Lots more Bath(ing)

and then the grandparents came!

A lovely meal at Bill's

Bizarre tour of Bath (that's what it was called and that's what it was...)

the local version of Ponte Vecchio

Dancing inside the Assembly Rooms

and a quick hug outside of them

One stylish fella - on his way to the fashion museum perhaps?

Our Victorian lass

with slightly more modern fashions

Georgian Pump House 

Bath Abbey - where the first English king was crowned

Classic snap at the Roman Baths

Ancient Roman holograms

Some of the exhibits that caught the kids' attention at the Roman Baths

Seb & I took his Nana to Prior Park just outside the town 

Enjoying the view from the main house

strolling through the wild but landscaped gardens 

One of four Palladian bridges in the UK - it was exquisite

Seb spotted a fox (injured and mangy sadly)

Our budding naturalist photographer 

 

An interesting stone sculpture on the walk home

and wall decor

We wrapped up with a cream tea

which the servers also enjoyed

Back to Bath

Day 1 / Step 1 - dump all our heavy luggage (this was part of the move back to Toronto after all)

Day 1 / Step 2 - meet up with Auntie R and head out of Bath to find a pub with good vegetarian meals and great craft beer. Our landlady had kindly left a big stack of French bande dessinees for the children (and check out the detail on the hairstyle).

Step 2b. hop out of the car for a stroll outside the spectacular Wells cathedral

Day 2 / Step 1 - find the fairy houses and create your own dens on the National Trust's trail round Bath (open the map link -it's gorgeous!) 

Day 2 / Step 2 - cafe in our courtyard with Auntie R and nephew as the customers and Sophie serving a range of soup & sandwich options

Day 2 / Step 3 - off to the Museum of Work, which had some good exhibits on the soda water "industry" of Bath and stone-cutting for Palladian Bath's architecture

grinding stone (or glass perhaps?)

Ready for Downton Abbey

In fact, ready for the ball

Day 2 / Step 4 - have Auntie R taxi home with the kiddie winks, whilst the parents soak in the sunshine next to some of Britain's best architecture, the Royal Crescent

Day 3 / Step 1  whilst the sisters took the waters at the modern, FABULOUS baths (no photos, thankfully),
the kids and their dad headed off along the canal

and through Britain's longest cycle tunnel

Grandparent Camp 2015 - part 1

Grandparent Camp got underway Sunday morning

The parents kicked it off by picking a new spot to brunch with our visitors.

But it was a false start and since there were no empty seats, the kids didn't get out till the late night flight (and that was after being delayed by the significant thunderstorm). However, it meant they came home to relax and were back at the airport when Auntie Mary & Uncle Mark headed back to Vancouver, and the former had time to braid Sophie's hair.

Summing up our first week back

One  person headed straight to (laid back) work... and the rest of us:

Sophie headed to a fantastic program of "Art in the Park" where she beaded up a storm

Meanwhile, Seb did a lot of this

 

and this (he must have made $40 with his new neighbourhood buddies over the week)

So glad we hucked the scooters back because it speeds up every journey (in fact I slow them down!)

Making cookies and cream cake

not much to look at but oh so good to eat

Barista in training (his first decaf iced coffee)

So much fun when we get to see these lovely folks 

and tasty food always accompanies them

Friday night, we hosted our wonderful Vancouver friends - Mark & Mary - it was just supposed to be a tour of the house and then some chilled green gazpacho in our court garden; but the neighbours were throwing a party and the band was really good, so we ordered some yummy pizza and applauded so loudly that we were invited over. It's never dull when M&M are around.

These 2 get along so well - we love you, Auntie Mary!

All week we prepped for Saturday's yard sale - at which we made $200 (but it's about the process, right?). $100 for family fun money and then $25 for each family member.

Books - yes, we did manage to cull some

Yard Sale 2015

Our family's first outgrown 2 wheeler

It appears that a microwave has replaced our toaster oven (I have certain fondness for this one as I remember pulling a tantrum when I was 8 months pregnant with S2 over the fact that the previous appliance's toast function would not turn itself off and I didn't want to chase a 3 year old, nurse a newborn and eat burnt toast, thank you very much. Next day, my love brought home this model).

I'll probably end up having another sale for children's clothes, books and sports equipment in September

Show me the talent

The Blue Jays have been doing a lot of late season trading. So the kids headed out with their dad and a friend to see what all the fuss was about. 

The Jays even won!