Graves & Moats

October 25, 2007
Ashley and I decided to do something together today. It has been awhile since we've had a day out, so seeing as we both haven't been to Grimes Graves before, it was our destination for the day! Oh, and I learned that Grimes is pronounced like "Grimms" ... you learn something new once a month! ;)


HISTORY LESSON 1: Grimes Graves is a grassy lunar landscape of over 400 shafts, pits, quarries and spoil dumps, they were first named Grim’s Graves – meaning the pagan god Grim’s quarries, or ‘the Devil’s holes’ – by the Anglo- Saxons. It was not until one of them was excavated in 1870 that they were found to be flint mines dug over 5,000 years ago, during the later Neolithic and early Bronze Ages. Flint from here was used in the Napoleonic wars and even the Revolutionary war - rude.

The day was a typical autumn English day, a bit rainy but manageable. We donned our hard hats and descended 30 feet into an abandoned shaft. We luckily went on a day when the British schools were not in session (I can only imagine how busy it would have been) so we had the shaft area to ourselves. Guess what!? I finally figured out how to use the timer on my camera (thanks to Ashley)! I was all cocky and took a picture of us down in the shaft.

On the way back home, we went to Weeting Castle, which (incidentally) was the first "castle" we went to when we were here back in '96.

HISTORY LESSON 2: Weeting Castle is not a castle but a fortified manor house. It had a large open hall and an attached two-story chamber block. There's a domed brick ice house (which I hadn't seen until this trip - rude) and the moat was added in the 14th century. The place is thought to be abandoned in 1390.

It was really nice to spend time with my friend, doing the thing I love most (looking at history)! When I arrived home, low-and-behold, I find tissue not in the tissue box. Gabby obviously was mad at me for leaving her and decided to take it out on the tissues - rude.

Hedingham Castle and Audley End

October 20, 2007

Saturdays (until we move this summer) will hopefully be filled with day trips to local castles and attractions. On Saturday, we (Emmy and Chip and Emmy's friend, Kyrsten) and the Smith clan (Ross, Jane, Megan, Ben, Ammon, Samuel and Jacob) went down to Audley End.

Initially, it was to be a trip down to Rochester Castle, but due to time constraints, it was decided that we adventure to Audley End and experience their "behind the scenes" tour.

We left rather early and arrived about an hour before "the End" opened - it was a beautiful morning with some fog (or transpiration) and frost all over. Due to the early-ness, we looked on the map to see where a nearby castle was. Due to my awesomely awesome map reading skills (not), we drove to Hedingham Castle - on the map, it looked like it was just around the corner but in reality, it was 22 miles away. There must be a village named Audley End near there ... I don't know - all I know is that we drove there and to our great disbelief it was closed ... a wedding was taking place that day. Of all the luck! Of course, the gate guard was persuaded to let us look around, seeing as "we came all the way from America to see it". Now, this is not a lie, seeing as we did come here from America (2 1/2 years ago) - I just didn't tell him that part ... oops!

We took a few pics really quick and then headed back toward "the End", which was the beginning ... The tour was really neat and I was under the impression that after March's behind-the-scenes tour, they wouldn't be doing them anymore due to the "delicate state" of the rooms on the top floor. I must say I count ourselves very blessed to be able to see this part of history (twice). I hadn't gone to the memorial for the Polish soldiers who stayed here during WWII, so we traipsed out to the memorial and took a few shots.

Next, Austin wanted to walk to "the temple" where he and Papa went the last time we came here. We all did a little jumping over the ditch (a few tears and some sore ankles). Emmy wanted all of "the kids" to pose next to a pillar, so Jane and I helped them get into position ... viola!

We brought our lunch and were visited by a bunch of ducks - Austin was really cute. He was a bit frightened about feeding them at first, but after the initial feeding, he became a professional! The ducks seemed to like the spicey Doritos, fyi.

On the way home, Austin wanted to sit with his friend, Ammon, so they hunkered down in the back of the Smith's Volvo - Megan, bless her, came into our car and kept me company on the journey home.

It was a most excellent day out, even though it was a bit chilly to start with. Autumn is my most favorite-est time of year, and to spend it at one of my most favorite-est places was a privilege.

Halloween and Haircuts

Gabby tried on a couple of new "outfits" I bought her from Old Navy ... she has a parka (the XS is a bit too big), a new sweater and her Halloween costume - she's a cowgirl (or bowgirl?) muah ha ha ha! She looks SO thrilled!









Speaking of being thrilled, Austin and Gabby both received new haircuts! It really was about time, too. Austin said he didn't want to "be bald" so when he came out of the barber shop, he said "I'm almost bald!" Geesh, boys are so hard to please! I mean, Gabby didn't complain - not once!

Melissa's birthday ... a bit late

Poor Melissa - we moved (again) on her birthday ... sure, it was August 25, and it's now October, but doesn't the old saying "better late than never" apply here?

Austin and I blew up 13 balloons and made a sign for her and taped it to the front windows ... which, I might add, she loved!

Our good friends, the Smith family, had us over for supper and provided the ice cream cake ... although it was stinky having a birthday whilst you move, we tried making it a fun day!

South Wales

October 5-8, 2007

Guess what?! Both of the kids had a four-day weekend due to Columbus day and a teacher-training-ish day, so we decided to take advantage of that and go to Bath and South Wales!

Our travels included two families we LOVE to travel with - The Smiths' and the Takacs'! We left Friday night for Bath where we stayed in 10 pound a night lodging (you can't beat that with a stick!)





Saturday was spent going to check out some sights south of Bath. We traveled to Wookey Hole (caves that have the river Avon run through it) and thought twice about going there - school groups + the cost = "let's move on". We drove to Cheddar (who doesn't love cheese?) and went to the Cheddar Gorge - no, it's not a big gorge of cheese but actually some really nice cliffs and caves! The Cheddar Gorge (more specifically, Gough's Cave) is home of the "Cheddar Man" - Britain's oldest complete skeleton - 7150 BC. It is believed that Mr. Cheddar died a violent death - possibly by cannibalism! yuck ... While in Cheddar, we had to go to the store which had the "only cheddar made in Cheddar" and sampled a few of their delectable tidbits ... yum!














































































After Cheddar, we drove to Weston-Super-Mare, a city not too far from Bristol. Well known for it's beaches, we arrived at low tide, and when I say low tide, I mean low tide! It was almost muddy sand (poor little Jacob had to be rescued by Ben). After fooling around on the beach, we had the famous "2 pound 50" fish and chips (well, we had chicken and chips) near the waterfront.

















Sunday brought us to Southern Wales. After experiencing the most expensive toll yet (over $10) , our first stop was Tenby, a seaside town that had beautifully colored houses. We walked along the beach (and saw the biggest jellyfish ever - along with some sea anemones, barnacles, cool shells, crabs, and a dead fish) and went up toward Castle Hill. There, we saw the ancient cannon, a statue to Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, and St. Catherine's Island, which, built in the 1860s to defend Tenby from possible French attack.

After Tenby, we ventured toward the Stackpoles near Bosherton. We had to drive through a military zone (the tanks weren't firing that day, lucky us) to get to the coast. The views of the cliffs were awesome! Some of our party, mentioning no names, got a little to close to the edge. Speaking of edge, I was a bit on edge when Melissa tried to get a stone out of her shoe by kicking it out ... the shoe went flying and landed 12 inches from the cliff's edge ... of course, she ran after it. There was a bit of hysteria on my part, thank you very much.

One of the sights we desperately wanted to see was St. David's, the western-most point of Britain (St. David is the patron saint of Wales). By the time we arrived, it was getting dark. We walked to St. David's cathedral, which was built upon the 6th century monastery. It was quite an impressive cathedral, even in the dark. We got a quick peek at the interior (they were closing and not too friendly) and Wes was allowed one photo. I would love to go back during the day!

IMPORTANT NOTE: please view the picture of the "magic roundabout" in Swindon - IT WAS CRAZY!

Monday brought us to the close of our trip and on to the Avebury stones we went! We passed the White Horse of Cherhill on our way. Avebury was as beautiful as ever, but were not able to go to the tour of the Avebury Manor (I left my moolah in the car and we would have had to wait for awhile before entry) - maybe next time.

It was a great trip and we are so happy we were able to see such beautiful countryside with such wonderful friends! :)