Kirby Hall

While my mother was in town, we returned to nearby Kirby Hall, an English Heritage site, to show her a typical Elizabethan manor house. 

(Above) A nice family pick except for the grump on the left. I forget what he was upset about. He was using the toy golf club as a makeshift sword. Grandma Kay bought the boys foam swords in the gift shop, which are obviously much safer for toddler sword fighting!  

(Above) Jack and Lucas fighting with their new foam swords.

(L) Jack and Lucas getting ready to sneak-attack Dad (R) They got me.

(R) Raaaaarrr!  The boys scared us as we came around a corner.

(Above) There were peacocks all over the property. I think we counted at least a dozen. 

(Above) A field of rapeseed with Kirby Hall in the background.

Imperial War Museum in Duxford

My mother came to visit us in early May, a couple of weeks after Elise and her family left (this is Aaron writing). The first place we visited with "Grandma Kay" was the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, just outside of Cambridge. It turned out to be the most impressive aviation museum we've ever seen (even better than the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.) IWM-Duxford had seven hangers filled with aircraft and one building full of land-war vehicles. They had an incredible array of old and new aircraft; some of the hangers were used to store and maintain privately-owned WWI and WWII-era planes. They have frequent air shows at the site, so we figure we'll have to go back sometime this summer. Needless to say, both Jack and Lucas had a great time checking out all of the airplanes. They were even able to go inside some of them.

(Above) Standing by an F-15 (I think) with the American Air Museum in the background. One of the eight main buildings at the site was devoted strictly to American military air craft.



(L) The main hanger had a large set of interactive displays. In this case, Jack was playing with a helicopter demo. (R) In the foreground is the tail piece of an Nazi plane. Jack and Lucas can be seen in the background watching a looped video about WWII.
(Above) Our old Lumix camera doesn't take good indoor photos!



(L) A map room where the British Air Force tracked German planes during the Battle of Britain. (R) Some old WWII-era trucks.

(Above) The engines on this old B-17 were being tested on the airfield during our visit.

(Above) Jack tried on a vintage British Army WWII helmet at the land war museum.

Windsor Castle

Our final trip with Elise and her family was to Windsor Castle, which is located near the London-Heathrow Airport. Afterwards, we stayed at a nearby hotel and then dropped them off at the airport the next morning. Thanks for visiting Elise & Dave! We had a great time. Windsor Castle is the home of Queen Elizabeth II, who often actually stays at the castle, especially during the summer.

(L) Lucas enjoying the complimentary audio guide as usual.

(Above) A royal guard stands watch in the main courtyard.

(Above) The gardens at Windsor were pretty magnificent.

(L) Elise, Dave, Oakley and Ethan (R) Harmony snagged a forbidden picture inside St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

(L) Since this year is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee (60th anniversary as Queen of England), souvenir jobs have been peddling royal paraphernalia aggressively.

(Above) So during the 2+ hour drive from our house to Windsor Castle, Jack threw up in the car. The route had literally dozens of roundabouts, so just before the final roundabout before we were about to enter the main highway, Jack puked all over his coat and pants. As a result, he had to borrow his cousin Oakley's pink London hoodie sweatshirt and the lining of my jacket. As you can see, he initially wasn't too fond of wearing my coat. This was taken as we were walking from the parking lot to Windsor Castle.

(Above) By the River Thames in Windsor.

(Above) Lucas eating a typical unhealthy kids' meal with chicken nuggets and chips. Fortunately for the rest of us, it was a Thai restaurant so we ate pretty well. It's often hard to find healthy food for kids when you are traveling in Europe.