Holiday: Part 1 (or, It's probably only funny if you're Mormon)...

We were supposed to leave bright and early on Tuesday morning for our mini-break to the Lake District.  Bright and early turned into 9:45 am as we packed up everything we'd need and then the kids and I sat in the car for about 15 minutes while Martin searched the house for his temple recommend.  It was removed from his wallet by the kids.  Don't be sympathetic--he shouldn't leave his wallet down where the kids can reach it!

He never did find the thing.  It is "somewhere in the house," which currently doesn't bode well...

We drove to Ulceby to pick up my mother-in-law.  Martin left her toiletries bag sitting on top of the car, and we added about 45 minutes onto our journey by turning around and trying to find it.

Are you getting the picture that Martin was batting a thousand on Tuesday? 

Surprisingly, this did not irritate me in the slightest.  I really mean that, too.  I am totally shocked that I wasn't mad at him.  I wasn't even mildly annoyed.  Just amused.

The drive from Ulceby to the Preston Temple in Chorley was pretty uneventful, except Martin missed the junction for the motorway that takes you to Preston, so we had to switch on the sat nav (thanks, Christine) and find an alternate route.  Found out later, incidentally, that it was set to "shortest distance," not "fastest route."  That explains a lot!

We were going to try to make the 11am session.  Made the 2pm session instead.

Got to the temple, Christine took the kids, and we went inside.  I showed them my recommend with no drama.  Martin had to jump through some hoops.  They can verify the fact that he has a temple recommend electronically but then have to contact our bishop or stake president to make sure that his recommend hasn't been confiscated by them.  They also have to see picture ID to make sure he is who he says he is.  So there we are, sitting in the Temple, and the only ID Martin has is his personal alcohol license--a council issued document which authorizes him to sell alcohol.

I found this hilarious.  Martin thought it was kind of ironic.  Not really sure how the temple worker felt about the whole situation.

Anyway, we had a wonderful time at the temple.  And I have resolved to never let that much time lapse without a visit.  It had been nearly 3 years.  We've had recommends the whole time, but haven't made it there since Edith was born.  That is way too long!

Got out of the temple, and Christine was a bit frazzled.  We got in the car to finish our journey to the holiday cottage in Tebay (pronounced tee-bay) and had snacks and drinks.  Everyone calmed down and we enjoyed the stunning scenery.

The holiday cottage was small, but nice.  I cooked some pasta for dinner, we went for a little walk around the village, then we got the kids bathed and put in bed.  They settled in immediately and didn't make a peep about sleeping in a strange place, probably helped by the fact that they had their duvets from home on their beds.

Martin and I went to pick up a few essentials from the shop, and returned 3 hours later.  We got lost in Kendal and then got lost coming out again, too.  Martin was pretty stressed out about it.

So yeah, that was the first day of our mini-holiday adventure.  Eventful, slightly stressful, but still nice.