A Trip to Cambridge

Today the kids and I brought Grandma Sally and Grandpa Mike to the beautiful city of Cambridge.

Mike and Sally love to do the Hop-on-Hop-Off bus tours and since it was something I hadn't done in Cambridge yet, we made that our main tourist event. It was a little bit chilly but the best views were from up on the top of the bus. Harrison enjoyed about 3 minutes of commentary then decided he wanted to lay on my lap for a bit.

One of my favorite bridges crossing the Cam...the mathematical bridge. Said to have been designed that it wouldn't need any nails to hold the wood together for the way it was pieced together. It now has bolts holding the bridge together not for support but because students used to take the bridge apart piece by piece.

On our bus tour we got to see an amazing view of King's Chapel towering in the middle of King's College. It is such an amazing building...too bad I haven't been inside yet to see the famous stained glass windows.

Like I've said before, cycling is huge in Cambridge and there are bicycles everywhere. You can see them lined up on our side of the road right along the cars and then across the street at the light they are all lined up. Reason being is that no student at Cambridge University is not allowed to have a car registered anywhere within a 5 mile radius of the city of Cambridge.

The bus also brought us out past the American Military Cemetery which I had no idea existed near Cambridge. Initially in 1943 this site was donated by Cambridge University to the United States to use as a temporary cemetery for soldiers killed in WWII. In 1956 it was dedicated as a permanent cemetery and is the only American WWII cemetery in the United Kingdom.

After our bus tour we decided to catch a bite to eat at my favorite pub in Cambridge - The Anchor (well, it's the only pub I've eaten at in Cambridge but I love it).

Addison shared a big platter of fish and chips with Grandma Sally. She quite enjoyed her extra large fish stick!

The Anchor is situated right along the River Cam next to the punting boats. Today there were several sporatic rain showers and one was coming down at a pretty good clip while we were eating lunch. Funny thing was that is that the sun was shining, but raining super hard.

After lunch we made our way down to the open air market in Market Square. I found the perfect dress for Sally. I did happen to find a special treat for myself at the market - 4 huge "steak" plates of the Johnson Bros. "Old English Castles" collection along with another red printed pattern platter - all for my china collection. Sally picked up a few little bits as well for gifts.

We made our way back to our bus pick up in the pouring rain, but the kids were in really good spirits for getting wet. We made our way back out to the park and ride and drove on home.

Grandma and Grandpa Dea Visit England Again

Shortly after returning from the US, Grandma Sally and Grandpa Mike came to visit us in England for the 3rd time. Yes, we just saw them on Sunday in American but they had this trip over to see us before Casey and Steph had their wedding planned so October became a pretty busy month for us. We originally planned a long weekend to Bath and Stonehedge but after a big trip back to the States we kept things low key as we were heading out a big trip to Germany the following weekend.














For lunch on Sunday we headed out to the Windmill pub in Orton. I love English food and a good English Sunday roast dinner is a thing of beauty. We all had some good English grub in this amazingly renovated pub. It also has an amazing playground but we wanted a little more open space so we headed over to Ferry Meadows after lunch.














I love this place so much...just a beautiful lake loaded up with ducks and geese and locals walking and ride bikes on the paths.














The kids show grandma how they like to feed the ducks.














Addison has a go at riding her tricycle on the paths. She's quite the go-er on this thing. We really need to get her a proper bicycle.














Grandpa takes a break and the kiddos join him.

















Of course no trip to Ferry Meadows would be complete without a good long play at one of the play parks. It's amazing how ornry older children can be and how much I want to just protect my kids so much. It was really hard to hear a ten year old boy can curse like a sailor and the man who appears to be his dad not say a thing about it. Guess it didn't phase Addie as she was full of smiles, but Kevin and I had to do a double take when we heard what we heard.

















We had a wonderful time playing about, but then we headed out to continue our walk around the lakes.














At home Grandma Sally broke out one of her many special gifts for the kids. Each one of them got a brand new quilt made by Grandma and designed with each of them in mind. Sally is an amazing quilter and the kids will treasure these gifts for the rest of their lives.














Harrison with his I-spy quilt which is loads of fun to play and beautiful to the eye. Thank you grandma!!!

Howell's Pumpkin Farm

Today we met up with Grandma Sally, Grandpa Mike, Aunt Lindsay, Uncle Ryan and Cousin Emma in Des Moines while were in that part of the state for the wedding. It was a beautiful warm day in the middle of October. We met everyone for breakfast at one of our favorite places - The Machine Shed. It's all decked out with "farm" decor and tractor rides outside.













Of course the kiddos like the fake pigs outside the front door.

After breakfast we made our way out to Howell's Farm which is literally 1 mile down the road from their house. Addie is the pig, Harry the cow, and Emma's the horsey.













They had a great time playing in the corn "sandbox."













Now that is a big tire swing.

Addison was a tractor pedalling fool - she worked so hard to get that thing going and to steer clear of all the other kiddos.

Pumping water to race the ducks...it became pretty competitive (well between addie and Harry).

















More piggies to ride!














We then took a little tractor ride acrosss the way to go through the corn maze. Here we are...they Dea boys, the wives and grandkids!














Afterwards we headed back to Ryan and Lindsay's to relax and have a late lunch. Addison loves to play with her little cousin Emma. They had a great time coloring and doing girly stuff together.

Going to the Chapel...Casey and Stephanie's Wedding!!!

Today is the big day...my brother is getting married to this pretty lady...Miss Stephanie Bennett (soon to be Schafbuch). Bright and earlier the girls and kids got up to head to "Aunt Teresa's" to get our hair done and get dressed. Here's Steph with my cutie nephew Brock.

Addison and I getting our hair done by Stephanie's sister and cousin. Addie felt like a little princess.

Getting the boys dressed was an interesting challenge this morning as it's supposed to be over 80 F and they were wearing little tuxes. They were so stinking cute in them though!!! Crystal Jo did a little better at getting Bo to suit up than I did with Harry.

The little princess getting her pretty dress on.

Addie getting close with cousin Bo...

After getting a little lost we finally made it to the park in Ames where we were taking pictures. We had lots of fun the happy couple were so cute.

We did take an opportunity to snap a quick family picture before the big ceremony.

The whole wedding party...me and Jo with our hubbies, then Stephanie's sisters and cousins, and Sawyer, Jordan, Harley, and Steph's brother in law.

My sister, Crystal, my brother in law, Heath, and nephews Bo and Brock!!!

Taking a few moments with the flowergirl...

It was so amazing to take a quick moment for a heartfelt prayer with my little brother and sister just minutes before he took his vows. I haven't been so proud of him. It's amazing how much time we got to spend with him all day.

Addison got a little one on one time with her new auntie Stephanie. How cute they are with their matching hair dos.

All the little nephews on both sides were the ring bearers and got to ride in the wagon.

They had such a beautiful ceremony and I totally cried as Stephanie walked in. The happy couple walking out as husband and wife.

Love those bubbles...

Entertaining the kiddos before the big reception at the Elks Lodge in Ames.

Addison was so excited to get to dance with them that she interrupted their first dances. What an amazing day!!!

The Dress Rehersal

Friday morning we made our way up to Ames for the wedding. We had a whole day planned out for us. First of all we made our way to the Elks Club in Ames to decorate the reception hall. It was so weird to be back in our old college town and none the less across the street from the church where Kevin and I got married. After decorating, the guys took the kids while the ladies took off together.















The bride, moms, and bridesmaids all got pampered at the spa with manies and pedies. I had a little panic session during my pedicure as I got major chest pains as the guy rubbed on my legs. It totally freaked out as I had no idea what was going on....my sister being a nurse quickly diagnosed me to have a potenial blood clot...nice. Everything turned out okay...still don't know what the deal was but it was WEIRD never the less. Stephanie never stopped working the whole time during her "relaxation" session, but apparently she was writing a letter to Casey that the pastor was going to use in the wedding ceremony....how sweet!














Is it frankinstein? No, just my mom with a parafin wax treatment on her hands...how fun!

























Later on we all met at Cornerstone Church for the dress rehersal. The kids were all so excited for their Uncle Casey.

The happy groom and his parents who are super excited to gain another daughter.

The three amigos (or dos hermanas and hermano)!

At the rehersal dinner the both of them looked so calm and relaxed after such a long day and a short 8 weeks to prepare for this glorious day. Stephanie kept saying that it didn't seem real, that it didn't feel like it was her actually getting married. She was glowing though.

The rehersal dinner was awesome. My mom decorated a little section of the rehersal hall with beautiful fall decor and she ordered in Hickory Park which is the signature resturant of Ames, Iowa.

Addison enjoyed all the attention of being the flower girl. She got some pretty fairy costume and the little boys got little Thomas trains. It was a wonderful day and evening to get to know Stephanie's family and friends since I hadn't got to do that much until now. It was a bit surreal to think that my little brother was getting married the next day...wow!

A Real Homecoming

Well, my little brother decided to get married to the girl of his dreams and they wanted to be married very quickly after that so ended up making another trip back to the US yet this fall. The funny thing is that Iowa Valley's Homecoming was going on while we were back so I brought my kiddos to the parade. I decked us all out in orange and black and we had a real homecoming!!!

The kids really enjoyed the parade. They waved at all the elementary kids going by with their little floats and they waved at the football players and homecoming candidates.

But Addison was quite inquisitive to the fact that the high schoolers' floats had bears being roasted on grills and she wanted to know why. In my wisdom I shared that they were being silly and that to make fun of the other football team they did goofy things to their bears. She still wanted to know why they would grill a bear....I gave up and told her to just watch and wave!