Hanging out in Plymouth

After the wedding we spent some time hanging out at the local beach and wandering around Plymouth. I don't know how we got so lucky with the weather but it was sunny and pretty hot all week. I'd never been to Plymouth before and it was quite lovely being by the sea for a while. Here's a sampling of the delights of Plymouth, including some American history!

Langdon Court - The reception location and hotel

Some brave post wedding swimmers - including the groom!

Not a bad view for a Sunday morning

Playing with rocks

Matt did some rock pooling and found this little guy

Plymouth Light house

Plymouth

Sir Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth

The Mayflower Steps: Where they allegedly boarded the Mayflower

I had completely forget the Mayflower sailed from Plymouth!

Matt and the Mayflower steps

The story of the Mayflower

Plymouth streets

I see Plymouth gin everywhere now - including Oklahoma!

Matt trying the local Butcombe :-)

A British Wedding (only almost 4 months late...)

Well here are a few pictures from my brother & Jenna's wedding at last! They are a combination of our pictures (minimal) and photos from my parents phones. The official photos are much better but I won't be sharing those obviously and there aren't any from the actual ceremony!

Matt and Dad waiting for the service to start

Confetti was everywhere

We look better in black and white!

The bridesmaids

Wembury Church where the ceremony was

Bride, groom, and attendants

Bride, groom and parents

Photo action shot

Time for a party. An all day (seriously) party!

Yummy cake

Thinking about our wedding next year!

Kew Gardens and the Ice Bar

We visited Kew Gardens on a really beautiful warm sunny day in July. I'm not quite sure how we got so lucky but the whole week we were in England, everywhere we went it was sunny. There were floods in other parts of the country but we brought the sunshine with us apparently.

Anyway, the pictures probably speak for themselves but it was a great day at Kew followed by a cool down at the Ice Bar in central London. Definitely worth a trip to both places!

England Part I: Natural History Museum

We went to England in July and after landing at Heathrow and taking the bus to my brothers flat stop number 1 was the natural history museum.

First time on the tube!

Mammals everywhere

This was Matt's favourite part - all the specimens in jars!

Watch out for dinos!

Natural History Museum from the outside!

You can't tell from this picture but the museum was really busy as it was the last week of school and a lot of end of term trips were going on. It was still fun though. I'd been there before but could only remember the main entrance with the dino and the giant whale skeletons! Although it was cloudy it was also really warm which made for a slightly uncomfortable train ride home - especially for Matt as he appears to be allergic to something in England in the summer so we had to go stock up on drugs! More pictures from the trip soon!

The Final Summer in NY: Part II

Trying to check out all the parts of NY State as we could we headed up to Lake Ontario, West of the Adirondacks (the opposite end of the lake to Niagara Falls) for 4th July weekend. We camped at a site on the shores of the lake and we were fortunate to get a spot right next to the lake. It was really busy and pretty much all sites were taken. Our site was on a corner by the lake so we only had one neighbor and lots of extra space - the sites were pretty small otherwise.

First top was the lake beach at a state park just up the road. it was a nice little beach with some dunes and a roped off swimming area. The lake was pretty warm with some good waves and a whole load of seagulls.

The first night, which was July 4th we watched a storm cross the lake, followed by a great sunset and watched fireworks all around the lake!

Day 2 involved something I've always wanted to do - whitewater rafting!! It was busy as it was a holiday weekend so there were 6 boats of people out in the afternoon session. We were really lucky that it was a beautiful, sunny hot day but the river flow was really high as there had been a lot of rain the week before. They even fed us half way round and had a BBQ when we got back. We managed to stay in the boat (except a quick swim during the quiet parts) but one boat took a nasty spill on one of the rapids and we pulled up one person and most of the oars. Someone on that boat quit halfway round because it scared her so much! Rafting on the Black River was a big hit. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to go again. Highly recommended.