Grammy and Pop Pop See England!

To cap off a fun fall full of visitors, my parents arrived in late October, just as school was letting out for the girls' half term break. We had fun showing them around England before we left for an eight-night cruise to France and Spain. They especially loved visiting Bourton on the Water, hiking on Cleeve Hill, visiting Sudeley Castle and spending time at home playing with the girls. Grammy and Pop even babysat Lyla and her friend Ben so Mommy could take Riley to London with some of her friends to see Matilda and visit Hamleys, a giant toy store! We had a great time exploring England and visiting with Grammy and Pop Pop! We hope you enjoy these pics and stay tuned for Part II of their visit, when we head to France and Spain!

Grammy, Pop Pop, Riley and Lyla on Cleeve Hill

Lyla found some horses on Cleeve Hill

It's windy up there!

Pop Pop and the girls playing Candyland Wheel

Posing in Bourton on the Water

Happy smiles!

Out to eat

Lyla is getting too close to the edge!

My favorite picture! At Sudeley Castle

Riley posing with a mosaic at Sudeley Castle

Grammy in the gardens

You can never have too many castle pics!

Or pics of gorgeous countryside!

The girls and Wayne running ahead!

Awesome picture!

Photobombed by Lyla!

Sharing lollipops outside the castle

Riley and Ali pose with a teddy at Hamleys

Riley, Ali, Alex and Teddy at Matilda

Fall Visitors!

This fall we were lucky enough to welcome many visitors! Wayne's Aunt Alice and Uncle Barry were our first set of visitors in late September. We had tons of fun showing them around the Cotswolds before they headed off to explore London on their own. We took them shopping in Bourton on the Water, to a festival at Cardiff Castle, explored Gloucester Cathedral and checked out Riley's first Prep School swim meet and Lyla's Harvest Festival. It was a whirlwind week full of sightseeing, games and laughter!

Visiting Cardiff Castle

Learning about insects

Tractors old and new

More tractors

Posing

Lyla loved the animals!

Getting personal

Uncle Barry enjoyed dinner at Zizzi's, which is located in an old church in Cheltenham

Uncle Barry and Aunt Alice in Bourton on the Water

Aunt Alice and Uncle Barry babysat so we could go to the NFL game in London. Thanks!

Next up it was a visit from Chris and Regan, friends of ours from MD who now live in Indiana. They left their three kids at home and joined us for some yummy dinners, Riley's first hockey match and a fun night away at a beer festival (thanks to our good friend Neda who watched the girls!)

At a pub in Nottingham 

So many ales to try

Wayne's selfie

It was so nice to have friends and family visit and the weather even (mostly) cooperated! Next up it was time to host my parents, who visited us for a week before we all headed off on a cruise of France and Spain. Stay tuned for details and pics!

First Day of School 2013!

September 3rd marked a special day in the Schmidt house. Riley started her third year of school in England and Lyla started her first full year as a part-time student!

Super excited for the first day!

Riley, who would be in second grade in the US, has moved up to the Prep School and is in Year Three. This means that she has a longer day and begins to switch classes, as well as participating in more extra-curriculars (is that even possible?!). One of the biggest changes is that she now has alot more adults involved in her education...in addition to her form teacher (classroom teacher), she also had a housemaster, form tutor, headmaster and deputy heads. Holy cow! It's like a real-life scene from Harry Potter! Riley has been placed in Oaksey House, which is one of three day houses (the boarders have their own house). I drop her off in Oaksey in the morning, where they do the register (aka take attendance) and she returns there afterschool to play pool, air hockey, build legos or do crafts. Oaksey has students in Year 3-8 so she will be doing alot more interacting with older students. She has to be dropped off between 8-8:15 and can be picked up between 4:30-6:15...what a very long day for a seven year old! Needless to say, she LOVES it and was very excited to be able to wear her new uniform for the Prep School.

Fancy new uniform

Lyla is starting "kindergarten" here in England but is really only 3 and a half and would be in nursery school in the US. I would say it's equivalent to a preschool program in the US. She'll be going 2 and a half days this year. She has a very nice teacher and has made lots of friends in her new class! 

Cheeky little kindergartener!

Both girls were very tired this weekend after a long and exciting first week! Cheers to a fantastic school year!

Anniversary Cruise--Iceland

After great stops in Bergen, Geiranger, the Shetlands, and the Faroe Islands, it was time for the final stop on our cruise, Iceland! We were docked overnight in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, leaving lots of time to explore!

We had decided to book a Golden Circle tour through IG Tours, which took you on a 300 km loop into central Iceland and back, stopping at some beautiful sites along the way!

Riley was ready for our mini-bus tour!

Riley took this picture for us. Pretty good!

The scenery was very interesting...not like anything we had seen before.

Our first stop was a small waterfall.

It was very, very windy but Lyla loved it!

Then we got to our first major stop at Gullfoss, Iceland's most famous waterfall, which translated literally means "Golden Falls."

It was cold and windy by the falls and our camera got wet from the mist!

Simply gorgeous

Another photo courtesy of Riley

So pretty

Our other photos were from down where those people are on the left

After we reboarded the bus and warmed up a bit, it was off to the Haukadalur valley to Geysir, the oldest known geyser and the origin of the term geyser (the Engish translation). If it's been awhile since you took earth science and you've forgotten exactly how geysers work, you can read about them here. Geysir used to frequently erupt to heights of 230 feet but no longer erupts regularly. It is predicted that it may become active again soon based on earthquake activity in the region. About 50 meters south of Geysir, is Strokkur, a smaller geyser that erupts regularly (every 5-15 minutes) at heights of 80-110 feet. We were lucky enough to watch Strokkur erupt while we visited. I somehow missed the photo opportunity but Riley captured it!

The original geysir

Riley prepared for the big eruption

Lyla and Daddy huddled for warmth

I did not manage to get a good pic of Strokkur erupting but luckily Riley got this one!

Little Geysir...the girls liked looking in at the bubbling water

Then it was time for a lunch break to warm up and refuel!

Finally it was off to Thingvellir National Park to see Þingvellir, or Parliament Plains, where Icelandic Parliament was established in 930 and remained until 1798. In addition to being culturally significant, the National Park is geologically amazing. It is the site of Mid Atlantic Ridge, which separates the Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate. This website explains things better than I ever could: http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2010/08/mid-atlantic-ridge-in-iceland.html. While most of the ridge is underwater, Thingvellir National Park is one of the few sites where the ridge rises above the Earth's surface creating beautiful scenery that is definitely worth a visit! Riley (and Wayne) are very excited to say that we've walked from Europe to North America!

You guessed it...still windy!

Beautiful scenery

Quick family photo opp. On the left is where North America starts.

The path between the continents. That bridge leads over the valley and to Europe.

This is the valley between North American and Europe

Oh no! They're falling in between the continents! ( :

Finally, it was time to load two tired girls and two tired parents back onto the minivan for one last stop in Reykjavik, which Lyla slept through!

Riley and I headed up to the top of a building for some great views of Reykjavik!

Statue of Leif Erikson, the first European to land in North America!

Hallgrímskirkja, an amazing Lutheran church 

And then it was time to reboard the ship!  The girls were excited to go the Kids Club for the evening, while Wayne and I decided to take advantage of our overnight docking and took a taxi downtown for some exploring! We wandered around the shops and stopped in a few bars to sample Icelandic beer before stopping at Bæjarins beztu, a famous hot dog stand which was voted Best Hot Dog Stand in Europe and has been visited by Bill Clinton and Metallica. 

Needed to take a pic for the girls

The best hot dog in Europe!

Wayne loved the hot dog with the "works": ketchup, sweet mustard, friend onion, raw onion and remoulade, a mayonnaise-based sauce with sweet relish

Then it was back to the ship for a late-night Ice Party onboard. Riley had fun dancing with friends, while poor Lyla fell asleep in Wayne's arms. We didn't make it to the Blue Lagoon this trip....I guess we'll just have to come back! Want to join us?