26 Never Looked Better

I just wanted to wish my wonderful husband a very happy birthday! His request for the day was to go to the Blue Lagoon outside of Reykjavik, Iceland, and I was more than happy to oblige him. The views were spectacular, and we both got massages which made the experience even more relaxing. It was Thomas' birthday, but I think I definitely came out ahead on this deal. :)

The birthday boy at the Blue Lagoon

Iowa Lovin'

I was lucky enough to get to travel back to the States for an extended vacation - I managed to fit in three weddings, two birthday celebrations, our Godson's baptism, and lots of time with friends and family. It's so nice to be a part of family celebrations, and even just be a part of everyday life - like wood chopping and walnut husking (only in Iowa!).

We started off with my cousin Becky Mason's beautiful wedding in Des Moines. Becky married Eric, who is an avid Hawkeye fan, so our family was more than happy to welcome him to the family and help balance out those Iowa State fans. :) The next day we all met up for our obligatory meal at The Machine Shed, and the obligatory myriad of family pictures - we had to get pictures with the newest (and tallest!) member of the Mason clan!

I managed to pop up to Chicago and see my college roommate Debbie, meet her fiancé Joel, and have meet up with my cousin Jill - I'm so happy I was able to see all of them! Joel and Debbie took me to a great Chicago restaurant (which I can't remember the name of), and we made Puppy Chow just like we used to do all the time in college - it was just like old times, I just wish I could've stayed longer! Jill showed me where she works, Greenheart Travel, and told me all about their organization. It sounded so cool, and if you want to study/teach abroad I would definitely recommend checking them out!

We spent the rest of the week in Atlantic, Iowa and got to spend lots of time with my grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. We got to watch my cousin Bailey play a volleyball match with the Audubon Reds high school team, and I have to say it was more entertaining to watch than the Olympic match we went to! It's fun having someone you know to cheer for, and they played so well. We also spent some time at my Uncle Ted's new house, and I got a taste of farm life - chopping wood, husking walnuts, and riding the ATV around the farm. The only thing that wold of made the trip better was if Thomas was there - maybe next time! 

Uncle Rick, Grandma Jan, and Dad

They squeezed in some Iowa decor - I didn't feel the need to take picture of the Iowa State stuff ;)

My beautiful Aunt Diane and handsome Uncle Rick

Me and my cousin Sara

Sara and the beautiful bride!

We checked out the Harley store for Dad's new toy

Me and Mom

The girls!

The Mason cousins: Derek, Victoria, David, Drew, Eric, Becky, Me, Sara, and Mason

The Mason's: Grandma Jan, Rick, Diane, Dan, Toni, Mary, and Tammy

Making Puppy Chow with Debbie

Watching Bailey tear it up in volleyball!

Husking walnuts with Aunt MJ, Mom, and Uncle Ted - Sofie was helping too!

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 ;)

Cadbury World

When I got back from the States fall was in full swing here in England, and it was beautiful - I think it's my favorite time of year here. It's just so cool to see the landscape change so drastically; it's so unlike anything we had in Arizona. 

View from the park

Thomas and I took a little road trip to Birmingham to visit Cadbury World! A whole day dedicated to chocolate - yes please! :) We got lots of free candy bars there...but other than that it was pretty disappointing. It was very much geared towards kids (which is cool), but not what we were expecting. We wanted to see all the chocolate being made/packaged, and we got to see some of that, but not as much as we had hoped. We did manage to find an Ikea and a Curry's Computer Store on the way out of the city...so everyone wins. :)

No divider on the freeway - scary!!

Birmingham

The World's Biggest Cadbury Shop

Um, yum.

Chocolate being packaged (pictures were illegal, hence the crappy quality)

Chocolate shoes!

I won the ping pong game! I can only put that because Thomas doesn't read this, but it is TRUE!! :)

Brugge, Belgium

This weekend we took a (long) daytrip to Belgium. We booked it through the travel office on base, so we were on a bus and didn't have to drive, thank goodness. They picked us up at 2am and we headed to the Port of Dover to cross over to mainland Europe. We stopped at a chocolate factory on the way into Belgium, and stocked up on some delicious Belgian chocolate. I thought I had died and gone to heaven in there!! 

We finally made it into Brugge at about 11am, and had until about 5:30 to bum around Brugge and eat all the waffles and chocolate we could find! ;) Brugge was beautiful - there were lots of waterways and cafes, horse-drawn carriages, and great medieval architecture. We enjoyed just walking around the city and taking it all in.  We had a yummy lunch at a little cafe - I had a waffle with chocolate and bananas. It was soooo good, and worth the huge stomachache I got afterwards. It was rainy and cold the whole day, but we still had a great time!

Port of Dover

The boys slept on the ferry :)

Brugge waterway

There were lace stores everywhere - such beautiful and intricate designs

Heavenly.

Soooo much chocolate, everywhere!

Chocolate and banana waffle!

On our horse-drawn carriage ride

We lit some candles in a church

We had such a fun time, especially since we went with our friends Shannon and Chris, but it was definitely a long day. We didn't get back home until about 1am the following morning, and we were just exhausted. I don't know if we'll be doing anymore of these "day" trips, but it was worth it this time! :)