so much fun!

I don't remember what these were called...but they were really pretty!

The Mutant Space Cherries!!

I don't think we were supposed to set those off at our house...in the driveway.

But we did. And it was so worth it!

Our final 4th of July here in the UK and it was done right. I can't wait to celebrate back home next year!!

And dear crabby neighbor guy...I hope your cats have calmed down. You might want to invest in some kitty xanax around Guy Fawkes Day. 

Lesson Learned

Do you have moments when you say something that you wish you could take back?  Like, you're standing in your bedroom, staring at the ceiling thinking "ok, I was kidding. Can't we just pretend that never happened??" Or am I the only one that does that? I had that moment today in a big way. Like huge! 

Last week I was talking a lot about how it just doesn't feel like summer to me. No matter what I did, I never had that *summer* feeling. ((And I still think it's because the girls are in school, but that's really neither here nor there now.)) Yeah, me & my not-feeling-the summer-love should have kept my mouth shut. 

I knew the weatherman was predicting a really warm week this week. But I also knew that the weatherman is wrong a lot. He likes to throw out the "30% chance of rain" every day just in case. That's his way of saying that he has no idea if it's going to rain or not. Because anything other than 30% is going to be wrong. If he says no chance of rain...it's going to pour. If he says 80%...it'll be a beautiful day. So when he predicted 90 degree temperatures I just rolled my eyes. 

Mother Nature did not take kindly to any of this. My eye rolling, or my lack of love for the summer.

See. She sat there and thought to herself that maybe I needed to be reminded of what summer really feels like. Like really. What I was missing out on in other places so that I'll be a little more grateful about what we have here. And today was hot. Oh for the love of all that is good in the world -- it was hot. 94 degrees of hot. (And I will remind you that we don't have central air conditioning.) 

Interestingly, I keep seeing these articles online about how to cool down your house when you want to avoid using the air conditioner. Well. I'll go ahead & let you know that whoever is writing these has never suffered through 90+ degrees with no air conditioner. So if you ever come across one...they're liars. All of them. Closing your curtains will not lower the temperature 20 degrees...unless the sun went down at the same time. Bowls of ice next to your fan might cool off the air it's blowing on you....IF you have magic ice  that stays frozen when your house is almost 100 degrees. (Same goes for the cold cloth on your neck.) You know what keeps you cool when you don't have or use air conditioning and it's 90-something degrees outside? Nothing. Because 90-something degrees is hot. 

I'm digressing. Lol 

This new wave of heat had me standing in my bedroom...one of the hottest rooms in the house for some weird reason...and staring up at the ceiling going 'ok. I'm sorry. I take it back. Summer is wonderful and I love it just the way it was.' 

Lesson learned. Don't roll your eyes at Mother Nature, or the weatherman. 

Oh, Summer...You Sneaky Thing!

So next week it will officially be July. In fact, next Thursday will be the *official* halfway mark in the year. (Which kind of freaks me out if we're being honest.) But I'm going to go ahead and tell you that it doesn't really feel like summer to me. It just doesn't. And I know it should. Like really - it should. That whole crazy sunlight thing I told you about way back here, well it's here again. The sun is up in the wee hours of the morning. So are the birds. And I can't tell you how many times I've woken up at 4:30 in a complete panic because I thought I slept through my alarm clock. And of course, the sun is still up when I crawl into bed at night too. (So weird)

After 2 1/2 years of this...I still don't know how the Brits ever get used to this. I don't know if I'm coming, or going, or not doing anything. My internal clock is very confused. 

But it still doesn't feel like summer. Maybe it's because I only have one kid at home with me instead of three. I'm used to having all of them at home, running around and being crazy. I'm used to noise - lots and lots of noise. Surprisingly though, Hayden is actually quiet (most of the time) when it's just him. He just does his own thing and only comes to me when he needs something. Maybe that's why it doesn't feel like summer. It just kind of feels like some kind of weird school break. Like a really long week or something. Lol

Hayden and I are having a good time though. I enjoy getting to spend so much one-on-one time with him. And the bonus is that a quiet house & no distractions means we can work on school stuff for him really easily. Every morning after the girls leave for school he pesters me nonstop about his reading program until we sit down and do it. 

He loves doing this. We usually only work for about 30 minutes a day, but those 30 minutes are like gold for him. He's so dedicated to it. And I love watching him! 

Ok, not always. There are days I'd really rather scrub my my entire house with a toothbrush than listen to that chipper computer voice say "find the word can, say the word can, click the word can..." one...more...time. It's like nails on a chalkboard to me. But! I march on because I do love that he's reading. And I love how excited he is about reading. That makes it worth it. 

Next week we're going to start working on his writing which he absolutely hates. But I'm kind of thinking that if he'll do it, I'll reward him with the reading. (I wonder how long that will last.)

And perhaps by next week, it will start to feel like summer. The weatherman is predicting an oh-so-lovely 90-something degree week for us. Maybe the heat will make it feel like summer. Well, either way...wherever you are, I hope you are not feeling as confused about summer as I am.

It's the Every Day Stuff

It's kind of hard to believe that I'm just now getting on here for the first time since our vacation two months ago.  (Shame on me!) I'd love to sit here and tell you that we've just been soooo busy doing these amazing things that I couldn't possibly find the time to blog....but I can't say that. We have been busy, but I'm not sure if anything really counts as super amazing. And truth be told I probably could have jumped on here to tell you about it but I just didn't think that you wanted to hear about me doing the dishes...or the laundry. 

It's really just been a lot of every day stuff going on for us. A lot of cleaning and organizing! With us having about 8ish months left here, we're starting "the countdown" on what needs to get done before we leave. What do we need to sell (because it runs on 200v instead of 110)...what are we just going to get rid of...that sort of thing. It's a process that can get very overwhelming if we put it off, so I like to start it really early & take things slowly so we're not rushing around at the last minute.

We're also already getting the kids ready for next school year...which I'll go ahead and tell you feels crazy. And I'm totally not ready for. In September we will officially have TWO(!!) middle schoolers in this house. (What?!) Ohhh...I'm not ready for that at all. Where did the time go? Weren't they babies just yesterday?? 

So, yeah, we've had a lot going on here. I will say that it hasn't been all work and no fun for us. We do like to take some time on the weekends to occasionally to take a break from everything and relax. A few weekends ago, we took the kids to the International Market near us which was pretty cool.

It was like Medieval Times sword fighting

Wild Boar for sale...Interesting. We didn't buy any though.

We did buy some delicious Italian sourdough bread and it was amazing.

They were roasting a whole pig out there. The kids even got some sandwiches.

Brian and I had street tacooooosss. Lol

The market was awesome. It was our first time back in a very long time & I'm glad we went during the International Market. We also took the kids bowling recently with some friends. And I'm very sad to say that the kids beat all of us. There was no hope for us at all. 

With summer starting for Hayden and I tomorrow, hopefully we'll have some fun adventures to tell you about. Ones that don't involve dishes or laundry. Until then...much love!

More Pictures from our European Vacation

The good, the bad, the weird...

We were not fans of beef carpaccio (a.k.a. raw beef covered in olive oil)

Our search for food on the streets of Paris

Seeing the White Cliffs of Dover from the English Channel ferry

Excited about the Eiffel Tower? Or just happy to be off the runaway tour bus?

The Köln Cathedral has the best door knocker!

Contemplating the meaning of life? Or where we should go eat?

In commeration of our hunt for Disney Princesses in Germany...

Do you see the resemblance?

Can you repeat that? I don't think I can hear you...

Goodbye isn't forever

Around the World in 80 Days...

....Or, really it was 4 countries in 6 days. And 2 of them were just for a few hours. But it kind of felt like we went around the world. And I'm still amazed that we can drive through that many countries in less time than you can drive across the state of Texas. ((Crazy, right?! Or is that only weird to me?))

Last week we finally went on a trip that Brian and I have been talking about for over a year. And I'll go ahead and tell you...it was perfect. The entire week -- in all it's craziness, wonderfulness, and touristy fun -- was absolutely perfect. And I am so glad we waited and didn't rush into this trip because everything came together so well that I wouldn't trade a single moment of it. Ever. In fact, I would go back and do it all over again if I could. It was amazing!! 

So...Paris. Oh, Paris is a fascinating place. The street vendors, the street performers, the food, the driving, the buildings, the sightseeing. Everything. It's all just fascinating!

And somewhere in Paris, in case you decide visit, you'll find the craziest bus driver ever. Like seriously. We opted to do this hop-on/hop-off bus tour in Paris and one of our drivers was just insane. When he wasn't pulling the bus over to yell "Pickpocket! Pickpocket! Gypsies!"at random people or stopping in the middle of traffic to have conversations with drivers through his window...he was pulling the bus over to try to pick up hookers. But sadly, he didn't want to stop to let the tourists off to see all the awesome French stuff...which is the whole point of the bus. ((We were pretty sure we had been taken hostage by a deranged Frenchman who just wanted to drive us in circles around Paris and someone might need to call Liam Neeson to negotiate our rescue.)) 

But we did get to see the sights....once the bus driver set us free.

The Arc de Triomphe

My sweet babies (finally) at the Eiffel Tower

Notre Dame

The Louvre

((which we didn't get to go into because it was closed on the only day we were in Paris...sad!!))

We did see a lot more. A way lot! Those are just the big highlights. We also saw the Place de la Concorde, the Academie Nationale de Musique, the Grand Palais, the Champs de Mars, the Ecole Militaire, a lot of the Seine River, a lot of random but very beautiful buildings, and a lot of the Paris Metro trains. 

We had a lot of fun in Paris. 

Once our time in Paris was done, we hopped in the car and drove into Germany(!!!). Eeek! Germany is an amazing place. It's gorgeous, the food is amazing...and my favorite part of Germany...we got to see old friends. (In case you can't tell, Germany was my favorite part.)

But seriously, look at this...

Isn't that gorgeous?!

One of the biggest reason for our days in Germany was allowing me to visit a friend I haven't seen in entirely too long! She and her husband are 2 of the the most amazing people you'd ever be lucky enough to meet. Our time with them was unbelievably wonderful, but far too short. (That's the only downside to our trip...not enough time with them.)

Having them as our wonderful German tour guides was extra awesome because they knew all the great stuff to show us. ((Plus, they could translate everything when we out places. Bonus!! lol) But aside from all the great food they introduced us to (because it was super yummy!...if you've never had German breakfast, you're missing out!)...Aside from that, they took us around to see some really amazing places. 

The Köln Cathedral....jaw-dropping, breathtakingly gorgeous!!

The Imhoff Chocolate Museum

The kids got to learn about the history of chocolate & how it's made

The Praetorium...Roman Ruins in Germany that weren't discovered until 

the 20th century. Super fabulous!!

The Palace of Benrath

Not only is it beautiful(!!) we found Disney Princess here. Fun! Teresa and I took the kids on a Princess Hunt to get pictures of the kids with as many of them as we could. Awesome!!

The Neanderthal Museum

Hint: That is not a real person she's standing with. It's a statue. It took us a while to figure that out.

The Rhine Tower...which btw...is really high up off the ground. 

Sometimes pictures can be deceiving, but this one is not. That tower is really high!!

They also showed us that the Love Locks aren't just in France anymore.

On the Left: Love Locks Bridge on the Seine River in Paris

On the Right: Love Locks Bridge on the Rhine River in Dusseldorf, Germany

Köln (or Cologne) and Dusseldorf are beautiful cities, and if you're ever in Germany you should definitely visit them. Again, there are a lot more pictures...so many more! (Seriously...we had over 900 pictures from our trip.) And I do wish we could show you everything because those cities are phenomenal places. 

I know I said it before, but I really am glad we waited to do this trip the way we wanted. I'm glad we were able to plan it out perfectly so that everything fell into place exactly as it should. ((And later on...you can ask me about staying in a hostel...because that happened to.))

And you're probably wondering about the other 2 countries. I'm not actually sure if they count or not, but we did drive through the Netherlands and Belgium. And we ate pastries in Belgium. (Well, we ate pastries everywhere actually. European pastries are delicious!) But we did see those countries, so I think they count. Lol

So yes. All in all, I'd say it was the most perfect vacation ever. (Hostels included.) And if I could go back and do it all over again, I would. In a heartbeat.