Our First Visitors!

What a whirlwind week it has been! Uncle Timmy and Emily came to visit and we learned that having visitors is wonderful but saying good-bye stinks! ) : We have had beautiful weather here and took full advantage of it this past weekend. On Saturday, we visited Puzzlewood in the Forest of Dean. Puzzlewood is basically a big maze of paths in the woods with a very magical, Pixie-Hollowish vibe. It is said that Puzzlewood was Tolkien's inspiration in creating Middle-earth for the Lord of the Rings. Some even say it is the inspiration for the Forbidden Forest in the Harry Potter books. The area was apparently a super old natural underground cave system formed in limestone that was later exposed through erosion and mined for iron. The paths were built there in the early 1800s by a local landowner and are still intact but covered in moss...we especially loved how the trees were growing around the bridges. Pictures didn't come out great...hard to capture it all...but we'll share a few.

The girls' favorite part of the trip was pony rides! They were adorable in their "gear". While there, Lyla came face to face with another GIANT pig (named Lulu) and conquered her fear. Phew!

We took Uncle Timmy and Emily downtown on Saturday evening to check out our 'hood...they were quite impressed! On Sunday we headed to Cardiff Castle in Wales (only about 90 mins away) for the Great British Cheese Festival. It POURED during the drive there but cleared up and turned out to be a gorgeous day! We ate lots of cheese, tried lots of wines, beers and ciders and even got to tour the castle. Daddy, Timmy, Emily and Lyla climbed to the top of the keep (pictured below) but Riley and I only made it about half way...the crowds and very steep steps scared us away! Very pretty though!

We got to tour the rest of the castle too...we especially enjoyed the weird monkey themed library. We somehow joined a group of French tourists and learned from their tour guide that the library was some kind of anti-Darwinian statement. Either way, Aunt Fran would have loved the monkey paraphernalia! Lyla loved the tour so much that she snuck under the ropes into a restricted area but was caught by Daddy before security noticed. Thank goodness!

Our camera battery died during the day but not before I got these cute pics of the girls playing with matchbox cars with the castle in the background.  Only in England!

Riley keeps on insisting on giving the peace sign in photos...which apparently means very bad things in England. Oops! Tomorrow she performs in her school's Harvest Festival...let's hope she saves the peace signs for another day! She has been practicing her poem and it is hysterical to hear her accent. She is still loving school and went on a field trip to her Teacher Assistant's farm today. She had a great time but was pretty sad to have cow poop on her wellies. It isn't easy being a diva! We now have all of our belongings and are working hard to set up the house and unpack our stuff. Stay tuned for more updates!