A Taste of Summer in February

I think these pictures tell the story of our picnic at Fort Fisher quite adequately. We drove through The Tides on our way home.

Christmas in England

Since it is already February, it is high time I update the Massey Blog. This year we flew to England. We were excited to reconnect with lots of family, and to meet Roxanne, born to Ed and Carrie, and it did not take long for Meg to hold Gemma, born to Rupert and Keryl just days before we arrived.


Emma and Harrison had slightly different approaches as we waited for our flight from Wilmington to Philadelphia.

We recovered quite quickly from jetlag and spend the good part of a day visiting Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends. The location was very industrial and gritty, Didcot Train Station is dominated by an enormous coal-fired power plant. However, the trains were all authentic steam engines with antique carriages. The doors were old polished wood with worn leather handles. The Fat Controller made sure we safely boarded Thomas, who shunted us a short distance in a cloud of steam. We hopped out and met a Santa so creepy that Emma instantly decided he was an imposter - but accepted his present anyway.




We braved frigid weather to visit Oxford a few times, replenishing our wedding Denby plates, exploring the Covered Market, and visiting Christ Church Cathedral and University. Emma and I had recently finished reading the first Harry Potter book, after which we watched the movie. Emma was excited to see Christ Church dining hall(aka Hogwarts). This next photo, taken in the Covered Market gives a new meaning to organic meat! They even had a wild boar hung up, but I decided to spare you guys that gory image.



Mostly this vacation was about spending time with the family.


Milo, Emma, Isaac



Emma enjoys holding babies just as much as her mother.



Erin had really grown up and photos of Emma at her age look startlingly similar. She managed to continue sucking her thumb while holding Gemma.



Freda and Dan rent a fantastic old place with tons of character. It is in Woodstock and has three floors, each level about the size of an average bathroom! Dan proved an excellent pilot of a remote control helicopter that miraculously survived repeated hard landings and the trip back to the States. We decided to eat a late lunch out with Freda and Dan and ended up driving a good deal further than we intended ... in England it is hard to find lunch served past 1:30pm. Eventually we were served at the Red Lion - a rather pretty looking pub close to Banbury.



We were spoilt rotten with LOTS of cakes and tea. I decided that everytime we were offered tea, I felt about ready for a beer!



Since last Summer Jason and Lydia have embarked on a long distance relationship. Jason visited England for Thanksgiving and was back again for Christmas. Lydia comes to Wilmington this week ... we love seeing more of her, and hope the relationship continues strong.





Max and Lola are very sweet with baby Roxanne, and Carrie appears remarkably relaxed considering she has three under the age of 5. Not sure where Ed was in this picture!



Ah, ha, here he is. We went, en masse, to Minster Lovell which is a village with extremely expensive old cottages with thatched roofs and manicured gardens. The children fed ducks on a fast-flowing stream and then they discovered a nativity scene in an old church. Beside the church are the ruins of an ancient monastery.






It looks like it is really dark, but the camera really accentuated this by throwing out a flash. The dove cott is an interesting building ... dedicated entirely to housing doves, I am not really sure if the eggs were harvested or whether the monks liked to be surrounded by doves??? The one door into this structure looks like it is made for hobbits.





I don't seem to have any photos of Russ, but we saw lots of him with Pip and the lads. Milo and Isaac are growing up fast and have plenty of energy ... Harrison wanted to do everything they were doing.





It is funny how one remembers things as children. One of the tables here used to be our grandparents - I always thought it was a huge table and now it seems so much smaller. We managed to cram a LOT of family together for festive Christmas meals.

So, you didn't think you would really escape without the wild boar image, did you! It looks more impressive if you enlarge it, and it makes more sense if you realize that the head is cut off.