The Royal Wedding

Yes, the day this whole country has been waiting for and speculating about for months and even years! And we were there to watch it... on TV...
Coverage on telly started at 8am and probably continued all day but we tuned in from 9am until about noon.
On Thursday night, our friends Bleddyn and Geri arrived with their sons Ceiro and Meilwyr. So with Nia and her family staying AND with Bleddyn and his family staying, we had a very full house! So full, in fact, that we set the lavvo up and camped in the back garden on Thursday night.

Then Friday morning it was quite exciting to watch all of the royals arrive to Westminster Abbey, then the ceremony itself and the happy moments after as the wedding party paraded to Buckingham Palace. Nia and her family left around 10:45am, just minutes before Kate Middleton stepped into her waiting car from the Goring Hotel en route to the Abbey.
Here are all of us watching the ceremony - Kate and her father are just starting to walk down the aisle on the TV screen.
We had talked about going down to the local pub (Coach & Horses) for their festivities which were planned to go all day and night, but in the end we didn't make it down there. Sometimes its nice to just decide not to do something and be able to relax and enjoy in one's own back garden! We had a great afternoon and evening and got ready to do it all again the next day (minus the wedding).
As this is a 4 day weekend (with Monday being a holiday as well), we are getting very comfortable with the "just hanging out" scene. Anyway, it was pretty fun to watch the wedding celebration with our long lost friends Bleddyn and Geri. They've never visited us before so it was extra fun to have them down here.

Cousins reunited

Cousins Gabriel and Valentin (and their parents Nia and Cris) came to stay a few days with us this week. They were still on Easter holidays although our school district was back in session. That's ok though, because they arrived on Tuesday night and then on Wednesday, Gaby went to Tryfan's nursery school while Rhiannon was at her school. Every spare minute of free time inside the house, though, was spent playing with Legos.
Gaby and Tryfan took turns wearing the Superman outfit. And wearing it definitely gave them special powers - here is Gabs mid-flight off of the ottoman during one of the kids "shows".
We had a great few days together, though it flew by too fast! Hope they come back soon!

Really special Easter visitors

Hurray!! Grandma Bucky, Aunt Judy and Cousin Annie came to spend Easter weekend with us, and it was sooooo wonderful to be with them! They arrived on Saturday 23 April and left us on Monday 25 April so it was a very short visit but much better than nothing. It was gorgeous weather the whole weekend and we celebrated them coming by going to Coach and Horses pub for dinner on Saturday. Here we are in the playground dining area.

We spent Easter morning like this: having pumpkin waffles for breakfast, then being outside in the back garden coloring Easter eggs and generally hanging out for the rest of the day!
Here is the egg coloring center on the patio dining table. Somehow 18 eggs was just not really enough for all of us to get our fix of coloring, so some eggs got colored and then received an 'enhanced later stage' of decoration.
Late in the afternoon we decided to make a pilgrimage to Pooh Sticks Bridge, since our visitors had never been there. It was wonderful to be in this part of the forest on such a special warm Easter afternoon. Here is Aunt Judy walking with Tryfan and Bentley
All of the bluebells are popping up in the Ashdown Forest, and they are so lovely to see! This isn't the best representation of them, but it will have to do for now.
At Pooh Sticks Bridge, looking downstream.
Getting ready for the final stick race under the bridge.
We had our grand Easter Egg Hunt on Monday morning at 9:30am and our friends Sofie and Oscar came over to participate.
After the Egg Hunt, I took Grandma Bucky, Aunt Judy and the kids on a walk to the National Cat Centre as it is quite a substantial place in terms of money spent developing it and grounds spread out under its reach. This is one of the best hang out spots because it is downwind from the blooming lilac. Yum!Finally we had to say goodbye on Monday afternoon. I took them to the train station in East Grinstead and they made their way into London where they are spending the rest of this week.
So that was our Easter weekend. It was perfect and wonderful and very special because of our long awaited visitors. Now its back to reality as school starts up again and our normal routine kicks back into action (though not for long, since Friday is the Royal Wedding and is a Public Holiday for all of us!).

Obsessed

For several weeks now, Rhiannon and especially Tryfan have been obsessed with Lego and also with Star Wars. After they were "mostly good" on our camping road trip to Normandy, we said they could choose a special gift. Tryfan chose a Star Wars Lego set (from ebay), and he was soooo excited when they finally arrived!
Rhiannon chose a Hospital Lego set. Actually it is not the 'real' Lego, its some cheap knockoff Lego-type product which doesn't fit together quite as well. Anyway, once the hospital got put together, there has been no end to the fun!
As you can see in the photo, C3PO is upstairs in the emergency room and usually Princess Leia is working as a Nurse while Yoda (if we can locate him) and R2D2 help out in the operating theatre. The Stormtrooper often shows up as a pile of pieces in the back of the ambulance (after having been a "Baddy" and been blown apart by Obi Wan Kenobi and Buzz Lightyear).

It has been very, very funny to overhear the neverending soap opera of life at the Lego Hospital with all the familiar characters. Of course, it was only about 4 days until the light sabers got lost. And the Stormtrooper's backpack has been lost and found several times. Same with Leia's prized headpiece. But you know, these kids adapt -- Leia borrows Trucker Tanya's hair for a bit and the Stormtrooper temporarily wears a headlight from the ambulance as his backpack, so on and so forth. Good stuff!

Ardingly reservoir

Today we joined forces with Sofie and Oscar again (and their mama Emma) to go on a bike riding adventure. Our village is not so good for riding bikes because the sidewalks are narrow and we live on a main road, so we drove ourselves and the kids bikes over to Ardingly Reservoir, which has big wide hard-packed gravel paths. Here they are, cycling into the distance...
There is a big wooden stag beetle hidden in the trees on the side of the path -- irresistible for climbing on!
Most of the reservoir is fenced off so that you can't actually get to the water's edge, but we found a gap in the fence that said "For Anglers Only" so we let ourselves in to cool our toes in the water. It was a hot day - probably about 75 deg F!
The reservoir is near a private school and it looked like some of the students were having their sailing lessons while we were there.
This whole week-- actually, ever since April 6th -- has been amazing weather. Sunny, warm, everything blooming! We are really looking forward to having Grandma Bucky and Aunt Judy and Annie come visit us this weekend for Easter!

Normandy Camping Trip - Part 2

So on Saturday morning we packed up and headed west to Point D'Hoc where the US Rangers climbed up the cliff to attack the German forces during the D-Day invasion. Here is Rhodri looking east along Omaha Beach from the Point D'Hoc monument.
Here is Rhiannon looking into one of the bunkers on the cliff with Tryfan and I in the background.
There were loads of depressions where bombs had landed and exploded during the invasion, and now they are all grassy and fun to run across!
When we had explored enough of the clifftop memorial area, we headed east to Omaha beach. We were amazed at what a HUGE wide and deep and beautiful beach it is.
Mandatory family self-take on Omaha Beach
After leaving the beach, we meandered through the countryside following signs for various campsites before we decided on one in the village of Creully. It was another nearly empty place and the grassy site we found was right next to a swingset.
The kids played and played in the sand and on the swings. There were lots of little tiny seashells in the sand, and so the kids were busy searching for them and lining them all up on top of a swing, digging holes and burying stuff. Endless opportunities! Here is the swingset sand area:
After setting up camp and playing for awhile, we went into the village for dinner. Here is the cafe which had been recommended to us, right next to the village church.
But the cafe didn't open until 7pm so we spent half an hour exploring around. We stumbled upon a castle which was right in the middle of the village so we didn't even realize it was a castle until we read a plaque which explained that it was built in the 11th century. There was a friendly black cat that the kids followed.
Here is the inner part of the castle area. The southeast tower of the castle was the headquarters for the BBC during the 2nd World War. So cool!
We had a great meal of crepes with local cheese and Calvados beverages, and then got back to the campsite for a great night of sleep. First thing in the morning, Tryfan and Rhiannon went straight back to the swing and sand area even though they were still in their jammies!
We packed the car and headed off on Sunday morning so that we could do some more meandering and exploring on the way back to Dieppe.
It was a gorgeous day and we were able to spend some time on the seafront in Dieppe where lots of people were flying kites, playing soccer on the grass, and eating ice cream. We just participated in the ice cream part and then made our way to the ferry around 3:30pm, ready for the 5pm sailing. It was the same exact vessel so the troops knew what to do during the voyage - ball pit action! Rhodri and I got to read our books and drink beer. Superb!
The ferry landed in Newhaven at 8pm and by the time we had driven off, stopped for the Sunday paper and some milk, we got home around 9pm and went straight to bed.
On Monday morning I scooted off to work while Rhodri and the kids stayed home and dealt with the aftermath -- airing out all our gear and cleaning things properly before packing them away for our next adventure...
So all in all, it was a wonderful camping trip! It felt like a longer period than the 4 days that it was. I had been very curious and skeptical about camping in France, because all of the campsites that I read about on the internet were deluxe resorts with swimming pools, waterslides, cafes, organized activities and lots of 'stuff' that I personally do not associate with camping. So I was grateful to have found some options which are at least more basic and minimal than the 3 and 4 star resorts I had read about. But what I really miss is being able to camp in the middle of nowhere with no facilities or amenities, and to be able to have a campfire. Sadly, both places we camped in France didn't allow campfires. I guess that means we will have to try it again somewhere else in France or in the UK...
Rhodri and I remembered while we were on this trip that camping takes practice! There is so much to remember and a different rhythm to tune into. I'd love to do more of this.

Normandy Camping Trip - Part 1

Woohoo! We just got back from a wonderful camping trip to Normandy. We had originally planned to go to Brittany, but that would have required more driving so we listened to Nia's advice and pottered around Normandy instead since we only had 4 days. Here are the troops on the bow of our ferry on Thursday 14 April:
It was a car ferry called the MV Seven Sisters, and once we had parked the car onboard we found a place to set up camp in the more civilized part of the ship for the 4-hour ride from Newhaven to Dieppe. There was a ball pit for kids and this is where our kids were for the entire 4 hours, except for when they periodically came crying back to where we sat claiming that so-and-so threw the ball at them really hard ("Tryfan, did you throw a ball really hard at them first?". "Yeah". "Okay then, off you go!")
Once we landed and drove off the ferry, we headed west along the coast.
Here is a little map showing our route: (F) is Dieppe where we started and ended our journey; (B) is the village of Yport where we spent Thursday and Friday nights camping; (C) is the town of Etretat which we explored on Friday; (D) is Point d'Huc near Grandcamp Maisy, which is between Utah and Omaha beaches where the D-Day invasion took place in 1945; (E) is the village of Creully where we camped on Saturday night before driving a sort of meandering way back to Honfleur and then on the motorway up to Dieppe.
Here is our campsite in Yport. It was empty except for us and 2 other groups, so we had lots of space to spread out.
Rhiannon's favorite chore for helping out was filling up water bottles from our jug.
Another view of the campsite, with the office and playground in the distance. They had a swingset and some other play equipment (mostly for younger kids) in a big sand pit, and they also had a patio room which had a ping-pong table and a corner with art supplies for drawing.
On Friday morning we went exploring, first into the seafront area of Yport. They had a fun climbing structure on the beach with a wading pool (not filled up yet, though), and the troops played here for quite awhile.
We explored the far end of the beach where there was a cave and lots of chalk and chert pebbles to examine.
Then we drove to Etretat, which is only a few miles along the coast. We couldn't find a parking place in the town centre so we ended up parking just a bit out of town near a golf course. We stumbled upon a path that looked promising so we took our picnic lunch and walked about a mile alongside a big bright field of yellow rapeseed.
We ended up at the cliff edge pathway, which we took back around to Etretat.
Quite possibly the most beautiful picnic spot ever! We feasted on baguettes, new and interesting cheeses, fruit and vegetables. YUM
We eventually made it back to our campsite and cooked dinner etc. It was so great sleeping in the lavvo! We decided to bring this tent rather than our 2-bedroom blue one because if it had rained, this one would have been easier to cook and hang out in since it is made for 12-14 people (although we think it would be a bit too cozy if there were actually 12-14 people sleeping inside)!

The next day we packed up camped and moved on, not knowing where we would end up this night. I love this way of camping and living - just free to be spontaneous and go wherever we want. Hurray! To be continued....