England

Though I should really be posting some artwork, I thought it would be fun to post some photos of our recent trip to England.  We visited Tom's mother and attended his sister's wedding.  We had a great time meeting more family.  I have lost count of cousins by now, but there were many more over there.  We even gained three new cousins after the wedding.
We started our journey in Oxford.
Here we are punting:

Then we went north to Binham, which is a tiny village in Norfolk.

We stayed in Tom's mother's cottage, Priory Cottage, which is hundreds of years old.

  Here it is, just across the street from the old priory:

The cottage is very charming.  The outside walls are made of flint, and the garden is walled in.

Tom's mother has quite a green thumb.
This gate reminded me of the book The Secret Garden:

The cottages throughout the village are equally charming:

Not too far from Binham is a fishing village called Wells-Next-the-Sea.  We really enjoyed our time on the beach, even taking a dip in the North Sea:

People buy  or rent beach huts that sit on the edge of the beach where they keep their chairs and beach toys.  They are painted bright colors.  We were able to use Carolyn's old hut, lent to us by her friends, the new owners:

After a week, it was time to head back to Oxford for the wedding.  The bride and groom were both remarkably calm.  Many of their friends and family pitched in to help with the details.  The five children particularly impressed me with all their effort.The wedding took place in the church that C.S. Lewis attended.  He is buried in the little graveyard beside the church:

The day after the wedding, we had a nice lunch with more cousins in another lovely village.  I wish that some of these cousins lived closer, as I am sure the kids would all have so much fun together.  We will just have to look forward to our next visit.  
We continued on to London, where we tried to see as much as we could.
Hamley's, a seven story toy store:

The London Eye:

Big Ben:

The Tower of London:

Tower Bridge:

It was amazing, and I am exhausted.  Now I have unpacking and laundry to do, but as I shake the sand out of our bags and clothes, I will  have some very nice memories.