Stratford

  Today we went into Stratford for the day, it's where Shakespeare was born and is now buried.  When I found out where we were going I wasn't too excited, I'm not into the whole Shakespeare thing.  Before we went to Stratford we stopped at Sarehole Mill, Kimberly wanted to go there because it's where J.R.R Tolkien got the inspiration for the Hobbit books but found out that the mill makes flour.  The mill was under construction so the mill wasn't running.  From there we stopped off at the house where my grandparents use to live and it brought back so many memories.  When we got to Stratford we stopped at the river and I remembered I had been there as a little girl with my grandparents to feed the geese, ducks, and swans.  So I was really happy to be there and I've always loved looking at the pictures of me there.  We walked along the river to the church where Shakespeare is buried, you can see where he is buried but you have to pay 2 pounds to see it and it wasn't worth it.  We had lunch at the Dirty Duck where we use to go with my grandparents and it was good.  We spent the rest of the day walking around the town and doing a bit of shopping and I have to admit I had a lot of fun.  2 more days until Harry Potter!! but until then it's Wales tomorrow, it's going to be a long day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

London

  Today we took our tour of London, it has been a while since I've been there and there were some new things added.  We decided to take the train because it was easier than driving, which I didn't mind.  I remember taking the train to London with my mom when I was a little girl, but that was some time ago.  It took us a while to get to London and when we got there we went to N Gower Street, where the cafe was used in a show that Kimberly likes to watch called "Sherlock", she is obsessed with anything Sherlock Holmes.  We then walked the other way to King's Cross Station to find platform 9 3/4 which was awesome.  We took the tube to Piccadilly Circus to pick up the tickets and it took us a while to find the place where we needed to go.  We walked over to Trafalgar Square to get a bit to eat and hopped on the tour bus.  We spent the day jumping on and off the buses making sure we saw everything that we wanted to see.  We took the river tour so we could get to the London Eye and going on the London Eye was amazing they said on a clear day you can see a far as 25 miles.  Kimberly and I went off by ourselves to find the Sherlock Holmes Museum and it took us a while to get there and when we did it was closed.  We met up again with my mom and aunt back at the train station and made our journey home.  It was a great day and we are all tired and it will be another busy day tomorrow since we are going to Stratford.  3 more days until Harry Potter, I'm getting really excited.

 

 

 

 J.K Rowling's Home

 Buckingham Palace

 

 Victoria Tower

 Saint Paul's Cathedral

 Tower of London

 

 Tower Bridge

 Parliament

 The London Eye

 

 

 

Warwick Castle

  Today we got to go to Warwick Castle and it was a lot of fun.  I have been there before but I hardly remember, so it was like going for the first time.  We got tickets for two of the attractions that they have, The Dungeon and the Merlin Tower.  While going through the dungeon I thought it was going to be really scary but I ended up liking it.  It was a good mix of humor and horror.  We went through four rooms and while we went through we got to learn about the different types of tortures that were given back in the day.  We had a bit of time while waiting for the Merlin Tower so we walked around the house part of the castle and it was really pretty.  After a bite to eat it was time for the Merlin Tower I thought I was going to like it but in the end it wasn't was I was expecting, we only went through two rooms.  We wondered through the rest of the house and went over to the area where they had the bird show and it was really good.  They had four birds they started off with an owl and then a Vulture and ended with a few bald eagles and I enjoyed it a lot.  We walked through something called the Kingmaker and did a Ghost tour we were taken through the castle house we were told the different stories.  The last thing that we did is we went to see the Catapult and it was so cool watching the fireball into the air.  At the end of the day we were really tired and I cannot wait to turn in for the night.  I'm really excited to attend church to see what it's like and to have a rest until Monday when we go into London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We're Here!!

  We have had a very interesting first few days here.  We got through the airport without any trouble and had a really good flight.  We were scheduled to get in an hour early which was nice and spent the flight watching movies, playing games, and listening to music.  We weren't able to sleep for a long period of time, which left us very tired when we landed. We were able to get through immigration OK, and we got our bags and we went off to search for my Aunt and Uncle.  Here's where it gets interesting, on our way home and about half-an-hour from the house we discovered that the cars two front and back tires had a flat and we had to wait for an hour to get if fixed.  Finally we arrived at the house and was able to relax and we slept great that night. 

  Today was pretty much a lazy day but we still went out to do some currency exchanging and shopping.  While we shopped Kimberly and I filled our basket with sweets and I had to get some caerphilly cheese.  After shopping we went to go get some lunch and Kimberly and I went to McDonald's. Seating was limited so we decided to eat on the benches outside and while we were eating half of my hamburger fell on the floor due to Kimberly getting her sweater caught on the edge of my burger container and a big gust of wind.  Kimberly and I walked around the mall and we found a store called "Jessica's" which is a candy store :)  When we got home we went to go get Megan from school which she asked her mom if we could go get her, I thought that was really sweet.  In the late afternoon we got visits from Nina, Pete, and Steve it was so nice to see them I love my family.  We have just finished our dinner and tomorrow we are off to Warwick Castle, it should be a good day. Let's see how more interesting the week can get.

 

 

 

 

Off We Go!

After 6 months of anticipation and preparation it is time for my mom, Kimberly, and I to go to England.We are so excited and cannot wait to get there.  I will be blogging while I am there but the pictures will have to wait until I get back in two weeks.    

My Summer

My summer this year has been pretty calm, not too much excitement but I have had some fun times.  Kimberly and I went to see "Snow White and the Huntsmen" in June and I thought it was really good.  In July, Carlos, Karla, Jacky, and Alexsandra came for a visit for two weeks.  It was so great having them here and seeing the girls.  Kimberly and I went to the midnight showing of the "Dark Night Rises", I was so looking forward to seeing it and I thought it was good.  Katie and I are planning to go see "Step Up: Revolution" I have been looking forward to seeing that too.  That's it I guess not too exciting, I did warn you though.  My exciting time won't be until September when we go to England.  Until now and then I guess I can find more exciting things to do, but I promise I won't get into too much trouble.

Alexsandra 3 and Jacky 6

 

 

 Frank and Josh as "Batman and Robin"

So hilarious!!

"The Hunger Games"

Kimberly and I went to see "The Hunger Games" yesterday, after reading the books I was really excited to see it. I thought it was really good and I was surprised at how well it turned out since this was the first movie of the book series. For those of you who don't know the story in a nut shell there are twelve districts and each year two kids from each district the ages of 12-18 are picked to fight in the games and it is televised. Everything that I had visualized in reading the book was portrayed really well, from the people in the districts to the people in the Capitol. It was really interesting to watch the scenes that were added, I liked watching the people inside the control room and watching the peoples reactions outside of the games. Jennifer Lawrence did a great job portraying Katniss, Katniss is such an amazing charter, full of courage, bravery and strength and she is definitely a charter that we should look up to. I did tear up a few times, when Katniss volunteers for Prim (her sister) after she is chosen to go into the hunger games at the reaping; the other while in the games when Rue is killed I also cried during it while I was reading the book. A few performances stood out to me the most being Elizabeth Banks as Effie she stole every scene that she was in and I loved her outfits too. Also the girls who played Prim and Rue did a good job too. I really like Lenny as Cinna and Stanley Tucci who played Cezar Flickerman. I cannot wait to see Catching Fire if it's as good as the Hunger Games it's going to be awesome.