Going the Welsh Way

We still have so many sites we want to get to before we leave but are realizing it just isn't possible to get to everything.

The Abbey in Bath

  

The Avon River in Bath

Saturday we drove to Bath and then on to Cardiff in Wales.  It was a beautiful day, perfect weather.   We had a rough start to our day when Sadie threw up about a half-hour into our journey and finding that McKay had forgotten to bring shoes along.

 Sick Sadie in the back of the car!

Also, we were having a hard time getting any money from an ATM.  Short version... our debit card was ripped off in Italy with $2000 taken from an ATM in FLORIDA!  So we had to cancel that card.  Then our Visa company had put a hold in our Visa

 card due to "suspicious activity" on it around Europe!  We had our UK mobile phone but could not call internationally on it to get ahold of the Visa Company.  We also had an American Express card but most places here do not accept American Express so we were stuck. 

 

This dilemma kept us from actually entering the Roman Baths in Bath and almost kept us from getting our car out of the car park.  We did finally solve it by going to a bank and calling our Visa Company from there so we could take the hold off and get $$$ from the ATM! 

 Standing outside the Roman Baths because they didn't accept American Express

The Roman Baths we would have seen if they had taken American Express.

So putting Bath (which was actually a very pleasant town) behind us we moved on towards Wales.  We drove across the Severn Bridge over the Bristol Channel.   This was an impressive drive crossing the lower part of the channel which opens to the Celtic Sea. Really, really beautiful! 

The Severn Bridge crossing to Wales

We enjoyed Cardiff.  Its castle and huge Football stadium were impressive.  We also

 ate at McDonald's for the shear goal of saying we have eaten at McDonald's in every country we have visited this Summer.  I recognize how sad this is but there are very few fast food places.  I don't know that we will ever need McDonald's again.

Cardiff Castle

Along the drive home I enjoyed the English countryside I love so much.  

Totally Tennis

The kids have been taking tennis at a local club here, Totally Tennis.

They have an excellent kid's program and we have really enjoyed our Tuesday afternoons at the courts watching their skills progress.

Lucy has been designated ball girl. She runs the courts during practice picking up balls and re-filling the baskets. We've seen her skills progress as well:) She can't wait to get started with lessons next Summer.











































Today was their last day of tennis as summer holiday is beginning and we're leaving before the regular schedule starts up again.
These are Sadie and McKay's fantastic coaches James and Andrew.

Ciao Bella!

ROME

FLORENCE

Our final "big" trip before returning home was to Italia.  

We toured Rome and Florence for five days and our travel companions were Abe's brother Roger, his wife Allie and daughter Marissa.

The Italian architecture and art are truly impressive.  We were in awe of the art of Michelangelo, Da Vinci and so many others as well as the beauty of the buildings and the gelato...WOW!  We picked that up twice a day.  

There were Vespas, smart cars and Motorcycles everywhere because there is no where to park.

We really enjoyed the markets filled with leather handbags, wallets and jackets and the silk scarfs and ties. 

We were however, not enjoying the filth.  Why is it none of the money brought in from tourism seems to go to cleaning the streets? I have never seen so much dirt and grafitti.

Also, you know how in American culture if you are caught staring at someone you immediately look away and act like you are doing something important? The Italians take another approach and don't look away.  In fact they stand about a foot in front of you and stare to their heart's content.  I think we were quite the novelty with our four children as we saw very few Italian children at all. 

We stayed in convents in both cities.  The nuns were very nice and the place was clean and it was a good way to get a place near the heart of town for a good price (in Rome we were 200 Meters from St. Peter's) but, we had uncomfortable beds and our room in Florence was a little creepy with a very bloody picture of Christ's feet on the cross, creeky doors leading down a corridor to the bathroom.  We also had five single beds and twenty foot ceilings with paintings covering them.  McKay asked one afternoon when he was getting tired, "Can we go back to our "Sisteen Chapel" now?"

Happy Birthday Baby!

She is officially four years old folks!

Lucy you are... Adorable, Beautiful, Cute, Darling, Exciting, Funny, Gorgeous, Happy, Innocent, Joking, Kissable, Loveable, Marvelous, Nice, Optimistic, Perfect, Queen, Righteous, Sweet, Talkative, Unbelievable, Vivacious, Willing, X-actly the right size, Youngest, Zed:) 

You make us smile.  You are truly a "light" in our family and we love you so much. Hope you had a fun Birthday in Florence, Rome and London!

Happy Birthday!

Mom, Dad, Zach, Sadie and McKay

Magleby Moments

Yay...more friends from home!

Hans and Traci Magleby spent a couple of days with us over last weekend. We spent all day Saturday in London visiting Covent Garden, Portabello Market (where we had giant pea's and yummy crepes again), China Town for dinner and wrapped up the evening enjoying Jersey Boy's. Sunday, they came to church with us and in the afternoon we had some ward members over and ate and watched the amazing Wimbledon final together on T.V.

It was so much fun having you guys here and introducing you to our English friends.

We love that you took a couple of days off of your 15th Anniversary celebration to spend some time with us. Thanks and have fun in Vermont and New York!

Independence Day

Celebrating Independence from England IN England was a fun experience. Our cute ward asked me to help plan a July 4th party for the ward.

We had a BBQ complete with potato salad, corn-on-the-cob and Root Beer floats. The Root Beer floats were not great as the Brits just don't do Root Beer well. We found an English brand called Carters and it is NOT real Root Beer; but, oh well...it's the thought that counts, right?

We tried to teach the gang how to play baseball. This was hilarious as they have never played it. They only know baseball from movies and try to mimic what they have seen. They play a game called rounders and they have cricket, both of which are similar but not exactly the same.

The firework laws are very different here and we were able to get a lot of big ones...the kind that are illegal in Utah. We were about half-way through our box when a shirtless, big guy with shows up yelling that we have to stop. He was a little drunk, and a little crazy I think, but we stopped in the end. Turns out he was a gypsy that lives near the church and has given them trouble before.

The highlight of the night was our sister-in-law Allie losing our car keys and the entire ward searching the premises for them. They were searching drains and bushes and garbage sacks, anywhere you could imagine a set of keys disappearing. It was incredible what they were willing to do for us. In the end we didn't find the keys and hitched rides home with other members. I am happy to report the keys were found last night (July 8th) while Abe was at Young Men's. Roger found them in the decoration box in the Relief Society closet.

In the end my favorite holiday turned out to be great...even in the country we defeated.

Happy 4th everyone!