Audrey and her mates on a trip to the Twycross ZooI KNOW - Another month gone by with no proper blog update - what is the point of a blog if you don't update it! We've had a pretty busy July... Zoe had her visit to the Primary school to get ready for her big debut in September, both girls had their Sports Days, we took a couple of weekend vacations to Wales and Blackpool, and now the girls are FINALLY on summer break! Yes, your kids are getting ready to go back to school, mine just got out - and they only have 6 weeks off, which seems soooooo short! So we are making the best of it - they are taking trampoline gymnastics and we've got plans for play dates and playing in the paddling pool in the garden, horse riding lessons, some swimming and a week long holiday in the Lake District.
Most of July was rubbish weather - truly cold and rainy and nasty - it didn't even feel like a proper July! Although, toward the end, it got really nice - I even got to wear shorts a few times!
Its funny, we've been here 7 months now, and it feels like time is getting away from us! We are starting to feel desparate to get out and see even more than we've already seen - if only we didn't have to WORK!!! I spent so much time planning our little short breaks and stuff, that suddenly, summer is nearly over! So, I tried to throw together a holiday to the Continent for August, but I just couldn't get anything together - then I tried to get a holiday cottage in Cornwall - um, everyone goes there in August... I must have looked at 500 different cottages and they were all unavailable or WAY too expensive! So, the Lake District won out... I know it will also be very busy, but we got a killer deal on a cottage because it was so last minute, and we had planned to go there anyway, so... it will all work out. You have to book these cottages for at least a week, so we will be burning valuable vacation time - speaking of which, did you know that people here get 6 weeks of vacation, which is fully vested the day you start your job? I've had to scrape and save up to accrue the 4 weeks that I have, and I can't ever accrue any more than the 4 weeks - that is totally unfair - wah... Enough complaining! I owe you guys some stuff!
I've attached a bunch of photos - I hope you enjoy them!
Looking out across the fields on the way to take Zoe to pre-school, I noticed that one of the fields was purple with splotches of red - beautiful, but I could not figure out what it could be... On the way home from one of our weekend outings, I noticed a footpath leading into the field, so the next day I headed out there.
You haven't forgotten the church, have you?
What are they for? How many poppy seeds does it take to make a good batch of Opium?
I love poppies and poppies love me...
I've never seen purple poppies before! We have pink ones in our garden as well
Have I talked about the lane leading up to Zoe's pre-school? there is a stone wall and a large pasture. In the summer, the pasture has cattle - young silly cows, who think all humans who are on foot have a load of hay to feed them and they often approached the wall as we walked to and from school... We always got a big kick out of it...
Ok, girls, all together now, give me a high G!
The primary school in the village hosts a "fun day" for all of the children who attend the local pre-schools that feed into it. Its a fantastic way for the kids who will start up in September to meet their teachers, the other children who will be in their class and to get acquainted with their new classroom. Zoe was so excited to take her lunch and to go to "big school" and see Sissy! She really seems ready - and I'm so relieved :) Its hard for me to accept that she is going to start school - if we'd been in the US she'd have had another year of pre-school before kindergarten - here the first year of school is called "Reception" then they go to year 1, year 2, etc.
Sports day at Sunny Socks - Go Zoe!!
Blackpool - what can I say about Blackpool? A popular seaside town full of campy amusements and chip shops. A Dr. Who museum, piers with fun fairs and a good old trolley running along the coastal road. Don't forget all of the hen, stag and birthday parties - Brits love to celebrate the fact that they are about to get married, or turn 30 or 50 or whatever with everyone they know - they all wear matching t-shirts boasting the event "Sophie's 30th birthday - Blackpool 2008" or by dressing up in comically slutty outfits and parading about like college girls on spring break - oddly the pink cowboy hat with fuzzy pink trim is a favorite accessory. One hen party we saw had all the ladies dressed as cave women - I would have loved to see that group at about 1am!
This little kid drop tower was Zoe's favorite ride - we visited MANY times!!
Zoe doing a jig while Audrey and Dad hit the roller coaster
On top of the world getting ready to ride the loopdloop roller coaster 
After a full day at Pleasure Beach- phew!
Taking the Trolley back to the hotel - it was a double decker!
Cool old trolley
The next day was a beautiful day - the sun was shining, it was warm and nearly all the vomit had been cleaned from the street corners from the previous night's partying follies - does it get any better?
The girls had never really been to the beach before and they were just gleeful as they drenched their clothes jumping into the waves. I wish we would have had enough time to hang out at the beach, but the girls had school the next day and we had planned to visit a castle in Wales before going home, so we could only stay for a while, but it was true quality time!
When we got to Wales, we decided to check out a popular mountain biking area before we went to the castle - we foolishly decided to grab a snack at the cafe - have I mentioned that every public establishment in this country has a cafe? You can get a jacket potatoe or breakfast roll (bun with egg, bacon and sausage) or a bowl of chips (fries) or a scone and tea ANYWHERE. Problem with this place is that it was really busy and badly managed - we wasted a ton of time waiting for a bowl of chips with 'chili' and a 'salad' - they do not get salads here... I got a bowl of room temperature greens with no salad dressing - they didn't even have any of that nauseating 'salad cream' which is like runny sweet mayonaise - actually its not even that good ;) Anyway, we got out of there about 15 minutes before the last entry to the castle, so we started hauling ass over to the castle, we flew by this amazing ruined abbey, which I would have LOVED to have visited... then we hit this town - right on a river, with colorful flags flying across the streets, the sidewalks teeming with tourists, a market on down one of the side roads - we decided right then and there to bag the castle (hell, its been there for 900 years, whats another week or two?) and we parked and explored the lovely and picturesque town of Llangollen in North Wales. 
Cool ruined castle on hill overlooking Llengollen
We loved Llengollen so much, we decided to go back the very next weekend! Pat took his bike (yes the one that got stolen a week later...) and went riding on the Sunday. On Saturday we visited Chirk Castle, and had a wander about the town - apparently it always feels like there is something going on there - its beautiful and busy and there is no where near enough parking!
Chirk Castle - originally constructed in the 12th century
Is there any doubt that there is royal blood in our ancestry? Sheesh...
I love this tree...
Chirk Castle Gardens
Big tree at Chirk Castle
Steam train in Llengollen- we took the ride up the hill in the vintage cars
This sign is why they decided to let "y" be a "sometimes" vowel - how the hell do you pronounce that anyway??
Why can't they always get on like this?
one of the work horses that pulled the boats
After a full day of boating, railroading, shopping and mountain biking, we decided to check out the ruined abbey that we'd blasted by the previous weekend. Valle Crucis Abbey - from the 13th century. It was absolutely fantastic - I just love these places, in some ways it breaks your heart to see them in this condition - while I'm not a religious person, I still find what Henry VIII did when he dissolved the abbeys and monestaries in the 16th century unfortunate, at best... On the other hand, when you see these places in such worn condition, you really get the feel for how incredibly old these structures are, and you just can't help but marvel at the incredible industry of the builders of the time - if this kind of stuff interests you, I highly recommend the book Pillars of the Earth and its sequal World Without End by Ken Follet - I think I've plugged these before, but I just loved reading about the Medieval period!
Silly hat day in the Northampton office
Rainy day fun at the Croft
Cheers!
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