Home Again

Well.
I'm home.
Anti-climatic, I know.

Except that if you knew everything that has happened since my return you wouldn't say it was anti-climatic. But that stuff is saved for the real journal. Or maybe I'm going to just lose it in my memory. So posterity doesn't judge me.

I'm actually really grateful to be home. I missed Washington. I missed Hailey babsters. I missed my mother. I missed working for my dad. I missed working in general (odd. I know. ALSO, this doesn't mean I'm a work-aholic. Heavens no. I am always always always up for a new adventure. And also, I am pretty great at not working.) I missed driving. Scratch that. I miss the public transportation in Vienna. I missed Brendon. I missed seeing bald eagles fly over my home. I missed hearing political debates in English. I missed the English language, kind of. It's a love-hate relationship. I missed peanut butter. I missed s'mores. And I might have missed having access to tv shows via hulu or netflix. Don't judge me. So I'm grateful to be back. And I'm mostly grateful that I had the opportunity to go to Vienna and to see the world as a young girl. Because I will never get that opportunity again. And also, because the world is so much better when you don't have responsibilities, or plans. Just money to burn. Definitely the best way to do it. Money to burn.

We herded sheep. True story.

York.
Oh yes, this is my favorite place.

We're girls.
We like baby sheepsters.

Goodbye England. Goodbye Scotland. Goodbye Europe. You've been oh so gracious to me. I will forever be indebted to your culture and history and your endless goodness. You will always be loved by me. Forever and ever and ever and ever and ever.

Pit Stop: UK

First stop - LONDON!

Of the utmost importance: BRENDON's love note.
He somehow, secretly, sneakily and scandalously hid a note here in London for me.
At Westminster Abbey nonetheless.
Ps. It didn't disappoint.

Dad and Mum. (As she wishes to be called these days)
Walking the streets of good 'ol London town.

Hailey baby. In front of the Tower of London.

We went and saw Singing in the Rain.
And Hailey has been singing the song ever since.
We all loved it.

Mom.
Modeling one of our hotel rooms.

Big Ben.

Mum. Me. The Harry Potter bridge in the background?
This was on the Harry Potter walk we took, accidentally. We didn't know anything about Harry Potter and couldn't keep up the with the rest of the fans. So we took pictures.

Mum. Lookin like a bum.
It's reallllllllly cold here. And we didn't bring enough layers.

Buckingham Palace

Riding the double-decker buses.
Something we've gotten real good at here.

HARRY POTTER!
The one thing I remember from those books.

YORK

We jumped on a train on Monday and rode all the way to York.

I was unprepared emotionally, physically, spiritually, manually, intentionally and all other -ally words for the beauty and loveliness that York had to offer. It was so quaint and cute and nice and friendly and cozy, and I didn't want to leave.

Everyone: Go to York. Except, don't tell everyone. Because it needs to stay cute and little.

Thanks.

Our street.

The York Minster.
HUGE.

1,000 year old stained glass.
Also, they have the famous Rose stain glass in here. But I didn't get a picture. oops.

Leftover ruins from an Abbey in York that Henry VIII destroyed.

Looks like a picture? It's real life.
York real life.

The Dean's house.
The Minster in the background.
Cute #1 and cute #2 in the foreground.

SHE'S TWELVE YEARS OLD.
And growing up. And all of a sudden, I feel ancient.

Walking out of York. Really, it couldn't have been more perfect.

Next stop 

 THIRSK

We rented a car.
Dad started driving on the wrong side of the road.
There's only been one  minor accident...no one was injured.

Thirsk Church.
Ever heard of a Mr. James Herriott? Well, he was married here.
ALSO, he's the WHOLE reason we came here.
We stalk our favorite authors, nbd.

Thirsk. A real farm-town in the Dales.
Sooooo pretty. And they have a horse racetrack.
Also the oldest movie theater still standing in all of Europe.
We went.

Want to learn how to speak like a kid from Yorkshire? Here's how.

After Thirsk we drove up to Ripon, and the famous Fountains Abbey. It poured rain all that day and Hailey and I puddle stomped in the thousand year old remnants of an enormous building.

Then we drove to the Bolton castle. Which...was a mini let-down. Castles are cool. But not freeze your buns off cool.

And the Abbey was way better.

And then we drove over Swale Dale. And hung out with all the baby sheeplings. I never knew I liked those animals, but they're really cute, and they suck me in like baby thighs, and chubby cheeks.

We stayed the night in a REAL castle. We'll get to that later. But it was awesome. And now we're in SCOTLAND!

And I come home in a week.

Also, I get to see this kid in exactly one week:

You might say I'm thrilled. :)

But it would be an understatement.