We have the kids for two weeks of holiday and we wanted to go out an do something. Camping is inexpensive and there is a lot of the UK I haven't seen. So, camping it is. Even though this is the rainiest summer Britain has seen in years... even though we had to drive through flooded regions to get there and back ....
(flooded regions in Gloucester where people had sandbags outside their homes and others were fighting over the short supply of bottled water)... But, they have the best view from a grocery store ever.
We went camping! In Wales (land of rain)! This is where N spend many of his summers growing up. His mother () was Welsh.
And it rained! So, we played cards in the tent, ate in the tent, read in the tent, I even cooked in the tent!
I guess that's why the tents are so big in England. This is ours and it was medium in size compared to the others around. It has three bedrooms and a middle common room that extends out front.
On our first day of mostly rain, we went into Pembroke.
and went to the Pembroke Castle where King Henry VII (Henry Tudor) was born. Speaking of reign.
Did you know that Henry Tudor (father to King Henry VIII) wasn't even the son of a king? He was the son of royal blood (Lord R--s to mention one) but he actually was just a well educated, well-off man who was at the right place at the right time. His mother made the right alliances and the right choices for her son and he won (sort of by luck) a rebellion against King Richard III. Maybe that's why Henry VIII was so desperate to keep his blood line going.. it had only just started.
The king of the castle right now though is J...
We had one day of sun and warm weather when we went to the sea.
Just a couple miles from where we were camping we had the most beautiful stretch of coastline. N and the kids went exploring and found all sorts of treasures.
We even went jumping in the waves like these kids are.
The water was warmer than the Okanogan Lake but getting out was cold! Jumping the waves was awesome! It was like being at a wave pool. I'm usually very scared of the sea and hate swimming in it, but this was warm, shallow, sandy under foot and fun!
The evenings were normally nice. We played catch and frisbee and went into nearby Tenby. Tenby had a gorgeous coastline. Here's J against the evening sky.
The tide was out on those evenings and it exposed a vast expanse of sandy beach.
People wrote all sorts of things in the sand from "Hi Mum" to tractor adverts.
So, Ce made her mark.
And we all explored the caves and caverns.
The ride home was through the breath-taking Brecon Beacons.
The nights were not like the evenings and it poured rain! Part of the tent even collapsed one night under the gale force winds. I'm not sure if I can convince everyone to camp again, but hopefully as time goes on, they will remember only the good things and not the cold, damp sleepless nights.
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