Back to Blighty

York Minster

Hi all,

We have just returned to the New World from the wonderful Old World of England and Scotland, where we spent two weeks on holiday visiting friends, exploring The North, and eating delicious seafood. Lots of people asked why we went back after having just lived there for two years: it was really great catching up with friends, seeing some of the things we missed when we left so suddenly last year, and also showing the kids that they can still feel at home in our home-away-from-home.









England

Breakfast in the flat

We started out renting a 2-BR flat in downtown Windsor, not far from where we lived. It was simple but liveable, and a good base to visit friends, walk to the train station, and go shopping. After arriving and picking up the hire-car, we went right to Waitrose - so great to be back, we thought! Fresh British raspberries and strawberries, honey heather ham, Pimm's, and smoothies the kids loved.

Dinner at Andy and Chantal's

We had drinks and dinner with both our previous neighbors on Clarence Road, Andy and Chantal even grilled some fresh trout and burgers for the kids. The weather was phenomenal, sunny and hot for many of the days (which coupled with jet lag made for some difficult sleeping conditions) and only a few rainy days. It being summer, the skies stayed light until past 10pm, which worked in our favor given the time difference. Since school was not yet out in the UK, we got some funny looks sauntering out of restaurants after dinner at 10pm or later!

Ready for school!

The Tuesday after arriving, the kids were invited by the head teacher of Oakfield back to school, so they borrowed uniforms and spent the day at school. They had a terrific time (mostly because of the attention they got, I'm sure), and we met after school for footie and playing at the local park.

All the gang at Imperial Park

Jessica, Maggie, Coralie

Visiting school

Footie after school

A "little" water fight in the back garden...

The Roman Bath & Bath Cathedral

Wednesday we drove out to Bath, which we had always wanted to visit but never had time - we had heard it was mostly adult-oriented so better-suited for a weekend couples retreat (which it would be great for!), but the kids and us had a blast touring the Roman Baths site, walking up to the Royal Crescent, and eating ice cream on the main town square. We could have spent several more days exploring! And the countryside is just beautiful.

The Circus

At the Bean's

 We had dinner with many friends, including the Beans (Eliza is one of Maggie's best friends), the Franklins (Samuel is one of Carson's best friends), and the Kocks (Coralie and Lionel are also best friends of Maggie and Carson).








Thursday, Annett went to visit her church group in Gerrards Cross, and I took a nice run out in the Windsor Great Park. Then we went to London to see the West End show, Billy Elliott, which was great - a touching and inspiring story about a boy living during the coal strikes and strife in northern England, who breaks out of the stereotypes and decides to be a dancer. Appropriately, there was a large teachers strike just down the street from the theatre, protesting the budget cuts being proposed by the government. Afterwards, we struggled to find a restaurant (within about a million) that would satisfy Carson's appetite, so we ended up at a burger place that we visited our first trip to London in 2008!

Chiltern countryside

Friday was another relaxing day shopping and meeting friends after school. Saturday we went out to the Chilterns for a walk with the Franklins, and ended up at our favorite pub the Bull and the Butcher for a beer or lemonade. We dodged nettles, picked wild raspberries, and saw a beautiful red kite.

Caught in a phone booth!

Our favorite pub, the Bull and the Butcher

Then it was off to Scotland!


Scotland
We set off in the hire car for Scotland on Sunday morning after a nice breakfast in the Franklin's back garden. It was a gorgeous day, and we drove north through the fields and dales, passing castles left and right. We happened upon Alnwick Castle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alnwick_Castle), a gem in a beautiful medieval town in the middle of nowhere.

It was too late to take the tour, so we wandered around the surrounding countryside to stretch our legs, then continued north towards Edinburgh.

We arrived in Edinburgh around 7pm after about 7 hours driving time. The weather was beautiful, and the entire city's population was out in the parks, playing golf, and enjoying the long summer nights. We walked down the hill from the hotel past the castle and ate dinner on the street in the New Town (only built in the 1700's). Delicious Angus beef steaks, grilled salmon, and haggis!

The next day we took the tour of the Old Town, starting with the impressive castle, tour of the Scottish crown jewels (aka "The Honours" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honours_of_Scotland), and room where Mary, Queen of Scots was born.





 

View from Edinburgh Castle to the Firth of Forth

We then walked down the Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace, which was closed to the public because Her Majesty the Queen was in residence. We consoled ourselves with a taxi ride back to the park to play in the massive public playground and attempt to play "pitch 'n' putt" golf on the Brinkfield Links, 36 holes on the public grounds - to no avail: the club rental pub was closed for refurbishment and we only found pitching wedges and golf balls at the nearby charity shops. No putters! So it was alas not meant to be :-( We ended the day with another excellent dinner in The Grain Store: delicious Scottish lamb and scallops!

Pose for a picture with the bagpiper

The next day we drove another few hours up through the dramatic Scottish Highlands to the western Isle of Mull. On the way we drove through the impressive Glen Coe, generally claimed to be the most beautiful valley (or Glen) in Scotland.

Glen Coe

I have to agree, and wished we had more time (and all-weather gear) for a serious hike! As it was we stopped in a few places to enjoy the view, watch the waterfalls, and listen to the wind rushing through the grass.

After an  hour-long ferry trip from Oban, we ended up in the picturesque town of Tobermory, and were impressed by the number of gaelic signs and television programs available! When we inquired at the local restaurant, the young girl said many of the elementary schools are offering gaelic instruction, and it's getting quite popular!

Tobermory waterfront and lobster/crab pots

Castle Duarte with Ben More in the background

View from the window of our B&B

The Isle of Mull itself is also spectacular, perhaps not as dramatic or famous as Skye, but within sight and Tobermory is a beautiful spot.

Loch Na Keal

On our second day on Mull, we circumnavigated the island and visited some of the stone and white sandy beaches. The weather was variable, oscillating between hot sun and light rain showers. We did manage to see one of the famous and rare sea eagles thanks to some avid bird watchers, as well as lots and lots of sheep!

Beautiful clear water

Unfortunately, no dolphins or whales, which are supposedly in abundance. We also passed lots of seafood farms, mostly salmon and oysters.










Speaking of absolutely delectable seafood, we ate and ate and ate while in Tobermory. Crabs, mussels, oysters, clams, langoustines, lobsters, scallops, salmon, the list goes on. Maggie got into the crab claws, Carson with his seafood allergy unfortunately limited to the "quite tasty" chicken options. He did really well, actually!





After a few days on Mull, it was time to head back down South to meet the Franklins in York. It ended up being about a 5-hour drive, and on the way we did a small detour to visit Hadrian's Wall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian%27s_Wall). In the same vein as the Great Wall of China, Emperor Hadrian built the wall all the way across the island to defend the Empire from the barbarian Scots (or Picts, as they were known at the time).

 

Hadrian's Wall near Haltwhistle, Northumberland

It stretches across the landscape, sometimes barely visible, other times quite prominent.











Back to England

Kids playing "tag" on the minster lawn

By the end of the day we rolled into the B&B in York, where we spent two days with Tony, Briony, and Samuel seeing the sights of the incredibly multi-dimensional town: National Railway Museum, Medieval City walls and gates, Roman ruins,Viking excavation center, the Shambles, the nearly 2000-year-old Minster. We could have spent another four days easily!

Gargoyle!

Monument to Emperor Constantine, who was crowned in York in 306AD

Riding the Carousel near York Castle

York Railway Museum - for the engineer in you!

Dragon Boat Racing on the River Ouse

After returning to Windsor for two more nights and another final play date at the park, we sadly returned home. We had a great time, got to see many of the places we missed out on when we lived there, and re-connected with folks we hope to see again, maybe here in CA, maybe again over in the UK, or who knows?

Take care all, and enjoy the rest of the summer!






 

Santa Barbara Surf and Turf

Hi all,

We just returned from a fun Memorial Day weekend down in Santa Barbara. We had never been there before, and it was a great location to meet a good friend of mine from college and his family, who live in San Diego, the Christensons.







We rented a house about a block from the beach, and all the kids shared a bunk room. Mark has three girls, age 1.5, 3, and 5. Carson, as usual, odd man out and looking for someone to play ball with (me again!).










We ate some good food - Mark cooked a killer breakfast on Saturday, and then another killer meal on Sunday night - rack of lamb and saffron risotto! Plus he brought some of his wine collection to match! We ended the evening with a contentious card game of spades, during which we debated the Biblical principles of child discipline.






Santa Barbara is great, with a nice beach front, shopping district, and lots of parks, including a vintage carousel which the kids enjoyed (not quite as cool as the Santa Cruz one with the rings you get to toss into the clown's mouth, though!).

Another nice surprise was that we actually had other friends, from way back in my Navy days, who are now living in Santa Barbara - Mike and Marcia Moore and their son Nicholas. Mike works for a defense contractor there and was instrumental in introducing Annett and me back in Washington DC!

So we called them, and lo and behold they were in town so we met up in a local park on Saturday, which was very windy and not very beach-friendly.




After some playing on the playground and lunch under the huge fig trees, we headed up hill to the Santa Barbara Mission, built in the early 1800's, which was having the 25th annual Maddonari Italian street painting festival.













There were some terrific pastel paintings, and we also spent a few minutes on the self-guided tour of the mission grounds - tranquil courtyards accented by palm trees and fountains, large cemetery square shaded by a massive fig tree, and an old adobe-oven kitchen were some of the highlights.


 





Plus the view from the front steps over the paintings and lawn to the ocean and channel islands beyond!

We spent the last day at the beach again, playing with kelp, hitting the whiffle ball, jumping in the waves, and building sand castles.



































 
Overall we had a great time, and will definitely come back - we could easily spend a week lazing on the beach, exploring the town and restaurants, and doing some hiking in the rugged but swimming-hole-riddled Santa Ynez mountains above the town. Every few hours an Amtrak train would whistle through town, and Carson would say "it's the Surfliner!" - maybe we'll take the train next trip....

OK hope all's well with you all! Bye for now!

Sunny Sunol in Springtime

Backpacks, Check!

Hi all,

We are just back from a fun overnight backpacking trip with Tom to the Sunol Regional Wilderness! The kids' first backpacking trip, and we think it was a success (i.e. the kids will do it again with us - Yay!).

We started the hike after Carson's baseball game - we drove over to the trailhead, which was about 40 minutes from Mountain View. The hike in was about 3 miles, mostly along fire roads and the beautiful rushing Alameda creek canyon. We stopped for a snack at Little Yosemite, which is a small boulder-filled gorge which really doesn't do justice to its name.



Eagles' Aerie at 1500' Elevation



Then up the steep incline to the campsite, at about 1500 feet in elevation. I was testing the new backpack, and it worked great. The kids wore their own school backpacks, but instead of books they carried their sleeping bags and clothes.  Tom used my old backpacking tent and my day pack, which worked out fine.

The campsite itself had a beautiful view of the canyon and ridges up towards Mt. Rose at 3800'. Hawks circled in the thermals, and we passed a flock of wild turkeys gobbling on the way.



Go Fish in the Tent



Later that night, after a meal of pasta and homemade brownies for dessert, we played Go Fish in the warm tent until we got tired and went to sleep. An owl hooted outside the tent, which the kids found very cool.





The girls - Ruby, Maggie, and Maggie



The next day we met our neighbors, each having daughters Maggie's age, and one even named Maggie! They were instant friends, pretty much, sharing pop tarts on the rocks. 



The wildflowers are in full bloom at the moment too, lots of poppies, lupines, and yellow daisies. 




Spring Wildflowers























Found the Cache!



We then went Geo-caching, in search of nearby treasure - we found it after some searching, and added our names to the registry. There being somewhat not-so-desirable booty in it, the kids decided to save their contributions until the next time. But it's always fun looking for buried treasure!



Back from Sky Camp



Back to camp to pack up the tents and head down to the valley along the McCorkle trail, with beautiful views over the peaks and meadows.



Tom's Backpack



Lunch break at W Scramble



We stopped for lunch along one of the many still-rushing creeks and replenished the water supplies.



Mt Rose and the ladies



Hiking boots have had it!



By the time we reached the valley, we were pretty much all tuckered out, and Annett and my hiking boots had nearly disintegrated! We hadn't used them for at least 5 years and the rubber soles had essentially broken down. Thank goodness they held together until we reached the parking lot...now to convince REI to fix them :-)

Anyway, this was one of the "experience gifts" we gave Tom at Christmas, and I think he even had a pretty good time! Carson was a trooper, the first one back to the car, and Maggie even made it almost the entire way with her pack on her back (Papa helped a teeny bit).

Now for Yosemite! Carson said "I can't wait to climb Half Dome!"......

OK take care all and enjoy the spring time!





Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Carson getting the signal from the coach in today's game

Hi all,

Well we've transitioned rapidly from winter to spring, from skiing to baseball! For our European friends, we'll have to do a separate tutorial on baseball when you come to visit us :-)

Running evaluation in Feb

 The season started out with evaluations in February, and Carson spent a couple of hours fielding, running, and hitting while being evaluated by the coaches. Then the season began with some practices and clinics run by the league.

Warming up for hitting evaluation

Fielding Clinic

At first, Carson was anxious about going - "too competitive", he said. He's used to being the best footballer and hasn't really played baseball in over two years. But after the games this week he's fired up.

Carson ready to take the pitch

Carson started this week with a couple of games with his team, the Mountain View / Los Altos A's. He's played a couple of positions so far, including third base, center field, left field, and the last couple of games he's been catcher.

Batter up!

Getting ready in the dugout

So far the games have gone well - they have won both of them. I got to score today's game using the baseball shorthand...yikes! Never done that before and only screwed up really bad twice...But we got the score right which I guess is what really matters. That and the pitching count, since the kids are only allowed a certain number of pitches to avoid injury.

The team lining up to be introduced

Most of the games are played at the local elementary school Huff, about half a mile from our house. Maybe 10 parents and siblings come out to watch, so there's a bit of cheering but more advice from coaches than anything else.

Post-game wrap-up

Coach Bice always takes extra time to review the games with the kids, complimenting them on their strengths. The coaches are all volunteer so we're fortunate to have Coach Bice since he's very dedicated and has lots of experience...and doesn't tolerate the kids fooling around!

Looks like Coach Bice is more nervous than Carson on third base!

Today the A's beat the Indians 15 to 10, Carson had an RBI single and was on base a couple of more times after walks, got several stolen bases, but unfortunately didn't end up scoring a run. Andrew Bice (coach's son) had the highlight with a Grand Slam with bases loaded! Didn't get that on camera though, since I was too worried trying to figure out how to score that on the score sheet!

Anyway, we had a great day and Carson now can't wait for the next game on Saturday!