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Category Archives: Living in Europe

Look! I’m being true to my word. While it may have taken me until yesterday to share my spring photos, here I am, back today as promised, sharing all our photos from our lovely summer in England. I won’t add more words to the mix today, but I will say that this summer was pretty wonderful and I’m grateful we were here for it.

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Recently I got a note from a friend that said, “I miss your blog posts!” I miss them, too. Though I’ve had lots of “content” in the form of words, thoughts, and photos, what I haven’t had is lots of time. When we moved abroad I thought I would have more time to post and share, more to say, a clearer voice, more accurate words. But, the opposite came true – or at least in some ways. I often found myself without any words to share, directionless and distracted and fully absorbed in building us a life here and bringing a new baby into the mix. Over the past two years I kept writing, but I kept it to myself – filling pages and pages and pages of words and thoughts tucked away where they stay, at least for now. I will, however, be more present in this space moving forward, as there’s lots of things to share.

Today I looked at my day planner, like I do on Monday mornings just before or after our morning homeschool lesson, and I saw today’s date: August 27, 2018. Today marks two years in England. Two years ago, this morning, we were waking up in a bed and breakfast, and we had no idea what that day, or the next few years would bring. There have been many ups and many downs, though now we just find ourselves at that place in-between. We’ve started to let ourselves look forward towards the next chapter, towards going “home”, towards new goals and dreams and pages. There are as many unknowns on the horizon for us now as their were when we first arrived here.

It seems perfect that the weather has shifted in time with this personal transition for us, though we have many months left here – it feels like our time here is winding to a close. The months seem to zip by, in complete contrast to our first days and weeks and months here, when time felt painfully hard and slow and strange. It seems like the perfect time to share our photos from this spring (and summer in a post tomorrow) – of which there are many – as we head into our final autumn in England.

SPRING…

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I always start by saying that I’m hoping to find more time to write and share here, but that time seems hard to come by – in part because I’m using my free time to write and paint and read, and in part because I constantly have a not-quite-a-baby/not-quite-a-toddler climbing all over me (and all over everything else, including but not limited to the dining room table). So, here I am again at the change of one season into another and I’ve compiled lots of photos from our winter in England.

We spent all of the winter in England, saving up our money and travel time for when the weather warms up a bit this spring and summer. Kyle worked a lot (too much, really) this winter, but we did manage to explore some areas nearby that we’d been hoping to see. We spent a lot of time being cozy at home, and visiting our favorite “local” places like West Green House and The Beckford Arms

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My favorite thing we did this winter was stay a week in Cornwall. We stayed at a friend’s apartment in Padstow, the loveliest little seaside town…

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We traveled all around the Peninsula, visiting Tintagel which was one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been…

TRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINWe had a really amazing pre-Christmas celebration at Pendennis Castle where the girls danced to bagpipe music, met Father Christmas, painted marzipan, ate minced pies, and made wreathes while Kyle and I sipped mulled wine.

TRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINWe stopped in Mousehole (pronounced mao-zull) and bought ourselves the lovely childrens’ book The Mousehole Cat

TRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINWe drove through little harbors, to Land’s End, and back to Padstow during the most beautiful sunset…

TRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINWe visited Lanhydrock where the girls met a different Father Christmas, and played in the garden…

TRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILY CORNWALLPINOn our way back home we stopped at the Dartmoor Zoo, the zoo written about in the memoir (and made into the movie) We Bought a Zoo, and we got back home just in time to celebrate Roux’s first birthday, followed by Christmas, and then Gigi’s seventh birthday…

TRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINWe took a couple trips to our favorite place, the Jane Austen’s House Museum, and Chawton House

TRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINJanuary and February were for hibernating, enjoying any/all spring-like days that came our way, visiting our favorite spots, and spending a lot of quiet days at home just enjoying Roux – turns out babies make great dolls for big sisters.

TRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINTRAVEL ENGLAND FAMILYPINIn mid-February I turned 35, and to celebrate we spent four days having a wonderful “stay-cation”. We went on a day trip to Bath, and another to London, and then we spent a couple of days at home being cozy… the best gift was having Kyle home from work for two extra days…

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I’m just going to go ahead and state my intention that I will come back more often to share, but really, I’ll probably be back as this spring turns to summer with a lot more photos.

Barcelona, Spain has been on my travel list for a long, long time. At the beginning of November, Kyle sat down on the couch after the kids were tucked in bed, and said, “Would you want to go to Barcelona in a week?” Would I? YES! I booked are tickets, packed our bags, gladly accepted the Nuna Pepp Luxx travel stroller from the company for the trip, booked our long-term parking, and loaded up the car – all while Kyle worked like crazy to get things set at work so he could take a week off. His job can be so intense and stressful that when he takes time off he really tries to take the time off.  We set of for Barcelona with our walking shoes and appetites at the ready.

Our first day in Spain we decided to take in La Boqueria Market for some tapas to get us off on the right foot – from a culinary perspective. No offense to British food, but MAN were we ready for some flavor and salt! We dove right in – into glasses of sangria, plates of crackly fried artichokes and yielding croquettes. From there we just wandered. In fact, we spent most of our time in Barcelona just wandering. Kyle, our resident navigator, planned out our general paths for each day, but we veered from them often – especially for good food.

travel family kids barcelona spainPINtravel family kids barcelona spainPINtravel family kids barcelona spainPINtravel family kids barcelona spainPINtravel family kids barcelona spainPINtravel family kids barcelona spainPINTowards the end of the first day after we’d walked many, many miles, the outside of my left foot started to ache – by the time we made it back to the apartment in the evening I felt like I could barely walk. Kyle walked to the store for frozen peas to ice my foot and I sat with my foot elevated determined not to let my freakish injury spoil our adventure. The thing is, we love to walk and walk and walk all over the cities we are so fortunate to visit. I’m not a big fan of public transportation, but over the week there we utilized the metro and I literally used Roux’s new stroller as a walker/crutch. I hopped and limped and took too much ibuprofen, but was rewarded along the way with amazing but simple baguette sandwiches with serrano and tomato, churros dipped in chocolate, octopus dusted with , and plenty of jamón ibérico.

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Oh, and also with pan con tomate (which Gigi declared was the best bread in the whole world), incredibly light eggplant with molasses, and patatas bravas from Lolita Taperia (by far the best food we ate on our trip was from this place)!

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Walking and eating go so well together – even if your walking looks more like hobbling, and your eating looks more like over-indulging. We spaced out our time well in Barcelona, with one bigger activity in the morning, and less planned in the afternoon. We got a great tip in the few days before we left to book ahead for the main attractions – The Sagrada Família, Picasso Museum, and Park Guell. It had a couple great benefits: we were able to show up to each place at a set time (9:00am worked great for us); we didn’t have to wait in lines (in fact, often the places would have signs up at 9:00am that said “Next available tickets for 1:30pm”!); by getting to the places early we had more space and time there without it them being crowded; we skipped a lot of the time wasting “what do you wanna do today” conversations since a lot of our activities were planned out ahead; and finally, I felt like a real-deal grownup booking everything in advanced. I think I can speak for our whole family in highly recommending the three places I listed above – and pictured in the mix below.

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We absolutely loved exploring Barcelona, interacting with it’s friendly people, and eating the incredible food… and I can’t wait to go back – and explore more of Spain.

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It feels so cliché, and perhaps repetitive, to begin yet another post by reflecting on just how fast time is flying and apologizing for my absence. But with three busy (and always hungry) little ones underfoot, homeschool lessons to check off, and so much laundry it almost makes me dizzy it’s hard to find time to sit down and be still long enough to write. Now the weather has turned icy and I declared today a “pajama day”! We are having a much needed quiet day at home in our cozy clothes – oils and rosemary are diffusing on the stove-top, the girls are listening to the BFG audio-book (again), and I’m here compiling some photos to share from our recent adventures. We made the most of the almost summer-like weather in September, and the stunning fall crossover in October – I haven’t even included anything from November because I’m afraid my computer (and you, my readers) would have called it quits. I’m looking forward more sunny, frigid days at home in pajamas, and to more posts (and some recipes) this winter!

We spent most of September around home, with trips to our favorite parks, and the Jane Austen’s House Museum. Kyle was working like a mad-man the first three weeks of the month so we hardly saw him at all. We did alright on our own, although it’s so much better when he’s around.
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Just as our friends headed home, my mom and her partner arrived for a week long visit. It was decidedly quieter than with our previous guests; we spent most of our time puttering around close to home, although we did take them for a visit to the Jane Austen’s House Museum and the Chawton House Library so they could see and experience our favorite places. Their visit was lovely, and restorative after such a long-feeling month.

fall autumn in england traveling with kidsPINPINfall autumn in england traveling with kidsPINfall autumn in england traveling with kidsPINfall autumn in england traveling with kidsPINfall autumn in england traveling with kidsPINfall autumn in england traveling with kidsPINfall autumn in england traveling with kidsPINfall autumn in england traveling with kidsPINfall autumn in england traveling with kidsPINAs we headed well into October we took a weekend day trip to Brighton with one of the brewers Kyle works with. It was almost balmy at the beach and the light was beautiful. We didn’t get to spend much time wandering around the city itself, so we are planning another trip back soon.

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Our final trips of October were to Stratford-upon-Avon, and back to Stourhead Garden, which was just starting to change color – it was absolutely beautiful. Having such a lovely autumn here this year has made me so happy we’ll have another next year before moving back to the States.

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