All The Kudos

On Friday April 11th McColley and Brayton participated in Camp Kudos - a day long activity where the kids get to 'deploy' and see what their parents have to do when they deploy.

Pearson and I showed up at 2PM to welcome them home. But first we had to make a sign - Pearson helped by drawing 'cows' all along the bottom:

Our sign turned out lovely!

Brayton was part of the 'Avengers' flight:

And McColley was a member of the 'Bulldogs':

They had a seriously good time on their 'deployment':

A Historic Spring Break: Part Three

Tuesday April 8th was the last day of our little mini-vacation. We decided to spend the day at Ch.atsworth - the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devons.hire.

The house is amazing and packed full of art as evidenced by the Painted Hall:

The boys also got to have a bit of fun inside - we found the dress up clothes in one of the guest rooms we got to tour:

Only after finishing the interior tour where we able to go outside and see the newly restored gilt-covered front of the house:

The boys were immediately drawn to the cascade in the garden. The boys had fun watching daisies make their way down the stairs:

When that got boring it was time for a quick run through the field of daffodils:

After all that touring and running it was time for lunch. We had lunch in the stable area (which has been converted into a huge restaurant and shop complex) and then made our way to the farm:

The boys were very excited to see and pet all the baby animals:

But they were even more excited to play on the HUGE adventure playground. Daddy was on Helping Pearson Duty since he insisted on playing on the same structures as his big brothers:

The first couple of times down the big slide Daddy went with Pearson, but then we decided to let him try it all by himself:

 Of course, he then wanted to go down the slide about twenty more times!

While Pearson was sliding the big boys found the zip line:

Brayton even managed to do the whole thing all by himself!

A Historic Spring Break: Part Two

Monday April 7th was spent in Manchester. We spent most of the day at their Museum of Science and Industry. The first section of the museum goes through Manchester's history as the heart of the industrial revolution and one-time world leader in cotton cloth production and export.

As the big boys watched a cotton factory demonstration Pearson discovered a manual typewriter:

Of course the big boys wanted in on the typing action as soon as they saw it - Daddy had to explain about typing slowly and not jamming up the letter hammers:

We then walked over to the 1830 station (the first passenger train station in the world):

In the basement of that building was a walk through Manchester's sewers (OK, really a lesson in the history of Manchester's sewers):

The biggest take away was how far behind the city's infrastructure was as its industrial capabilities exploded and how many people died because of it.

Before leaving the station we stopped in a room full of historical objects. The boys could pick a box, place it on a special table in the middle of the room and then hear about it from someone who had used it. Brayton chose to learn about a radio kit:

Our last stop in the museum was their 'Experiments!' exhibit where the kids got to do a ton of hands on things - including learning about how solar panels work:

The boys especially enjoyed the magnet table where they could make everything spin:

After about five hours we were done at the museum and wanted to head across town... the only issue was getting our car. We had ended up parking inside a tunnel and when we got back, the tunnel was blocked by utility workers. It took a bit of maneuvering to get out:

Our second stop was the Lego Discovery Zone. We knew it was inside a mall but when we got there we were astounded by the mall. The only other mall I have ever been in with the same pretensions of grandeur was Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas - yes, to enter this mall in Manchester we walked through a hall of Roman statuary. Plus the mall was HUGE.

We did eventually make it to the Lego Discovery Zone where their Miniland models were a bit more interactive than we've ever seen before:

There were a couple of rides inside the Discovery Zone including a Forest Police Driving ride:

The boys also got to build their own race cars:

And then actually race them down several different types of ramps:

Our last stop before leaving was a horse race - McColley won but Daddy and Brayton put in a strong finish:

A Historic Spring Break: Part One

On Sunday April 6th we started our Spring Break mini-vacation!

We headed north to the Peak District and decided to hit as many things as possible on the way.

Our first stop was The Iron Bridge:

This is the very first cast iron bridge built in the entire world and is a World Heritage Sight.

The Iron Bridge area is full of museums but we decided to visit only one - The Bl.ists Hill Victorian Town:

It is like stepping back into a 1900 Shropshire village. Our first stop was the bank where we learned all about pre-decimal British money (very confusing) and McColley got the chance to try an inkwell and pen - I told him to use his right hand to write so it wouldn't smudge but he couldn't really do it, so he ended up giving up about halfway through his name:

We made our way through the town making quick stops at the grocer, chemist and village pub before stopping in at the dressmaker. As we were chatting she noticed some ducks dropping by for a snack and she let the boys help her feed them:

We made our way down to the more industrial area of town (the current museum is on the original sight of an iron smelting factory which they have restored to explain the process) when we saw a shire horse being fitted up to pull a cart - turns out there were carriage rides!

We eventually made it all the way down to the industrial end of town where we went into the school house (children only went to school from 5 to 10 - at 10 you HAD to get a job. If you couldn't find one the village council would assign you one. It was your duty for having been provided a free education.)

We also stopped into the candlemaker shop and ended up having a very interesting conversation with the woman demonstrating how the shop worked. Our conversation wasn't about 1900 England, but about 1960's England. There were a LOT of differences between her childhood and our parents' (for example - living without a heated full-incorporated-into-the-house bathroom and television that was broadcast for no longer than six hours a day).

After seeing everything we could in the Victorian Town we drove about 15 minutes to Bosc.obel House:

 Bo.scobel is famous as Charles II's first hiding place during his escape from Cromwell to France.

The most famous part of the story is the day that Charles spent hiding in a tree which is now known as the Royal Oak:

The original oak was killed by people cutting pieces off of it as a souvenir so the current oak is actually it's 'sister' (a smaller oak tree that was growing right next to the original tree):

It was interesting to learn that Charles was hidden by five brothers who were the servants at Bos.cobel when he showed up. After Charles was restored to the throne the brothers were given a royal pension - which their descendants still receive to this day.

The boys were about history'd out by the time we made it to our hotel in Manchester.

Reaching New Heights

Friday April 4th was a day off for B and McColley. Since it was NOT a day off for British kids we decided to take advantage and head down to Le.goland.

The best part of this trip is that Pearson is now over 0.9 meters tall! He could ride all the rides!

Our first chance to try out his new height abilities was on the Sky Ride:

Our next ride was Brayton's favorite - The Helicopters. All last year only he and I would go on it because Pearson was too short altogether and McColley was too short to ride alone. This was a problem because the ride is limited to two riders.

Guess who's now over the 1.2 meter height requirement to ride alone!

Our very last ride of the day was the firetrucks. B finally got to take a full truckload with him:

Pearson wasn't sure what to do at first:

But he quickly figured out that Daddy needed help more than brothers:

Our newly formed team of four won the race!