England!

Saturday morning we all awoke with a spring in our step after about 11 hours of sleep for each one of us. It is much colder here than Ethiopia, so we enjoyed being cold and snuggling under down comforters and blankets. We woke up and took a walk along the side of the Feavearyear’s property, along an ancient “footpath” which has been there for over a thousand years.

We came home and had a bit to eat while we wrote emails and our blog post. Then we took off for a tour of North Norfolk area, including the estate village of Heydon (owned by one family for over a thousand years. you should see their "house"--a gigantic castle-like home you would see in a movie). We had a light lunch in a ridiculously overpriced little tea shop, and although it was tasty and lovely, all the money we saved with the low exchange rate in Ethiopia was spent in this one location!

After that we drove to the market town of Holt where Savannah’s new hobby of collecting teacups was born. We tried to convince her that you don’t actually complete an entire collection in one spot, but she wanted to start her collection with a bang! Although it was now growing late in the afternoon, the Feav’s drove us to the English seaside to view the ocean and walk along the sandy beach.

The kids ran off to explore and find starfish, while Robynne and Alison huddled in jackets and under blankets. No need for swimsuits or sunscreen here. Brrrr! While we walked to the cars, we bought a few fresh, hot donuts from a seaside shop, which Ian tells us is a very British thing to do. We could embrace that tradition! Savannah was tickled to eat the donuts after seeing them come right out of the vat of boiling fat, into a bag of sugar. Her kind of dessert! :o)

The Feavearyears were quite patient as we kept asking them to pull over so we could look at some amazing sight on the side of the road... a church that was hundreds of years old, a graveyard with markers dating back to the 1300s, an amazing green pasture surrounded by hedges and flowers, etc. Thanks for your patience, Feavearyears (especially you, Nathan and Noah!)

One of the fun parts of traveling is to see the amazing sights as well as funny things unique to the location. One sign that made Alison laugh hysterically was the “Watch out for old people crossing the road” sign. Classic!

We got back to the Feav’s house just in time to Skype Ashlyn and Laramie before we had a late dinner. We all enjoyed our British dinner of Bangers and Mash (mashed potatoes and English sausages with caramelized onion gravy), then the girls cleaned the kitchen and we all hit the sack. A fun day in England we won’t soon forget. Hugs to all...

(scroll down for pictures)