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!

Cambridge with the Kendricks

While Charlotte and I were back in the States, our good friends Tim & Jessie arrived in England to visit us! Paul took them down to London to enjoy the first days of their visit, and then Charlotte and I did our best to entertain them when we returned from the trip. We went into Cambridge one day, did the quick tour around a few of the colleges, then found a beer festival on one of the greens (maybe Jesus Green, but I'm not positive). We lucked out as it was lunchtime, and entry was free! We enjoyed the food trucks and Tim and I enjoyed a beer each (Jess is pregnant so she had to miss out this time). It was a great day to be out and about! 

We also enjoyed getting some Thai food at our local pub one night, and visiting Wimpole Estate the morning before leaving to visit southern Wales! More details on that trip to come in a later post!

Allie's Graduation Trip (May 2016)

In early May, I was feeling down about the fact that I wasn't going to be attending my sister's graduation from her PhD psychology program. Paul encouraged me to look at flight prices, and it ended up that Charlotte and I were able to get back to the States for a week! We flew into Boston and visited with my parents for a few days in New Hampshire, then travelled with them down to Long Island to spend the weekend with Allie, Matt, and his mom & sister who were in from California for the event. 

Peppa Pig airplane time

I didn't take nearly enough photos to document the trip, but we were so happy to be there! Charlotte had started potty-training just a couple of weeks before, but did a great job on the airplane (although she was a little scared of the loud flush situation) and at my parents' house in general. I am a little hesitant to write too much about the potty-training experience because it's on the internet forever -- sorry future teenager Charlotte -- but it's relevant to describing Allie's graduation day. Charlotte picked up on peeing in the toilet right away (with a few accidents, of course) but we struggled with poop for weeks. She would wait several days, until she just couldn't wait any longer, and then she would do a "potty dance" and I would take her to the toilet. She'd cry and refuse to go, so eventually I would help her up, and then (usually less than 3 minutes later) the whole process would restart. One day she refused to go for almost 10 hours -- most days it took 2-3 hours. That was a lot of trips to the toilet, and I was about to lose my ever-loving mind. I wanted to yell JUST GO (and sometimes I did, not helping the process along, I'm sure). Several weeks later, I figured out a way to prompt her that gave her a sense of more control (oh, I can just make this happen?) vs. feeling like it was something she couldn't prevent -- and the tears went away. However, we were still in the midst of the prolonged poop-isodes when we were in the States for this trip.

On Allie's graduation day, we went to a pre-graduation brunch for all the clinical psychology PhD students. We took a lot of trips to the bathroom (although it seemed like Charlotte just wanted to check out the scene) while we were there. Then we all moved over to the arena for the graduation ceremony. It was a graduation for all the PhD students, so each person was hooded by their advisor individually. Fairly soon after the ceremony started, Charlotte started the potty dance. I had taken her to the bathroom multiple times, with no success, and we were back in our seats when Allie stood up to head toward the stage. Charlotte waved to Allie, then got THE LOOK in her eyes and I knew we had to go to the bathroom right away. She finally did her business while Allie was getting hooded by her advisor. I was super disappointed to miss the big moment. But it's a funny story -- and a firm reminder that parenthood comes with the need to be unselfish at times when it's really hard to be unselfish. After the ceremony, she passed out in her stroller for awhile -- you know, pooping takes it out of you when you're 2.

The view from our seats

The big moment... that I missed! Congratulations Dr. Allie Danzig!

Stroller nap

That night we stayed in Port Jefferson and enjoyed a delicious Italian dinner a short walk away from the hotel. Charlotte did a surprisingly good job sleeping in multiple hotels on this trip in a pack-and-play, despite having the adults in the room with her. The next day we checked into an AirBnb further out on Long Island, which was right on the water and a beautiful place! We had a great time enjoying the porch overlooking the water, and eating delicious meals planned by Allie and Matt.

In the afternoon, we went out to Montauk and enjoyed the beautiful views from the lighthouse. Charlotte loved running up and down the hill with Aunt Allie! The next day we went to a couple of great wineries on the North Fork (if I'm remembering correctly). We had a nice time visiting with some of Allie's co-graduates at both wineries, and Charlotte even got to fly a kite with Granddad! She loved it! 

After we wrapped up our lovely weekend, we drove north again with Mom & Dad. We got to Boston mid-afternoon, and walked around Boston Common. Charlotte loved riding the carousel and finding (finally... took us awhile) the Make Way for Ducklings statues. We finished up the afternoon with a dinner at an Italian place in Boston's North End, then headed back to the car to head to the airport. Charlotte and I had a flight scheduled for around 10 pm, but when I checked my phone I had a message that it had been delayed til 2:15 am!! I laughed crazily for a few minutes at the thought of having to deal with a super tired Charlotte at an airport by myself... but it turned out that she fell asleep in the stroller once we were through security. Then she slept on my lap and on some chairs until boarding. She was surprisingly chipper when we had to board the plane, watched a couple episodes of Peppa, and then was agreeable to go back to sleep. Best case scenario, really!

We were so glad to get to visit with everyone and celebrate Allie's big accomplishment!!

Airport snoozin'

Keukenhof Part Deux: Tulips in Bloom!

When we visited Keukenhof (amazing gardens near Amsterdam) in early April, I was wowed by the "early bulbs" -- so many beautiful hyacinths, daffodils, and crocus to be seen! However, I have to admit I felt a shade of disappointment that there were few tulips blooming except in the greenhouses. Where were the fields of tulips!? Well, we were just a little too early. So when Erin suggested travelling to Amsterdam in May, I jumped at the chance to see the tulips in bloom after all!

Keukenhof was amazing again. I'll just leave you with these photos! It's not to be missed.

There was a small petting zoo with super cute goats!

Girls' Trip to Amsterdam (May 2016)

After we returned from our trip to Holland in April, I was discussing with my friend Erin how I had been a little disappointed that the outdoor tulips and tulip fields had not yet been in full bloom when we visited. She mentioned that she and a couple of other ladies had been discussing taking a trip to Amsterdam and to see the tulips in mid-May, and I would be welcome to join in! We jiggled Paul's work schedule around to allow for him to watch Charlotte while I took the trip, and the plans were in motion.

We flew out of Stansted to Amsterdam early one morning in May -- the other ladies were kind enough to pick me up on the way, so I wouldn't have to backtrack 30 minutes from their arranged meeting spot. (So kind -- I felt guilty for having gotten so much more sleep than they did!) Our flight was easy, and when we arrived into the Amsterdam airport, we grabbed some coffee and found the bus to Keukenhof. I have so many tulip pictures, I'm going to save that part of the trip for another post. It was amazing to go back and see the tulips in full bloom!!

After we finished up a few hours at Keukenhof, we took the bus back to the airport, then found a taxi to our hotel in Amsterdam. Oddly, we were initially approached by people wearing "Official Airport Taxi" clothes, who (it turns out) were not actually the official airport taxi company. Luckily, an employee of the airport interrupted and directed us to the official taxi queue. I still don't know who those guys were, but I'm glad that we 4 single-traveling ladies did not end up getting in those cabs... at best, they probably would have overcharged us.

We stayed at the Conscious Hotel in Vondelpark, which was right on a metro line, making it easy to travel about the city. We went to a wood-fired pizzeria for dinner, which was quite hot inside (bless Europe and its lack of air-conditioning!) but tasty too. After dinner, we headed down to the waterfront and caught an evening boat cruise around the canals. By this point, we were all absolutely exhausted and I was even feeling a bit sick and headachey from fatigue, so I didn't get many pictures. But it was a nice way to see the city, and I would recommend it... just maybe not at the end of such a long day :)

My one photo from the canal tour... oops

The next morning, we woke up and headed across the closest canal in Vondelpark, and ate breakfast at a sweet little local cafe. It was a great view, looking at the canal and watching the bike commuters -- especially when the drawbridge went up to allow a boat through!

Drawbridge up!

Delicious brunch!

View from the cafe

After breakfast, we headed to the Anne Frank house & museum. What a fantastic place to witness and learn about -- an absolute must-do in Amsterdam. We had purchased tickets ahead of time, which I would definitely recommend doing, and we entered almost immediately. The house does not have furniture in it, but there are pictures that show you what each room looked like at the time that Anne and her family lived there in hiding. It was moving to be in the bedroom where Anne Frank herself slept and to see the doodles she had done on the walls. I also was stunned to see the actual diary in one of the rooms, opened to a page where you could see her actual handwriting. It really gave me tingles to see such an everyday object, with a red plaid patterned cover, that has become one of the most famous books in the world.

Views of the canal houses

Rembrandt's house

After finishing the house tour, we went to a Dutch pancake house to eat lunch. They have large open pots of traditional syrup on the table that you can ladle out for yourself! After lunch, we walked across town to see Rembrandt's house, which has now been converted for other purposes. We then started looking for a metro to the Van Gogh museum, but we noticed that the metros were just sitting on the tracks. We asked one of the metro drivers, and he said there was a delay up ahead. As we had a timed entry for the Van Gogh museum, we started booking it toward the museum on foot, and then hopped on a metro once they started moving again! We got to the museum just a few minutes before our entry window closed, which was perfect (although a bit stressful leading up to it!).

Unique bridge of Amsterdam

The museum was lovely! We ended up using the audiotour, which gave several options. I used the "highlights" option, which led you to almost 20 different paintings in the museum with detailed descriptions about the artist's life, influences, and techniques. I learned a ton about the artist, and about how he continued working so hard to become a better artist despite the mental illnesses that he struggled with. Impressively, during the last few months of his life, when he was living in a mental institution, he was painting an average of more than one painting per day... and they were amazing pieces of art. It was so neat to learn about this fascinating man and his work!

After finishing up at the museum, we decided to seek out some food before returning to the hotel to grab our bags. We struggled a bit to find a restaurant, but ended up at an outdoor cafe along the main drag to our hotel. Finally, we took a train to the airport and headed home! It was a super busy two days, but we really enjoyed the trip -- it's always a real treat to be able to travel briefly without Charlotte as a getaway. So thanks to Paul for making it possible :)

Kate & Erin

Kayla & me