Time passes

Has it really been a month since my last post? Geesh... time flys...

What have we been up to... Well let's see...
1. Grandma Llewellyn and Aunt Mandy visited
2. Sophie's 1st international trip to the Netherlands for the Tulip festival
3. Grandpa Llewellyn and Me ma Cathy visited
4. Cousin Jim and Donna Spillman visited
5. Sophie's 2nd international trip to Belguim

6. Uncle Dave and Aunt Anjel visited


Wow! That's a lot!  And we aren't slowing down in the least...
Next up we have the:
1. Queen's Diamond Jubilee parties
2. Celebrating our 1 year anniversary of moving to England
3. Welcoming Mike's Uncle who is moving to England
4. 7 day road trip to Ireland with Pop pop Pat
5. A little Olympic Action
6. And possibly a trip to Rome

Sophie is now 7 months old and growing like a weed! She is crawling like a champ and already trying to walk. She is very busy exploring and mastering all that life has to offer a little baby. Brian the dog has found a new hobby of chasing cows. A great example of city dog gone country.  Mike is getting over a 3 week sickness. And starting to train for a 60 mile bike ride that is happening in 3 weeks. I'm getting back to my schedule. Teaching yoga 2 days a week and raising this baby.

Next week marks 1 year we have been in England. Wow! Time keeps on slipping... slipping... slipping.. into the future.

It's the simple things

Ely dog walk

Like how shopping carts are called trolleys and don't just move forward and back but can go any which way.  Or how you can always find a market. Or how the bushes are called hedge and they are always nicely manicured. 

It's been a month since my last post and things have been adding up. We haven't been sitting around. Although some weekends are great when we do that. I love snuggling as a family on Saturday or Sunday mornings. It's the best! But we have been on the move and preparing for journeys that will come.

Sophie and Brian in our backyard aka Garden

With Spring and our 1 year anniversary of moving to England fast approaching Mike and I started thinking of all the things that we will miss when we leave England. It's amazing how fast you become acquainted with a place and make it your home.  Now we take things for granted that we see as daily life.

Like how a vacuum cleaner is called a Hoover. No matter what brand it is.  Or how a Stroller is called a Pushchair, Pram or Buggy. Or how you can get tea no problem anywhere! Life is a little slower and everyone seems to enjoy themselves. Garden center's have more than just plant supplies and nothing like Home Depot! Picnics are a daily activity on a nice day, and let's not forget tax free shopping on the base.

Ely dog walk

It's been 10 months and a new job and a new baby since we left the US and just now am I realizing that it will be hard to leave all this behind in 3 to 5 years. (there I go thinking of the future again) I already think about the friends we have made here and miss them. Don't get me wrong I miss everyone from home too. And I can't wait to come back to the states to see our family and friends.  But it's so interesting when you leave your comfortable home to travel outside of your comfortable box.  Maybe you'll learn something interesting about a culture. Like when you order water sometimes it's assumed you want sparkling water.  Or if you want a pickle and cheese sandwich it's not always pickled cucumbers that are the pickles. And the cheese is almost always shredded. Or why almost everyone wears a red poppy pin.

So now we have broken in living abroad and at first it was hard. But given the opportunity to go any where else in the world, we will take it. After living in the same place for 29 years I almost regret not living and experiencing other cultures. Not that I'm any smarter for living in a different country but now I'm beginning to understand a different group of people and a different set of traditions that will ultimately shape our family.

I have a feeling that I will barely make a dent in my personal goal to see as much as I can before I die. But at least I can say that I tried and I wasn't afraid to take those first steps.  And with any luck, Sophie will learn that she doesn't have to be afraid either.

Priorities!!!

My priorities are....

1. Baby 

2. Dog

3. Husband

4. Planning Travel

5. Teaching 

6. Self

So recently I've been getting up at 7am to walk Brian while the baby sleeps.  I wouldn't say it's a routine yet but I'm hoping that it will turn into one. Poor Brian has been suffering in the priority scheme and I decided to move him up a notch.  After all he is our 1st child and deserves some attention. So for the last 3 days I have taken him on an hour early morning walk.  Some days are harder than others considering that I haven't been getting much sleep lately.  But after getting some crisp English air in my lungs and walking it out for an hour, I get home and feel great! And I find I get more done too. And I'm eating better.

With a lack of sleep comes a lack of caring what goes into my mouth. And when I'm tired I eat more often and less than healthy things. But after waking up and walking it out it seems like my head is clear and I can think quicker.  It's nice. I hope it stays a habit.

Now if I can only shake that afternoon sleepy time... Oh, and Sophie is 4 months!

Glastonbury - Fact or Fiction???

Fact or Fiction?!?! 

St. Michaels Tower

We hit Glastonbury on the way home from Devon. Glastonbury is situated in Somerset near Bath and was once a very big religious town. It rivaled Canterbury. I bet you didn't know that. =)  Any way, Glastonbury has been a tourist hub for centuries. Their claim to fame is that Joesph of Arimathea, Jesus's Uncle, came here and brought with him the Holy Grail (of the cup from the last supper).  Here he started the First church.  True or not, Glastonbury is cashing in on the tourists!  Supposedly the cup of Christ is in the Well here and the spring now has healing powers. We didn't try the water but a bunch of people were.

From the Top

There is a huge Tor in Glastonbury too. And the St. Michael's Tower sits a top it.  St. Michael is typically used on old Pegan sites but this tower is amazing and has a great view from it. 

The view

The other claim to fame is that King Arthur and Queen Genevieve are buried in the Abbey ruins here.   Now we know that King Arthur was an English legend but the Abbey believes that he was real and that his body is now buried in their ruins.  This could have been a push for more tourism after Canterbury became more of a religious hub.  


In any case, fact or fiction... Fact! The Archbishop of Glastonbury questioned King Henry the 8th during the dissolving of the churches and because of that he was hung on the Tor and quartered and the Abbey that was situated in Glastonbury was turned to ruins.  You would think then that this place wouldn't be a hub for spirituality but alas it is. Lots of friendly people and every spiritual practice you ever thought of can now be found here. Take a tour of the abbey ruins, drink the healing spring water, climb the Tor or get your cards read. 

All in a day...                                     

Stone Circles

There are so many Bronze age sites in England! Stonehedge is not the only one and after this weekend I would say that it's not the best by any means. I am actually really disappointed with Stonehedge. It's situated off a highway and you can't even walk up to the rocks without a special tour. There are so many other stone circles in this country. Why not find a different one?!?! PS - most of the others are FREE!!!

I think Avebury is a great stone circle site and it's a lot bigger than Stonehedge. This past weekend we encountered another really good one called Scoreshill in Dartmoor National Park.  Completely secluded and off the beaten path. You really need a guide to tell you where this one is. Here are some pictures of it.

Oh, and now Mike has another opinion on what stone circles were used for... He thinks it's a highway system. I guess an engineer would think that. =)

Dartmoor National Park!

Dartmoor

Pony in our car!

If you know us then you know we love love love the Rick Steve's guide books.  He's a corky guy from Seattle and helps American's travel through Europe on a budget and smartly. Any way, before we left the US we picked up his England book so we have slowly been marking off his suggestions throughout our stay here.   In his England book he recommends going to Dartmoor. It's the Moors of England. With free roaming sheep and ponies. And beautiful blooming heather in the summer.

So we checked it out on an all day driving tour of the area. It is amazing! Hard to get to without a car but amazing to see. I'm always wondering how in the heck this little Island has so many different looks to it? We live in swamp, Southeast England has While Cliffs, Southwest England has tropical climates, woods and mountains and a bustling city too. How does this country pack so much into one?  And now I can see why some English people never leave their country. Because they don't need too... It's all here!

stone row

Any way, back to Dartmoor!  In this national park there is tons and tons of hiking! They have Tors! Which is a Celtic word meaning hill. It's a hill that is naturally interesting to look at. Lots of rocks!  One is famous and mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes books, it's called Hound Tor. And Haytor is the most famous. From the top you can see to the coast. Absolutely amazing!

Mike is a burial site

Dartmoor is littered with little mountain towns with little interesting things in them. Lots of history. During the bronze age there were a bunch of civilizations located in Dartmoor but the climate changed and these settlements were then abandoned (probably 1200BC).  And with any Bronze age settlements comes.... STONE CIRCLES!!! (more on them in a later post). Dartmoor is littered with stone circle huts, stone ritual circles, rows of circles and burial sites.  All the things that I'm interested in on my quest to see the oldest things in human history. =)

on the bridge

In additional to Bronze age things we also saw a medieval bridge. Super neat and fun to see how stone has been used throughout history as a building material.  Oh, and the real distinctive difference between this area and the rest of England is the rows and rows of hedge (or bushes) on either side of the street. Mike is convinced that he will be making hedge where ever we live.

Devon

Devon the English Riviera!

Our adventure starts like all adventures with a ton of planning. Devon is a pretty big part of England and it's Southwest of the Country. It's not as far as Cornwall but pretty darn close. It's a temperate climate and with some warm air hitting it there are lots of plants that you wouldn't believe could grow in this country. We decided to start our adventure on the South coast of Devon! Really we just wanted to pretend it would be warmer and more tropical since it's been so cold here.

On this trip we decided to check out the National Trusts cottages so we rented one so we could take Brian the dog along and have a good home base.  It was great! The cottage was so cute and we got a real taste of English cottage life. It had everything except for internet. =( But that was fine for the weekend.

The National Trust is a non-profit organization in this country that obtains large properties (usually from Wills) and then opens them to the public.  It became a common practice since the inheritances tax is so high that families couldn't keep with the up keep of a property.  These properties are huge! Like mansions or castles! And they are so amazing that this organization was started so that the houses wouldn't become ruins. Any way, it's a great way to see some neat places.

So South Devon... Is beautiful! It has coastal waters, cream tea's, seafood, and lots of beautiful people. We spent lots of our time hiking and walking to the coast on the first day. Just seeing the Ocean was amazing. In Dartmouth Bay we saw some dolphins making their way through the waters.  It was amazing!

The second day we hit the Dartmoor National park which is situated further in Devon. More on that in a later post.