Other posts on this trip: Legoland Windsor, Liberty of London!, And All the Rest of Southern England, Center Parcs, Sherwood Forest, National Tramway Museum.
The last leg of our UK trip last month was up to stay with my in-laws in Derbyshire and spend some time running around the country and running around Sheffield (which is South Yorkshire).
Other posts on this trip: Legoland Windsor, Liberty of London!, And All the Rest of Southern England, Center Parcs, Sherwood Forest.
I have deadlines, and so many trip photos, but I really want to document what we did. This blog is my archive, so bear with me. I have two (or maybe three?) posts left to get out.
We just got home the other day from two weeks in the UK. We spent some time visiting my in-laws and hanging out as a family in various spots around England. Our first big outing was to Legoland, a first for H. She loved it, we had a blast running around Windsor! You could see the castle in the distance and everything.
Other posts on this trip: Manchester and Blackburn, Derbyshire, Sheffield, The Bakewell Show, Bristol, Bath, and Stonehenge.
Okay, this is the last of my posts on our 2 weeks of adventure introducing H to all of England. After we left Stonehenge it was time for a wedding! I’m not going to post a lot of photos from the wedding since it was Morgan and Katie’s own wonderful, beautiful day to share. But we do need to take a moment for H’s wedding outfit.
Read more on Travelogue, Tour of England: A Wedding, A Palace…
Other posts on this trip: Manchester and Blackburn, Derbyshire, Sheffield, The Bakewell Show.
We left Cora and Ian in Derbyshire on the evening of August 1st, a day before Ian’s birthday and after our afternoon at the Bakewell Show. Adam and I wanted to spend a day on our own, just the three of us, recharging a little and giving H some quiet time in between lots of meet and greets with all the family. After this break we were headed to London for Morgan and Katie’s wedding, a family reunion, and a few days with Adam’s dad and stepmom. So it was a great break in the middle of a great trip.
We made our way from Derbyshire down to the west coast of England, near Wales, to stay for 2 nights in Bristol. We got there around midnight, after spending about an hour trying to figure out which road would actually let us get to the hotel (lots of one ways and detours in Bristol). So it didn’t leave us any time for exploring Bristol that night, but we were up bright and early the next day to head to nearby Bath.
I really wanted to go to Bath because the Jane Austen Centre is there.
Read more on Travelogue, Tour of England: Bristol, Bath, and Stonehenge…
Other posts on this trip: Manchester and Blackburn, Derbyshire, Sheffield.
So the last day of our time with Cora and Ian was spent at the Bakewell Show. I don’t think Cora liked it very much, but I thought it was pretty awesome. I even bought a Union Jack umbrella for five quid that I had a great time getting into the luggage home. It’s now slightly bent, but it works!
We were greeted by local schoolgirls selling programmes (practicing my English spellings).
Read more on Travelogue, Tour of England: The Bakewell Show…
Other posts on this trip: Manchester and Blackburn, Derbyshire.
While we were staying with Cora and Ian we took a day on our own to head into Sheffield. It was a pretty late day, this family doesn’t get rolling until well after lunch. But we were meeting Adam’s friends Conrad, Richard, and Amanda for dinner. Cora had a (poetry I think?) class that night, so the three of us struck out on our own for the day and went in to meander around a little.
Other posts on this trip: Manchester and Blackburn.
I’ve had another meal prep marathon this week to get us ready for the start of the school year and my inevitable stress about that. So I haven’t posted any more about the trip yet, but the few days we spent in Derbyshire were full of awesome. And sheep grazing on quaint hillsides.
We headed to Cora and Ian’s house after our Sunday roast with Freda and took it easy. But the next day we headed to nearby Haddon Hall, a stately home that’s been the filming location of 3 Jane Eyre adaptations and several other great films like Pride and Prejudice. I actually just found out when we got home and I went to the website that this is Humperdinck’s Castle from The Princess Bride! Obviously, this is my kind of place.
I mentioned the other day that we all just got back last week from a 2 week trip around England. We covered 900 miles taking H to visit grandparents, meet cousins and aunts and uncles for the first time, and just start showing her around her other native land. It’s really important to Adam and me that H grow up knowing both the US and the UK, and this was the first of many trips overseas for her. It was kind of awesome seeing her first passport, with her little baby picture, get stamped for the first time. It made me feel so content, knowing all the amazing things this little girl will grow up seeing and doing.
And the best part was we survived air travel with her! We had some rough patches; leaving Newark we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours because of weather, and leaving London we sat for 1 hour because of traffic. H did NOT enjoy waiting on the plane, and I don’t blame her. None of us did. The seat belt sign was on the whole time because we’d left the gate, which meant she was strapped to me the whole time we waited. No diaper changes, no grabbing her bottle if she got hungry, and no putting her down anywhere. So, yeah, she cried and fussed. Coming home she actually howled (we were all pretty exhausted from travel by then). We flew British Airways and had a great flight attendant coming home who COULD move around the cabin, so she held H and rocked her, showed her all the people on the plane, and tried to help us keep her happy. She even held H at the end of the flight so we could get all our carry-on gear organized. Allie was great.
And once the plane was moving, H could not have been a better flier. She slept in her bassinet the whole time, flirted with all the other passengers, and was just an amazing little trooper.
We landed in London the morning of Friday, July 27th–the day of the Olympics Opening Ceremony. It was such a great atmosphere. Greeters and volunteers everywhere in the airport, and just everything feeling really excited and charged. We stopped at my father-in-law’s for lunch and then spent the rest of the day making our way in traffic from London to Manchester, the first official stop on our whirlwind tour. We got into our apartment 10 minutes into the ceremony, so we watched most of it while we got H and ourselves settled.
Morgan’s bachelor party was in Manchester, so while Adam went out with the brothers on Saturday H and I explored central Manchester and the Northern Quarter.
Read more on Travelogue, Tour of England: Manchester and Blackburn…
Can you design a nursery around an outfit?
Yes, my first non-resolutions post of the new year is about baby stuff. But seriously, I had to. Look at this:
I was at Janie and Jack the other day looking for a baby shower gift for a sorority sister. They were having a huge sale, and I just happened to see this London dress (hugely discounted). I cannot possibly overstate my excitement about this outfit, which of course had to have a pink cardigan to go with it. It was the only one left, and it was 6-12 months. This will either be H’s outfit for Morgan’s wedding in England in August (she’ll be 5 months and might just fit) or it will be her Christmas card photo dress. I am completely smitten with this whole little girl business.
