A Fairly Fabulous Day

After our little stint up in The Lake District we made a slight detour to Helmsly where Jon and Ali had eloped about a year and a half ago.  They wanted to show their family the spot where it all went down.  And Ali wanted a few family pictures there.  Their wedding was beautiful! This is the same swing they took pictures on.  Isn't that adorable?! The same big house in the back. I think everyone enjoyed Helmsly.  The only sad part was that the exact spot where they were married was under construction and we couldn't get to it.  That was a little bit of a bummer, but it was still really fun to be back there. Afterwards, we headed over to the same little cafe where Jon and Ali had their wedding lunch.   They have amazing cakes!   Everyone enjoying the little cafe. We took a brief stop at an English Heritage site, Brodsworth Hall.  It was an old world beauty full of vintage glamour from the 1920's.  It fell into disrepair in the past

Derwent Water: The lake right by Keswick On our first trip to England 2 years ago we meant to visit the Lake District.  However due to our lack of knowledge on how long it really takes to get around in the U.K. we opted to save ourselves an 8 hour drive from there to London and skip it.  We said "ah, we'll hit it next time" not realizing that we would actually have an opportunity to have a 'next time.'  So when Ali told me they were going to come visit it was a given that we had to go to the mythical Lake District to see what all the fuss was about......it did not disappoint. Our fist stop was Lowther Castle.  It had been abandoned for years, so it's a just a shell, but seriously, what an beautiful ruin!  When we looked in, there was a backhoe doing work inside.  All the funds they make from entrance fees are going toward a massive restoration.  The grounds are huge and full of gardens and hidden little coves that they are still uncovering.

Our friends Jon and Ali and their little Benedict came to visit London.  We were so excited to have more friends come see London.  They came to London to play with us in the city, and they were also here for a family wedding.  We had a great (almost 3 week) visit.   The first thing we did when they arrived was walk them around Wimbledon and take them to our favorite pub, The Dog and Fox.  We even snagged the fabulous place by the fire. I kept trying to get a picture with Ben, but the  warm fire crackling next to us was way more exciting. Porter tried out a pot of steamed mussels.  He said they were not quite what he was expecting but still pretty good.  He is so funny because he will always get random seafood items at restaurants, but he never likes them as much as he thinks he will.  However, the chips (fries) at Dog and Fox are delicious! I got to do a little baby sitting.  The dogs, especially Puck, were very into Ben.  They LOVED him.  Our animals have never bee