Zion's

Over the Fourth of July weekend Clark headed south to Zion's National Park with some of his friends. They arrived late Friday night and were up early for some hiking Saturday morning. Thank you to the nice lady who let them sleep on her floor!

The photos are amazing!

Here's a little perspective on how big it is!

I'm not sure Clark's head will fit through this opening!  Ha, ha - love you boy!!

All I can say is you will not catch me going in there!!!!!

London - Day Three

Be sure and check out Day One and Day Two if you missed them.

Day three began with yet another train ride. The train ride out to Cambridge was about an hour or so outside of London. Our main reason for wanting to visit Cambridge was that my son, Clark, had studied there last summer at Kings College and I wanted to see where he had been.

Our train left Kings Cross Station which is where they filmed Harry Potter and where they left for Hogwarts from. Here I am at Platform 9 3/4.



Another reason I wanted to go to Cambridge is how often do you get a chance to visit the place where so many amazing things happened and were discovered, including DNA? I felt smarter just because I visited. And look at the fun outfits they wear!



People have been studying at Cambridge since the 13th Century! Cambridge is actually made up of 31 colleges. We were able to visit three of them. Many were closed the day we were there because it was the last day of exams at Cambridge. Let's just say Cambridge was one big party that day! There was a lot of celebrating going on.

I loved the streets of Cambridge.



I have one word to describe Cambridge - beautiful!

We began the day with a walking tour of Cambridge. The tour started in this amazing, really old cemetery.



Is it too weird to fall in love with a cemetary?





We were able to tour part of St. John's College. (oops, correction via Clark - this is King's College!)









and Corpus Christi College. We had a personal tour of this one by one of Clark's professors.







At Trinity College they planted this apple tree in honor of Sir Isaac Newton who went to school there - that's his room's window that overlooks the tree.



We enjoyed lunch at the famous Eagle Pub and I had my first English Fish and Chips.





Cali enjoyed a traditional Pub lunch.



And we couldn't resist some Sticky Toffee Pudding with clotted cream ice cream for dessert - so good!



After lunch we were able to attend Evensong at King's College Chapel.



King's College Chapel which is said to be the most beautiful church in England. I have to agree it is pretty spectacular.



We had front row seats thanks to the Reverend that Clark had gotten to know while he was at school there. You can't get much closer than this!!


The ceiling was amazing!!!



We couldn't leave Cambridge without doing some punting. Cambridge sits right on the Cam River. Punting is a favorite past time in Cambridge and it was a happening place the day we were there because of all the celebrating. We saw our first English skinny dipper! Those Cambridge kids know how to have a good time!

Punting is done in a flat bottomed boat and it is maneuvered down the river by a pole-wielding university student.





The views were beautiful (I'm not referring to the skinny dipper!)





My favorite part of Cambridge? These.....



There are hundreds of them. This is the popular mode of transportation for students and professors. They are everywhere and I want one!

We had an amazing day in Cambridge, rode the train back into London and had dinner at a pub and watched the World Cup.

Fourth of July

We enjoyed a fun Fourth this weekend.  Of course the day started out with church and then we had a neighborhood cul de sac party/BBQ in the evening. 

I provided a salad and a couple of desserts.  One of the desserts was a fun ice cream sandwich bar.  Check out all the details tomorrow over at Your Homebased Mom.

It was a huge hit with the kids and adults!  Everyone had on their red, white and blue!

Tthe neighborhood girls all had their patriotic tattoos as usual!!

Even neighbor Tom showed his patriotism!

We were going to head down to Oak Hills to watch their fireworks display but we were having such a good time with the neighbors we decided to stay.  We could actually see the OH fireworks from our cul de sac!  Between all the neighbors we had plenty of fireworks to shoot off, not all of them legal :)!

Cali and Declan snuggling and watching the show!

Logan was able to go to the Stadium of Fire in Provo and hear Carrie Underwood.  Clark spent part of the weekend in St. George doing some hiking.  Photos of that to come!

If you ask the girls what the best part of the Fourth of July is they will probably tell you the potato gun!  Pictures of that coming soon!!!

 

Saddle Mountain

We started our holiday weekend off with a hike up Saddle Mountain.  It was lots of fun but I must admit I am still feeling the after effects of it on Monday morning.  Saddle Mountain is almost to the coast - about 15 miles from Cannon Beach.  The reason you hike Saddle Mountain is because there is a beautiful view of the Oregon coastline from the top.

The climb is about 1,600 feet in 2 1/2 miles so it is fairly steep.  The trail has been improved but people have died on the trail in previous years, falling over the edge etc. 

We went with our hiking friends Marsha and Larry and we got Cali to join us too.  Tessa as enroute to Portland from Provo. 

We waited until mid day as it was a bit cloudy, hoping it would clear by the time we made it to the top.  It was perfect hiking weather, not too hot, not too cold.  The hike up was beautiful with lots of wildflowers in bloom.

 We bring Marsha along to keep us entertained.

 Although Jim kept the hikers entertained by asking everyone coming down the mountain if the Dairy Queen was still open - so funny!  He and Larry check out the view.

It got foggier and foggier and we went higher.

But the wild flowers were lovely along the way.

It took us about 1 1/2 hours to the top and this was the view!

We waited around a little and caught a small glimpse of the coast line.

Despite the lack of view it was a beautiful hike.

and we had a lot of fun!  If it was Larry or Jim keeping us entertained it was Cali!!

On the way down we hiked out to this point -Cali was freaking Marsha and I out a bit with this one!!

I walked out there and it really wasn't as bad as it looked - there was only a 3 foot drop on the other side of the cliff! 

 
We were sore and tired at the end and hungry so we stopped at Helvetia Tavern for burgers and fries on the way home - yum!!  After we got home Marsha made a yummy Rhubarb Cream Cake and invited us over.  It don't usually like rhubarb but it was yummy!  Tessa arrived home shortly after that and it was good to have her.  She'll have to give you an update on EFY!!  I guess she and Kristin are quite famous there now!