THE Trip

We have been looking forward to Josh, Jen, and baby Ryan's visit for a long time. We had an amazing time and ended up driving over 1700 miles together in a 15 passenger van. The kids were all great and it was fun to see so much of the UK and it's beautiful countryside. I'll break up each part of the trip, but I thought I'd start with a map of the general course of our trip. Our GPS, however, did take us on some very beautiful and scenic routes which added quite a bit of time, mileage, and enjoyment.

Random

As I look at all of the pictures that I finally downloaded from my camera, I realize that I am WAAAAY behind and that there is no easy way to catch up. I figure that the best I can do is create a few random posts that show a little bit of what we've been doing the last several months. They won't be in any particular order. Enjoy!

Some of our favorite finds. The Fosters introduced us to delicious Clotted Cream & Honeycomb Ice Cream, while the Atwoods told us about Happy Hippos. Yum!

One of the first things that we noticed when we moved here was how many spiders there are everywhere. We mostly have daddy longlegs in the house, but I found a couple of these beauties in our sunroom. Brandon wasn't home, so I had to dispose of them. I think the kids got quite a kick out of my squeals(: Once I learned that they are not poisonous, I felt much better. We actually caught the last couple and let them go in the farmer's field behind our yard. We haven't seen any since the weather cooled. I don't look forward to them coming back, but at least it's not year round.

Maria loves the water.

This small pond is about a mile down the road. We are one of the last houses on our street and beyond us is farmers' fields, an old church, some walking paths, a rarely used military firing range?!? and the local swimming hole. We love getting out with the dogs and exploring the forests.

I was the chorister for the primary program last year. I wanted to make sure that I knew what I was doing and that the kids knew the words, so we had fun plugging the mic into the piano and singing away. Dallin wasn't in primary yet, but he enjoyed singing along.

One of our family favorites is German Pancakes. This one was so HUGE that I just had to take a pic!!!!

Snow!!!!!

In the beginning of February, we had the first snow of the winter. Since we lived in Texas for the last 3 years, the kids were SOOOO excited to play outside (and inside) with the snow.

I think it was the first time the dogs had ever really been in snow, too.

Here is Dallin introducing Devin to his first snow. Devin wasn't too sure what to think about it.

Especially when Dallin decided to start a snowball fight with him(:

Thank goodness for vinyl floors. We had a great time with the snow and the clean up was easy.

Happy 1st Birthday, Devin!

We had fun celebrating Devin's birthday on Jan. 9th. Devin has been such a mellow addition to our family. He is pretty content all of the time and willing to just go with the flow. He doesn't walk yet, but he is getting close. We love to hear his babbling, especially as we drive in the car. He gets plenty of attention from his siblings in the form of hugs, kisses, and somewhat-gentle tackles. You can pretty much guess who does the tackling(: We sure love you, buddy!!!

We had some friends over and Devin was a little nervous to have so many people singing to him.

Dallin, of course, eagerly helped Devin blow out the candles. That's what big brothers are for, right?

Happy, now that he can finally enjoy his cake.

Time4Learning Review

As promised, here is my Time4Learning review after using it for 1 month. The kids LOVE using this site and often beg for more time. The site has plenty of activities that make learning fun and progress at a consistent pace. Kaitlin feels comfortable in the 1st grade level and has made quite a lot of progress in reading, using the website and individual time with me. The first few levels are quite simple if you know your ABCs and their sounds, so I've actually started Kiersten in 1st grade for reading. It's a lot more challenging for her, but the pre-k & k levels were just too easy for her. We just have to repeat some lessons or make sure we emphasize those things in class. I like how she can move up or down a level, depending on the subject. The extra topics included in each level are fascinating for all of the kids. Even Dallin likes to watch the girls "play" on the computer. Because I have 4 kids and this is my first time homeschooling, I really appreciate having a fun, educational website for my kids to use while I learn how to structure school time and individually teach the others. While I wouldn't use it as the sole source for our curriculum, it is a great supplement. Overall, I've been very impressed with the site and how easy it is for the kids to use.

Sandringham Museum

In the old stable block and coach house, the Sandringham estate has designed a museum that chronicles the coaches and cars used by the royal family throughout the years. It also has a room full of big and small trophy game. At first, I took the girls through, thinking that Dallin would just get bored, but I was wrong! We ended up going through twice, and all of the kids enjoyed it.

This is one of the fire trucks that protected the estate grounds.

The cars had very plush interiors - I wouldn't mind riding around in one of these(:

These cars are housed in a room whose walls are covered with a continuous mural of the Royal hunting party. Even the back of the open door was painted, so that it wouldn't disrupt the scene.

This is the trophy room that the kids enjoyed so much. It was a little strange to have all of these heads mounted on walls, but the kids didn't seem to care. They quickly found their favorites. They did ask if the animals were watching them, because all of the fake eyes seem to look right at you /:

He looks like he's staring right at you, right?

These ivory tusks were intricately carved with great skill. I could not believe how much detail and depth they displayed.

Kiersten wanted to pose in front of the lions, but seems just a bit nervous about them staying put(:

The guide asked Kaitlin if she had any questions and she promptly asked if there were any leopards. Her school mascot last year was a leopard, so she was overjoyed that they had one in the museum.

Sandringham - The Queen's Country Estate

Last weekend, we drove about an hour north to Sandringham, the country home of Queen Elizabeth II. While the entire estate consists of 20,000 acres, Sandringham House is set on 60 beautifully landscaped acres. It is the personal property of the Royal Family, as opposed to the many other palaces and castles that are owned by the state. It has been in the family for 4 generations (since ~1862) and it is where the Royal Family spends Christmas each year. After walking the grounds, I can understand their love for the beautiful home and gardens.

The kids loved trying to use their maps to find the way. Dallin was quite adamant that we were going the wrong way, and pointed to his map to prove it(:

Isn't it just amazing! We walked several miles around the grounds and just couldn't get enough of it. The home, itself, was very pretty, but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. The kids were mostly interested in the large collections of antique weaponry and armor, while Brandon asked the guides questions about politics and history.