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!

isle of wight

so last month we took a trip to the isle of wight, a little island off of the uk, near the france border. my parents had been many times but this was our first trip. after 4 days in london, we took a taxi then a train then a bus then a hoovercraft to the island. it went easier than you would think and picked up a car to use for the week. the neat thing about the island is you can get just about anywhere in less than an hour and most places in about 15 minutes. it is a wonderful mix of coastline and rolling hills dotted with sheep and cows. the weather is usually milder and we enjoyed a mix of sun and rain, sometimes a little of both.

we really hustled on all the trains we took this trip, never had to wait more than a few minutes, never missed a train
quick hoovercraft ride
we stayed in a converted barn, thick walls made it perfect for kids, the neighbors said they couldn't hear us at all

the "house" that the "barn" goes with (gorgeous!!)
so chris was the superstar driver, but i must say it was like mr toads wild ride the whole time. whenever i said slow down, he'd say "sorry sorry!" and my mom would mutter, "i'm not saying a thing" in the back seat. it was hilarious and i seriously had to co-pilot the whole time saying, remember to stay left, stay left!!! he even drove a left handed stick shift! flippen incredible!
inside our barn
perfect for the girls
the best fish n chips on the trip
views around the farm
"our boys"
the cottage said it was a five minute walk to the beach, in reality there had been erosion of the beach trail turning it into an indiana jones adventure that took more like an hour. many scrapes and head bonks and hearts beating out of chests later, we arrived at this amazing beach

there are many thatched roofed houses around the area we were at (shanklin)

we spent many hours watching the cows and walking through their pasture. i'll post more about some of the places we visited, like a real castle and the palace queen victoria lived in.

the REAL roald dahl museum post

ok, so here are the pictures of the actual museum! yay!

enter between these two funny buildings



there is a really cool cafe to the right (i had a fantastic "jacket potato")



inside shots are a bit fuzzy, phone and camera are crappy in poor light and it was raining that day... several museum type rooms with fun and creative stations for the kids



i think liz and emily were the perfect age for this museum



this was the shadow puppet theatre and there were stations to stamp a book you got at the beginning of the tour






characters from the movie fantastic mr. fox (and chris, clowning around)



while the girls colored in this fun coloring room, i walked around to see what other kids had done. there were lots of stations designed to help with story telling and story writing. i thought the combinations were neat (and some naughty, just like roald dahl)









the mother of all coloring rooms, unlimited supplies



there were school children there (dressed in suit and tie, both boys and girls) so we could not hear the story telling session (bummer) but we had fun watching them play. the girls were too intrigued to notice



classic:






view to the courtyard, so nice and clean



surprisingly not much about chocolate, but still a very nice collection of his work. the gift shop was to die for (still pining for a book i didnt buy) and lunch at the cafe "twit"and then a walk through town to the cemetery made a perfect day trip.



hope you enjoyed the tour!!