September

September brought the end of Summer holidays. We had such a wonderful summer exploring and sightseeing around the UK, but we were ready to be back on a schedule again!

Walking to school.

Stopped for a picture break with Isa and Santi.

Meeting up with Elli

Read for school to start!

Brave Knight Layla at Nottingham Castle. It was interesting, but I think it's because we love Robin Hood stories. If you're not into Robin Hood, I don't recommend taking the trip there. There are much more interesting things to do in Nottingham and the area around it.

Grandma Jo & Grandpa Jim Visit

Orford Castle

Waiting in line for the tunnel tour under Dover Castle 

Look! There's France!

A day at the seaside.

Collecting shells with grandma.

Catching Up

July: I didn't post at the end of July because that was Layla's last month of school & the last week of July was her start to summer holiday. So we took full advantage of being off a schedule by sleeping in and doing only fun activities.

Just before summer holiday, Layla's school had an end of the year disco for the children to attend. She got to come home and change out of her uniform and get all dolled up. She's even got a Batman necklace on!

For my birthday we went and did a bit of shopping a few hours away and stopped to see some neat sights while we were out there.

August: We started the month off by heading up to Sherwood Forest in Nottingham for the annual Robin Hood festival. We had so much fun last year, we wanted to take Jeremy along. Layla dressed up as a viking girl (which really has nothing to do with Robin Hood folklore, but she looked so cute!) Then she dressed as a brave knight. She was much more comfortable as the knight.

While Jer took a few days off in August to spend some time with us, we decided to explore a nearby town we spend a lot of time in, but don't often do the touristy things. We took a boat right along the town that had lovely views of the cathedral, as well as saw some cows.

Pictures in front of the cathedral.

We also took a little road trip up to Scotland. Along the way we stopped and viewed a few Roman forts. One of the Roman forts was at Hadrian's Wall. We had fun climbing the ruins and exploring.

While in Scotland we were in Edinburgh for the fringe festival. There was so much to do and see! Layla loved Edinburgh castle.

June!

We took a day long trip to Framlingham castle, which was so much fun! The castle was in ruins, but the outer wall was mostly in tact enough that we could walk around the top of it. The castle was in such a beautiful area with wonderful views.

We hiked around the outside, there were some really steep spots.

We went back to stonehenge with our friends, Amber and Isa. We were able to see more in the area than just Stonehenge. We saw some interesting sites that were just as old as stonehenge and built by the same people.

Hanging out at Woodhenge. Where there are cement markers, there used to be wooden poles.

Avebury henge! By far the neatest stone circle in the area. It's massive, and takes about 45 minutes to walk around the entire circle. These big stones are aligned in a perfect circle, and at some point a town was built in part of it. Layla enjoyed this more than stonehenge, since she was able to actually touch and climb the rocks & it was fun to run around.

Layla's summer language concert was held this month. The children who are learning Spanish and French held a concert to show off their skills for parents. They did so well & it was such a cute show.

The circus came to our tiny village! They set up the big top on Layla's school grounds and the kids were able to learn neat circus tricks from the performers during the week leading up to the performance. Then when we went to watch the show they had all the children who had learned tricks up on stage. They were able to juggle scarves, spin plates on sticks, and do all kinds of fun stuff! We had a wonderful time & Layla enjoyed being a part of the show.

Always on the run. Every weekend (usually on Sundays) we head out to the track and just jog around. Layla will ride her bike while I run & then she gets to enjoy running laps as well. We sometimes run out on the grass in the middle & we also run the bases on the baseball diamond.

June was a fun, busy month. We've spent a lot of time with friends and enjoying the warm weather. Layla is working really hard in school & learning so much. We're looking forward to summer vacation!