Peak District

Thomas and I wanted to explore a little bit of England while he has some time off (and has to stay in the country), so we headed northwest to the Peak District. While it wasn't as "peak-y" as we were thinking (I think we were spoiled growing up with all the mountains surrounding us in Phoenix, and later Tucson), it was still beautiful and a nice change of pace. The drive itself was beautiful, and although we couldn't find the first trail I had wanted to try, we took the dogs on a walk down a bridleway where Max had his first encounter with a horse. He didn't quite realize the horse could do serious damage with a single kick and barked incessantly at it - luckily the horse was calm and just kept walking!

This was our first overnight trip with the dogs, and I was a little nervous, but it went SO well! Our hotel was very dog friendly and put us in a room right by the exit so we had easy access to the outside, and our room was HUGE by England standards. There were little nature trails all over the hotel property, with huge grassy areas  for the dogs to run around and a pretty little "lake" out front. The dogs loved it, and were exhausted at the end of the first day. We left them to rest and Thomas and I headed into Sheffield to catch a movie and go bowling. The next day we managed to find the trail I wanted right in the heart of the Peak District, and it was just beautiful! It was so picturesque, I wanted to pull over 100 times to take pictures. We had amazingly warm weather for our trip (close to 80, which they call a heat wave here!), so we were all tired by the end of the hike/walk, but it was a great time. I'm so glad our first road trip with the dogs went well, now we know we can take them with us when we explore other areas in England too!

Beautiful drive on the way to the Peak District

Me and the pups

Our cute little hotel

Thomas & Max

Zo was pooped after the first day!

Bowling! :)

Zo led the way ;)

Jersey Boys

My good friend Meghan turned 30 in April, and she really wanted to see the show Jersey Boys in London, so we got us all some tickets and went in to the city for a girl's day. I wasn't expecting much from the show, mainly because I didn't know much about it. I was blown away by the show though, it was amazing. I grew up listening to oldies music (thanks Dad!), and the show was so well done. I was excited to see it while Thomas was gone because I thought he wouldn't enjoy it, but I think he would like it and I would definitely see it again! We had a yummy Mexican food lunch (not as good as Mexican food from Arizona, but still tasty!), and cupcakes for the birthday girl of course. I also got to make my first journey through Chinatown, it was really interesting and pretty. 

The day was beautiful and sunny and made perfect by an old fashioned truck that was just driving through the streets of London spewing bubbles everywhere! It was amazing to see how a random gesture could make so many people happy - kids and adults were loving it!

Meghan and Danielle

Our original seats - second row from the top - YIKES!

After our 10 GBP upgrade, we were on the first level - well worth it! :)

Chinatown

Thomas is HOME!

Thomas made it home safe and sound from his deployment, for which I am extremely grateful! Everything with their return journey went on schedule and as planned (for the most part), which was an unusual but welcome surprise. We are enjoying our time together and getting super excited for our big vacation coming up, as well as some day trips throughout England. 

I am so proud of my husband and what he does for our country - I love you honey! :)

Max was so excited to see Thomas, he wouldn't stop licking him!

Zo got dressed up for Thomas, and won't stop following him around the house :)

My coming home present for Thomas - a beer fridge, fully stocked!

FINALLY! :)

Wimpole Estate

The National Trust had a free weekend this past weekend, where you could go to any participating National Trust site and get in for free! I'm all about saving a little money, so my friend and I headed out to Wimpole Estate, just outside of Cambridge, to check it out! It was a nasty day outside with lots of rain, so we had our picnic in the car. By the time we were done eating it had stopped raining - perfect timing! This place had so much more to offer than I thought - stables, farm animals, green house, and tons of stuff for kids (including fake cow milking!). Definitely a fun day out, made all the better by the $0 price tag. :)

Green house

Beautiful flowers

Cow had an itch ;)

Little ducklings in their incubator

Wimpole House

AMAZING gardens, so perfectly manicured

Library inside the house

Gorgeous dining room

Sandringham

I had heard a rumor around base that U.S. military gets in free to Sandringham, the Queen's country estate. It's less than an hour from our house, so I thought I'd head over and check it out one weekend. It turns out military is free with a paid admission, but since it was just me the lady was super nice and let me in free anyways - made my day!

The estate and house were beautiful, and so picturesque. It's crazy to think that the paths I was walking along have been walked by the Queen and Kate and William! :) I took the longer path up to the house and got to walk through some beautiful gardens (I bet they are even prettier when everything is in full bloom). The inside of the house was a pleasant surprise. Sometimes it seems like all these royal residences/castles look the same (to my untrained eye at least), but this house was comfortable, while still being a little fancy. There were helpful guides in each room who had little anecdotes to tell. The woman in the dining room where the royal family has Christmas dinner was talking about how Prince Philip always walks around in his slippers and loves to sit in the library - I love the little tidbits about the royal family, makes them seem more real to me, and I have a healthy obsession with all things royal since moving here. 

There was also a well done museum by the stables, with more information on the history of Sandringham, and I finished off with a walk along the stream back to the church and the exit! There were tons of little ducklings running around, it was such a great day, and I made it back to the car just before the rain hit, phew! 

Garden walk to the house

Sandringham House

Stables

Walk along the stream

Ducklings!

Beautiful grounds

The house was huge - I couldn't get it all in one picture, even from afar!

The house part 2 :)

I stopped at Denver windmill on the way home - nothing super exciting, but I like windmills :)

Woburn House & Gardens

A couple of weeks ago I needed to make some returns to IKEA, which is about 1.5 hours away (totally worth the drive though!). Since I wasn't actually shopping at IKEA this time, I figured I should make the trip a little more worthwhile and do something new/different on my way home. I plugged in my GPS and selected the closest tourist attraction to IKEA, which was Woburn House and Gardens. It was getting close to the end of the day so I only paid for the gardens entry, which was a good thing - I ended up spending a lot of time there!

The grounds for this "house" were HUGE, I had to drive 2 miles from the ticket point to the car park and gardens! The grounds are also a deer reserve, so there were deer along the way, as well as a ton of them right across from the gardens. It was crazy to see so many close up, and just roaming free!

The gardens themselves were beautiful, and so peaceful. It was a rainy day (as always), so I had the place mostly to myself. There were a couple of little "lakes", and tons of statues as well. It was definitely worth the little detour from IKEA! :) 

Deer reserve

Glasses sculpture

I loved this one :)

It's hard to take pictures when I'm by myself, luckily there weren't too many people around to witness my self picture taking. There was lots of running back and forth from the camera after I set it on self-timer!