Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Christmas in the Lake District

We enjoyed a unique Christmas for us. Away from home and family and in a cozy (dark and cold) 17th century barn conversion in the Lake District. It was a five hour drive up to Cumbria and Lancashire and we had such a great time with our little family.

Christmas morning 2011
Highlights:
  • Singing Christmas carols in our freezing barn by the fireplace
  • Watching "Joyeux Noel"- amazing war story, new Christmas Eve tradition
  • Milly getting the plague and throwing up alot and snuggling
  • Otis requesting to sing alot of solos
  • Visiting castles, Hadrians Wall
  • Exchanging gifts
  • Playing Trivial Pursuit and adding occasional Toy Story questions so Otis could answer some
  • Taking long afternoon drives so the kids would nap at the same time
  • Castlerigg Circle- majestic scene with misty clouds
  • Otis refusing to wear a coat when it was freezing outside
  • Watching Cars 2 (again and again and again)
Our barn- the back part connected to the owner's house
Since we don't have them at home, the stairs were probably the highlight for the kids
Hadrian's Wall
This covers 84 miles and was started in AD 122. We saw some of the Roman defense forts and it was really cool. Alot of people take a 7 day walk along the whole wall.

Road trip officially made possible by iPad and juice boxes
Castlerigg Circle- similar and mystical like Stonehenge
Milly got the worst stomach bug so we watched Cars 2 more times than I can count
Took a detour to see the Preston Temple on our way home

6 comments:

Max Fam said...

love the pic of Ty & Mill over the rock wall. Already saw most of the other pics and heard about your christmas about 2 months ago, so I want another blog post. surprise me with something new this time.

Nicole said...

How awesome. Sounds like quite the experience! SEe you guys stayed in a barn kind of like Mary and Joseph :) ha!! Beautiful.

Saidi said...

You guys are so adventurous! McKinley is missing you so much already. She asks every day if I can drive her to London so she can have a sleepover with Otis and play prince with him. Love you guys!!

Cherie said...

Well that was a fun little tour of a cheery little spot in Great Britain.
xoxo

Christine said...

What fun, so glad you are taking advantage of everything around you, but so sorry that Millie got the stomach bug, what a nightmare!

Becky said...

Milly has so much hair now! What a cute little blondie. That sounds like a memorable Christmas for sure.