Weekends

I haven't looked forward to weekends this much since college. Since our move to England, I feel like I live for the weekends. Don't get me wrong, I don't wish away 5 days of the week (well, honestly, I do wish away little parts of them even though I know I'm not supposed to)...but I love our weekend adventures and time together.

Here's why - these are some of the things we've been up to the past few weekends:

The Stray: Right across from our house is part of the Stray, which is a huge green space that runs around town. The perfect place for Clara to ride her bike and Jonas to practice walking. I love going over there on a Saturday morning. Here are some samples...

While I can't stand the sound of my voice, and I find it funny to hear Devin teaching Jonas "walker etiquette", I had to share because I am just so proud of how well he is doing. He has made huge progress lately!!!


Clara loves riding her bike and is doing so well. I think she is ready to take those training wheels off, but she disagrees. I think she's better than she thinks she is...

Harlow Carr Gardens: A couple of miles from our house are these beautiful gardens. We met up with the DeGiulios and another family in the ward and let the kids run wild. Clara loved playing with her friends.
And Jonas loved his picnic on a bench shared with a friend
as well as smelling this flower.

Brimham Rocks: One piece of advice Devin received before we left Maryland came from his boss, Mark, who had lived here for 5 years. It was to not allow the weather to change your plans. We have done our best to abide by this (which should be extra impressive for anyone who knows how much I LOVE warm weather) and our trip this day was no exception. While cold, windy and at times rainy, we had a great time climbing on these cool rocks.
Clara surprised us both by being quite the mountain goat.
I had no idea she could be so fearless...I honestly don't see that side of her very often, um, I mean ever. She was begging to climb on some really high rocks and it was hard for me to keep up sometimes.
I didn't want to suppress this new found daring side of her, so I tried to just not let her know how nervous she was making me. After a while I would just make Devin climb up with her. Ignorance really can be bliss.

Knaresborough: This little town is about 4 miles away and we have driven through many times. Aside from the beautiful bridge visible from the road, I've never given it much thought. Until Devin's co-worker told us that the old chemist shop (pharmacy) has the best banoffe pie he has tasted. That's all it took to get me to plan a visit for the next available Saturday. We first walked along the River Nidd which had some unique, old homes build along it. I love to picture what it would be like to have lived there so long ago.
People were canoeing on the river which looked like a lot of fun. We hiked up to the city center and found the shop. The pie did not disappoint!!! In fact, it was the best I've had and one of my favorite desserts of all time. When sufficiently satisfied, we walked back down by the castle to admire the view.
I'm so happy to have explored this town. Too bad it took food to get me there, but I am excited to go back and try out a canoe or something.

Mother's Day:
How could I not mention this? It was a great day. Complete with breakfast, adorable children, and talking with family over skype. Not to mention the cute card from Clara, bath stuff (haven't tried this in years so hopefully I'll enjoy it...but don't worry, I do shower!!), white cheddar cheese-its (a serious and embarrassing weakness of mine...but I refuse to spell it the way the box says, I can't stand made up spellings like that) and twix. We had fun taking some pictures in the garden after church.
Jonas has been really affectionate lately and loves giving hugs and kisses, and I LOVE it.
Clara was excited to find a snap dragon and put her finger in it. Trouble is, I don't think it was a snap dragon but because I couldn't accurately tell her what it was, I decided to just keep my mouth shut.

Although I never look forward to Mondays, this always helps brighten them:
Each morning while I get ready, Clara transforms herself into a princess/teacher/fairy (well, it changes daily) but she loves playing with my jewelry and it always makes me smile.