Archive | April, 2017

To start reading about our trip from the beginning, start here!

To continue our little story… we were staying in a small town outside London for a week, and of course during that week we wanted to see London at least once. The kids were excited to ride on the train! We parents were excited too, even though it took us a while to get over the cost of roundtrip tickets to and from the town we were living in. Ouch!

After the train, we road on the Underground/Tube to Notting Hill. Lena looks like such a natural.

Gil is actually about to yawn here…

First stop: Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Playground!

We were actually meeting up with some friends who also happened to be in London at the same time… but go to our church back in San Diego. What are the chances?!

Forest and Lucas, playing like they sometimes do in Children’s Church, but in a totally different place.

This was an amazing playground, and I recommend it for any visitors with small children in London. It was a lot cooler that day than it looks, though. Brr…

He found a little English cottage that is just his size.

Super dad! We walked with our friends to see Kensington Palace (but didn’t see any royals) and then walked through Kensington Gardens to the Peter Pan statue.

Around a random corner, we saw people feeding wild parrots, and of course we had to stop and try as well. Ring-necked parakeets are a favorite memory of mine from Pakistan and India, and they are wild in San Diego too.

My friend Rebecca helped the kids eventually coax them onto their hands.

So proud!

So amazing to see friends around the world! Thanks for meeting up with us, Rebecca and fam!

The famous Peter Pan statue was somewhat underwhelming in my opinion, but the kids had fun climbing it.

We put this poor stroller to the task this trip, but it held up admirably with no issues. We also felt like we fit in well because Maclaren is an English brand, so all the other parents were pushing the same stroller.

Cutest ice cream truck by the Italian Garden in Kensington Gardens. We kind of wanted to stop but it was too cold for ice cream, despite the sunshine finally coming out.

We found another playground in Kensington Gardens! Lena is such an amazing helper and playmate for her two brothers. So thankful for her, truly.

His favorite new move: “Power to the people.”

Next stop: the Victoria & Albert Museum. (We also tried out the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum, but both were packed, and we couldn’t even get in the latter due to Easter Break crowds.) This museum was gorgeous, but honestly we spent most of our time out in the central courtyard enjoying an English cream tea (scone, jam, and clotted cream), hard English cider, coffee, and cake.

I love his little bent knee and how steady he is now! Such a little boy already. He turned 11 months old a few days after when this picture was taken.

Lena did gymnastics everywhere we went, and her handstand seriously improved during this trip. I will admit to catching her right at the perfect second when her handstand looked the best, though; she can’t stay up for more than a couple of seconds. I have no doubt that she soon will, though, will the amount she practices!

Rolling in the grass and talking. This is the best part of vacation: relaxing together in beautiful, unique places.

Reading up on the next thing to do in London while Lena does gymnastics with a new friend in the background.

On to our last adventure at the end of the day: Harrod’s Toy Kingdom!

It did not fail to impress. Lena really wanted this unicorn (below), but it cost 499 British pounds. Not today, darling.

I love all the Beatrix Potter books in England, which has inspired me to expand our collection and continue reading them faithfully to the kids. Forest is reading a little “pram book” here which is supposed to attach to a stroller.

Walking into Harrod’s patisserie and delicatessen! We should have gotten dinner here… yum!

And that is the last photo I took that day because after that we spent over an hour making our way slowly back to the Tube station, then on the Tube to Victoria Station, then on the train (with only one seat left for me and Forest, so the kids and Elliott had to stand most of the way for 45 minutes… ugh), and then walking home to our house in Haywards Heath.

Elliott and I looked at each other in the Haywards Heath train station and sighed. “Once is enough,” I said, and I could tell he was already thinking the same thing. Due to the cost of transport and the difficulty carting small children around London, it seemed better to us to enjoy our days in the English countryside rather than trekking back into London.

This is what we did, and I don’t regret it! More about our further country adventures soon.

After our gorgeous day in Oxford, we had a hearty Saturday morning breakfast with our friends and then said goodbye. We were on our way to a new home away from home: pet sitting in a small English village.

On the way there, we visited Windsor Castle, a place that none of us had seen before. Because the Royal Standard (instead of the Union Jack flag) was flying from the top of the castle, we knew the queen was home for the weekend! How cool is that?

Free audio tours were included with admission, and so we got the “family version” for the kids as well. They were a huge hit! The tangle of headphones and wires were not as popular with us parents, especially when Forest reached out of the Ergo at every opportunity to grab them off my head, but…
… well, how can you resist this cuteness anyway?

We stayed at Windsor and even attended evening vespers in St. George’s Cathedral. Afterwards, we happened across this pretty little street with a view of the castle, and we decided to stay for dinner.

What a lovely setting for a pint of cider and a pizza!

Windsor is beautiful, Queen Elizabeth. We can see why you love it.

Finally, we turned our wheels towards Haywards Heath, the little town where our petsitting job would be for the next week. We couldn’t appreciate the house in the dark, but here are a few pictures I got the next morning:

We found this house- and pet-sitting opportunity through TrustedHousesitters.com, a site that I think is more popular in the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand because that is where most of the listings are. (We actually we about to go to New Zealand instead of Europe and had a great house/pet-sitting opportunity there, but ultimately decided our children were too young this year for all the driving that a true exploration and appreciation of New Zealand would require.)

We are staying here for FREE, and the family (who are on holiday in Spain for Easter break) are getting house sitters for free, and so it works out well for all of us! They have two cats, one of whom is very sweet and one of whom has given us some gray hairs because of her desire to live more outdoors than indoors. Ultimately, it’s been an amazing experience. A huge, five-bedroom home in an English village for a week for free! Not a thing to complain about — only thanks.

The next morning we visited a cafe in the village to get some much-needed coffee and breakfast. Lena is making animals sounds for Forest and Gil is annoyingly tapping them with coffee stirrers… typical.

Afterwards, we put off grocery shopping for a little longer and visited Borde Hill, a privately-owned estate in Sussex with magnificent gardens in full bloom. We ate our picnic in this field of daffodils!

There was an Easter scavenger hunt going on in the garden, and the kids were rewarded with Cadbury cream eggs and face painting afterwards!

Looking for newts in the pond!

All the magnolias are blooming.

Hard work complete, now pick your prize. When the “bunny” offered an egg to Forest, Elliott and I happily claimed it instead. No shame.

SO. EXCITED.

The property included a wonderful playground, and the kids played on that for another couple of hours after the Easter scavenger hunt.

Meanwhile, an exhausted Forest fell asleep in the Ergo, and so I walked through this meadow for over an hour, making loops and thinking and praying and reading articles on my phone. Such a perfect afternoon.

Elliott and the kids explored the stream below and then made flower crowns in the meadow while I walked with sleepy Forest.

And that was the end of a lovely day in the English countryside! This is definitely the pace our family needs, with plenty of time outdoors. And now, home and to bed.

One of our favorite places in the world is Oxford, “the city of dreaming spires.” I visited my friend Laura in Oxford when she was a student there, and then I returned as a summer university student about 10 years ago. Elliott has also visited twice, and we each have our own memories and our own favorite places around the city.

Also, has anyone else read A Severe Mercy, part of which takes place in Oxford? We read it together when we first started dating, and it is a book that we reference often as our inspiration for a tender and adventurous marriage.

We decided to go to Oxford on our second day in England, on Friday, April 8th. We stayed on our feet almost all day and managed to see a lot of this beautiful place!

First stop: the local library. This was unintended; we got off the bus at the wrong stop — whoops. But we needed wifi in order to orient ourselves. (Later that day we bought SIM cards for our iPhones and now have U.K. phone numbers and data. We’re European locals again for a few weeks!)

Found these two cute prisoners at the Oxford Castle. We could definitely use one of these at home — hah!

Magdalen College and Magdalen Street (pronounced “Maudlin”) are everywhere in Oxford! Our little Magdalena (nicknamed Lena) loved that.

At The Eagle and Child pub for lunch with my own littlest child.

We enjoyed following in the footsteps of C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, and the other “Inklings” to eat and talk at this pub, but we found more Americans here than anywhere else in Oxford. It’s more of a tourist attraction now, I suppose… oh well.

Around the corner from the pub is the Ashmolean Museum, where the kids saw their first Egyptian mummies and enjoyed the beautiful children’s section.

We adults paid £2 each to go inside the private grounds of Balliol College, one of the many colleges that make up Oxford University. The gardens were in gorgeous spring bloom! It was a perfect spring day, and we ended up staying for over an hour, exploring and then relaxing on the grass. Visiting Balliol is one of my favorite memories of our trip so far. These are a few of my favorite photos (out of about 100!).

Reading the hymnbook in the Balliol chapel. They’re both beginning readers, so they have been trying to decipher signs and books everywhere we go on this trip.

After Balliol, we walked across the street to visit Blackwell’s, a huge and incredible bookshop. When I was a summer student, I spent many hours studying and reading inside the Classics section or the cafe there.

We walked on to Christ Church Meadow on our way to visit Magdalen College. The kids were enjoying a precious hot chocolate that Elliott had purchased for them in Blackwell’s. He rarely buys them anything sweet, so they were savoring every sip!

A view of the Christ Church Cathedral from the Meadow.

Approaching Magdalen College now. All the trees in bloom…!

Inside the cloisters of Magdalen College. Years ago I went up to the top of that tower with some friends. The key to enter was about 10 inches long.

The deer park in Magdalen College.

We walked through the grounds to the meadow behind the college. The story goes that Lewis and Tolkien used to walk together around the meadow here, feet crunching on the path as they discussed faith and life.

This beautiful old house reminds me of Toad Hall from The Wind in the Willows!

I used to come back here to the meadow and quiet gardens behind it as a summer student to read and study. What a gloriously beautiful place!

If you are in need of grit, Magdalen College has some.

Magdalen College’s boats being gathered up for the night. I wish we could have hired a punt boat and taken the kids around the River Cherwell in the meadow; I have fond memories of doing that with friends as a summer student. We’ll have to save that for next time… maybe when they can all swim!

And that was the end of our lovely day in Oxford. Have you been? Which little nooks and crannies are your favorites?

To see Part 1 of this series, click here!

Jet lag is no joke, and it is especially rough when your kids are waking up right as you parents are just ready to go to bed. Ugh. However, I shouldn’t complain, as the kids crashed at their usual bedtimes, and Forest and Gil only caused trouble between 10pm-12am. We all slept in late the next morning!

Our friends have a wonderful playroom for their young son, but even more wonderful was this gadget…

… their amazing coffee machine which made me a cappuccino each morning! Or maybe more than one cappuccino, hah. I now know what I would like for Christmas, dear Elliott.

My friend also had bouquets of gorgeous spring flowers all around her home, and more carefully nurtured blooms in her garden outdoors. What a gift to enjoy such generous and beautiful hospitality from old friends!

While Elliott worked from home and Forest napped, Lena, Gil, and I walked into the little town of Gerrards Cross, admiring the gorgeous homes in the neighborhood along the way. They all had such English names and windows and gardens.

After a requisite stop in the town’s bookshop, we walked home and decided to go to a nearby “farm park” for the afternoon. This turned out to be one of Elliott’s greatest ideas ever, as it was just the right level of activity for the kids, low-energy activity for the parents, and cuteness all around.

We need farm parks in the States! This one had a barn with adorable newborn animals to meet and feed, three huge outdoor playgrounds, a crazy indoor playground, delicious cafe, maze, tractor/hay ride, mini tractors and go karts for kids to drive themselves, and even a mini golf course. We stayed for 5 hours and could have stayed much longer!

Not so sure about the chickens. He cried every time they moved!

He seemed to like the Silkie chickens best, just like his dad does.

Sheep in the background!

I laughed out loud when I saw this photo because this is exactly how I felt about this time. We were sitting in bleachers waiting for the kids to give baby goats bottles of milk (!), and I was literally falling asleep on my feet, swaying slightly and catching myself just before losing my balance. Yikes! Where’s the cafe and a giant cup of coffee?!

I am sure this is why Forest has a runny nose now… ugh. But how could I resist letting him try out an old-fashioned ball pit, and how could he resist a taste?

The older kids were off on a massive indoor playground, like a Chick-Fil-A indoor playspace x1000. If you want to see Lena taking on a slide with a 15-foot vertical drop, check out this video. I had sweaty palms while watching her!

Falling asleep in my arms… one of the sweetest moments for a mother at the end of a wonderful day.

More to come. :)