It's Bahhhth Time

Half-term break flew by, but we made sure to sneak in a quick trip before the kids go back to school. On Saturday, we took our little car on its first road trip since it joined our family...and I drove!! My driving skills must be improving--such smooth sailing that Dorian took a nice, long snooze.

We hopped in the car with snacks galore and took off on a 2-hour drive to the very beautiful city of Bath (aka Baaaahth). Our first stop upon arrival was to find some hot food to fill our tummies. What better place than some good ol' Cornwall pasties? Piping hot and filled with their new recipe of Chicken Tikka Masala--these guys know the way to my heart: flaky crust + delish curry = oh yes.

After devouring our pasties and nursing our burnt tongues for a bit, we strolled along for about a block and came upon the Roman Baths. I'm usually always on the lookout for some free museum trips, but TripAdvisor promised that the Baths were worth the admission fee of £17/adult (and since the guy at the counter didn't charge us for the kids, it felt like we got a discount!). Well TripAdvisor, you were right--the Roman Baths were definitely worth the price. 

The kids each got their own audio guide explaining the baths in kid-speak and a map with stickers to fill out as they found exhibits. The Roman Baths are found below street level and are still filled with the hot springs that rise at over 1 million liters everyday!! If you look closely at this picture, you can make out the steam above the water and even some bubbling on the surface.

Here is where the excess water is diverted to other baths:

We took about 1.5 hours to explore the baths as well as the many artifacts that were on display from the Bath Temple--including objects that were thrown into the Sacred Spring as offerings to Minerva, as well as Gorgon's head above the entrance to the temple.

We got up-close and personal with the main bath towards the end and got a good picture of Audrey:

After returning our audio guides, we found ourselves in the Pump Room where a faucet continuously pumps clean spa water for visitors to drink. The water is pretty hot and according to Audrey, it "smells like fart." Well, we drank it anyway!

Right outside of the Roman Baths is the Bath Abbey, which we were really excited to see (the Tudors stood in abbeys just like this one!!). 

The architecture from this time never ceases to amaze me. I mean, seriously, can someone make my ceilings look like that?!

We left Bath at 3:15pm with minutes to spare on our parking permit and decided to make the hour trip a bit East to see Stonehenge. Everyone says it's not worth the trip, but dangit, we were too close not to just see for ourselves! We got to the entrance (wait, we can't just drive up to the pile of rocks?) and were told that the last tour was at 3pm and that we'd have to come back another day. We asked if we could just drive by and get a glimpse of it, but the tall line of trees they planted to block our view along with her "sorry, sucker" look, answered our question. Ah well, a tram ride to the rocks was £15/person, so this was probably a blessing in disguise! (Sidenote: £15 to see the rocks? Brother, please.) 

So off we drove, sad and forlorn--we wouldn't see everything we had set out to see after all.

But, wait! What's that coming up on the side of the road?! (Cue triumphant music)

Stonehenge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I see you!!!!!!!! Ahh, all is well in the world again.

Aside from having a successful first road trip, Saturday also marked an important "first" for Dorian since being potty trained-- he took his first emergency wee on the side of the road!

Well, we're nearing the end of February, which means the countdown to my parents' and aunt's arrival in Henley is officially on! Distance truly makes the heart grow fonder. I would never have imagined that I'd be this excited to see them again. It's almost like being 10 years old, laying in bed with my sister and Aunt Jessica, imagining ourselves on the Top Gun roller coaster (my favorite!) in anticipation for our Great America trip the next day (if you grew up in the Bay Area, you know what I'm talking about!). I'm pretty excited.

So excited, in fact, that I'm considering getting the kids new pets!

Or not.

Hi, Bye

I just got a text from my dear friend Riquesha. Has it really been 21 days since the last blog post?! I'd like to have some really good excuse (like spending the last 21 days petting 50 different species of penguins in the wild), but alas, we've just been tackling school, walking everywhere, Brazil week activities, and spending nights feeding our Tudors obsession on Netflix. Sorry, not sorry.

Anyway, Audrey's little birthday gathering at the Kiln in Henley was lots of fun. She's a big 6 year-old now, losing a tooth soon and saying things like "mummy" and "haych" (for the letter "h"). Oh, how time flies! Here's a picture of her at the Kiln painting ceramic plates and mugs with her buddies.

One of the kids didn't show up so we had all of the kids make a plate together!

Shortly after Audrey's birthday, the kids at school celebrated the end of the first half of the school term with a Brazilian Carnival. Believe it or not, this is the ENTIRE school in one room!

On the last day of the half-term (there are 3 in a school year and they're split with 2-week breaks and a 1-week break at each half), Audrey had her very first disco. I'd like to say that the highlight of my night was getting down with Audrey to "What Does the Fox Say", but something else makes the night even more significant: not only did I drive home safely, our friend Anette trusted me to drive her son home too! Score!

Aside from Brazilian festivities and discos, I spent a little time getting to know the NHS (National Health Service) and when I say "a little", I mean "very little"!! I made an appointment with the surgery (really, it's just a medical centre) to get some tests done (mainly to rule out a possible thyroid issue). Because everyone has access to health insurance, all of the surgery centres are over-subscribed. You're lucky if you call for an appointment and get one within the month. Somehow, I got one the week after I called in! Back home, I could easily get an appointment, wait for 35-40 minutes to be called, wait another 15 minutes for a nurse to come and take my weight and blood pressure, wait another 10 minutes for my doctor to make an appearance, then spend 10 minutes catching up and discussing problems before leaving with a pat on the back and instructions to go home, rest, and take Tylenol (and sometimes get a lollipop!). Needless to say, what happened on the day of my appointment in Henley blew my mind! I checked in, settled in for a wait, got called within 3 minutes by the doctor herself (who didn't bother waiting for me to gather my things!), ran after her before she disappeared into her office, sat down at her desk, answered three questions, and was sent away with instructions for a huge panel of blood tests. Literally "hi" and "bye" in one breath without even laying a finger on me! They may lack some bedside manners, but I think I might be digging their no frills approach to medicine!

Well, the Thames is still flooded and the train sensors between Twyford and Maidenhead are under water. They've started using buses to shuttle people around on that leg of their commute, but as you can imagine, the queue is horrendous. Stegen's been working from home more and took the car to work a couple times as well. We hitched a ride with him yesterday and spent the day at the indoor water park by his office. I feel awful for the people with their beautiful homes right on the river, but I can't help loving how amazing the river looks right now. Here's a picture of Audrey with her buddy Harrison on one of our walks to check out the water levels. The river normally stops at the brick wall.

Here are Audrey and her girlfriends putting their Wellies to work:

If I haven't mentioned it yet, it's half-term so the kids are out of school for the week (lord help me). Our house has become the hangout spot and we've had kids here all day everyday (!). Harrison spent the day with us on Tuesday and taught me how to properly pronounce things here because apparently, I'm doing it all wrong. Here's what I learned:

- it's not "learned", it's "learnt"

- "Cornwall" is pronounced "Cor-wor" (that makes no sense at all)

- it's not "YO-gurt", it's "yawgurt"

- it may be "tomAHto, but it's not potAHto

- I say things "weird" 

Well, I hope it's not another 21 days before the next post! We'll be getting away this weekend, so I'll be sure to update on our excursions. If you're planning on dropping in for a visit anytime while we're here, bring your Wellies (rainboots) or some good hiking shoes--there are some fabulous, muddy hikes all around!