England Trip

I went to England so I could do some research with one of my undergraduate students at the British Library and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon.

 

Jesse and I at the British Library

I love libraries and archives, so just that would have been plenty of fun on its own. But when Mom heard I was going to England she decided she would come too. I didn't see much of her because she was off visiting her friends all over the country on her BritRail pass. But we had some fun on the first and last day of our trip in London and over the weekend in Chester.

 

Staying awake and riding the tourist bus on our first day.

Hi Mom!

Tower Bridge

Old and new architecture.

I always knew Mom was a Hufflepuff.

Off to Hogwarts!

We decided to meet up and go to Chester for the weekend. My Fisher ancestors are from there, so it was really fun to see the town. I loved the cathedral, and the shopping streets, and the Roman ruins, and the city wall. 

Baptismal font in Chester Cathedral.
Thomas Fredrick Fisher was christened here.

Cathedral nave

Stone devil high up in the clerestory.

Phoning home from the high street.

Walls went around the whole city.

Most gorgeous stone bridge ever.

We had Sunday brunch with the West family.

On the last day of our trip, I cut out of the library early so Mom and I could go to the British Museum. Last time I worked in the British Library it was actually part of the museum, so I could head down on my lunch break to see the Elgin Marbles and the Rosetta Stone. So it did seem appropriate to pair the library with the museum.

 

Greek Hall selfie.

Lewis Chessmen

 

Now that Mom realizes how easy it is to get around England on her own, she probably won't need me around on her next trip. But it was fun to share part of this adventure with her.

Horses!

The horses have arrived for summer! This year we have a mother, Babi, and her two daughters, 4-year-old Layla and 3-month-old Gemmy. All three are Arabian racehorses. Babi and Layla are lovely animals, very nicely behaved, and Gemmy is absolutely adorable, in an awkward baby moose kind of way. She's getting plenty of love, attention, and socialization with us.

 

Gavin

Gavin has had lots going on as well. A few highlights:

 

Cub Scout Advancement

 

Gavin got his Bear award and advanced to the Webelos level. He got his rank advancement at a fun pack meeting where the boys made cardboard cars then ran a "Cub-anapolis 500". Gavin's double-knotted sneakers slowed him down when they came in for one of their pit stops and we couldn't switch his shoes fast enough!

 

 

Piano Recital

 

Gavin played a duet with his friend Owen and a piece called "Highland Jig" for his recital. There is a great group of kids his age that all take piano lessons, it's so fun to see them all perform together.

 

Brother's Day

 

We honored the best brother in our family with some presents and an angel food cake with strawberries and tons of whipped cream.

 

BookKids at the Museum

 

Gavin chose the BookKids book for June: a graphic novel about the Civil War. So we took the group to the Sullivan Museum at Norwich to see the Civil War exhibit. The museum staff were wonderful, they brought out lots of objects for the kids to see and touch. They even let them try on Civil War uniforms and heft the huge cannon. The kids were great, I was amazed at their attention span, they were so excited about everything.

Lucy

Lucy has had a busy spring, and I've been too busy to put it on the blog. So here's a summary of Lucy's activities of the past several weeks.

 

Book Club Anniversary

 

It's been five years since we started the book club! That's 60 books read and 60 fun book discussions. We celebrated with an ice cream cake.

 

 

Track Team

 

Lucy ran track again this spring. She likes the longer distance events best, but participated in the 800m, 1500m, 4x100 relay, and long jump. Pretty much everything except hurdles and throwing stuff. The girls celebrated the end of their season with a tent sleepover at our house. All of them crammed in one tent, on a freezing cold night, but they had a great time. Love these girls.

 

Sister's Day

 

We celebrated Lucy's great sister-hood with an ice cream cake (notice a theme here?) and some presents, including a "gift card" from Gavin for a tub of macaroni and cheese from KFC and some fresh chocolate chip cookies.

 

Driving?

 

I walked outside the other day and saw . . . what? Austin has taught Lucy to drive the tractor! She's mostly just carting the water reservoir around these days but it wouldn't surprise me if her dad got her mowing the lawn sometime soon.