Kenilworth Castle

Kenilworth Castle is 160 km from London and for almost five centuries served as a royal residence. Most of the castle is in ruin and was built over a number of centuries, beginning in 1210 by King John.

The wall in the foreground was built in 1210 by King John. The keep in the background right was the original building built in the 12th century, and the building to the left and behind was built in the 13th century, and the far left building was built in the 16th century.

The inner court is enclosed on three sides by the keep, the great hall and Leicester's Building. The keep on the left was the defensive heart of the castle.

 The windows of the Great Hall that was built in the late 14th century.

Kyle and me in the Great Hall

The Elizabethan Garden was built by Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester for Queen Elizabeth's visit in 1575. He is said to be her great love, and although she never married, Dudley tried many times to get her to agree to marry him. There was a lot of pressure for her to marry someone who could strengthen England but the fact that he was already married must have been the biggest obstacle to their love.

Leicester's House where Robert Dudley and a succession of wealthy gentlemen farmers lived until the early 1900s.

Rebecca & Caden - our hosts in Milton Keynes

Early tomorrow morning we take the train from Milton Keynes to London, and then the Eurostar to Paris and another train to Caen in Normandy where we will visit D-Day sites. We will be in France for three days and then it's back to London to see my Dad.

England - we're here!

Kyle with Winston and Duncan. We're staying with my friend Rebecca from high school and these are her boys.

I'm more than a little jet lagged right now and while I can't form coherent sentences, I can post pictures. The first are of a church that we drove by on the way here from Heathrow. The second church is in the village near to where Rebecca and her family live. It's called St. Mary's in Shenley Church End.

Good thing we bought our rain coats. We got caught in a very brief rainstorm while we were on our walk, and once we had made it home the skies opened and it hailed.
In August. Did I mention it's 33 degrees Celsius back home?

Emily at Point Roberts

A quick catch up post on Point Roberts. 

Emily's friend has a horse and they rode on the beach. After a couple of days of watching and doubling with her friend, Emily rode Thunder on her own.

 When the tide is out is the perfect time to ride.

Grand Adventure

It seems like forever ago now, but I once told my children when they were sixteen they should pick somewhere and we would go, just the two of us.

Kyle is turning 16 in a few weeks. And he and I leave for London today.

Ever since he was a little boy, Kyle has been absorbed by history - in particular World War II. This trip is all about seeing the sights he's read about all these years, visiting the Imperial War Museum, the Churchill War Rooms, the HMS Victory (not WW2, I know but cool nonetheless).

via Pinterest

We will be there for the last week of the Olympics too, and are hoping that my friend who is working on NBC's coverage will be able to hook us up with some tickets.

via Pinterest

We are also going to visit Normandy to see the D-Day landing sites.

via

I traveled a lot with my family as a child and in my early teens. My step dad worked all over the world, and as kids we had some pretty amazing experiences. Traveling opened my eyes and gave me insight that I wouldn't have had otherwise. I am so grateful for that, and for a generous mother-in-law with lots of air miles so that Kyle and I can share this adventure together now.

Sunset on the Point

We took a rotisserie chicken and some fries to the beach last night and watched the sunset from the beach.

I took the opportunity to take some pictures of my kids during magic hour - where the light turns everything it touches to gold.

Conner, 10

Emily, 14

Liam, 8 (almost 9)

Kyle (turning 16 this month)

We recently bought a new camera (Canon T4i) and I've been messing around with it, trying to get some practice time in before Kyle and I head off on a grand adventure on Saturday. More on that later.

 Almost set. One moment it was there, the next it was gone.

We have one more day on the Point. I keep referring to it as 'the island' - completely unintentionally, but it feels remote and untouched like an island. I'll be sad to leave. I'm already looking forward to next year.

I've been soaking up unstructured time with my children, time where no one has to do anything, or be anywhere.
Unless it's getting to the other side of the Point before the sun sets.

Maple Beach Cottages

The streets around here are quiet and full of quaint little beach cottages. Some are super run down, others have been lovingly taken care of and each and every one of them is different. One of my favourite things to do is walk around and look at the houses, and imagine having a beach cottage of our own.

Doesn't this little house look sweet? A neighbour told me that the house is empty, the owner passed away and the family can't agree on what to do with the property. A little love and TLC is all it needs.

 I love the punchy red door on this one.

I wish I had taken a better shot of this property - but there is a series of small cottages that are linked by a deck in the middle. Shingles on each building tie them together and gives a very Nantucket vibe.

 A white picket fence, naturally.

 This is a bigger cottage. I love the red painted shingles.

This little house is tucked away on a side street half a block from the beach. Bikes are everywhere in Point Roberts. I hadn't been on one in years - but it's true, it comes back quickly.

Even with four kids, I think a little two bedroom cottage like this one would be perfect. I would move to Maple Beach for the summer with the kids - it's close enough for Quinn to come and go for work.

Not really a possibility, but I can always dream...

Like these beach cottages? Check out more here and here.

The Point

I need the beach in my life. 

While I live on the West Coast (well, an hour from the coast), I don’t get nearly enough beach time in. I also need the sun, and that is in short supply around here too. One of the few things that sustains me through our long, grey, wet winter is knowing that come the end of July, we head for Point Roberts.

The view from our front windows - Conner playing with his friend.

The tide goes way out and creates little pools that stay warm in the sun until the tide comes back in. Great for exploring, paddling and skim boarding.

It’s our third summer here. We’ve rented the top floor of the same house on Maple Beach each year and we all look forward to our week at the Point. 

Liam on the beach in front of our place.

Unfortunately Quinn’s not with us this trip – he’s in Alberta for a few weeks on a job – but the rest of us are soaking up some serious down time and it’s been glorious.

Quinn last year at the Point - just because I miss him and wish he were here now.

Our friends have a place down the beach, and all day long the kids travel in packs on bikes from house to house, eating, playing, swimming and having a great old time. This year all the kids are older and I’m more relaxed and it’s meant they’ve had a lot more freedom to explore on their own.

At any given time we have up to eleven bikes outside our place. I have been going through a lot of popsicles, chips and ice cream. 

This is a special place. I love that it's so close - we can drive here in an hour and a half, including border line up. It's a well-kept secret and if I thought that anyone actually read this, I probably wouldn't write about it because I don't want the secret to get out. Five square miles of US land, surrounded by water to the south, west and east, and the Canadian border (and Tsawwassen) to the north. 

See that little point of land south of Tsawwassen - south of the 49th Parallel makes it US land.

I've taken some great pictures today of the beach and the beach cottages which I'll post later.