Our First Visitors

My parents have arrived. Hurrah! We are glad to see them. Unfortunately, we greeted them with three days of staying home to let S mend.

VW took S and my parents to a bird zoo. They had a great time and X and I stayed home so he could catch up on some much needed sleep. Then VW came back for us and we ate at the Castle restaurant. Sophia saw a friend from school and they played. (We sat outside.) After we headed to Kirby Muxloe Castle. It even had a moat. However, I would call the castle more of a ruins. It was never finished as the owner got his head chopped off when the king he supported died. That seems to be a common theme among the royals of the past. (I am sure in every culture.)

We also took my parents to visit Bradgate Park. They both made the long climb up to the top of the mountain. We were impressed. It is so very beautiful, we are glad they tried the journey.












My parents loved the Leicester Market. (Especially my dad, because he found some fabulous candy and loved the yelling out of the vendors.) We haven’t even been yet. They went two afternoons. I can’t wait to see it and it sounds like great prices.

Another day with the little ones, my parents and I visited a local family farm. It was a nice, simple fun day. S had a pony ride and we all had a tractor ride, we ate lunch there and fed the animals.

We also went to the Zoo. The SAT/NAV (GPS for you yanks) took us via the long road to China. I am not sure why but it was an hour and ½ drive there and a 45 minute journey home. The kids fought half of the ride and X cried the rest of the time. It was a long, long day. The zoo was nice. It is a world center for research of primates. It had every possible type of monkey, etc. Of course, as we walked in and saw the first monkeys (not knowing it was the focus of the zoo), S announced she didn’t like monkeys. At the end we decided to go on a few kiddie rides. S panicked on the first one and that was it for her. “Some days are like that even in Australia .” (From: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst and Ray Cruz.) At least they both slept all the way home.

Additionally, my dad and mom spent time chopping up cardboard Ikea boxes (there were so many!) They also put together a dresser and some chairs. (Well, we figured they should pay for their room and board some how) They even babysat so we could buy a car (Yippee) and have a date night. We saw the new Will Smith movie. It was pretty darn funny. My mom also helped as usual with cleaning and laundry and dishes. She wasn’t impressed with my washer/dryer.

The last weekend they were here, we visited Windsor Castle and LegoLand. They are near London and we stayed over night in a hotel. Windsor Castle is neat. The miniature Dollhouse was my favorite part. It was truly unbelievable.

VW and I give LegoLand a thumbs down! I think Disney spoiled us. However, we did see two cute shows and I loved the European cities made of Legos. We have also determined that with X being 2, we just can’t do much as far as historical, traditional site seeing. We need to be more creative and find some cool beach resort vacations for the family.

We sent my parents off this morning in a taxi to the train station. X cried the hardest, then me. S said “Well, it sure was nice that they visited, but I am not to keen on their leaving. Let’s color the picture grammy left for us.” So we did. Then I gave the kids a bath, played and cleaned the house. Thanks for coming Mom and Dad. We miss you already.

I am sure I missed a bunch of things, but I think you get the gist. If any of you decide to visit make sure to let us know before booking, we have learned some helpful hints.