Trip 21: Peak District National Park

Saturday exploring in our new country...we drove to the Peak District National Park today and braved some majorly windy roads.  We only had to stop once as Jeryn became car sick.  She was a great trooper, and hopefully this was a one-time occurrence.

Mara was a brilliant explorer for her first official hike on her own:)  We also had lunch with the most tame ducks we have ever seen.  We made a great day of it.

Trip 20: Home

Wow, what a wonderful week at home.  Everything is easy, comfortable, and familiar.  We are so fortunate to have a loving family and amazing friends who came to visit us.  We also won the weather lottery with 9  days of picture perfect MN cabin weather.

A special thanks to Benjamin and Janessa, Grandma Pam, and Grandpa and Grandma Anderson.  Here are a few picture highlights:

 

Trip 19: Snowdonia National Park

Yesterday, I drove two hours to Snowdonia National Park since the girls are in Tennessee.  It was a beautiful day for a hike, but I cheated and took the train to the top instead of the 3,000 ft vertical path.

It was a super interesting train ride, and I had the opportunity to talk to a few local Brits and snap a few picts.

This seagull photobombed me and messed up the autofocus:)

Trip 18: The Open

Sunday at The Open was a lifetime experience.  What a fortunate opportunity and a great day of golf.  It was only a short drive from our house (35 minutes), and it wasn't difficult to get tickets at all.

On our way out, Dustin Johnson put one into the far rough on 16.  We had a front row look before we had to put our phone away.

Outing's selfie with Rory photobombing on the 9th hole:) 

Summer Solstice

Yesterday was the "longest day" of the year, with a whopping 16hr and 58minutes from sunrise to sunset.  Which means it is basically dark only from midnight to 4am.  In fact, there are parts of Alaska that are further south than we are.  We're also further north than: Winnipeg, Calgary, and Edmonton.  It's great during the summer, not so great during the winter.

We spent a good few hours outside in the back garden enjoying the day.

Trip 17: Palma de Mallorca

We were really lucky to take a cheap Easyjet flight to a Spanish beach this week to celebrate Christina's 35th Birthday!  It was a very culturally interesting experience, and relaxing at the same time.

Some interesting cultural highlights from a couple days in Spain:

1. "Speedos" outnumber attractive people by about 4 to 1.

2. Swimsuits are optional if you are under age 10 or so.

3. However, swimsuit tops can be removed at any age.

4. The hotel had welcome books written in 5 languages, and we met some Swedes, Germans, Brits, and locals.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes for Christina.  It was a nice break to enjoy some of the benefits from an international assignment:

Trip 16: "Bank Holiday" Weekend!

The UK has something cool called a Bank Holiday.  For Americans, it is a random day off.  The May Day Bank Holiday is the first Monday in May.  We took advantage and took the girls to a beach in Wales on Sunday.

They had a blast, but it was 53 degrees (oF) and windy.  Jeryn picked a bunch of dead crabs, none of them fortunately ended up in our luggage (Uncle Jim and Kirk).

Hope all is well.  See everyone in July when we are back.  Until then, enjoy the random picts:

The road signs in Wales are impossible to read.  Hearing Welsh spoken is absolutely incredible.

The road signs start in English.

Then they transition to English first; Welsh second.

The further you go, they transition to Welsh first, English second.

Finally, it is Welsh only.  Which means if you are American, you will be completely lost without a GPS (or SatNav as it is known here).