There were school awards assemblies, concerts, field days, church activities, plus days out with the fam.
Days out. Yeah, I'll start there.
Audley End. One of my favorite places on Earth. Gorgeous, historic, and only about an hour from our house in England. Awesome.
Here are some photos of the day I spent there with Spencer and Dallin:
**this photo courtesy of wikipedia...I know, I know. I have pictures of the back but not the front. Lame. But it's a nice photo, yes?
We had already taken a tour of the house as a family before Spencer came back from his mission to Bulgaria, so I opted to take little man for a wander around the grounds while Spencer toured the house without distractions.
We parted ways, and Dallin and I headed off to the gardens.
We didn't get far before we found a nice place to kick back and rest our little legs.
The Tea House bridge had shade, a bench, plus views of the ducks and birds, so we were good for a while.
It was a great place to sit, enjoy the peace and quiet, listen to the water, watch the birds, and eat some fruit snacks. Those things can really stick to your teeth. The fruit snacks, I mean.
After resting our little legs for a bit, we decided to move on, and got about 100 yards before we had to stop again. Ah, sight-seeing with a 3-year-old. Not for the faint-hearted. Or for those who'd like to learn anything about the place you're visiting... It's all about the journey, folks.
"Look Mom! Ducks!"
"Ooh! Here they come!"
Our guests for snack time. Did you know that ducks like goldfish crackers? They do. A lot!!
Once the ducks had cleaned us out of crackers we moved on again, meandering through the gardens and then on to the playground.
Yeah! We found it!
Spencer found us there, and we decided to find a good place for a picnic lunch.
What a cute pb&j face! And what cheeky ducks. They came right up to us, begging for crusts or anything else.
Yeah, that's Spencer's foot. Like I said, cheeky.
Now that lunch was done and we were all refueled, it was time to see the gardens and other things at the back of the property. Thankfully, there was lots of room for Dallin to run without bothering anyone. I hope.
We came across this lovely stone memorial as we walked along. It reads:
Oh Thou most lov'd, most gifted, most rever'd
Accept this tribute to thy merit due:
Nor blame me if, by each fond tie endeared,
I bring again thy Virtues into view.
These lovely scenes thy Mem'ry shall restore:
Here oft o'er Thee the silent tear be shed.
Belov'd thro' life, till life could charm no more
And mourn'd till recollection's power be dead.
August 1797
See why I love this place?
We hiked up the hill behind the house to the Temple of Concord.
It was so nice to have this day with my oldest and youngest boys. It's fun to see them get to know each other after two years apart. Let me show you what I mean by sharing a little photo story, with dialogue added by me...
Spencer: "Hey man, how's it going?"
Dallin: "Fine. I think I'll karate-chop your neck now."
Spencer: "What the heck? Why'd you karate-chop your favorite big brother?"
Spencer: "Yes, that's my very manly hand.
Here. Let me show you the cool big brother handshake."
Spencer: "Hey! I bet I can beat you to the car. It's way down that big hill.
Give Mom your backpack and let's race!"
Spencer, pointing right: "Dude! The car's this way!"
Spencer: "Dude, you're killing me."
Spencer: "dude?"
Eventually, we convinced little man to get in the car, and shortly thereafter, he looked like this:
Now that's the sign of a day well-spent.
No comments:
Post a Comment