Summer days at home

Between all of our travels, we had a nice summer in England as well! Summer is by far the best time of year here -- nice temperatures with highs in the low 70s most days and much less rain. We miss air conditioning occasionally (especially when Paul's allergies are aggravated by the pollen floating in our open windows) but there were only a couple of hot days this year. We found some fun ways to entertain ourselves at the house and locally -- I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Forgive the randomness and enjoy the cuteness :)

Paul worked from home this summer, so we had occasional visits to his "office" upstairs. We think he mostly enjoyed them.

"Helping" Daddy organize baseball cards

Learning how to use a pencil "sharper"

Playing in the sprinkler was less fun that it sounded, Mom

I prefer to read on the blanket, thanks

Playing in the "paddling pool" at our friends' house was fun though!

Playing with my new stamp kit

Watching muffins rise, still wearing baking hat & apron of course

First day of preschool!

Happy Fourth of July! She wore this outfit to school and was suspiciously wearing new clothes later on (the teachers said she got wet, but we wonder if they are still sore over 1776).

Face painting at the Fourth of July fair on base

Eating the icing ("sugar crack") off the Happy Birthday America cake

Mom, why are you watching this boring video?? (Continuing education)

"Strolling" Baby early one morning

Hard at work, making matching visors for Charlotte and Daddy to wear while watching space launches on YouTube

Making a "C" shaped suncatcher for the window

Being silly in Mommy's shoes at the bowling alley

Visiting the friendly goats at a local farm

Rolling out pizza dough... she LOVES to make homemade pizza with us

Playing with shaving cream in the bathtub

Reading "Are You My Mother?" to her baby doll

Running errands with Mama

Feeding leaves to the goats

Watching the "digger trucks" in our neighbors' backyard (they are making improvements on their garden)

Memorial Day - Cambridge American Cemetery

On Memorial Day, we visited the Cambridge American Cemetery for the first time. We drive past it frequently -- every time we go to Cambridge -- but hadn't yet been in. We knew there was a ceremony planned, so arrived about an hour early to park and walk the grounds. There is a small museum there to commemorate the Americans who gave their lives in the war effort during WWII, mostly in the air-based Battle of the Atlantic. There are only a few American cemeteries for servicemen killed in action overseas -- we hope to go to Normandy before we leave to see another. There are nearly 4000 servicemen buried here in Cambridge, and over 5000 other commemorated on a memorial for those missing in action. A very sobering place.

There were many active duty American servicemen and women participating in the ceremony from the RAF bases in the area. It was a chilly and windy day, but we were glad we had attended the event. Here are some pictures Paul took.

Laying wreaths at the memorial wall for those missing in action

The airmen lined up for the 21 gun salute. I prepped Charlotte so she didn't get upset at the gunfire.

Piper

After the ceremony, we walked up to where the Air Force band had been playing. One of the trumpet players showed Charlotte the sound his mouthpiece made. She was wary.

Symbolic map of where the airplanes flew from the Cambridge area during WWII

Day out in London with the Doerrs

In late May, our friends Dave & Jackie crossed the pond for a European vacation. Between their visits to Paris and Italy, we got to meet up with them for a day of sightseeing in London! Our friend Erin graciously agreed to watch Charlotte for the day, so we could really enjoy ourselves without toddler shenanigans :) Thanks again, Erin -- that was awesome.

We met up with Dave and Jackie near the Tower of London and took a guided Beefeater's Tour of the place. The history is interesting, and quite bloody due to the number of executions and murders that took place there over the years. We saw the famous ravens, the spot where Anne Boleyn was beheaded, and the Crown Jewels. (So you don't take too long ogling the biggest crowns and scepters, they shuttle you past them on moving sidewalks.) There was also an exhibit on medieval torture devices -- yikes.

View of the Tower of London from outside

After finishing the tour, we walked to Tower Bridge and took the lifts to the top. I hadn't realized you can walk across the support area between the two towers -- and they have recently added glass floors to the experience. Also -- selfie mirrors on the ceiling for taking the best possible glass floor related shots... hadn't seen those before.

After we descended from the bridge, we went to eat lunch at a nearby pub. It was definitely nice to eat at a restaurant without Charlotte, love her though we do. From there we walked over to St. Paul's Cathedral, thinking it would be free to enter with our London passes -- alas, it was not, so we decided not to pay the entry fee and moved on to the Tate Modern art museum, across the Millenium Bridge. Paul and I are not huge fans of modern art, but we wandered through a few galleries before deciding to move on.

From there, we caught a cab to the Churchill War Rooms and ended up being one of the last groups allowed to enter. The woman working the front door must have been DONE. with her day, because she kept trying to warn everyone getting in the queue that we likely wouldn't get in because it was closing time. (It was still 10 minutes to close.) We were glad we decided to stick it out, because we got in, no problem. I had been in 2003, and it was just as good as I remembered - and now there is a large exhibit about Churchill himself. The War Rooms is the set of underground bunkers where the major planning and strategizing of Britain's efforts in WWII were conducted. They have left much of the complex in the way it was abandoned after the end of the war -- maps still on the walls with pushpins marking the locations of ships, notes still on desks, etc. It's fascinating.

From there, we walked through Picadilly Circus to Trafalgar Square and then to SoHo, where we found dinner. Many of the bars and restaurants were packed with Friday afternoon happy-hour participants, but we found a table downstairs at a burger restaurant. After dinner, we parted ways -- it was a great day and so much fun to see friends in our current home country!

Southern Wales: Brecon Beacons (May 2016)

For the last few days of the Kendricks' visit, we drove my CR-V over to southern Wales and stayed in and around Brecon Beacons National Park. I'd visited the area back in 2003 when I studied abroad, but hadn't gotten this deep into the park as we were limited to train travel. We stayed in Talybont-on-Usk, a small town with a couple of pubs. Our AirBnB was located up a steep one-lane road on the side of a mountain. The views from the place were absolutely gorgeous; it was a little unusual as it was built from an old barn and the beds were tucked into little archways without doors. It was fine for our group, except that it was hard for Charlotte to get to sleep for naps and at bedtime. (For the record, I think we were both still a bit jetlagged from our trip to the States as well.) So that was a little tough, but we obviously survived. And next time we'll double-check that the bedrooms have doors prior to booking ;)

We ate dinner at one pub the first night, then headed back to the apartment to rest. The hosts of the AirBnb provided all the fixing to make a true English (Welsh?) breakfast, so we ate well both days by preparing eggs, sausages, toast, yogurt, etc. The first morning, we continued up the steep road past our apartment (by car) -- a few miles up, the road provided some beautiful lookouts. There were lots of sheep wandering the roads and fields, and the spot we pulled over was no different. I pointed out some sheep poop to Charlotte and asked her to try not to step in any. She became super-sleuth Charlotte, and spent the entire stop obsessing over all the sheep poop around. (Admittedly there was a LOT of sheep poop!) You can see her looking out for it in the pictures. As we got back in the car, I noticed that I had stepped in some, and she was mildly horrified and told me I was a "silly Mommy!"

Hmm... that looks like sheep poop

Note the sheep in the background

"Look mama, sheep poop"

After that, we drove around the lake pictured above to see some more gorgeous scenery. The water and sky were so pretty, and there were some enormous rhododendron bushes going crazy with spring temperatures! We then drove a bit further and parked to do the Blaen y Glyn trail. It was slow going with the toddler, but I hung back with Charlotte and we eventually caught up with Paul, Tim, and Jess at one of the waterfall viewing points. We traded off kid care after that, and Paul ended up carrying her much of the way down on his shoulders to speed things along :) 

Trees along Blaen y Glyn trail

Waterfall at the end of Blaen y Glyn trail

When we got back to the apartment, our host offered to let us feed the animals with some vegetable ("veg") peelings she gave us. Charlotte was appropriately cautious and wasn't in love with the big pigs, but enjoyed feeding the nanny goats. She also really liked the chickens who came over to investigate, especially the one "little chicken" she kept cooing at in a high pitched voice. 

While Charlotte napped and Paul did a little work from the apartment, Tim, Jess & I headed over to see some of the taller peaks in the area and ended up seeing Pen y Fan from a distance (I believe). We took a nice quiet walk through some fields to get some nice shots and watch the sheep wandering around us! 

That night we had clear skies and took advantage of the fact that we were staying in one of the certified "dark" areas of the world -- far enough from big city lights that sky viewing is ideal. Because of the time of year, it never truly reached "night" -- I think a version of twilight is as good as it gets -- but we did see some amazing stars. Paul and Tim saw something streak through the sky after I went to bed as well. UFO or meteorite, we may never know!

The next morning, we packed up and headed out. We stopped at Raglan Castle on our way out of Wales (on a whim, but it was definitely worth it!). It was a beautiful castle ruin, with lots of interesting preserved parts that made it easier to imagine what life would have been like in the castle... for example, a framed out window in the great eating hall, and staircases down to the kitchens that still had full oven spaces with chimneys up to the sky intact. We got some great views from the tops of the towers as well!

Window frames in the eating hall

A xylophone of sorts that Charlotte enjoyed jamming to

Bridge over the moat

Tim & Jess!

Our drive back from Wales took longer than expected -- there was bad traffic around Birmingham, so we decided to take a more southerly route... that ended up taking awhile too. We felt like the GPS had told us we were about 2:30 away for many hours in a row, but that might have just been our impatience to get out of the car. We continue to love our visits to Wales -- such friendly people and amazing scenery.

PS -- this is my 100th post on the blog! Thanks for following along!