A visit to Wales

Faced with the August Bank Holiday (which somehow we had managed to forget about), we quickly decided to take a last minute trip to Wales.  The first time we were in Wales, I was 7 months pregnant with Evie and we stayed on a farm in the Brecon Beacons. It was breathtakingly beautiful so we decided, with our two kids in tow, to head back that way.  This time we stayed in Porth Mawr, Crickhowell in a self-catering flat on the bottom floor of a big house.  Our neighbors were four pigs that were so ugly they were cute.  It was great fun to feed them our fruit and vegetable scraps and they were enthusiastic about getting to know us and would squeal with anticipation at our approach.

Wales is known for being a very rainy place, but we got lucky and had a lot of sunshine (unlike our Welsh beach glamping trip which was mostly rainy and cold).  We took advantage of the nice weather by getting out into nature as much as possible.

This is what happens when you take two city girls out into the country:

And this is what happens when the city girl doesn't want to walk anymore. Lots of exercise for me!

We took an easy and beautiful walk along a canal, where friendly people floated by in their houseboats and waved.  We definitely want to have a houseboat adventure at some point. 

We splashed around in a creek and later got caught in a torrential downpour, while darting across a field full of horses.

Everyone was a little worn out after our walk, so lunch in a pub was required (sorry for the lack of detail in this blog---it's been a while since August!)

The next day, after a good night's rest and multiple pig feedings, we headed to Pen Y Fan, the highest point in South Wales and Southern Britain.  Well supplied with a packed lunch and lots of snacks, we started our ascent (me, with Millie on my back).

The sun was shining and there were lots of other people heading up--some of whom made it and some of whom didn't.  There were points when I wondered if we would make it to the top, I have to admit.

Especially once Evie decided she needed to ride on Jim's back! After about 25 minutes, she was back on the ground again. It's no easy feet to walk up a small mountain with a 45 pound child on your back! 

Taking a lunch/snack break:

At this point, we were getting there, but still had a long way to go:

But we made it!  All around us people were looking pleased with themselves and enjoying the spectacular views.  There were some steep drops off of the top and some daredevil hang gliders were taking some pretty treacherous leaps out into nothingness. The spectators would run from one side of the mountain to the other to watch these crazy people go hurtling towards the ground, only to catch some wind at the last second and coast to a stop at the bottom. It was really scary!

The girls mapped our route back down:

Meditating:

And at the end, a well deserved ice cream cone for all:

Random shots from our first rainy afternoon.  This was the playground! What a view!

Every time I visit Wales, I want to move there (this happens a lot during our travels).  The people are nice and the scenery is spectacular and the kids love the space and we all enjoy the peace and quiet.  We'll definitely go back again some day!

A visit from Mom and the Olympics!

After so many years (almost six!) Jim finally could celebrate the culmination of his hard work in the form of the Olympics! Mom arrived on the day of the opening ceremony and we all settled down to watch it on TV, even though it started way too late for our crowd and lasted way too long.  It was a proud moment for everyone and we actually liked the controversial NHS scene of the opening ceremony.

Mom was in town to house sit at a beautiful and spacious house not far from us, so we took advantage of visiting her as much as possible.  House sitting for people with a nice house is definitely a good way to get out of having to sleep on the couch in the living room of your daughter's small flat!

The garden was amazing. 

We also took advantage of visiting our old hood and its extensive Farmer's Market: Queens Park (not really our old hood...but not far from it!)  The farmer's market there is full of delicious local fare: fish, cheese, veggies, fruit, eggs, poultry, meat, salsas, lots of bread and premade meals.  Plus there is a fantastic playground in the park. There are so many parts of London that I want to be in all at the same time.  Unfortunately, they are all still slightly cold and rainy most of the time.

 

 But the real excitement was the Olympics. We were lucky enough to get two tickets to go see the USA's women's basketball team play, so Jim and Evie hopped on the train and headed to the Olympic park.  Being American and English (in spirit, at least), Evie was slightly confused about who she was rooting for, but eventually she decided to support Team GB.  Luckily both countries have the same colors in their flags, so it was easy for her to be patriotic about both in her red, white and blue.

 

 

 Having never had the opportunity to visit Jim's work before (construction site=no kids), Evie, I'm sure, thinks her Dad has the coolest job ever.  

 

 

 

 

 Smelling the flowers in Daddy's gardens:

 

 And hiding in the grass (by the time I got there the grass had been trampled by picnickers, which was unexpected by the landscapers, but turned out to be really a nice touch....and very British to boot)!

 

 

 Having a rest in the Great British Garden:

 

 Tadpole pond:

 

 Showing her team spirit:

 

 Enjoying the "Henman Hill" style view of the Olympic events in the park.

 

 And finally, the main event!

 From what I hear, Evie's eyes had glazed over within two minutes of the game starting...

 So back outside they went to fly their flags!

 

 And to climb on artwork with huge signs in front of them stating that climbing on the artwork was not allowed (not pictured to protect the innocent. Evie can't read):

 

 

 What a day!

 

Back at home, the rest of us waited in anticipation to hear about it all (and to also wrap ourselves up in flags, Olympics style):

A few days later it was my turn to visit the Olympic Park--for swimming!  I, unlike Evie, have been on the park more times than I can count and saw it when it was just a pile of rubble. While I never could muster the enthusiasm and excitement about the construction site that it was, I was pretty excited to see it finished (finally)!  And to get there, Jim took me through the rejuvenated Hackney Wick area, which is full of really funky art galleries and coffee shops.  And random graffiti.

Despite my extreme jet lag, I managed to rally (somewhat):

And enjoyed the random acts of art along our walk from train to park:

A lot of thought went into the landscaping and design of the park--not least the benches.  Here is one of 'Jim's' benches from Holland (if I remember correctly):

Victory!

While I'm proud to be an American, I'm not typically a flag waving one...but there is something about the Olympics that brings out the patriotic in a person (and I should note that I'm the only one in the family who stayed up long enough to cheer for the American athletes as they came into the stadium during the opening ceremony).   There was no question, despite my lack of red white and blue outfit, which team I was cheering for!

Sorry, but the mascots were weird:

Evie isn't the only one who can't read, apparently:

Standing in Jim's garden with Jim's big, fancy solar powered, wind power generating halo lights in the back ground (and that DNA looking monstrosity):

The flowers really were spectacular:

At the main event, we saw Michael Phelps win his 19th-21st medals.

I enjoyed the close up view of the male swimmers through my binoculars:

Jim enjoyed the multicolored Olympic stadium at night:

We also had tickets to the women's marathon, which Jim graciously bowed out of so that Mom could go.  Despite a torrential downpour and then a small mother/daughter spat during which I threatened to leave Mom in Green Park by herself (with Evie), we had a good time cheering for all of the amazing runners.  The Americans weren't too shabby!

Summer in England is the best...even when it's raining.  Who doesn't love sitting in green and white striped lawn chairs?

In fact, we were having freakishly good weather during the Olympics and beyond. It was sunny and warm(ish) and we took advantage of it by extending our forays into the outdoors at Kew Gardens.

Millie was fearless in the treetop walk, which gave the rest of us the heebie jeebies:

And later, a little grumpy and in need of a snuggle with her beloved Daddy:

There were some pretty spectacular birds wandering around Kew Gardens...

And a good time was had by all!

Mom has always been eager to take a boat down the Thames so finally, on her last visit, we did...and we brought some friends!

On the Hungerford Jubilee Bridge en route to the Southbank:

The boat arrives!

For some reason, Mom didn't sit with us....

Olympic rings hung from Tower Bridge.  Seeing London from the Thames IS pretty cool!

When forced to sit in real seats, the best ones are always next to Lala.  Then we got yelled at by the boat porter for taking too long to get off the boat with all of our strollers and kid gear.

In Greenwich, things were hopping. Our group gave the Greenwich scene five thumbs up!

Don't worry: that sign says you can't climb the art, but nothing about touching it.

After we wandered into a vintage clothing and accessories sale, the girls came out looking even lovelier:

But their beautiful headgear made Rufus a little uncomfortable:

And now some more Olympic Park Scenes for your viewing pleasure:

More pictures of the amazing halo lights!  We have about 6000 different photographs of the halo lights in various stages of erection and weather on our computer.

The Queen's boat: