Warwick, Part I

Stace and I surprised the girls with a night in Warwick Castle's "glamping" tent accommodations, an excellent way to get in the medieval spirit.

Stace and I went to Warwick with JT and Jim on my first trip to the UK in 2001, and since then, new ownership has added this avenue of experience. It was all very well done - the tents included wood flooring, comfortable beds, lighting and electricity.

After we ate the dinner we'd brought, we walked down to the riverside grassy area, where we enjoyed two hours of entertainment.

These two knights battled in various ways, to the cheers of the crowd.

Violet took part in "princess training" that was a cute collection of games for the girls who aren't as interested in sword-fighting.

We all had a turn with the archery; Cora went up over and over again. That was quite a value for our package deal - the next day at the castle, we saw how much they were charging for six arrows!

You could pay a bit extra to have a personalized experience with the falconry. Children were getting to hold an American kestrel, and when Stace surprised me with a ticket, I was given the chance to have this 14-week-old barn owl land on my leather-gloved hand.

Isn't Snowy sweet? She had parts of baby chicks as her reward.

I loved this experience! I've always loved birds of prey, and I'll never forget having an owl on my arm.

 

The campground looked lovely at night, with the tents glowing. 

We slept well and had a fabulous breakfast the next day, again, included with our package deal. Hopefully we can do this all again someday!

Glorious Gloucester

When we made plans to take the girls to Warwick Castle back in January, Cora was in the middle of reading through the Harry Potter series.

I knew that on the way to Warwick is Gloucester Cathedral, where parts of the movies were filmed, and Cora would be very excited to see this.

We got packed in the morning and set off, making our way to the cathedral. It's an impressive sight.

We hooked up with a very informative and friendly docent, who taught us so much.

Cora's eyes were bright throughout our tour, taking it all in. She was excited about every historical fact, and loved using our camera to document it all. I absolutely love her love for history!

Under this monument lies King Edward II, buried in the cathedral in 1327.

We even found an American connection...

Finally, we made it to the most exciting part - the cloisters where Harry Potter was filmed. Cora's smile got even bigger here.

Such gorgeous cloisters! Incredible fan-vaulted architecture, built in 1350s.

Yeovil Show

On Sunday, we went to the Yeovil Show, which reminded me of the county fairs I've been to in California.

The girls enjoyed seeing all the farm animals, and there were exhibit halls with local arts and crafts, and shopping opportunities.

 The main arena featured horse jumping, Viking and Saxon weapons demonstrations, and more. These skilled horsemen and women were racing each other, each astride two horses.










Cheesy chips! Yum!

 Live entertainment was featured in some of the tents. This band put on a very West Country kind of show - perfect to enjoy with a pint of cloudy local cider.

 We oohed and ahhed when a WWII Lancaster bomber flew overhead.

 Then, the children enjoyed a different kind of flyby - during a falconry show, the children were invited to the center of the arena so a pair of Harris's hawks could buzz them.

 Barn owls are so pretty!

We also saw a Peregrine falcon, an American kestrel and more. The kestrel was funny, swooping around the outskirts of the fairground, not exactly following directions.

The only damper on our day was that Cora felt sick to her stomach for much of it. The noises, the smells, the number of people - none of those helped her feel better.

Settling In

When back in Somerset, eat pasties and strong Cheddar!

On our first full day in England, we relaxed, rested and walked to the new Kingsbury community center and shop. There, we had a snack, and the girls played at the adjacent park.

Sue and Gord have a new member of the family, and we all couldn't be happier. Alfie is as cute as they come.

When Gord picked Stace and me up from the train station and brought us home, Violet greeted us like this, Alfie in arms. Lucky girl - she was only a toddler when we brought home Spencer and Sebastian, so she doesn't remember having kittens of her own.

 Cora loves bringing Alfie up to her top bunk, and he seems pretty cozy up there in her yellow blankie.

 Dean, Jenny, Euan and Livi came over Saturday night. Livi and Violet get along very well; she was so pleased with the puzzles Violet brought over from home as a gift.

We went to Dean and Jen's house Sunday evening, where Violet got to hold Bufferton the hen...

...and Poppy the guinea pig.

Meanwhile, Cora and Euan played Minecraft on the XBox 360. Whatever it takes to promote cousin-bonding, eh?

Off to England

We set off on our big summer trip to England on Thursday afternoon, after the mad scramble of packing and cleaning that precedes every such trip. But now, with the girls so grownup, that scramble is decidedly less stressful.

We're down to just three carryons for the four of us, since we're no longer worried about the huge amount of snacks/entertainment/diapers/changes of clothing necessary for a baby/toddler/preschooler.














We were fortunate to make it to LAX on time, after a brush fire in the Newhall Pass caused a traffic jam and then the closure of the 5, minutes after we'd passed through the area.

Our flight on Air New Zealand was very pleasant, with the best airplane food we've ever eaten. The girls watched entertainment on their seatback screens, and Violet also listened to the kids' music station and played the video games.

We landed at Heathrow before noon local time on Friday, and greeted Nan and Pop and got the girls and luggage settled into their car.

Then, Stace and I made our way onto the train into central London. I couldn't stay awake, after just an hour of sleep overnight.

After seeing JT post about visiting the Mayflower pub on her recent trip to London, I thought that was what Stace and I should do during our few hours in the city.

We took the Tube to East London and found the pub, right on the Thames. This pub is on the river where the Mayflower ship was docked while it was in London, before the Pilgrims' 1620 voyage.

We enjoyed an orange juice and latte on a deck directly over the water and watched the boats on the river.

We then took the Tube back into central London, to Paddington Station, where we'd later take our train to Somerset.

We walked around, poking into the tourist shops, and found a nice little green.

We also admired St. Mary's Hospital - history is alive everywhere in England.

It was our first time at Paddington, a lovely place with architectural details befitting a station built in 1852.

A statue dedicated to the namesake bear was turned into a nostalgic memorial following the death last month of writer Michael Bond, at the age of 91.

Even More Summer Fun

We went to Laser Blast with our group of swimming friends on Monday. In the second game, Cora came in second to Cooper (who's sneaking by in the photo). She was so excited to score so high.

She also got the "Trigger Happy" award, since she had to keep shooting the boys on her own team, who kept targeting her. In the first game, she earned the "stabbed in the back" award for being shot by her own teammates the most. Silly boys!

On Tuesday, my friend Melanie came over with Heather, Sienna and little Andrew, who's now toddling around everywhere. Cora invited over Sam and Riley, and we all went to the pool together after having lunch at home.

Violet had a nice time playing with Heather, and it was great to catch up with Melanie after several months apart.

I worked very hard Monday and Tuesday so that we could go to the beach Wednesday with our swim friends, despite the fact that we were flying to England on Thursday. With the right motivation, you can get a lot of cleaning and packing accomplished...

Here's Cora waving on the right, with a line of pelicans overhead.

It was lovely and warm in Carpinteria.

Violet played in the water a bit, and then joined Sophia building sand mountains.

We all walked down the block to the fabulous Padaro Beach Grill for dinner.

Though I hope to make it to the beach again with friends before school starts back up, Wednesday was a lovely "last hurrah" before our big trip.

Weekend Away

This weekend, we celebrated my friend Sue's 50th birthday with a group trip to Santa Barbara County's wine country. It was a long-anticipated weekend of fun, with a great group of gals.

Here, we're at Lincourt Winery, one of two wineries we visited. Behind us is smoke from a big brush fire that had started near Lake Cachuma about an hour before the photo was taken.

The whole area is so gorgeous.

I got to spend two whole nights away, sharing a room in the beautiful Hotel Corque with Sue and Jen. We drove up Friday with Mary, next to me in the photo.

We had a steak dinner Saturday night at the Hitching Post, the restaurant featured in the cult classic movie Sideways, filmed all over this region.

While we waited for our Uber rides back to the hotel, we sipped on final drinks in the bar.

On Friday night, after an Italian dinner, we went out dancing at a bar/club until after 1 a.m.! Moms can still have fun!

On Sunday, we did a bit of shopping in Solvang before heading back to SClarita. Solvang is known for its Danish bakeries, so I brought home goodies to Stace and the girls... but the cream puff here was for me. It was such a great getaway! I'm so thankful for good friends, especially Sue.