Monday, April 6 (Still in Scotland)
• Paul woke up early to drop off Mom, Dad, and Veep at the airport. They came in to hug me in bed before sneaking back to America. Haha! I miss them so much! AH!!! Then I got up to shower and attempt to pack the bags before the nuggets woke up. Paul was back earlier than I expected, so we got to eat a nice breakfast together, pack the car, and head to Downham to meet up with Rachael Pratt and her family!
• We walked around Downham (a one road town) and the kids waded in the creek. The Church was closed, so we couldn’t go in, but we had fun eating ice cream and looking at Pendle Hill.
• Next we hopped over the road to Chatburn where some of the saints were baptized. There’s a tiny little pool of water behind the Methodist Church. It’s part of the River Ribble, but it’s very quiet and peaceful in this little stretch. I loved the feeling there!
• Headed to the park on the River Ribble where the first baptisms in the UK took place. The weather was lovely, and there was a carnival at the park, so it wasn’t hard to imagine crowds of people out to watch the baptisms in the 1830s. We even found some Mormon Missionaries teaching at the park! Haha! And we saw the little garden where a plaque has been erected in honor of those early baptisms.
• We walked through the park over to Preston Town Square to dance around the obelisk! There were people in a restaurant clapping for us. Haha!
• We wanted to go to the temple and eat/chat with the Pratt’s, but we were pretty tired and hungry, and we were still 2 hours from home. We said goodbye and our little family ate at Nando’s. Everything exploded while we tried to eat-the girls were SOOO done. We crammed some food in and ran for the car.
• Got stuck in traffic, but we finally made it home! We put Rachel’s carseat up front with Daddy, and she liked looking out the window and laughing with Paul. (It’s legal over here as long as the airbag is turned off.) Slept in our own beds that night. WAHOO!!!
Tuesday, April 7
• Ate breakfast, packed up, and drove 4.5 hours to Cornwall! HAHAHAH!!! What were we thinking?? We stopped for lunch, and Rachel loved chasing the butterflies and putting flowers in my hair. The weather was warm and sunny! YAY!
• We arrived at a lovely beach house in Newquay (pronounced “New-key”) and the Beasley’s made a yummy dinner for us! So fun to see them again! We went on a little walk down to the beach, and Rachel had a blast throwing rocks in the water and playing “chase” with tide. The fog was SOOOO thick, you could hardly see the water from the beach! Crazy!
Wednesday, April 8
• Went to the BEACH!!! Wahoo!!! I was amazed at how much the tide changes. It was a bit windy, but we stayed reasonably warm with some gorgeous sunshine and lots of fun things to do. Paul made “Cartwright Castle”, Becca and Jacob dug out a sand boat, we all played “Boules”, and the kite attempted flight several times.
• Rachel loved to dig with her spade and fill up buckets with sand! She stayed busy all day! Dad had fun throwing her up in the air.
• We tried our first “Cornish Pasty” and loved it! (Basically dinner in a roll. Potatoes, meat, and vegetables cooked together inside a croissant type shell. They used to make those for the men to take to eat lunch while working down in the mines.)
• There was a sad accident where my phone slipped into a toilet and died a tragic death. Oh, there were tears shed. My iphone was from America, and I use it daily for pictures, texting, and facetime with my family! I was gutted. Luckily, Mike’s company was upgrading to iphone 6’s, so he was able to bring me back a used iphone 5 the next day!! It was about 1/3 of the normal price, so I’m trying to feel optimistic about the whole thing. I really only lost a few pictures, so all is well.
• I was struggling to keep it together, but the girls went down for naps, and I was able to go on a little date to the shops with Paul. Love that man. He never once made me feel bad about it, even though it was completely my fault.
• We ended the evening by making some “chicken good” for dinner and going for a swim in the pool and hot tub! Rachel went under the water with me a few times (a big deal for her)!
Thursday, April 9
• We had a lazy morning and went on a group walk to the park! The park was kind of lame, so we decided to keep walking into town and down to the harbor. It was lovely!
• Had lunch at “The Beached Lamb” which was DELICIOUS! We were so sick of heavy food and eating out all the time-this was a nice fresh meal! And we finished it off with some really yummy milkshakes!
• We took the scenic route home with a hike along the beach front. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing in the world with a double stroller on a tiny footpath, but we managed. Got some good sun!
• Becca and Mike made it home in great time, and we had a nice evening with everyone back together. We topped it off with cherry scones and clotted cream!
Friday, April 10
• We had a zillion things to do in the morning-Carol went to get last minute groceries, and we all helped get the dinner in the crockpot before we took off on our adventure!
• We all piled in the big van together and drove down to Land’s End. There were lots of little shops and a park with some fun nautical and British things to play on. Rachel loved the park! It was fun to walk around the shops, and looking out across the water, we were the closest to America we’ve been in 7 months! We sent some postcards to our parents, and I tried my first British donut! (Not quite like American donuts, but I actually liked it more than I thought I would!) We had more Cornish Pasty’s too! When in Cornwall…
• We drove to the Minack Theater next. It’s a gorgeous outdoor theater that backs up to the sea. We wanted to catch the kids show earlier, but since we missed it, we thought we’d go look around anyway. Well, they charge 4.50 a person just to walk around the theater! Silly. So we just looked around the beach and down the cliffs nearby.
• Next was Mousehole. It’s a tiny, adorable harbor village with a one lane road. Paul was SO worried driving that HUGE van down this little road-there were hardly any little turn off places, and the of the building were literally inches away on either side. AH!! But he did it! (I was ever so proud)
• We finished off the adventure with St. Michael's Mount. It’s an old church/castle built on top of a giant rock/island just off the southern coast. When the tide is out, you can walk along a cobblestone causeway to get across, but when the tide comes in, the water covers it and you have to take a ferry. It is a darling little island, and we had fun exploring and eating ice cream. We paused to be statues as well. On the way back to the car, we stopped to play at the most amazing playground. It was epic! I think I might need to go back…only 6 hours away. Ha!
• Finished off the day with some Cilantro Lime Chicken and a dip in the hot tub with Carol and Becca. Bliss!
Saturday, April 11
• Took forever, but we finally managed to get all packed up and out the door. We drove over to Padstowe, which is one of our new favorite spots in the UK. It is a small fishing village with some cute shops and a fun little market square on the harbor. We loved walking around in the sunshine, eating fish and chips on the benches, and trying some Cornish fudge! We could have stayed there all day. It was lovely!
• We hugged the Beasleys goodbye and headed back to Birmingham. We made great time, and we were actually excited to be going home! We had some wonderful adventures and learned a lot, but there’s nothing quite like sleeping in your own bed. I’m also really done nursing and changing nappies in a car. And Paul is so done driving a tank through one lane roads. Haha! We did it!!!
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