Day 5 - Brighton Pier

We had SO much fun on Tuesday walking along the sea to get to the pier!  It was fun to just have time to wander and chat.  We visited the Brighton Fishing Museum, played on the fun old stuff, and ate fish and chips!  Well, I ate fish and chips.  The kids had hamburgers and chicken nuggets, and Buzz and Hannah had sausage and chips.  The fish was SO delicious!!!  Buzz and Hannah even tried it, and agreed that it was pretty good.  The kids also had fun figuring out the American/British names for the same things: fries/chips, chips/crisps, and cookies/biscuits.  They did it in a way that was more about observation than ridicule, so nobody around us seemed offended.  When we got to the pier, we got doughnuts!!!  It was cool, because we watched them being made from this snazzy little machine, then ate them while they were hot.  I let the kids each pick one ride.  Nick chose the haunted house ride.  I went with him.  He didn't totally enjoy it - I think he picked it because Chris is TOTALLY freaked about anything scary, and Nick was able to brag about how it wasn't scary at all afterwards.  It wasn't really that bad, but it was pitch black almost the whole time on the inside.  I held his hand to reassure him, and I think he appreciated it.  Aubree and Chris chose the Sizzler.  They were the only 2 on the ride, and as it spun, Chris was squishing Aubree.  They love trying to not let the force of the ride push them in the middle, but they're not strong enough to resist.  After we were finished with our rides, L'eah picked one that she wanted to go on.  It was a train, and she was the only one on.  It started and she was happy enough, but about halfway through the circuit, the music was just too loud and she started crying.  They quickly stopped it and got her off, then let her ride the carousel.  She's not big enough to ride a horse, but seemed to enjoy riding around with her mum on the bench.  It also helped that the music wasn't as loud.
That night, Aubree and I were able to attend the RS Birthday Dinner with Hannah.  We helped bury a time capsule, had dinner, and enjoyed talking with one of Hannah's friends that sat at our table with us.  Buzz was such a trooper for keeping the boys with him so much.

Sweet cousins!

Who is that?

Some weird lady keeps hopping into the picture!

Outside the fishing museum.

Flat Stanley checking out the fishing nets in the museum.

Me and Nick Bob halfway through the Haunted House!

Aubree and Chris on the Sizzler.

L'eah on the train ride.

It's starting to get too loud.

Ride's over!

MUCH better!!!

Aubree and Chris

Me and Nick

Aubree saves Chris!!!

Day 4 - Windsor, Costco, and the Temple

We went to Windsor on Monday to watch the changing of the guard.  In the off-season, the full ceremony is only done every other day.  The opposite day it's done at Buckingham Palace, and we knew we wouldn't make it in time to see it there.  We got there just in time to stake out our spot a little way up the hill, so we would have a decent view.  The BEST part of the whole thing was when the marching band came in!  I love listening to marching bands!  They even played "76 Trombones"!!!  It was really cool to have seen the ceremony at least once.  The bad part about Windsor is that all the really cool things, like Queen Mary's Dolls' House, the state apartments, and St. George's Church cannot be photographed.  But, we saw them all and bought the book to remember.  Oh, and the Queen was in residence when we first arrived!  St. George's church was really cool.  So many kings and queens are buried there, and Prince Charles married Camilla there.  Queen Mary's Dolls' House was cool to see - even the boys liked it, but the best part was walking through the State Apartments.  Since we were in a hurry to get to the courtyard for the changing of the guard, we passed on getting the free audio tours and didn't get a lot of background and history on the various rooms and furnishings, but it was fun to just walk through and read some of the plaques that were available.  It also helped save time, as Hannah was outside with an unhappy L'eah and baby Barty.  As it is, it still took us at least 45 minutes to get through.  It was fun to see rooms that are still in use today, although they are all ceremonial rooms and not the actual rooms they sleep in.  Every day they just roll up the rugs and place the ropes before people come through.  Then at 5, they remove the ropes, put the carpets back, and the queen and her family use the rooms again.  Amazing.  When we had seen all we wanted, Hannah took the kids to the car to get them started on lunch, and Buzz and I walked around to get pictures of the front of the castle.

After we finished eating, we went to Costco!!!  It was the EMPTIEST Costco I have EVER seen!  In England, to get a membership, you have to work for a company that has signed up with Costco.  We had a lot of fun wandering around with our drinks (that were refillable) and checking out all the similarities and differences while eating samples.  I bought 2 large blocks of cheddar cheese to bring home, and also found some stuff for some friends.  I think the boys each went to the bathroom twice while we were there.  Apparently the lack of refills in this country has caused their bladders to shrink to the size of a pea.

On our way to the temple, Buzz was following Hannah, when she suddenly pulled over to the side of the highway.  Buzz couldn't understand why she would stop there, when Nick and Chris burst out of the car, because they were about to burst.  I had them come back, we opened both doors of the car, and they watered the English countryside.  Did I mention that they had already gone twice at Costco?  And that Nick hadn't even refilled his soda?  Yeah.

Anyway, we made it to the temple!  Unfortunately, the Visitor Center was closed, but we were still able to walk the grounds, and use the bathroom in the welcome center.  It was cold, but it was so wonderful to walk the grounds of the temple!  Even though the trees are still bare, it was beautiful with all the daffodils, and the kids loved the ducks.  It would have been fun to do a session, but the temple was closed.  It was a great way to finish up our day!

To the Castle!!!

Inspection time.

If you look carefully at the flag, you can see it's the Queen's standard. 
When we left, the Union Jack was flying.  Oh, and this is the Round Tower.

The courtyard and buildings that are off limits, because they house the actual residence.

We HAD to get a picture with the guard!

The front of Windsor Castle.  I'm not sure if anyone still uses this drive.

Through the window at the Visitor's Center!

On the front steps.

The kids on the steps of the London Temple.

Side view.

The cute ducks.  Nick LOVES ducks, so we took lots of pictures.

I love that the barren tree is surrounded by daffodils.

We love to see the temple!

Angel Moroni.

Day 3 - Xander receives a name and a blessing, and we throw rocks in the sea

Sunday was a very special day!  We were able to attend church with Buzz and Hannah, and witness the blessing of Xander Bartholomew Lines.  It was beautiful, and Xander was perfect the whole time.  I have to admit, though, that Nick was not the only Davidson that started getting antsy as Sacrament meeting progressed, then finally made it's way into Sunday School and Relief Society.  It takes a bit of adjusting to go to a normal block meeting after having church for an hour and a half for the last 7 months.  It was especially fun for Aubree to attend a Young Women lesson not taught by her mother.  I am so glad we had the opportunity to be there and meet some of Buzz and Hannah's friends.  It's so nice to belong to a worldwide church.  I love that I can go into a ward with complete strangers and be able to renew my baptismal covenants and feel the Spirit!  After church, we took some pictures and headed home.
After a quick lunch, Buzz and I took the kids on a walk down to the sea so Han could fix dinner without us all underfoot.  Aubree, Chris, and Nick spent the time throwing rock after rock into the water, looking for shells, and seeing who could throw their rock the farthest.  L'eah sat down in the rocks and started eating them.  Apparently she likes the salt on them, because every time we turned around, she had another rock in her mouth.  When the kids were done throwing rocks, Buzz directed them to look for mermaid purses.  They are the egg sacks for sharks, and though we found some, I didn't get a picture of it.  You can find out more information and a picture of the ones we saw here.
For dinner, Hannah fixed us a traditional English chicken roast dinner with Yorkshire pudding, tons of vegetables, and gravy to cover everything!  It was SOOOOO fabulous!  We finished off Xander's special day with a lemon cake roll thing.  I don't remember what it's called, though.  But it was good!  Maybe Hannah will share the recipe with us all later.


Buzz, Xander, and the men who stood in the circle.



Hannah, L'eah, Xander, Buzz, Chris, me, Nick, Aubree, and Dave!

Buzz and Hannah with their adorable children!

Buzz and Xander with Dave

3 generation shot - Xander with his mum and granddad

All the cousins on the stairs.

Xander Bartholomew Lines in his blessing outfit.

I think L'eah has a rock in her mouth.  Plus, I really like the houses in the background.

Finding shells and throwing rocks.

Nick is number 1!

Chris loves the sea! (Except when he gets too close and his shoes and pants get soaked.)

Aubree found the most perfect shells!

Flat Stanley got in on the action.

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside.  Oh, I do like to be beside the sea...

Cool, old church in Hove halfway between the flat and the sea.

Day 2 - Seven Sisters Sheep Centre and the Cliffs

On Saturday we packed up a lunch and headed to a working sheep farm, where it's lambing season!  We loaded into Dave's car and the rental and drove through the beautiful countryside to get there.  We bought bags of food to feed the sheep.  Nick and L'eah totally got into it, and each ended up going through an entire bag themselves.  Aubree fed 3 then washed her hands.  Chris refused.  I don't really blame him.  Buzz and I also fed some until it got too gross.  The first indoor section was filled with the mommas and their new little babies.  I was surprised at how many twins there were!  Outside there were pens of the rams, and then on the other side of the building the pens full of the pregnant sheep.  We were able to see a ewe with its lamb that had been delivered shortly before.  The kids all thought it was gross, and it's not fun having to explain to a 6 year old boy what everything is that's still hanging out.  We tried to hurry them along from there.  There was also a fun little playground that the kids enjoyed, and Nick made a friend.  Aren't you SO surprised?  After we finished seeing everything, we washed our hands REALLY well, and went out to the cars to eat lunch.

Lunch over, we drove up the road to the cliffs.  Right after we parked, disaster struck - Flat Stanley was nowhere to be found.  You would think it was the end of the world.  So, Chris pouted for a while until I threatened him, then thought about where he could have been left, and told him we could stop back at the farm to look for it on the way back.  We imposed strict rules to the kids about running around.  (I didn't want to have to explain to Mike why I was only coming back with 2 children when I left with 3.)  Nick was really good about holding my hand when we got to the edge, plus I think it freaked him out a bit.  It was really windy and cold, so we watched a guy flying a really cool kite, then got ice cream from the truck in the parking lot.  I'm really happy with some of the pictures I got, and Buzz told me that the composition was good.  We drove to another part of the cliffs where we could take the stairs down to the beach, and it was AWESOME!!!  The cliffs are made of chalk and flint, and we picked up some samples to bring home.  The kids want to start a fire with the flint, so I guess I need to figure out where to buy some steel here.  It's all very exciting.

When we were done at the beach we went back to the sheep farm, and sure enough - Flat Stanley was waiting for us in the gift shop.  The lady that helped us remembered seeing Chris with it, so when someone else found it, she set it aside for us.  I had to explain what it was, thanked her over and over again, and off we went home.  That night we have pizza from ASDA (a store owned by Wal-Mart) and it was really good!  The Brits put some weird stuff on their pizza, but we all enjoyed it immensely!



This is the cutest picture of L'eah!



Feeding the rams.

 

With the rams, before Flat Stanley got lost...



The pregnant ewes.

Lots of cute little lambies.



This was a pretty fun digger!

  

Nick on the tire swing.

   

Chris on the tire swing.



Aubree on the tire swing!