Ely with Mimi

(Posted 9/2/16, but backdated so I could find it.)

A lot of days in November were just business as usual: we had schoolwork to get through, Scott had to work, etc. We had some fun activities, though:

The egg on the right has no shell...we let it soak in some vinegar for a while. You
can't tell much in this picture, but the kids really found it interesting. You could see into it,
and it was (understandably) squishy...but the membrane was surprisingly tough!

You can sort of tell that the egg is translucent in this picture...but also the kids
are recording their observations of our recently hatched brine shrimp

We also managed a few field trips! We brought Zee with us on a tour of Ely and got to do our first tour through Oliver Cromwell's house. At the beginning of the tour, there was a video (pictured directly below) that briefly set the stage for the controversy surrounding this interesting character. "Hero or Villain?"

This was the kitchen where there were models of various foods that would have
been common. There were also printouts available of some recipes that Mrs.
Cromwell might have used. I picked one up, but I haven't tried any of them yet

Katy practiced writing with a quill and ink

 Everyone could get into character, including Mimi!

...I think Emily was channeling her inner Dracula. (Wrong region...)

I'm including this picture mostly because of the epic photobomb!

There's Oliver Cromwell behind the kids (who are imitating his expression.
They had fun checking every portrait and wax model for the wart on his face
(which, I think, they learned about when we went to Warwick Castle and saw
his death mask...)

Next, of course, we had to check out the amazing Ely Cathedral...but not before pausing at the Russian cannon.

I could never get tired of this place. So beautiful!

The famous octagon lantern

A few new statues in the Lady Chapel? At least these didn't have their
heads ripped off by the reformers. ;)

One of our family's favorite places to walk is out behind the cathedral. There
are some horses and donkeys that hang out in that pasture, but the view still
took our breath away even though we saw it so frequently. 

I'm so glad we got to share one of our favorite towns with Zee during her visit!

Tower of London (November)

One of the first places we took Zee, on Scott's first day off, was London! We took the train from Ely, experienced the Tube, and headed to the Tower of London. The children had been studying its history for school, so the timing worked out really well for that as well.

We picked up sandwiches to eat on the train (because I was not with it enough
to make that many before we had to leave.) Good thing, too. *MY* sandwiches
can't change lives...

The kids with our Yeoman Warder tour guide
He was great! He was very entertaining and informative, and he involved
our tour group a lot. (As a homeschool mom, I was especially proud and pleased
that the kids knew the answers to almost all his questions, even when no one
else in the group did. Yay, kids!!!)

The White Tower is on the right (with the flag), the building in the back is

The Waterloo Block, where the Crown Jewels are kept

We were there on Veteran's Day/the Day of Remembrance. 

We were able to go inside the St. Peter and Vincula Chapel, but no photography was allowed. Afterward, we watched the changing of the guard outside the Waterloo Block, where the crown jewels are kept.

Part of the changing of the guard ceremony 

We weren't allowed to take pictures of the crown jewels (but they were pretty
neat!), but this is where we came out. The monkeys on the wall (and many
other animal sculptures throughout the grounds) are maid of chain mail.

The cannon was pretty cool, but it's unfortunate that I didn't notice the
prominent litter bin right in the center of the picture...

That's the Shard rising up in the background

Some of the ravens! (We had just finished reading "The Ravenmaster's
Secret," which explained their presence!)
There's a legend that says that the Tower and the kingdom will fall if the 6
resident ravens ever leave the fortress, so there are always 7 kept on the
grounds--six plus one to spare. King Charles II was the first one to insist
on their protection, even at the protest of his astronomer who said the birds
interfered with his observations from the White Tower.
We didn't get to see them up close because their habitat was being renovated.

We were able to tour the White Tower
Lots of cool armor, both for people and horses 

This made us laugh, though in real practice I'm sure it was horrific. The sign
next to it read "Collar of Torment" and  talked about it's historic use for
torture, but it also said it was to "put around the necks of scolding or wayward wives."
Scott said he needed one of those…I rolled my eyes, scolded him, and walked away.
Just kidding. Mostly.

Cool dragon in the background made out of weapons from the armory

The kids watching a video about the Great Wars
(The Tower of London was one of the locations hit during the Blitz in WWII)

Traitor's Gate, built during the reign of Edward I to provide
a water entrance to the Tower.

We briefly explored the torture chamber before it closed.
Here's a replica of the Rack. It was morbidly interesting
to look at and read about all the devices they used…easy
to almost forget that they were really used on real people.
Ugh.

Queen Victoria?!
Oh, no. Just Katy in the gift shop. We were amused. (Ha!)

This was in motion so the executioner was continually chopping off the guy's head

I love this girl!!!

What a great group of people, even though I almost blinded them with the flash! 

Tower Bridge at night (well, at like 4:00 in the afternoon. Yay, November!)

The Tower from our walk back to the Tube station

There's so much history tied to this place, it's impossible to write about it all in one blog post, but it was a really neat trip and I'm so glad we got to do it. It was a long day with quite a bit of walking, but everyone handled it great!

The following week was filled with more soccer, the terror attacks in Paris and Beirut, and preparation for Emily and Katy's birthdays. (To be continued…)

Gearing up for November…and Mimi! (October/November)

(Just to reiterate, these are all posts from last fall…)
After Michael and Brenda headed back home, we hit school hard, had a fun Halloween...

Left to right: Elphaba, Ironman, Anna, a ninja, Princess Leia

…and then anticipated Zee's arrival! We were super excited to get to share some of England with her, too!

You would never know this lady had just stepped off an all night
trans-Atlantic flight…she managed to keep going the WHOLE day!
Took on jet lag like a BOSS!

Scott wasn't able to take much leave for the month of November, so we didn't take many elaborate trips, but we still got to see and share a lot…and Zee got to see and participate (a LOT) in normal, everyday life, homeschool, and activities. It was a huge help and a joy to have another adult around the house and to see the relationships blossom between her and the kids.

Mimi and Julia were especially close, spending most mornings together while
I worked on school with the older kids. Julia was like her little shadow!

Many evenings were spent at one or both bases watching the kids' soccer games…4 kids playing in the fall, 4 different teams. (It was busy, but it was a great season!)

Collin's team, "Orange Lightning"

Ian's team, "Blue Sharks"

Katy's team, "Hurricanes"

Not pictured: Emily's team, "Royals" (12+ year olds are hard to gather together for such things, apparently.)

For school, we had just finished reading a book about the Tower of London and some of the things that used to happen there. So, for our first outing all together, we headed down to London on the train, introduced Zee to the Tube, and toured the Tower. 

(Continued in next post…)