Grantham and the Isaac Newton Manor

Thanks to Scott and Michelle visiting us this August we were able to see lots of things in a short amount of time. Scott's favorite place was Woolsthorpe Manor. Isaac Newton was born in this house in 1642 and he made many of his most important discoveries about light and gravity here. You can still see the famous apple tree from which we freely tasted (yuck, gross, bitter, worst apples ever!) Unfortunately they were closed the day we visited but we were allowed to walk around the grounds and take pictures.Visiting on a CLOSED day has it's advantages,

NO PEOPLE!

The crossed bones are the Newton Family crest.

This was above the front door to the manor.

The outhouse, in the barn which I definitely took advantage to sit on, this is where great minds really do their best thinking, right?

Ava took one bite and tried to give it back. Hard, bitter, and just plain gross, but look how much Scott was able to pallet, guess he was looking to ingest inspiration.

Woody's Bad Words

We bought the movie TOY STORY last week and Ava has asked to watch it every day since. Of course I don't let her watch it every day but it is always her first choice. What's a mom to do when her daughter takes obsessions with different movies. Princess and the Frog, Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood, Tinkerbell, Toy Story, they all have had a fair share of Ava obsession. But just the other day I heard Ava yell "SHUT UP Jessie" I immediately asked her where she learned those words? She quickly told me "Toy Story" Sure enough Woody has a little issues with strong, negative words, I never thought about it before. Ava takes in all that she sees and hears and even Disney kid movies aren't perfect. I can't keep Ava locked up, never to hear a bad word or see a mean gesture. Movies tell stories and have morals, they teach what is right and good but also bad and mean. I need to be more active in Ava's movie watching. I need to explain when something is not right, or if the character is not making good choices.

Audley End House

Because of our newly purchased "English Heritage" cards, we get to see a lot more cool things for free. Audley End House is a beautiful mansion, it's origins start in the 1600's. It's had many owners and been refurbished, built-up and downsized many times. I love visiting old mansions as I day dream about wearing beautiful dresses, eating at banquet tables and dancing in the ballrooms. Like most places around here you couldn't take pictures of the inside main building but you could in the kitchen, laundry, stables, and extensive grounds/gardens. I did however take a picture of a picture so I would remember what the front foyer looked like.

Look at tiny Ava waving her arms

This is the back of the house

Beautiful door bell that actually worked. The lady pulled on it and after a short delay you could hear bells ringing from inside the house.

The Front Foyer

Laundry Press and Drying Room

The kitchen

The Gardens

Huge Red Wood

Crazy looking "Brain" bushes and 2 serious blokes

Dover Castle and Secret Wartime Tunnels

This is Dover Castle!

It is huge and has hundreds of years of history. This link will explain the history about the castle:

English Heritage/Dover Castle

We decided to visit Dover Castle on a whim. We ultimately wanted to go camping in the Sherwood Forest but when everything was booked we changed our plans and headed south to Dover. We set up camp and had a interesting night with miserable rain then waking up to a foggy grey morning. Many of our pictures show the thick fog hanging over the area. Turns out the day we visited was an extra expensive/interactive event, because of the 1 day price we decided to join English Heritage (a organization which protects and preserves national heritage sites) and enjoy the benefits of seeing other Heritage sites for free. There were re-enactment actors scattered throughout the grounds. It was fun to see all of them living, cooking, fighting. . .

Our tickets also got us into the Secret War Time Tunnels. Hidden within the White Cliffs are a maze of military tunnels. There is an ambulance drop off, with reception and multiple surgery rooms, recovery, kitchen, dormitory, and a communication level complete with radios and top secret military files. The pilots who were shot down over the straights of Dover were brought to this hospital first to be stabilized. Even the top secret actions of the evacuation of Dunkirk were given by Vice-Admiral Bertram Home Ramsay from these tunnels. This was by far my favourite part of the trip. As you tour the tunnels you are taken on a fictitious story of a wounded pilot, you follow his recovery process and experience all the bombing and power outages of WWII. You aren't allowed to take pictures in the tunnel so I copied some from English Heritage.

The BIG 30!

My wonderful husband turned 30 this year! I wish we could have had a huge family filled birthday bash for him but unfortunately we are still living overseas and far away. David's birthday fun was spread out across many weeks and sadly was littered with car repair bills and long work shifts but we tried to make it fun. I put together this small photo time line of his past 30 years and it makes me laugh just looking at it. I tell Dave all the time that I wish I knew him growing up, I feel like I missed out on a huge part of his "character building years."

I love you so much, Happy 30th Birthday!

This last picture is of Ava delivering Davids birthday balloon and present to him while at work, but because Dave works in a classified area we can't take pictures of him opening it. He requested coconut chicken curry and a cheesecake for his birthday meal which we shared over a hole punch and stapler on his desk, very memorable.