camp fire, what's up?

we had a halloween pumpkin carving meeting with rootbeer floats for snack:

an amazing halloween carnival (we did a fortune teller booth)









and a rockin' "potential lunatics" concert!!









october was PACKED to say the least.

osborne house

sooo the long lost post on the osborne house!






most of our photos were outside because photography was not allowed inside. i think what i really loved about this house was all the emphasis on kids. queen victoria had 9 kids and there was a large nursery upstairs where you sense a lot of fun happened. lots of toys and things kids would love to play with, of course the girls loved that. there was a house built toward the coast just for the kids, the style was danish. weird!

 

(my photos blow more than usual this day for some reason)



yes lizzie is drinking water coming off the roof gutter...


















so we REALLY liked the gardens



while i took this the tour guide lady came out and scolded me for letting lizzie climb up on this statue... bad mama! oh well, i try!

needles

the needles are a must see when visiting the isle of wight, but i will admit i was disappointed at how far away the viewing area was. there was a hike you could take but after a long day visiting several different places, we just had our look and moved on

emily took a picture of the chairlift that you could take out over the water (not working the day we went, repairmen were fixing it, another bummer) luckily there was a small carnival type thing nearby and the girls had fun on the merry-go-round and an ice-cream cone.

out and about: uk trip mishmash

(this was my FAVORITE place on the isle of white, the town is called "freshwater")





















every night in london, i had to go to this lounge area to use the wifi on my phone... elizabeth would come with her journal and draw pictures while i uploaded photos to facebook and checked emails. it was so nice to just relax with her busy working nearby. this trip really changed lizzie for the better, she was less whiney and became more of a team player. yay family team!!!

donkey sanctuary

we always look for unique animal sanctuaries to visit and on the isle of wight, donkeys were used on the farms and remain a symbolic animal. there was a lovely sanctuary near our house and my mom was so enthralled, she "adopted" a donkey for the girls. she is looking forward to all the email updates she will getting regarding "brandy" the donkey.

these are some LUCKY donkeys!! this place is so pretty!

carisbrooke castle

my favorite adventure on our tour of the isle of wight was carisbrooke castle. it had everything i love about castles (a moat, towers, chapel, garden) and more, you could walk around the high walls that surround it and see for miles and miles. when we arrived it was misty and drizzling, but the sun came out and wow! it was gorgeous!

this is the castle that queen victoria's daughter lived in for many years. it has areas of crumble and ruin but much more of it is in perfect condition.



while liz and i were checking this out, chris and emily had found a costume area in a tower that invited children to dress up...



so what do you think happens? i look across this wide path to see chris dueling with emily on the stairs wearing a (too small) set of armor. they are going up and down the stairs and loudly play fighting. people just stopped abruptly with mouths hanging open and i too was just dumbstruck. it was so funny but so not british, totally a goofy american thing to do. it was priceless.






the walk around the high wall was breathtaking









the gardens inside the castle






that view!



i couldn't tear myself away from here, it was really that nice.



bread oven?



of course we are always goofy!