Liverpool and Lake Windermere

Our neighbors invited us to take a trip to visit Liverpool and see the Lake District. Jon is from Liverpool, so we got a personal tour and we were invited to stay with Jon's family.

Liverpool is on the east side of the Mersey Estuary which is mongo.

Dominic and Jon.

It was founded in 1207 as a borough.

We all fell in love with Jon's family and their dog Leo. He gets his teeth brushed every night with liver flavored toothpaste, most definitely a highlight of our time in England.

From there we drove up to the adorable Lake District cottage we found online. It smelled funny and was TONS smaller than it appeared in the photos, but the boys adored that it was built over 4 floors. The kitchen was in the basement and the photo below shows how we boiled pasta in 4 teeny pots to feed our troops.

Despite the inconveniences and the awkward family photos, we had a great time.

An amazing thing I learned that weekend, was that there are people in the world who have never tried pbj! Both Etch and Jon had their first taste of the gloriousness that is peanut butter and jelly brought together in holy union.

Mmmmmm!

Hopefully it is the first of many.

We took a boat ride tour of Lake Windemere, and it was FREEZING!! But also absolutely beautiful. Dominic is a little light on body fat and needed to be swaddled.

We visited the aquarium.

Then we caught a ride back to Windemere.

We are forever grateful that our adventure brought us to meet Etch and Jon and Kyle. We never imagined we would fall so madly in love.

Does Peter Rabbit live here?

Lintel.

This looks like a good place for a rabbit family.

Salt marsh.

I love my Etch.

 

Romsey and Mottisfont Abbey

With our neighbors we visited the town of Romsey, Hampshire and the nearby Mottisfont Abbey.

It was a chilly day, right about 0 degrees C, so we brought along these hats I bought at Tesco. They are 100% synthetic and it shows, despite the small effort to make them appear animal in origen.

Stick!

Etsuko, on the other hand, was wearing a warmie that was most definitely once a soft, fuzzy, delightful creature. Our boys soon complained of itchy heads.

Mottisfont Abbey

From Wikipedia:

An Augustinian priory was founded here in 1201 by William Briwere, a businessman, administrator and courtier to four Plantagenet kings who chose to make a public demonstration of his wealth and piety. The canons welcomed pilgrims en route to Winchester, who came to worship Mottisfont's relic, said to be the finger of St John the Baptist.

Then the Black Death came along and stole their thunder.

River Test.

This past week our family was hit by a lesser plague, the flu. It wasn't the Black Death, but I did manage to feel sorry for myself.

Mike was in Amsterdam for the week, leaving me with fever and misery to care for our equally sad boys.

On one unfortunate night, Dominic rolled over and vomited in the well placed bucket next to our bed, then realized to his extreme distress that Mr. Teddy Wiggles had rolled into the bucket first.

For the next half hour he moaned, "Mr. Teddy Wiggles, Mr. Teddy Wiggles!"

At the abbey, there was a display of angels made by 12 artists, and the boys had a great time finding them.

During the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the reign of King Henry VIII, the priory was dissolved, and Mottisfont was given to Sir William Sandys. Richard Meinertzhagen (interesting/frightening character) lived here with his parents and nine siblings in the late 1800's.



Fallen Angel.



Mosaic angel by Boris Anrep, 1930s.

Angel in the Cellarium.

After spending some time rolling down and up small hills in front of the abbey, we left to have lunch and see the town of Romsey. It is supposed to be the most beautiful town in Hampshire, but I am not so sure. We did have a wonderful lunch at the Old House at Home Pub, we all highly recommend it.

Kyle shared his DS, which led to a rare brother snuggle moment.
I could stare at this photo all day.

God how we love Etsuko, John and Kyle. We are forever blessed and grateful that life made us neighbors.

Rocky rocky.

Kissing curl.