States visited: 49!


visited 49 states (98%)
Create your own visited map of The United States
Miles driven so far -
LOOP 1 (Aug 2009 - Aug 2010): 29,000
LOOP 2 (May - August 2012): 10,800

Highest altitude with camper: 11,158ft (I-70, CO)

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Legoland: Thursday October 8th

We are fast becoming a big lego-loving family. All four kids really enjoy building lego, it takes up quite a lot of room in our house, the camper, suitcases and currently whichever house we're staying in at the time!

Legoland in Windsor was too tempting as it was only just over an hour away from my parents' house. We didn't tell the kids where we were going until the morning of; they were beside themselves with excitement. Helen and her friend, Rae, joined us for the day, we had a fun time.

It paid to arrive early, not that it ever really got crowded but a 5 minute wait for a ride seemed like forever during the afternoon 'rush'! The kids are certainly realizing the being part of a homeschooling family has its rewards. We couldn't imagine what this would've been like on a busy day.

We had a couple of rides on the lazer car, this remained a favorite with everyone. A ride on the egyptian ride saw Helen screaming louder than the kids, which they found hilarious.

The lego city area was amazing. It is incredible the amount of time, effort and detail that has gone into creating all the different models. There were buildings represented from many countries. It was tough to drag ourselves away, there were so many little details to see, each time we turned around, another one of the children were shouting, "Come and look at this!"

We went on the Little Dragon Rollercoaster, Nathan could not be persuaded on unfortunately, which of course meant he wanted nothing to do with the big Dragon coaster. We watched the other kids go on and Helen switched with me so I could have a turn. Unbelievably in the time it took for us to switch, the others managed another ride on the coaster! It did start to get a little bit busier after 3 straight rides, they were so excited, I can't think of another time when we've been able to stay on a ride over and over again.

We ate lunch in the lego castle before heading off for more rides.

As our day was coming to a close, we headed back to the theater to watch the Bob the Builder 4D show, the older kids were good sports about having their photo taken with Bob.

Rather than have another meal in Legoland, we made our way into Windsor and spent some time wandering around the outside of Windsor Castle. The flag was flying so we presumed the queen was 'in'. Then, we ate in the gormet location of McDonalds! Wahoo, LOL! It was actually the 'poshest' McD's we've even been in, complete with glass vases of flowers on each table.

It was another late night home but we had such a wonderful day at the park, it was well worth it.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Letchworth

Late Sunday afternoon, we drove down to Letchworth to stay with Mum and Dad for a couple of weeks. We certainly add a little more noise to their house, they seem to happily suffer through it though. It's so great to spend some time with them. Mum has a machine which helps her talk and many other helpful items around the house to make her and Dad's life easier, including an elevator from the living room upstairs to the bedroom. Each time she goes up or down in it, the kids run over to wave her Hello or Goodbye. Dad's nicknamed it the 'Pearlmobile' as it looks so much like the PopeMobile!

Back in England

It's been over 2 years since we were back in the UK. We remain in shock at the narrowness of the roads, thank goodness Debbie and George collected us from the airport and we didn't have to drive staightaway! The flight landed early, we were much relieved, the temperature on the plane was almost unbearable, SO hot! Unfortunately, there wasn't much sleep had by anyone so after a quick drink, we all headed to bed (at 10am!) for 3 or 4 hours. We did feel a little more alive later in the afternoon.

We spent the week in Timperley, staying at George's, once again he was kind enough to move out while we were staying over. We made a reasonable adjustment to school, watching the pupils in Dave's old primary school during recess. We spent a lot of time with Debbie and Jasmine during the afternoons, including an afternoon art project of papier mache, we'll be painting the creations on our return north in a couple of weeks.

We managed to catch up with Ben & Liz and Kaz, as well as Stuart & Sarah, who came up for the w/e. We had a great meal out with the extended family and enjoyed a walk in Dunham Park on Sunday, interspersed with rain showers - it is England!

Back home

We spent a brief time back home, slept in the camper in the garden! We got back on Wed 23rd, after a morning of continued fun on the jumping pillow, followed by a stop on the drive home at an RV dealership to check out a possible new camper.

It was awesome to see Sam, JD and the girls. I'm sure we caused more disruption in the house by moving things around, trying to find clothes to pack for England, and generally adding chaos to the house. Thankfully we were able to organize some of our things while they were away and hopefully we'll manage to cause the minimum amount of disruption when we return from the UK.

It was great to catch up with a few friends while we were back, the kids were especially thrilled to have playdates with a couple of their good friends. The few days certainly passed quickly.