Friends & Family {England, post 6}

Sorry it's been a while since the last post... I've been busy globe-trotting :)

The last week or so in England was busy visiting with friends and spending time with family.

We met up with the Wellingtons, who went to bible college with my parents... they've known me since I was a baby.

Playing frisbee while walking along.

We walked up to Clifton suspension bridge, which was built by that famous engineer guy... Isembard Kingdon Brunel.

We also met up with the Coe's, who also went to bible college with my parents and have known me since I was a baby.

Granny Margot came for a visit!

I made Chinese Dumplings for Granny Margot and the Coe's... everyone seemed to love them!

Chopped up spinach, garlic, ginger, and jalapeno peppers ready to be mixed in with the ground beef.

The assembly table (after they were all finished)

Cooking them.

Dipping sauce.... mmmmmmmmm.... soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, finely chopped ginger, garlic, and jalapeno peppers.

 

Eating :)

We played a lot of Dutch Blitz the last week or so. Matthew cannot be beaten. The kid is a child genius.

 

The last day I was there I went out for coffee and brunch with my mommy.

And that is the last picture I took in England!

Daniel's Graduation {England, post 5}

Daniel graduated from the University of Bristol this past Tuesday, July 19th.

Which also happens to be mom's birthday :)

So we had double the reason to celebrate.

Mom and Dad were able to go to the graduation (each graduate only got 2 tickets).

Matt and I stayed at home and watched it streamed live online.

I sent mom with my camera to take lots of pictures.

The night before graduation we met up with some of Daniel's friends and their parents for dinner at a Chinese restaurant.

Before they headed off to the graduation.

Daniel in his gown.

Daniel and his friend Jed.

Daniel and another friend.

In front of Daniel's buildings/places where his classes were. I think.

 

The place where the graduation was held.

Daniel in the crowd.

 

Waiting to go across the stage.

And there he goes.

Pictures afterwards. I have no idea who most of these people are.

:)

Then, they rushed home to take pictures with me and Matt before Daniel had to turn his gown back in.

With his hood on. [In England they do hoods, instead of those funny hats with tassels like I had in the U.S.]

Haha.

 The back.

We are having proper graduation (and mom's birthday) celebrations on Saturday, since Tuesday was a whirlwind... and mom and dad left yesterday for a conference until Saturday.

So right now the boys and I are holding down the fort.

I'm cooking up all sorts of food for them (today I made chicken fajitas to show them what they're missing out on by not living in Texas), and we're watching lots of movies and generally having a good time.

Liverpool {England, post 4}

We also went up to Liverpool when Thomas was still here.

It's where my mom's side of the family lives, and Thomas had never met any of them.

Thomas actually also lived in Liverpool when he was little (one or two years old).

We went to see my Nanny (my mom's mom).

In Nanny's little living room.

In 1995, Mom and Dad and Daniel and I all stayed in Nanny's little house for 10 months while we were in England. She has two small bedrooms, one of which mom and dad slept in, and this "box room" where Daniel and I slept!

This is my Nanny. She is house-bound now, and can't really walk, so she spends a lot of time in this chair.

She has nurses who visit daily and carers who come in to cook and clean for her.

Dan and Matt hanging out at Nanny's house.

Thomas and me with my Great Aunty Dorothy - Nanny's younger sister.

 

All of us crammed onto the couch.

A couple of pictures with Nanny.

Thomas and me in front of Nanny's house... it's a typical Victorian era house... joined together in a long row with other houses.

Nanny's street.

This is the house (the right-hand side of the duplex) where Thomas and his family lived while his father was at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Thomas was one or two years old.

Thomas in front of the house.

Thomas's old street.

 

When my family was in England in 1999, this was the house we stayed in... it was a parsonage that wasn't being used at the time.

We met up with some more of my mom's family at a traditional English carvery on the Mersey river.

English pub fare.

The family.

This was the school that Daniel, Matthew, and I went to when we were in England in 2002-2003.

 

It was a very small school.

It was quite the whirlwind trip, we drove up to Liverpool in the morning, and drove back down to Bristol late that night. I'm glad Thomas finally got to meet some of my mom's side of the family, though.