Vassals Park

We went with the home school group on a walk at a really great park last week. It was so pretty, and the boys had a blast. I can't get over how great the parks are here. I'm definitely going to miss them when we go back. Part of it is the weather too, not sweating to death or feeling faint from the oppressive Texas heat is a big help in enjoying any park I think!

Home School Co-op

Back in January we joined the Bristol Christian home educators group. One of the opportunities they offer is a co-op that meets once a week at a community center. We have morning assembly, and then the kids break up into age groups and go off to their classes. Nathanael and Elliot are in the youngest group, there are 6 of them all together. They mostly play, sometimes they paint, have fun with play dough or have story/song time. Hudson is with 11 others in the 4-7s group. He has a class on music appreciation/drama with Peter and the Wolf, a Bible class (further emphasis on the 10 commandments which are taught during the assembly time), a mini fit class (games and team activities). Then we all gather for lunch, outside play and individual reading time. They break up again and Hudson goes for listen and discuss of the story, Stone Fox, and then a math or science class. Elliot and Nathanael have more play and then we all group together for a closing time. There are 2 other groups of older kids so all in all, it's a very sizable group. We're all worn out by the end of the day, but happy to have had such a great opportunity. It's been the best way for us to get to know people too.

Here are a few pictures of Hudson and Elliot in their groups.

Baby Hamilton

April 21st was 12 weeks for this little Hamilton. This is the sonogram they took that day.
November 3 is the due date. Still amazed by these pictures.

Winterborne May Day Carnival

On Monday, May 2nd, we met some friends from the homeschool group at their community May Day fair. It was really fun. Lots of local businesses and groups set up tables to sell things for charity, lots of yummy fair food, and dancing and performances from local groups. It was a great way to spend a beautiful morning.


We saw some English Morris dancers. If you'd like a taste Morris dancing, here's link to a video. The boys really enjoyed it. I think the stick banging had lots to do with that.

Chocolate covered strawberries were a hit.

Cupcakes from a bake sale table.

Jumping in a bounce house with their friend Emily.

St. Vincent's Cave

We went Sunday afternoon to the suspension bridge observatory for a quick descent down to St. Vincent's Cave that overlooks the Avon Gorge. Unfortunately, children had to be 4 yrs. old to go down so Nathanael and I missed out on the fun. Mark told the guy Elliot would be turning 4 soon. He took one look at Elliot and let him through. Pays to have big kids sometimes!

About 85 ft. down to the cave from the observatory. Only accessible from the cliff face until 1837 when an artist named William West cut out the passageway. He was renting out the observatory as a studio at the time.

250 ft. down to the high water level.

Outside the observatory.

Natural rock slide worn really slick. We didn't know these kids, but had fun time watching them!

Castles

The boys love castles. We hadn't been to one in awhile so we decided we'd drive up to Wales for the day and see a couple. We had a great time seeing the countryside and couple of small villages, although the reason for some of it was our inability to follow road signs and figure out how to think like the British. I'm pretty sure I'll never get over the driving aspect of life here. We get lost A LOT on our Saturday outings.

The first castle we visited was Caldicot Castle.

First time to see a real dungeon. We couldn't go in, but I don't think I would have wanted to having looked down the hole.

They had a big chess set that Mark and Hudson played. The only problem was Elliot and Nathanael kept stealing pieces when they weren't looking.

The second castle was called Chepstow. It was on a cliff and kind of reminded us of Cair Paravel from Narnia.

These are the original doors at the castle gate. They dated back to 1190. These are the oldest castle doors on record in all of Europe.

The boys found a toilet. It dropped straight into the river below. Environmentally friendly?

Random Fact: It costs 5 GBP ($7.50ish) to get into Wales and nothing to get out.