Going hunting...

Lying in bed this morning, I was desperately grasping for something new and fun to do with the kids today. And then in a flash of brilliance, it came to me!

We drove over to Normanby Hall this afternoon, and went hunting for some signs of spring. I gave each of the kids a camera and told them to take pictures of what they found. With a little help from me, here's what they came up with:

Twigmoor Woods

Flamborough Head

Dylan wanted rock pools, so we went to Flamborough Head up in Yorkshire. There are no rock pools in Lincolnshire--too sandy and flat for that. Amazing day!










Have I mentioned lately how beautiful I think England is?

A trip to Lincoln...

Martin took a few lunch shifts off during Dylan's half term break, and we used one of them to go to Lincoln.  We took the train down, which the kids loved.  Dylan listened to the Kids playlist on my iPod, and spent a lot of the journey singing along to The Smiths and Bob Marley.

We spent a healthy amount of time watching the swans, before heading up steep hill.

We had a little picnic at the cathedral once we got to the top.  Little troopers only stopped once or twice to rest. 

They enjoyed the cathedral.  They enjoyed the castle, too! 

Did you know that one of just two remaining copies of the Magna Carta are at Lincoln Castle?  I did.  Martin did not.  We saw it.  It was pretty cool.

Lincoln is such an amazing city.  The climb to the topmost tower in the castle is totally worth it for the view.

Llandeilo

So here we are, ten years together and still smiling (or is that a grimace!?) either way, still having fun!

Norfolk: heading home...

Breakfast, clean-up, tent down, then a trip to the beach.

Sugar and spice and everything nice.  That's what this little girl is made of!

It was a gray day, so we didn't put him in his swimming suit.  Luckily, he was wearing boxer style briefs.  Nothing wrong with a little kid swimming in his pants, right?

Then it was home, and trying to rest from all of our "fun."

It was good to get back.

Norfolk: day two, part two...

After a long drive via Cromer (gorgeous), we woke the kids up at Bewilderwood.

This is kind of how we all felt!

We all enjoyed the 30 minute story time, but Edith was too afraid of the Crocklebog to get her picture taken with it.

Zip lines, which Edith and the boys really enjoyed.  I said, no thanks!

Giant spider web.

Massive tree houses, rope bridges, slides, and fun.  This place was seriously magical.  Except for the poo accident, which saw me cleaning mess off all of Edith's clothes in a public toilet.  That wasn't cool.

Norfolk, day two part one...

When we woke up the next morning (at 6am, thanks to Master Dylan John) the tide was in.  We made breakfast (corned beef hash), got cleaned up (Edith hates showers--did I mention that?), and walked in to Wells-Next-The Sea (did you like the Oxford comma, Krys?)  Check out my daughter's wicked-long legs!

Enlarge this photo for a fab view of the quayside in the village.

Too bad the pirate ship was closed until 11:30am, or we could have had crepes there...

Norfolk is famous for crabs--luckily, the kind you eat.  We watched half the county catching them on the quayside, and the kids were fascinated!  They also had these very groovy purpose-built nets...

We all rode the light railway back to the campsite--it was the highlight of the day for Dylan.  So far...

Norfolk, day one, part two...

The beach.  It was amazing!

Slightly botched attempt at a landscape photo, but the beach huts still look cool (Martin took the photo, not me).

Trampoline time.

For mom, as well.

After our walk on the beach, jumping on the trampoline, and icecream, we made dinner at the camp site and attempted bed time.  It was a long night that didn't involve much sleeping.

Humber Bridge Country Park...