Whitby

A couple of Saturdays ago, we took a drive to the coastal town of Whitby. Whitby is located on the eastern shore of England, just north of Scarborough. Bram Stoker helped make this coastal town well-known by selecting it for the setting of his book, Dracula.

We couldn't have chosen a more perfect day to go to the seaside. The skies were clear and the sun was strong. We began our day at Whitby Abbey which is located on the cliffs overlooking the North Sea. Whitby Abbey was originally founded in 657 AD, attacked by Vikings in 867, rebuilt, and then later destroyed by Henry VIII in 1540. As you can see, the ruins that remain are very photogenic (as are my cute kids!).After a nice picnic lunch near the abbey, we took a stroll down to the village of Whitby. As you can imagine, being a coastal village, Whitby has a strong history in fishing, whaling, shipbuilding, etc. We headed straight to the beach, where the children enjoyed wading in the chilly North Sea.After the beach and some ice-cream, we spent some time window-shopping. We finished up our time with dinner at a restaurant that had been voted a favorite by the locals called Mister Chips. And what did we eat for dinner? Seafood chowder and fish-n-chips, of course! It was the freshest fish-n-chips we've had!

We left with the sun setting on the abbey. A beautiful day....

My Baby is One!

Yes, it was a year ago today, almost to the exact minute, that my sweet baby Collin was born! The year has been very full and yet it has gone so fast. And I feel like I'm on an emotional see-saw of sorts, wanting to celebrate his first year of life, and mourning the fact that I am through with the baby stage of life. Will I always be this depressed on his birthday?

Anyway, Collin is doing so well. He he happy and healthy, and I am still as in love with him as the day he was born. He started walking a few weeks ago, and his record stands at 11 consecutive steps. Collin continues to be an incredible explorer (this is my nice way of saying that he gets himself into trouble a lot!). He LOVES going into the cabinets, etc. and pulling out as much as he can. It only takes a moment for him to make a monumental mess. For example, he found my pile of coupons last week, and this is what my kitchen floor looked like 5 minutes later!Collin seems to be talking more emphatically nowadays with lots of "google-ly, google-ly, goo" kinds of words. He has the sounds for "Ma-Ma" and "Da-da", and we even got a "bye-bye" out of him once. We're also pleased that he's started using some of the sign language we've been showing him (ex. "all done" and "bottle/milk"), although he doesn't use it much.

Collin enjoys playing with toy cars and trucks, and he can already jump on our little trampoline (it has a handle). He likes looking at books, but is almost like the Gong Show when it comes to reading time. You can start reading a book to him, but if he doesn't like it or gets bored of it, he will take it from your hands and throw it on the floor. Collin's favorite toy by far is his Curious George. It melts our hearts when he grabs and hugs George... his buddy.

We had a small party for him here the other night. We invited our friends the Kollepps and Dales to help us celebrate. Here is the cake I made for him. It was certainly cute, but not nearly as messy as a cake should be for a one-year old since I used fondant. Oh well.I cannot bear to think about my post a year from now or I will start crying. For now, I will try to enjoy my sweet baby Collin (who, no matter how big he gets, will always be my baby) as much as I can. Happy Birthday Collin Frederick! We love you!

Rootin' Tootin' Car Bootin'!!

After living here for a little while, one day it hit me that nobody has yard sales around here. I LOVED going to yard sales back in America! I always enjoyed rummaging and getting a good deal! So, you can imagine how disappointed I was to see that the Brits didn't have them.

But then one day, I saw a sign for a "Car Boot Sale." (The "boot" of the car is the trunk, by the way.) I was delighted to discover that this was the British version of a yard sale! Car boot sales are usually hosted by the local cricket clubs. So basically, anyone who has things to sell packs it all up in their car, and for a small fee to the cricket club, they can sell their wares out of their "boots"!

I've been trying to go to one of these car boot sales for a while, but they are usually held on Sunday mornings when we are at church. But, two Mondays ago was a Bank Holiday Monday in the UK, and our local cricket club held its own car boot sale!
I went with the kids, and had to pay 50p for admission for myself. There was a good assortment of items... basically the kinds of things you would find at yard sales in the US. I bought a sweater for myself, a book, mini-telescopes for the kids, and some shoes for Collin. But, my best purchase was a huge bag filled with potatoes for just one pound! What a deal!

I hope to do some more rootin' tootin' car bootin' again real soon!

Hill Top

Two Saturdays ago, we took a day trip up to the Lake District. We had spent a few days there last summer, and it was just breathtaking. Since it's about a 2 hour drive from here, we thought we would make a day of it this time.

We got an early start and headed up with a picnic lunch packed. We thought we would try to go see Beatrix Potter's house first, so we programmed that into the GPS. Hill Top (the name of B. Potter's house) is located on the western side of Windermere which is the biggest lake in the Lake District, and we were coming from the southeast. We became a little unsure of our GPS as it seemed to be taking us more north than we expected. We soon figured out that the GPS had included a ferry ride in our route right across the lake! Here is what the GPS looked like as we crossed the lake. As you can see, it looks like we are driving into blue!Soon after our ferry ride, we made it to Hill Top which is located in the village of Sawrey. Here is a picture of the fields across the street from Beatrix Potter's house:Beatrix Potter purchased Hill Top Farm in 1905 with the royalties of her first few books, including The Tale of Peter Rabbit. (By the way, if you haven't seen the movie Mrs. Potter with Rene Zellweger, I do recommend it.) She split her time between London and the Lake District for about a decade, during which she continued writing and illustrating her "little books". Many of her illustrations were drawn right at Hill Top which makes visiting there such a treasure. (notice the front door!):
When we first stepped inside the house, we were greeted by a friendly volunteer who handed the children each a copy of a Beatrix Potter book called The Tale of Samuel Wiskers. The volunteer quickly opened up to this page, and pointed to the matching furniture in the room. She told us about how this story was inspired by a family of rats that had infested Hill Top, and she even pointed out the rat hole and furniture that the rats had gnawed on!

In each room we were greeted with more books open to pages that included something illustrated in the room. It was so much fun looking around and matching the illustrations with what we were looking at. My favorite experience doing this was in one of the upstairs rooms where there was a dollhouse. Now, my favorite Beatrix Potter book is The Tale of Two Bad Mice. In this book, there are two mice that go into a dollhouse one afternoon and are so delighted to find such lavish furnishings and food. On one page, they try to carve a ham that they've found, but they cannot slice it because it is fake, of course. I always loved that part of the book, and here in front of me was the little ham that Beatrix Potter had drawn for that page. It is such a simple thing, I know, but seeing that dollhouse ham just made my day!

Outside, we were able to take a stroll through her lovely garden. I took a picture of the kids here with the house in the background that can clearly be seen drawn in the book, The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck. And how delighted we were to see a bunny in the garden; our own little Peter Rabbit! I seriously had the thought "I wonder how much they pay this bunny to stay here!" But, I still fell for it like a desperate tourist and now have about 15 pictures of this little rabbit!
After we left Hill Top, we took a short drive to the next town over where there was a Beatrix Potter Gallery. There, we were able to see some drawings from her original manuscripts.

It was then time to enjoy some of the gorgeous scenery around us. We didn't have to drive very far to enjoy the views of some local mountains and lakes.We finished up at Coniston Lake where the kids enjoyed some time throwing rocks and sticks into the water, and of course, we found a pub from Ethan's "Good Beer Guide" for dinner.

It was a long day with the drive, but well worth it!

I Scream, You Scream....

A month or so ago, I posted a blog about the ice-cream stands that you can find at the local parks and such, and said how most of them only serve vanilla ice-cream, or maybe a few extra flavors.

Well, after we returned to England from our trip, my good friend Judy Dale (who's daughter Alex is Maddie's best friend at school) asked to take the kids and I on a "field trip." She wanted to take us to Brymor Ice-Cream, a local place that makes their own ice-cream and has LOADS of flavors.

We went together last Monday. It was about a 45 minute drive away, but WELL worth the trip! When we arrived at Brymor, we first made a stop to greet the baby calves.Next, we headed into the shop to see the flavors. I was not disappointed by all the choices. Was I in America? Oh no, that can't be.... in the US, you wouldn't find "Clotted Cream" as a flavor!

We made our selections: Maddie went for her favorite Vanilla, Tim tried out Cinderella (not really knowing what it was), and I opted for Chocoholic. Let me just say, we were not disappointed. Maddie's Vanilla was probably the best vanilla ice cream I've ever had. Tim's Cinderella (named that because it has "cinder toffee," which I had never heard of before) was scrumptious! Rich with toffee flavor ice-cream and bits. And my Chocoholic was amazing! It was a rich, chocolate ice-cream that had swirls of real white chocolate throughout. Is your mouth watering yet???

What flavor would you have chosen?