A Family Visit

Brian's parents came for a visit, mainly to see Ella of course, and we tried to see as much as possible. A few local trips and a tight car trip to Germany filled the 2-weeks very quickly. While the boys golfed to celebrate Bob's birthday, the girls made a trip to Harewood House just outside of Harrogate and enjoyed the beautiful weather and breathtaking grounds. Ella enjoyed the bird garden, and may have taken a few years off of the duck's lives by chasing them! We also made a trip out to Fountains Abbey and got many beautiful pictures.

We then got in the car and began the trek to Germany. We drove to Dover and boarded the ferry to cross the English Channel towards Calais, France. We drove through France, Belgium and into Germany to spend time with Jason and his family and see some Air Force friends. It was a great trip and Ella got to spend time with her cousin Marie.

Knaresborough

This weekend we decided to spend some time in a town that we drive through all of the time. We drove the 4-miles to Knaresborough, a town along the River Nidd. Knaresborough Castle dates back to 1100, but was destructed 1648. The destruction was mainly done by citizens looting the stone. Many town centre buildings are built of 'castle stone'. We spent the morning in a row boat on the river, sailing under the stone viaducts. We walked along the river and saw the ruins of the castle. When we moved to Harrogate we arrived on the weekend of the famous Knaresborough Bed Race and hoped to make it this year, but were unsuccessful. Here's to next year... Check it out, it looks like a great time. http://www.knaresborough.co.uk/bedrace/

Blyth Beach

Since the English summer is quickly coming to an end, we took advantage of a sunny day and drove to the beach. Blyth is a town along the eastern coast, part of the Northumberland Coast. We splashed in the North Sea for a few hours, with only Ella going more than ankle deep into the 60 degree water. Even with blue lips and her body shivering she had to be dragged out fighting!! We had a picnic on the beach and topped it off with an ice cream treat! It was a great day.

A Day in London

Any chance we get we say let's go to London, because we know that it will take as many trips as we can take to see it all. What an amazing city! The Queen spends her summers in Scotland so the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace are open to visit. We knew we had better take the chance to see them since there is such a limited time to see them. WOW! When you have a 2-year old you can't really stop and enjoy each room, but the short time we had was breathtaking. Ella loved visiting the 'Queen's House' and wondered where the Prince and Princess were!

We then headed out to find the mexican restaurant we had heard was great--by English standards!! It was the best we had tasted here, but that's not saying much. I enjoyed the margarita! In order to keep Ella going without her afternoon nap we knew we had to find a playground. If you are ever in London with children, take a trip to Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Playground, it is fabulous! A lifesize pirate ship is the center with tons of great things to keep the little ones busy. Ella had a blast--after getting used to the sand, such a girl!!

We still haven't made it inside Westminster Abbey, we didn't read the fine print to see that the last admission is 3:30 and we arrived at 4:15. We will just have to go again! So we got back on the train and went back to the base for a fantastic fast food dinner and Ella's first game of bowling--quite an experience; I hate that I didn't have my camera!

Picnic in the Park

When the weather is good, there is no better place to live than in North Yorkshire! There are many days that I sit and wish I was back in the good ol' USA, but then we get a day that looks like this...

and I start singing a new tune!!

We headed out to enjoy the amazing weather and had a wonderful picnic lunch, complete with Ripley's World Famous Ice Cream, at Valley Garden. The entire town was out to take advantage of the beautiful day. If there are too many more days like this, I may just never leave!!

Come and visit us soon so you can enjoy a day like this!

Texas Trip

Our 10-year high school reunion took us back to Texas and we spent 10 days spending as much time with friends and family as we could. It took us a few days to get used to the 100 degree weather, but it was a nice change from the rain! Ella spent as much time playing in the water as she could.

Our reunion was a great time for all! Since both of our families had moved from Round Rock, we had lost touch with many great people and it was so wonderful to catch up with each of them. Ella had a blast getting to know the other little ones at the family picnic and loved the splashpark!!

We went to Lubbock to see friends that we hadn't seen since moving to England and ate TOO much food! We only put a dent in the list of restaurants that we wanted to hit. :)

To stay out of the heat, we made a trip to the Houston Children's Museum and it was all we could do to drag Ella out when we were done. She wanted to see every exhibit!

The Lake District

We made our first of what I know will be many trips to the Lake District of England, a very popular tourist spot. The area is famous for its lakes and mountains and its associations with the poetry and writings of William Wordsworth and Beatrice Potter. It was a beautiful day and we spent most of the day on a boat (captained by Ella) touring one of the many lakes, Windermere. We ate lots of ice cream and candy and enjoyed the sunshine, since we may not see it again for a few weeks!!