Weekend in Wales

This weekend we took our final family trip, flying to Liverpool to join Nana and Big Opa (Jake's parents) for the first few days of their holiday in Wales. Nana and Big Opa were waiting after customs for Elena to run into their arms. Then we got down to the real business of installing the carseat. Our first night was spent at Greenhill Farms, we'll post more about that later.

The views out over the coast were lovely. Wales was shockingly green. Even greener than the Netherlands.

After a hearty breakfast

And Opa taking a quick trip in John's roadester 'for the paper'

Which elena found entirely 'too loud' and 'John bring Opa back NOW!'

We headed off to take in a few sites around Holywell. And we started with the Holy Well of St. Winefred. We bottled up some of the good stuff and lit a candle for Grammy, who is recovering nicely.


Then we walked down the old mill lane - walking along the stream from mill pond to mill pond,

ending up at the old monestary of Basingwerk Abbey (built in 1132) for lunch.

We just missed the rain and sent the Poppa's back up for the car while the ladies enjoyed tea in the garden.

A drive down the coast, we found an ATM and our timeshare, checked in and headed to the local grocery store. Jake and I were completely overwhelmed with the selection (nearly causing a nervous breakdown in the cereal aisle), this does not bode well for our return to 'American' stores...We stocked up and headed home. Elena put up the groceries


while Opa poured the drinks


and I made the cheese plate.

The Welsh have lovely cheese - it has more flavorings added, including mustard & ale (Opa's favorite), a blue cheese with dried apricots, cheddar-like with wine and herbs, another with 'spring garlic' (chives?), oh yes, I had a hard time saying no at the cheese counter.

The next morning we headed off to the local castle, Rhuddlan where we climbed and explored and saw a local sheep dog working the flock across the river. Elena kept herself occupied by climbing the stair and setting up her camera to take photos.


Elena enjoyed a nap that afternoon (Grandparents are hard work!) while we enjoyed some tea. Then we climbed the graig behind. Elena did great on the hike and the views were lovely.

That night we spent the evening shooing the local peacocks off of the porch and celebrating Nana's birthday a bit early.

The next morning we headed to Chester, where we saw the local cathedral (one of the view surviving the 'switch' from Catholic to Church of England) and had a real 'tea' for lunch.

Goodbye was hard, especially since we were leaving to go back to work and Nana and Opa were staying for holiday. But Elena was excited to hear that it won't be long before we see them again.