Brocks Hill, Muswell Hill, Twycross, and the Office

Brocks Hill Park

The forest at Brocks Hill is the perfect place for playing a game of "gruffalo." Craig is the gruffalo monster who tries to capture Maya the "little brown mouse" to eat on a slice of bread (the story line of one of our beloved picture books). Alas, the mouse is too fast and too clever for the gruffalo!

Little mouse up a tree.

There she goes!

London

We went for one last trip to London to visit our friends Tina and Lin in Muswell Hill.

Alan is showing Maya how to feed the geese their "healthy snacks."

They live close to Alexandra Palace, a beautiful, half-ruin and public park with a very interesting history.

Here is the view of London from the palace.

Maya and Alan playing together at the palace.

Isabel, Alan, and Maya at the Alexandra Palace pub, checking out the menu.

Tag, you're it! Best buddies.

Birthday Trip to the Twycross Zoo

It was a little bit rainy but we still had a great time at the zoo. We got Maya a new, green raincoat and she had fun hopping around in the puddles pretending to be a frog. 

One of our favorite new things at the zoo was the lorikeet enclosure. For a pound you could buy a cup of nectar to feed to the birds. The lorikeets were very beautiful and very outgoing. Here's Maya feeding one with Craig's help.

Craig, bird whisperer. At one point he had two or three on his arm!

After lunch Maya wanted to play in the homo sapiens enclosure a.k.a. the kid's play zone. Maya loves a good ball pit.

My favorite thing at the zoo is the butterfly room. Its nice and warm in there and all of the butterflies are so beautiful.  As we found out, they are attracted to green clothing. They kept fluttering around and landing on Craig's jacket and Maya's hat. It was very neat.

This one stopped to take a drink.

Here we are, the two birthday girls. Brrrr! It was chilly out that day.

At the Office

It's time to say goodbye to the University of Leicester, so Maya and I have been helping Craig pack up all of the books from his office. Maya "helps" by playing computer and drawing stick figures with Craig's highlighters. 

T-minus five days until our next international move.....

To the Seaside and Back

Seaside Vacation

We decided that after three years it was high time we went on a vacation  here in England. The possibilities were endless, but finally we narrowed the options down to "seaside." We took a look at a map of Great Britain and drew a line across the land to the nearest shore. "X" marks the spot of our seaside vacation: Norfolk. We found a cosy little beach cottage in a town called Mundesley. Imagine your typical quaint, English village. Add about fifteen assorted west highland terriers...and an arcade. That's Mundsley in April. 

Beach house self-portrait. 

Maya instantly scoped out the cottage and found her "big-girl bed" (complete with it's own pooh bear).  It took us about two hours to extract her from this, the clear highlight of the vacation for her. 

The cliffs and rolling waves of Mundseley

Maya, taking her first glimpse at the North Sea.

Beachcomber

It was cooooooold on the beach.

All along the beach is chunks of flint that look like holes have been drilled right through them where the chalk inclusions have eroded away. This one looks like a heart.

Here it is again.

We have the beach to ourselves!

We couldn't resist taking a drive to nearby Great Yarmouth. Craig grew up  in Yarmouth, USA, so we thought we'd see how it compares to the original. If Hampton Beach, New Hampshire aspired to be Atlantic City, New Jersey, it would fall fairly close to the size and general feel of Great Yarmouth. It has a little bit of gambling, and lot bit of seedy and exciting board walking. Fun fact: Yarmouth gets its name from it's location at the mouth of the river Yare.

Great Yarmouth's wide and sandy beaches. Boardwalk fun fair and offshore wind farm in the distance. Again, we get the beach to ourselves.

Lunch stop at a very greasy spoon diner in Great Yarmouth.

Fun with trucks.

On the Great Yarmouth pier.

Maya is pretending to be an airplane. It's so windy!

Driving home through Norfolk.

Easter

Maya wore the special spring dress made by her great-grandmother for me and my sisters when we were kids.

Outdoor egg hunt. Found one!

Found some more.

After she found all of the eggs, Maya insisted in coming inside and "cracking" them all right away (and eating every last morsel of chocolate inside). Here she is cracking an egg into Craig's hands.

A Visit from Friends

Tina, Lin and their kids Alan and Isabel came to visit us. We had lots of fun playing in the back yard.  Here's Maya, Alan, and Me playing bubbles.

Lin, Alan, Me and Maya

An update on a picture of Maya and Alan a year or so ago. They are so big now they hardly fit in the same chair anymore! 

Knighton Park

An evening walk at Knighton Park

Maya

Mini Meadows Farm

Maya loved pretending to ride the old tractor.

Feeding the ponies.

Eating straight from the cup.

Playing in the indoor sand box.

Serious business.

Leicestershire Countryside

In a month we'll be leaving England and moving back to North America.
Knowing that we only have a short time left here has made me appreciate the beauty around us even more.
I'm going to miss the bright rapeseed fields and wide skies of English springtime in Leicestershire.

Can't forget it's geometric forests.