Grantchester

We made a spur of the moment decision to walk out to Grantchester. Originally, we were just thinking a walk would be nice, and maybe grab some ice cream at the end, but it turned in to way more fun than that.

It's a few miles out to Grantchester (2.2 according to Google Maps), but it is a lovely walk along the River Cam and through the Grantchester Meadows. Henry really enjoyed seeing all of the cows ("maa maa!" he said. We're working on the "oo" sound.) and we let him walk a good portion of the way once we hit the pastures. He does a really good job keeping up, and he knows the rules are he must go in the right direction and he musn't stop to look at dirt and rocks and grass for more than a minute or two. I only had to pick him up once or twice to avoid some rather exciting Cow Pats (eww, gross). 

When we arrived, we headed straight for The Orchard. At the turn of the centure, the Bloomsbury Group and others, including poet Rupert Brooke, used to sit and have tea in the afternoon. Brooke even wrote about Grantchester in one of his poems. 

After taking a look, we decided we could splurge and have scones, jam, and clotted cream. Oh and our best purchase--a bottle of absolutely delicious sparkling Raspberry Lemonade. 

We found a table with some of the beautiful and very traditional chairs out in the apple orchard, and settled down to have our treat. Oh, the fruit scones were delicious, especially with the cream and blackcurrant jam!! Henry could have drunk the entire bottle of lemonade himself, I'm sure. He LOVED it. 

We had a really wonderful time, enjoying the weather and the atmosphere of The Orchard. Henry was far more excited about the lemonade, the accompanying straw, and the little jars of jam, but that's ok. We had so much fun. 

It's the moments like this that we really treasure. We snapped a lot of pictures, but we also just enjoyed each other's company and our beautiful surroundings. Derek and I watched Henry as he guzzled down the raspberry lemonade, kicked his legs in the chair, and told us all about the jam jars he was banging together. I love our little family, and I love that we can do these kind of things together. I wish we could have stayed longer, but I had a meeting to get to, and we weren't sure how much walking Henry would want to do on the way back, so we only stayed about 45 minutes. But those 45 minutes were sure wonderful! 

Windsor Castle

We visited Windsor Castle today! We were lucky enough to organize a day with Josh & Daly Brownlow and Aimee & Jonathan Smith, and our activity of choice was Windsor. It took us a while to get there, nearly 2 1/2 hours, but it was worth it.

I've been to the Castle twice before, both times in 2008 when I was in London for Study Abroad, but Derek and Henry had never been there. The castle and grounds are HUGE. Some of the photographs from the air really show how incredible it is, and even from the ground it is breathtaking.

When we arrived, we immediately found a cafe for lunch. We three girls were starving and starting to get cranky. It was a good thing we stopped! I thought Henry would wolf down his sandwich, but it turns out our Little Brute was far too exhausted--he was cranky the whole time, but the minute he got in his buggy and we walked away, he slumped down and went to sleep.

Because the Queen actually lives at the Castle throughout the year (usually weekends), you have to go through security to enter the grounds. We put our bags through the extra, pushed Henry through the body scanner thing (totally asleep in his buggy), and walked through ourselves with no incident. Whew! (Not that I was worried).

We had our audio guides, which were free and nice and informative. It was nice that Henry was asleep at first, because we got to enjoy listening to the guide for a while before we headed down to St. George's Chapel. Henry woke up just then--so a very short nap--and wanted to be held. Luckily, he was very good and quiet the whole time we were in the chapel. St. George's is the official chapel of the Knights in the Order of the Garter, and their crests are hanging in the choir. Henry VIII is buried there, along with George VI and the Queen Mother, along with a few other pretty important British Monarchs.

We three Brutons sat in the seats near the altar for a while, just enjoying the splendor and listening to the organ. I was again quite grateful for our mild and well mannered little boy--he sat right next to me and looked around, while examining my audio gadget. We are so lucky to have this boy!

Oh! And just before we went in to the Chapel, Henry met his first official Guard! So fun!

Anyway, after the chapel, we went in to the Castle to see the State Rooms and Queen Mary's Doll collection. (No photography inside, which is unfortunate, because Henry was so cute discovering the castle!)


Queen Mary's Doll collection and Doll House are AMAZING. Seriously! The Doll House is the size of our living room, not even kidding, with every little gadget and do-dad imaginable. I LOVE it. Henry really enjoyed looking at that as well--he pointed at all the different rooms and chatted about the dolls. The house has a little library, with miniature books, all of which have actual stories in them! If you pulled one from the shelf, you could read the story. That was my favorite room. (Daly did sneak a pic of this! and Derek snuck a few seconds of video--before I told him no photography. :D )

After the doll house, we made our way into the actual Castle to see the state rooms. Buggies are not allowed in the castle (stairs, etc.), so we turned ours in and got a pretty sweet hip seat for Henry to use. It went around my waist and had a little seat on it that he loved sitting on--for a while. :) Once we were in the Castle, he wanted to run around and explore--everything! Daddy chased him around for most of that, keeping him away from the roped off areas.

When we went in to the Ballroom, Henry was on Daddy's shoulders and oh--he was so excited about the three crystal chandeliers on the ceiling! He used the audio guide to point up at them and said "oh, wow!" a few times. It was so cute. He didn't really want to leave that room!

The other room he was pretty excited about, was St. George's Hall, where Royal Banquets occur. All over the ceiling, are the crests of the Knights in the Order of the Garter. If one of them commits a crime, or does something against the order, his shield remains on the ceiling, but it is whited out. Each shield is numbered, so you could actually inquire as to whose shields were whited out. How embarrassing!

Once we left the castle, we snapped a few more photos, bought some postcards, and then headed to the Long Walk. The Long Walk is part of Windsor Park, and was created in the 1680s by Charles II. It is over 2/5 miles, and stretches from Windsor Castle to The Copper Horse, which is near the Royal Ascot. It is double lined with beautiful Horse Chestnut. We took some snacks and sat down beneath one of the trees for a while to take a break. Henry ran around while we had water and snacks, before we decided to take a few photos and then be on our way.

Our last stop in Windsor was McDonald's, where Henry was delighted to consume a Chicken Nugget Happy Meal and get a new How to Train your Dragon  toy.

The train ride home felt much shorter than the way in--probably because it was! We didn't have to take a commuter train, which stops at every station on the way, so it cut nearly 20 minutes off our journey.

We had a wonderful time with our friends! I am sure going to miss having them around, and I know Henry will miss them, too.

 

**Some of these photos were taken by Daly. Thanks Daly!!!

Croquet at Pembroke

On our way home from town this afternoon, we decided to "cut through college." We went in through the front gate at Pembroke, Derek popped in and checked his pigeon hole, and we headed down Ridley's Walk to find a bench and enjoy some of the fudge we bought. While we were sitting there, we decided we fancied a croquet match.

Derek went to the porter's lodge, left his student card as collateral, and brought the bag of mallets, balls, and stakes back to the croquet lawn.

I think it goes without saying, but Henry LOVED it.

He hauled the mallets around, helped Daddy put in the stakes and hoops (wickets, in the U.S.). While we actually played a game, Henry toddled around after us, playing "caddy" with the mallets.

I must admit--as we were playing, I did miss all of our PKP friends from four years ago. Wish you guys were here to play with us!!

Corn on the Cob

Sometimes, it's tough to live on an island. A lot of the food we love to eat has to be imported. Generally, the packaging explains where our food comes from. Our grapes come from Egypt, our cantaloupe from the Philippines. You know, places like that. We didn't realize how incredibly spoiled we were to live in Utah, where a lot of food is grown locally or within a day's drive.

One of the things we have really missed this summer, is corn on the cob. Man, do we miss Hayward Farms stands!

I decided, however, that with how much Henry loves corn, he needed to have some off the cob. So, I spent the horrific amount of £3 for just four pewney little cobs so he could enjoy it.

He loved it!

But it took him a while to figure it out--even after we showed him. Once he did, he loved sucking off the butter we had slathered all over it and gnawing on the corn.

I think he really enjoyed just holding it!

This is a face I see a lot--he likes to turn his head like this and talk--cracks me up!

This is how he tried to eat it for a while..it worked, sorta. 

There we go!

Butter fingers!!

Hill Top Farm

Our primary objective in visiting the Lake District was to see Beatrix Potter's farm at Hill Top. Miss Potter purchased the house and 34 acre working farm in the summer of 1906 as an "artistic retreat." Lucky for her, it turned out to be just as inspirational as she hoped. The house, farm, and the villages nearby feature in several of her books, as well as the caretaker's family.

Personally, I found her home and garden to be devastatingly charming and perfect. I can see why it inspired her to write!

When Miss Potter left her farm to the National Trust, she left specific instructions asking for it to be left just as she would have known it. The decor, the dishes, the garden---everything in its place as if she were popping by that day to visit from her home in London.

We were lucky enough to visit Hill Top on a cloudy day, with a few drips of rain but nothing torrential or detrimental to a wonderful time in her garden. Henry loved watching the sheep and the bunnies, running up and down the stone pathway, and playing in the puddles. Daddy even showed him how to pick grass to feed to the sheep--though the sheep were more interested in chomping away at the grass in their pasture.

It was a dream come true for both me and Mom to visit Hill Top and see the spots where she gleaned her ideas for some of our favorite tales. In The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding, Miss Potter used her house as inspiration for the home of Mrs. Tabitha Twitchet and her three kittens. The National Trust kindly left copies of the book in the house with markers pointing out certain illustrations that were clearly of Hill Top farm.

I loved visiting Hill Top, and would definitely go back again.

notes: we weren't allowed to take photos inside. Dang. The inside of the house was beautiful and amazing, though! 

Also--SOOOO sad that some of the photos I was most excited about weren't completely in focus. :( How did that happen?!

And how did we not get video of me and my mom together? I have no idea. Good thing we got a photo or two. 

Sherwood Forest

On our way up to the Lake District, Henry needed to stop. Ok, let's be honest--we all needed a break from being in the car.

Just a couple of hours outside of Cambridge, we were in need of some lunch and a walk. And guess what--Nottingham was just an exit off the M6.

When we went around the roundabout and took, oh I think the second exit, we saw a sign: Nottingham: Robin Hood Country on the side of the road. Another sign and a glance at the Trip Adviser App, and we decided to try out the Sherwood Forest Welcome Centre.

Sherwood Forest is beautiful! At the Visitor's Area, there is a section of the forest that has been preserved and some gorgeous Oak trees that are several hundred years old. A 20 minute walk and we saw the "Major Oak"--an absolutely ginormous Oak Tree that has been around since, well, long before Robin Hood. Actually, one of the traditional stories is that Robin Hood and his Merry Men hid out near the Major Oak. Cool.

We bought Henry a wooden dagger in the shop, which he was beyond delighted with. He held on to it almost the entire time we were in Sherwood Forest, waving it about and using it to draw in the dirt. When he rode on Derek's shoulders, he tapped Derek's arm with it and used it to gesture at the many trees he was telling us about.

We were there about two hours, enjoying the beautiful trees, the ferns, and the dirt (ok, that was just Henry) an eating jacket potatoes at the restaurant.

A lot of people left reviews on the Trip Advisor App saying that it's lame, out dated, and not worth the stop. Well, yeah--if you are expecting Disneyland, it's going to be disappointing. But we were thrilled to see a few statues of Robin Hood and Little John, get Henry a fun new toy, and enjoy the beauty of an ancient forest.

As you can see by our photos and our video--we loved Sherwood Forest.

I really wanted to get Henry a Robin Hood hat--but he just wouldn't keep it on. So, we bought him a dagger instead. :D

Henry doesn't change his facial expressions as much as Nana, but I still love all 6 photos. lol

London with Nana--Take 2

Henry, Derek, and I took Mom in to London again yesterday. This time, we visited a few museums and then did some shopping. :) Fewer pictures this time, but that's ok. 

Our first stop was the Natural History Museum on Exhibition Road. The place was absolutely packed with school groups and families. June at the most visited museum in London, and a Friday nonetheless, isn't the best idea. We made it through the dinosaur exhibit and then the Mammals before deciding it was too crowded to have fun. We stopped at the gift shop, which was much more manageable crowd wise, and picked out a few fun things--including 2 dinosaurs for Henry! His first dinosaur toys. One from Nana (Brachiosaurus) and one from Daddy (Parasaurolphus). Poor Henry fell asleep in the shop and slept all the way to McDonalds. 

They have a life size animatronic T-Rex that was pretty cool, but difficult to get a good photo (top picture)

I know this is blurry, but i just love it. Henry has had a blast with Nana!

Yes--we considered letting Henry "pet' the T-Rex. 

We grabbed food at Mickey D's before walking over to Hyde Park to eat it. Henry sure enjoys his Happy Meals! He's pretty keen on the toys, too even though all they had were Hello Kitty ditties that I thought were super lame. Oh well--he loves them!

After eating, we went back to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain for some splashing about. We were wise this time, and brought a swim diaper, but the water was considerably cooler this time around. Henry wasn't quite as obsessed with staying in the water, but really wanted a friend to play with. Just when he started to warm up to a couple of kids, it was time to go. That fountain really is a wonderful place to play, though. I know that I would have loved it as a kid--heck, I love it now!

Anyway, we decided to go visit the V&A Museum of Childhood out at Bethnal Green. Poor Derek was still fighting off an infection, and decided London may have been a bit much for the day. So, he took the tube to Liverpool Street and headed back home to Cambridge. While we missed him, I did feel better knowing that he was going to have some quiet time to rest at home. 

The Museum of Childhood was pretty cool--but not one I would go out of my way to visit again. Henry, on the other hand, felt that he had died and gone to heaven. Oh, he could have cared less about the toys behind glass, but they had a few little stations with toys and a pretty incredible sensory display for kids. Lights, music, textures--he was running back and forth between things like a crazy man. Giggling and laughing the whole time. I think he could have stayed and run around for a few hours if we had let him!

A really cool train that Henry enjoyed watching go around the track

The toys and Sensory display

After the Museum of Childhood, we stopped at St. Paul's Tube Station and headed to the Museum of London. By far one of the hidden jewels of London, this museum has recently been updated and is A-MAZE-ING. Seriously. Interactive, beautiful displays, the use of all types of media is wonderful--it is a great overview of the city that I love. I was really pleased that we stopped there. Why I didn't take more pictures, I do not know. Oh wait--because I was chasing Henry up and down the exhibits. Seriously--in one section, he ran back and forth from one edge of the room to the other. It was quite insane. 

But really--you MUST visit the Museum of London next time you're near St. Paul's--definitely worth a visit. 

Our one photo from the Museum. Why didn't I take more photos?!

After the Museum of London, we walked along the Victoria Embankment to Trafalgar Square where we got some pizza at Pizza Express. Henry was a much happier camper after eating about half the pizza (serious--Mom and I each had 2 pieces, and he had 3). We talked to Papa on Skype in Trafalgar Square before heading in to Piccadilly to do some shopping!! 

Our shopping was the conclusion of the trip--we hopped on the Piccadilly Line back to Kings' Cross, then home to Cambridge. Overall, a really fun day in the city. 

P.S. Part of the reason I didn't take more video was because the lighting was really weird in the museums. I'm still figuring out my camera in that area, so sorry if these are a bit dark. I did adjust the ISO, for those of you who know about these things, any more tips would be greatly appreciated. :) So---I didn't put the video up on here. If you really want to see it, even if i don't like it, perhaps I could be persuaded. 

London with Jared and Ariel

On Monday, we took Uncle Jared and Aunt Ariel to London. Mama said they had to do her favorite walk before they leave England. I wasn't sad about that at all! It meant I got to ride on the train, ride on the tube, and walk through my favorite parks in London. I'm going to tell you the route as we go. 

First, take the tube to Westminster Station. 

Me and Mama waiting for a Circle Line train. I feel like we're always waiting for the Circle Line when we get to London!

I love holding on to the yellow hand straps!

The tube is a great place to catch up on the news. 

When you get off, make sure you take exit number 3. Mama likes this one because it's the exit she took when she saw Big Ben for the first time in 2008 (that was before I was born and when she lived in London). After you get out of the tube, say hello to Big Ben. Hopefully he will say hello back! This time, he said hello and told us that it was 11:15.  After that, walk across the street and take your picture in the telephone booth right across from Parliament Square. Mama says you have to wave to Winston Churchill as you go by him. I don't have a picture of him this time, but when you go, you'll see him. He's very big!

Uncle Jared and Daddy!

After that, head down Whitehall towards the Horse Guards. Usually, we cut  across their parade grounds, but they were busy today. Apparently they have a bunch of military bands coming from all over the United Kingdom to perform there this summer. Mama was pretty disappointed that the horses were all inside. I know that's one of her favorite parts of the walk.

Next, walk through St. James' Park and down the Mall towards Buckingham Palace! We stopped to have lunch by the lake in St. James' Park. There were lots of ducks, swans, and geese to see. I wanted to chase them all over the place, but mostly I wanted to get in the water and swim with them. I was not happy that the Queen had a metal fence put around the lake. I'll have to tell her what I think about that when we go to Buckingham Palace.

Right now, the Mall has Union Jacks hanging down both sides. I think it looks like a postcard!

We saw some guards at the entrance to St. James' Palace. They stand so still! On the end of their big guns, they have knives. Mama says these are bayonets. She also says it's very important not to be a "stupid tourist" and try to make the guards move or smile. I asked her why (because that sounds like fun) and she told me that they are working and we should be respectful. I decided that was a good idea and told everybody around us to leave them alone.

Once you reach Buckingham Palace, cross the street and go in to Green Park. This is the smallest of the Royal Parks, but a very important one. At the end of it, is Constitution Arch and Apsley House, where the Duke of Wellington lived. Mama told me that he was a big war hero. He defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo! That ended the Napoleonic Wars.

This time, we saw three horse guards on their way back to the Parade grounds. Mama thinks they are the same horses we saw when just she and I visited London in March. I think she's right--two black horses and one white horse.

After you go under the Arch, cross the street and go in to Hyde Park through Hyde Park Corner. Mama really likes this part, because on the corner is the rose garden. Right now, the flowers are so pretty!

I was REALLY tired at this point, so I leaned back in my buggy and took a nap. Daddy put Mama's jacket over me so it would be darker inside. That was nice, because it meant I could sleep even longer!

I like to cross my ankles a lot--Uncle Jared told me that he crosses his ankles when he sleeps, too!

Even though I was asleep, I know this walk like the back of my hand, so I can still tell you where to go next.

After you walk through the pretty gardens, you can either walk by the Serpentine and see the people on the paddle boats, or you can go to Speaker's Corner. Mama told me later that Aunt Ariel wanted to see Speaker's Corner, so that's where we walked. Speaker's Corner is where people can come and talk and talk and talk--they can tell people about anything they want to! Mama said that missionaries used to go and stand on a box and tell people all about the church. WOW!

I woke up as we crossed from Hyde Park in to Kensington Gardens, which is one of my favorite places. That's where Peter Pan lives! Mama said no trip to London is complete unless you have seen Peter Pan.

We finished the walk by getting ice cream by Kensington Palace. Mama usually likes to sit on a bench and watch people to finish off her favorite walk, but this time, the sun was shining lots, so we found some shade and sat on the grass. I liked that a lot because there were sticks to play with!

After we had ice cream and played with some sticks (and Mum and Dad changed my diaper. In the middle of the park! I was so embarrassed...) we decided to go to the British Museum. We don't have any pictures from the museum this time, but I can tell you what my favorite part was. In the room where they have all the stone carvings from the Parthenon, there was a big white fan just like the one in Mama and Daddy's room! I was so excited. I wanted to touch it, but Daddy said I would have to wait to touch ours when we got home. After that, the museum was just the same old same old.

***Mummy's note: Henry was pretty excited about the fan, but he did also really enjoy the Roman and Greek artifacts on the upper floor. We saw some amazing things, including some very old copper from Cyprus! Daddy's favorite part was a projectile for a sling shot that the Greek's used. On the back, they wrote: "Take That" in Greek. He thought that was awesome (and so did I!)


Then we decided it was time for dinner! We wanted to eat at a certain pub, called the John Snow, but they didn't allow kids. Lame. But I'll tell you why we wanted to eat there. Just a bit off Oxford Street, is an old water pump. In 1854, there was a huge outbreak of Cholera in London. A man named John Snow figured out that it was because somebody had washed a nappy in the water by this pump and contaminated it! Everybody who drank from this water pump, or touched it, got sick. It was a very important discovery! Daddy and Aunt Ariel both wanted their picture by the pump. Mama made Daddy wash his hands afterwards--just in case.

Anyway, since we couldn't eat at the pub, we grabbed some sandwiches at a Pret-a-Manger that was next door. I liked that better anyway, because Daddy got a smoothie. Of course he shared with me!

After dinner, we bought some Ben's Cookie's for dessert and walked back to Westminster. On the way, we walked through Piccadilly Circus!

We took Regent's Street back to the Mall from there. We could see the London Eye from St. James' Park--we headed in that direction.

On the street just before you reach Parliament Square, is the Institute for Mechanical Engineers! Daddy and Uncle Jared are both Mechanical Engineers, so Mama took their picture by it. Cool!

I was getting pretty silly at this point, because I was so tired but I still wanted to have fun. Mama says that I crack her up when I get like that--it's true! She just laughs and laughs, and so does Aunt Ariel! We wanted to take a couple of group pictures by Big Ben, so we stopped on Parliament Square and played for a while.

Of course we had to do a jumping picture, but we had a "whoops!" picture....Daddy let go of my hand!  I was laughing, and laughing, and laughing--I didn't know I should have been scared of Mama landing on me on accident--luckily she didn't!

In the end, we did get a really good jumping picture!

I had so much fun playing on the grass. I was getting so tired though--I was what Mama calls "slap happy." None of realized how late it was, because it was still light out! But when we looked up at Big Ben's clock tower and saw that it was almost 8:00 we decided we better hop on the tube and head back to Kings' Cross Station.

Our very last stop in London was Platform 9 3/4. Uncle Jared and Aunt Ariel wanted to see if they could go to Hogwarts--I told them that the train only comes on September 1st, but they didn't listen to me.

We had such a fun day in London! When we finally got home, I was exhausted and wanted to go right to sleep. Whew--being a tour guide is tough.

--Little Brute--