Grilling in England

Although they don't celebrate Memorial Day in England, they did have a bank holiday today, which meant lots of our friends had the day off! So we decided to have some people over and grill! They call it barbecuing here (even when there was no bar-b-que sauce--can you believe it?!), and check out the lighter fluid. It was actually a gel! Daddy stood way back just in case! You just never know! 

These were a few of the ladies who came over.

We found a tractor outside that belongs to our neighbor, so we gave it a test drive, of course! We had to tell everyone that there was a people side and a tractor side, just to make sure we had plenty of room to drive!

We sure do love that everyone comes over just to play with us! Wait! Who is that under the jacket?! Can you tell by the "meow, meow" boots? Riley Cates thought this was the funniest thing ever!  

See, our friends even put us up on the rail, which was super fun!

We had a feast, complete with hamburgers and sausages. I think we have enough left over to last the rest of the week!

Here is everyone getting started on the yummy food,

While Daddy and a few of the guys finished up grilling.

It was such a fun day to spend with new friends!

Competition

We spent some time walking around Hexham this afternoon. It was a bit rainy and cool. It feels funny to wear jackets at the end of May! But it was nice to get out, and Mommy finally bought a pair of wellies! You really need them here with all of the rain!

Over the last few days we noticed some strange things along our road, and we finally stopped today on our way home from town to take some pictures. Apparently there is a scarecrow competition going on, and there are some pretty impressive ones! I have pictures of a few of our favorites.

The first is Harry Potter, and of course, he is fighting Voldemort, who is right across the street. I don't know much about these people, but I think it is funny that he is holding a broom!

My personal favorites are Woody and Buzz!

Then there's the fox that is riding a horse (don't tell him that it's actually a wall that he's on).

And a little piece of home... NASA man floating in space.

Here he is from the front!

This guy was the first one we saw, and we couldn't figure out what was going on. It looks like someone fell on this hedgerow!

I also love Gru and the minion from Despicable Me.

This police officer is standing right on the corner, and he looks quite real as you are driving along! I'm sure lots of people have slowed way down upon seeing him!

I asked Daddy if the guy up there were Chef Pisghetti from Curious George. Looks like it to me!

And then these are just some wolves in sheep's clothing. Ha!

You never know what you are going to see around here! I love it!

Off To Find a Castle

Last weekend Daddy had a meeting at a friend's house. We went with him, but we did not really want to be in a meeting. So I found this costume instead (I call it "The Lord's Army" outfit). And if you are wearing something like this, the natural thing to do is to go look for a castle to defend.

So off we went. This picture is over-looking Newcastle, which is about a 30 minute drive from our house in Hexham.

We walked for a bit. We forgot to take a buggy with us (that's what they call strollers here), so Riley Cates was often lagging behind. She thought it was more fun to look at rocks than to walk.

I got way ahead one time, and when I hollered back for Mommy and Riley Cates to catch up, a pheasant flew out of the bushes right beside me and made a super loud noise (if you don't know what they sound like, you should really Google it. We hear that sound all of the time). Apparently I scared the pheasant, and he scared me! 

We finally made some progress and found this really cool and really old cross. Someone said it was from the time of Elizabeth I, but I really have no idea what that means. I just liked the steps.

We walked a bit farther and then we saw it. A castle! Well, what used to be a castle. It's falling apart now, but it was still pretty amazing to look at.

We walked around the back to get a better look, and Riley Cates managed to find a puddle and some rocks.

Then she just gave up and sat down. Poor girl.

We finally got her to the back, and I am glad we did. It was so cool to see!

We peeked in the back (nevermind the sign on the right...).

And then the man who takes care of the land came up behind us and scared us. But then he was kind enough to give us a tour. This wall is only as old as 1821, but most of the rest of the building is over 700 years old! If you look closely in this picture, you can find a "window" that is really a Roman toilet seat! Haha!

These were the dungeons, but they are all locked up now.

And this was called the "haha wall" because it's pretty high up, and the people in the castle could look over the wall and laugh at the people and animals below who couldn't come up!

It was pretty amazing to find this castle! The grounds keeper told us that we could Google Ravensworth Castle and see a picture of what it used to look like back in the day. Since you already googled the pheasant, you might as well go ahead and check out the castle too...

The Many Faces of Riley Cates

You gotta love her!

The Dentist

We had our first dental experience here a few weeks ago right after I lost my tooth, but all four of us went in today to get our teeth checked. I was much less worried this time!

Here we are on the right, heading to the dentist, which is in the building right across that little street from where we are standing.

I got to wear some really cool glasses while the dentist checked out my teeth. That big light can be bright!

Since this was Riley Cates's first time at the dentist, he said she could just sit on Mommy's lap while he checked her teeth. Clearly he does not know Riley Cates. When I got off the big chair, she took the glasses from me and hopped into the chair like she had done it a million times before!

Then we had to wait on Mommy and Daddy while they had their turn. We played a little Yahtzee in the waiting room on Daddy's phone. We really like that game.

Because we did such a great job, and it didn't take long at all, we decided to stop at the park. We had to check the map first, of course.

Riley Cates found a big slide, and I found a bridge that looked like a wobbly bridge. It wasn't. But it was still fun!

Then we headed to the swings.

And then on to the see-saw!

And here I am just looking so cute, if I do say so myself!

The dentist isn't so bad if you get to go to the park afterwards! Oh, and everyone had good looking teeth!

Getting Dirty

We have had some beautiful weather the last few days! And when your view looks like this, it's hard to stay inside!

We headed out for a walk, and we ran into (or chased around, whatever) Simba, who lives right near us.

We went down the street and opened this big gate.

Then we stopped to watch the train go by. Always. Usually they only have 2 carriages, so it was pretty amazing to watch this super long one!

Of course we had to find some mud puddles since we were wearing our wellies. Check out how high up that puddle goes on Riley Cates!

We found some dandelions, which are my favorite.

Riley Cates usually ends up with them in her mouth, but she was doing a good job this time!

Except when she almost ate the thing...

It was a beautiful walk!

There were some big hills. Riley Cates thought it would be easier to slide down the hill. She was wrong.

We headed back to the mud puddles for one last splash on the way home.

Riley Cates had a bit of an accident.

And she was not very happy about it!

Back through the gates and on towards our house to get cleaned up! I hope these beautiful days are here to stay!