After Hannah’s big baptism weekend, my parents left to return home and Chris’s parents stayed around for another week to play. It was nice to have each of them by themselves for a week and overlap for the weekend.
After a regroup day at home, we loaded into the cars and took another road trip, but this time to Wales. Along the way we stopped and saw some sites.
Our first stop was to see Shakespeare’s Birthplace.
I had been to Stratford-Upon-Avon about 3 years ago with Chris’s mom and we both commented how much they have changed this historical site. It is much more family friendly now and you may not even come away thinking what a creep Shakespeare really was – it concentrated more on his work and not on his infidelity. They did a great job.
We also stopped at Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway’s home.
I love the thatched roof, although after learning about all the critters that live in it, it doesn’t seem as great!
The next stop on our trek was the Wedgwood Museum.
Because of the late hour and our main reason for stopping was shopping, we actually didn’t go into the museum. However, we did roam around the shop and the outlet store. Such beautiful work! My favorite is still the blue and white colors!
We arrived at our bed & breakfast, which was in the village of Mold in Wales. We will remember Mold as the best place for desserts. Chris had a toffee cake that he said is one of the best desserts he has EVER eaten! We had such a great time hanging out in front of the fire, letting the kids play the Wii, and exploring the farm lands.
Honestly, it was a little hard to pull the kids away from the Wii, but the girls loved being able to get close to the farm animals.
Girls with the Horses
Sheep
Our main reason for being in Mold was for family history searching. Chris’s parents went in search of the first ancestor to be baptized into the LDS church here in England.
However, I don’t think any of us really understood how popular the name “John Jones” is in Wales! There were more than 100 stones with that name and none they saw with dates that matched up. But, not to be discouraged, the fun is always in the hunt!
We were also able to visit two LDS historical sites in Yorkshire.
Hill Farm
Hill Farm is where Wilford Woodruff baptized many saints in the farm pond.
Then we drove to the Church’s oldest existing building, Gadfield Elm Chapel.
Gadfield Elm Chapel
This chapel was so incredible. We arrived after the missionaries who serve there had left, but if you are a member of the church, you can figure out clues that they’ve left to unlock the coded pad on the door. We figured the clues out and were able to go in.
Inside the Chapel
Chris tried to reenact what it may have been like to preach back in 1840.
We stayed this last night in the Cotswolds in the village of Broadway. We were the only ones at our bed & breakfast (as we were in Mold) so it was nice to not worry about disturbing anyone else with kids who had been in the car for 2 days.
The kids finally decided to spend some of their ‘trip money’ while we were here. They were so disciplined in deciding the perfect item with their allotted amount. It was actually fun to watch them contemplate and take their purchase so seriously. Cami was quite proud of her purchase and it is still her prized possession.
Pink Ballet Umbrella
On our drive home on our final day, we thought we would treat the kids to Warwick Castle.
Last time Chris’s mom and I went I remember thinking how much the kids would love this – it really is like a medieval fair everyday. Well, we didn’t think about it being the winter months and that most events were kept indoors, making it not as fun as it is in the summer months, but the kids still had a good time.
Sword in the Stone
Cami was excited about the Princess Tower and couldn’t wait to be allowed to enter. Caleb, on the other hand, saw this sign and was hard to convince to follow:
Cami had a great time. She volunteered to sit on the princess’s bed to see if she was a ‘real’ princess and could feel the pea hidden underneath a stack of mattresses. Of course, she could! Each of the girls got a pea to take home to put under their mattress as well. I think this was definitely the highlight of Cami’s visit to Warwick!
Chris, I’m finding, really gets into the wax people whenever we see them. They usually make me feel uneasy.
But, perhaps he does it for the kids, to set them at ease. It seems to be working.
One of the big things to do at Warwick is to climb the many steps up the tower to get a great view. We did this while Chris’s parents stayed on the ground. Can you see us up there?
There we are – in the windy cold!
We all felt a little windblown by the time we got to the other side of the castle wall and could find solid ground again.
It was a great final stop for our road trip and we are looking forward to going back to Warwick Castle in warmer weather to see the jousting, sword fighting, and archery!
Looks like it was a fun trip! That castle sounds really neat.