Saturday and Sunday in England

Saturday was a day out for the whole family to Harewood House! It was a perfect choice because it wasn't too far away, Liz hadn't seen the inside of the house before, and the kids had already been to the aviary and playground and were anxious to go back.

Liz, Chase, and I started off touring the house. It was the home of Princess Mary, daughter of King George V, who married the 6th Earl of Harewood in 1930. It was built in the late 1700s, and has been so well kept up and renovated. There were many artifacts and paintings, as well as lots of Chippendale furniture, beautiful architecture, and even a fake bookshelf hidden door. It was fun to have a mental backdrop for the fun Regency romances I read sometimes! We had a great time looking around (and I think Keyton and the kids felt lucky they didn't have to look around with us and could play on the playground instead!).

 We had a delicious lunch at the cafe, which was a good warming up period for the kids too. When we went back out, Keyton and Chase got to keep each other extra warm!

 

 Then it was off to the Aviary! The penguins were more active than I ever seen penguins, zipping and zooming around and eating fish. 

 It was a huge aviary, with a large variety of birds. Pretty neat!

 Afterward we spent some time walking around the formal gardens. So pretty! 

  

 

  

 We also went below-stairs, to see the servants area and kitchens. It was fascinating! 

Our last stop was Adventure Playground. And it was a big adventure-- a huge park, lots of different sections to the playground, and cool play structures. Slides, a zipline, swings, climbing areas... it was pretty amazing. No wonder the kids were excited to spend the day there!

 I've never seen anything like this before! It's like a teeter-totter, but rotates, so it went up and down while spinning around. The kids loved it! 

They were a bit light and sometimes had a hard time pushing up with their legs. But when us big kids got on, we didn't have any problems with that! In fact, I think we might have taken a bit more than our fair share of a turn. It reminded me of my Grandpa Ellis. In fact, I'm sure if he would have seen it, he would have built one of his own!

 It was a full, fun day, so we stopped by a grocery store to grab some dinner on the way back. I loved seeing how it was the same and different from stores back home (pretty different, actually). And I loved cruising the cookie/candy aisle for treats to take home, especially my favorite Bounty bars I remembered from Italy and Israel. I also picked up some Cadbury hot chocolate for the kids to go with their new mugs. Liz made sure to get some sticky toffee pudding so I could taste that English specialty too. 

Saturday was my last day. I flew out early Sunday morning. I picked my flights to maximize my time there, but luckily, they were really good times with low traffic, so it was easy for Liz to pick me up. Jarom came with us too, and we got some good rides on the escalator while Liz fed Chase before they headed to church in Harrogate. 

I can't forget to mention how fun all our evenings were too. After the kids went to bed, Keyton, Liz, and I stayed up late to chat and catch up. They introduced me to the Colbert Report, we ate the best treats (sorry kids!), and played the Train Game many times. 

It was a perfect trip! Of course, I missed the kids and Kevin, but I was also able to focus on being a fun aunt and a good guest being there alone (and sleep! oh, the consecutive nights of uninterrupted sleep!). Hopefully I made up for my disruption of their routines with helping out some. I really enjoyed spending time with the kids and getting to know them better. And Liz and I talked for a week straight, so fun! 

I wasn't planning on doing a lot of touring, I just wanted to be able to see and understand more of this huge chunk of the life of people I love. But we did tons of touring too, which was wonderful! And, I feel like I got a culinary tour in too. Liz made sure I got the eat the best of all Harrogate had to offer. Delicious! It was all a good change of pace for me, and I got to see an area of the world I've never been. It couldn't have been more perfect. I was so lucky the stars aligned and I got to go! 

While I was gone....

Kevin's parents went to Brad's mission reunion Friday night, and I flew out Saturday morning. They watched conference together and went on a hike between sessions too. 

Evelyn watching conference.  

 Cutie Lukey

 

  

Violet got help from Dawn and Kevin to make her letter board for the kindergarten letter parade. She has sand, sunflower seeds, a sailboat, star stamps, and other S decorations on her letter board. 

  

 Kevin went to watch her letter parade too!

 

Brad flew out Monday morning, and Dawn watched the kids Monday and Tuesday while Kevin went to work. Dawn flew out Tuesday night. Kissie came during the day to watch the kids on Wednesday and Thursday. And Emily spent Friday here and watched the kids that day. And Kevin had them on the Saturday and the Sunday I came home. Kevin was all out of vacation days from our monster trip to Oregon in August, so I was so lucky to have willing family members and friends to piece together their time (and carpool schedules!) so I could make this trip! The kids had a fun time, but it was pretty long for some of them, as Violet depicted. 

Friday in England

On Friday, Wes skipped preschool and we spent the day in York. We tried to see York Minster first, but it was closed for a bit. Still beautiful on the outside! 

 

We walked through town, seeing all the fun shops and the market. The Shambles, a shopping area that is supposed to be Europe's best preserved medieval street, and York's oldest street. The buildings are so close together and lean to the middle to almost touch, the street is narrow and cobblestone. I found some mugs here for the kids, so I was excited about that too. Next was a stop for Cornish pasties (I believe we went here- yum!), and we headed over to Clifford's Tower.It's all the remains of the old York Castle, built by William the Conqueror. 

The views of the city were so cool from way up there!

 

 I lucked out and got this cool picture of York Minster, bathed in a spot of sunlight, while the rest of the sky was overcast. 

 Wes and Chase were troupers to be dragged around all day touring!

 We headed back ad the Cathedral still wasn't open, so Keyton and I took a walk along the old city wall while Liz shopped with the sleeping boys. 

 When we got back, York Minster was finally open! It is so beautiful, we just wandered around taking it all in. This organ was amazing-- I had to take a picture!

 

The delay in opening times put a bit of crunch on our time, so we hurried back and even with traffic, made it to school pick-up pretty much on time. Lucky, lucky! 

Wednesday and Thursday in England

Wednesday morning we took a quick trip to Knaresborough while Wes was at preschool. Lucky for us, it was market day! It was fun to looks through all the food and goods, walk along the river, and walk through the castle grounds. Such a pretty city! We even got a classic phone booth photo too.

 Liz showed me this fabulous picture taking spot.

 We even saw this interesting lady who brought her pet ravens to the park and was dressed up in some medieval get-up.

 Chase was a trooper the whole week, dealing with lots of car trips, missed naps, and irregular feedings. What a cutie! 

We picked up Wes, and met Keyton at Darley Mill. Delicious food, fun atmosphere, great shopping, and yummy cheesecake! I also got to go to Wes and Jarom's swimming lessons, and watch Emeline's dive lesson too. 

Thursday morning we dropped by the base and Liz pointed out the building Keyton works in. We quickly went to Harrogate again so I could pick up some treats and treasures to take home to the kids (luxury chocolate from Hotel Chocolat, British souvenirs from the tourist office, biscuits and chocolates from Farrah's, delicious cinnamon rolls for our morning snack, and from Sugar Therapy, treats to share with Keyton that night).  

Thursday afternoon was Emeline's swimming gala! 17 school in the are participated, it was huge and so fun to see her compete. Emeline is there in the middle, with a USA swim cap. 

 It was so fun to be there to see Emeline race, and play with Chase too!

Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday in England

In mid-September, I started thinking about how sad it was that I never got to see Keyton and Liz in England. For almost 5 years I had talked about going, but with being pregnant and nursing almost continuously for that time, and waiting for a good deal on airline tickets, it just didn't happen. I was so sad that I would never get a glimpse of that huge chunk of their lives there! And, I wanted to meet baby Chase too, of course! 

Travelling while having little kids is so tricky. I didn't want to burn anyone out, or make special trips here to watch my kids, and I hated for Kevin to use up lots of vacation days so I could play (but at this point he didn't have any left anyway). And I've always felt guilty about using family money for a trip for just myself. 

BUT, I realized Kevin's parents were coming to visit for conference weekend, and that maybe, just maybe something could work out. I checked the flights, and even though it was only 3 weeks out, they were average priced fares. And so, I decided to talk to Kevin, ignore the guilt, and buy the ticket! Kevin said if I was going, I might as well go as long as possible and take advantage of it :). So it was a 9 day trip, including two days of flying. One of the best parts was, it was coming soon, so I didn't have a lot of time to wait or stress. 

Dawn said she could watch the kids, Kissie came for two days, and Emily said yes! and came to watch them for a day too. I was able to arrange all the playdates and carpools so no one watching the kids would have to drive them anywhere. I even lined up a babysitter so Kevin could still go to his BYU football game. A trip like this certainly isn't possible without a loving husband and lots of willing family and friends! 

It was amazing how much faster and easier packing for just me was than packing for me and 4 kids! What a breeze! It was great to relax in the airport and read lots. Thanks to the wonders of technology, I listened to most of conference on the Mormon Channel on my phone! I had long layovers on the way there and the way back (4 and 7 hours--yikes!) but it was worth it! The Philadelphia airport has these cool rocking chairs all over, so I found a cozy nook and plugged in my earphones, and I was good to go. 

 

I should have taken a picture of Liz and Emeline when I saw them after customs. It was so exciting! Although a bit of a blur. The week before I left the kids were sick and not sleeping well. And the night before I left, and tired and sobbing Violet woke me up several times to tell me how much she missed me already. Poor girl! The flights went well, but I didn't get a lot of sleep, not a full night's worth with the red-eye and time change, that's for sure. So it was sad, but not surprising that the windy roads back to their house made me a little carsick, which carried throughout the day. Luckily it was conference Sunday, so we relaxed and I napped. I felt bad being a bummer of a guest the first day! The kids took me on a tour of the house and yard, which was so fun. I should have napped more, but I was worried about not being able to fall asleep that night. Which didn't end up being a problem-- Liz woke me up at 11:00am the next day (after FOURTEEN hours of sleep!) to make sure I was ok. That was amazing! Fully recovered, I was ready to go! 

Keyton was at work, Emeline and Jaron were at school, so it was Liz, Wesley, Chase, and I for my first English adventure. Our first stop was the post office-- which has yummy lunch food too. Authentic 'fast food' for England--sausage roll, pork pie, and Cornish pasties--it was delicious, especially as a picnic at Fountains Abbey. It's a National Trust site, with lots of ruins to explore, a mill museum, and lots of space to walk around. It's beautiful, and people come from all over to see it, so their family is lucky to live close by! Liz and I chatted nonstop and started to get all caught up. (As a side note, we talked all week! We never ran out of things to talk about, and it was so fun! I am so grateful for her.) 

I didn't take out my camera nearly enough here, but here is one picture that turned out so pretty. 

And here's a few from their website of the mill house, the park (open grassy area), and the abbey).

Tuesday morning, I got to walk with Liz and the kids to school. They gave me a little tour too. I've heard so much about it, it was wonderful to see it all for myself. And what a pretty walk! Then, Liz and Chase showed me around Harrogate. It's such a pretty town! I loved looking through all the shops and the cute downtown area, and getting a treat from Betty's. We picked up Wes and had fish and chips at the Queens Head, in Kettlesing, close to the school and their home. It was so delicious, even the creamed peas I had for the first time! Here's a few pictures from their website, such a lovely place, and fun that Keyton and Liz know the owner so well, since her daughter goes to school with Emeline and Jarom. 

After school, Keyton came home a bit early (due to the government shut-down, he was home from work all the week before, so he needed to be at work that week. But he did end up taking Friday off, which worked out perfectly). We all went to Brimham Rocks, another amazing National Trust site that Keyton and Liz live so close to. (How lucky for me to see so many cool sites so close to their house! I really wanted to spend my time with them, not traveling around to tons of tourist sites, but thanks to their prime location and their flexibility, I got to do both!).

Brimham Rocks is one of the kids favorite places to go, and I can see why! It is full of cool rock formations to climb on, walk through, and explore. Parts looked like a giant's playground, and part looked like a fairyland. All of it was cool! We practically had it to ourselves, so even more fun! The kids were patient and held still for many pictures, in between lots of running around. 

 Emeline was an amazing climber! They were all so daring, in fact.

 

 
I felt so lucky! Chase warmed up to me right away. It was great to snuggle him and play with him, and that I could help out more because he wasn't wary of me. 

 

  

 There's Keyton in a tree! Baxter looked like she was having lots of fun exploring too.

 

 Here's Emeline and Jarom running over to these rocks. It really does look like a fairy land!  

 All the little cuties!

 And Keyton and Liz with their whole family. Fun family night!