Last few days

On Tuesday morning, we met up with our friends Lindsey, Connor, Chelsea and Charlie up at Ham Hill.

Though Ham Hill is one of our favorite places, between our little vacations and bad weather, we hadn't made it out until two days before the end of our three week trip. It was a great place to meet up with Lindsey and the kids.

Cora shimmied high up into this tree, to the amazement of Chelsea and Charlie!

We will miss little Alfie! He made himself comfortable with the girls from Day One. It was such a joy for us all to spend so much time with a tiny kitten.

Violet had a sleepover with Euan and Olivia on Tuesday night. When we picked her up Wednesday, Auntie Jenny was playing a board game with the kids. She's such a good mum!

Cora continued her baking kick, making an apple pie from scratch. It was very yummy. We enjoyed it after a lovely family dinner Wednesday evening, when we had to say our sad goodbyes to Euan, Livi and Jenny.

Our trip to Heathrow on Thursday was smooth. The girls signed the board, complimenting the security process through the airport. We then had some fun shopping in the many stores inside.

One of those shops was offering free full cocktails, so patrons could try out this drink. It was refreshing, and then became our first ever duty-free alcohol purchase.

Our flight home was great - we really love Air New Zealand. Again, traveling with big kids is an awesome experience, something we'll always appreciate after those hard baby/toddler years.

Thanks, everyone, for a wonderful three-week vacation! Miss you all already.

Cousin Fun

We returned from Cornwall on Sunday night, and had a low-key day Monday. Cora watched the Pioneer Woman on the Food Network - her new favorite favorite favorite. And Euan, Livi and Violet painted rocks in Pop's garage.

We went over to Karen and Martin's for a family night that evening, and after a lovely meal the children tried out the swimming pool.

Sadly, with the cool weather, the water was a bit cold for them to stay in long. They really enjoyed the warm shower afterwards!

The children also played UNO, played on Ben's drums, and generally just played together! It was great to see the cousins all enjoying each other.

Here are Cora and Violet, Chloe and Ben, Bethany, and Livi. Euan was somewhere, but not in the photo.

The drum kit was a big hit. Violet had fun with them, too. (see video below).

Sunny Sunday

At dinner Saturday evening, with the rain coming down, the forecast called for a similar day Sunday. It was a sad thought - as Stace always told me back in 2001, "If it's raining in Cornwall, it's the worst place on earth."

But we lucked out with the notorious British weather forecasts being wrong again. We had lots of sun Sunday, a perfect end to our Cornish coastal adventure.

We decided to see Port Isaac, and found this fun playground on the walk from the carpark.

Port Isaac is another absolutely lovely, tiny, harbour town, one of dozens dotting Cornwalls long coast.

With nice weather, I was able to duck into some of the little shops just for pleasure, and not to escape from rain.

The girls are now enjoying this sort of shopping, too - Cora has been looking for new earrings. We bought Cora her first pair of dangly earrings at one shop here - little starfish. She loves them!

Port Isaac has become incredibly popular because it is the filming location for Doc Martin, a show I haven't seen but will now have to look for. This middle house is the doctor's home and office.

Stace bought a crab sandwich for lunch from a little place not far from this stack of crab and lobster pots.

After Port Isaac, we said goodbye to Dean, Jen, Euan and Livi. We then drove on to Bude, another surfing spot with beautiful sandy beaches.

Bude has a neat sea pool, where the ocean water is contained up behind a wall. The girls took a quick dip, but it was very cold. We then ventured to the shoreline.

It was their first time being out in the North Atlantic.

Cora did some body surfing, but neither girl lasted too long in the water because it was so cold. Still, it was a great experience!

They felt much better once they were dried and back in jeans and sweaters.

We then made the drive back to Somerset, through the rain. We lucked out with sun on the coast, and only dealt with rain on the way home - such a blessing to have a gorgeous day in Cornwall to end our trip!

It's unusual to look back at two sleeping girls - Cornwall wore them out!

Newquay and Padstow

We woke up Saturday to another dreary weather forecast, but got up and out to explore Newquay before the rains came.

The children again loved playing on the water's edge, exploring caves and getting their feet and legs wet.

Above Cora is a footbridge to an awesome house on the rocky hill over her head. She enjoyed sitting and contemplating the crashing waves.

Newquay is a busy place, a surf town filled with shops, eateries and nightclubs. This area reminded me of the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. If the weather and surf had been better, Stace and Dean might have rented wetsuits and boards.

Pasty shops were everywhere! Cora loves pasties, and had one every time we were out at a meal time.

We then drove around to Padstow, where we met up with Sue and Gord, who came in to spend the day with us. Sadly, the rain was upon us, and we didn't even manage to take one photo of our time together (huddling within raincoats and umbrellas).

Sue, Jen and I stayed in the shops, while the men and children unsuccessfully tried out the crab lines. They succeeded mostly in getting very wet.

Sue and Gord decided to make the long and wet drive back to Somerset, while we and Dean and Jen went back to the hotel. We booked a table at the adjacent restaurant, and finished our Saturday night there. Stace enjoyed a St. Austell beer, naturally.

St. Ives Fun

We woke up Friday in our hotel room to a gloomy weather forecast, but that didn't stop us from making plans to explore this beautiful county. We headed south, and took a quick photo with the tiny island called St. Michael's Mount.

Along the way, we observed lots of abandoned tin and copper mines. We visited one, a National Trust property, called Levant Mine, since Cora worked hard on her miner's project just a couple of months ago.

She's planning to add this photo to her collection, and turn her written project into a book.

The mine here first appeared on a map in the mid 1700s, and the site has the only still-working steam beam engine.

We would have enjoyed our tour of the site more had the weather not deteriorated. We were very wet when we got back to the car!

We then met up with Dean, Jenny and the children at a train station that would take us into St. Ives. It was still most definitely raining.

We entertained ourselves while we waited with thumb wrestling.

The train ride was lovely, and billed to be the most scenic in England. Thankfully, the posted photos let us see what the foggy and rain-splattered windows failed to show us! 

Rain or not, the kids had to play on the beach. They got soaked, naturally.














Being wet through didn't mean they didn't want ice cream, though!

We ended up in a toy store, where Stace bought the kids candy and Dean and Jen very generously bought them new Lego sets. They came in handy in the hotel room that night!

Sea Life in Mevagissey

After St. Austell, we visited Mevagissey on Thursday evening for dinner and a bit of crabbing. The harbor, like all the Cornish harbor towns we visited, was incredibly picturesque.

We explored the town, and found fish and chips for dinner.

So pretty.

This cracked me up. As safety-conscious as Britain is, the parts of the wall facing the harbor are just open, no fencing of any kind. Those painted lines provide all the warning English children need!




















The girls remembered our crabbing adventures in Brixham in 2014, and had been eager to get crablines again. At each town, Violet, especially, asked repeatedly about when we could catch crabs.

Finally, we were set up and dropping the mackerel-filled net bags down the harbor wall.


After a bit, we caught a crab. Success!

While hoping for another crab, we spotted this seal in the water.

We then made our way to our Premier Inn outside Newquay and got settled in. Three nights in the same hotel! What a treat!

Charlestown and St. Austell

Thursday was the start of our long-awaited trip to Cornwall. Stace grew up taking family trips to the gorgeous county on England's southwestern coast, and he was excited to show Cora and Violet.

Stace and the girls and I got on the road around 9:30 in the morning, and we were in Cornwall less than two hours later - Stace was shocked, since it used to be an all-day drive.

We stopped in Bodmin, and then Fowey, where we had our packed lunch on the harbor wall. A crafty seagull enjoyed part of Violet's lunch - he grabbed her sandwich right out of her hand!

We then moved to Charlestown, where these photos are from. See the girls far below me, on the sand?

They walked around to the other side of the stone wall, to explore the rock pools uncovered by the low tide. See them down there?

Stace and I made our way down to join them.

Cornwall's rugged coast is beautiful.

The girls are on the right side of the photo. Cora was absolutely in her element, climbing mountains and exploring caves.

Charlestown's 18th century harbor is basically untouched from how it looked in the 1800s, and it was used in filming the recent Poldark adaptation.

After Charlestown, we drove to St. Austell, to visit the brewery that made my favorite ale back on my 2001 trip. St. Austell's Cornish Cream was dark and smooth and creamy, and for several years after 2001, Stace and I made a point to look for it.

We found out (sadly) that the brewery stopped making it at least 10 years ago, but our time at the bar and visitors' center was still well worth it. We learned about the brewing process, the history of the brewery (which was founded in 1851), and enjoyed a half of St. Austell's new dark beer.