Reappearing

 I'm back!  The mysterious disappearance of Willow for almost a month is solved!  That three+ week trip I took with my daughters also included New Boy and The Professor joining us.  Basically, five people were involved and all five of us had different itineraries.  Since Younger Daughter is an administrative professional, we assigned her to the task of buying our plane tickets, and although it took one and a half hours, she was successful.  Where did we go?

ENGLAND!  Be prepared for many many photos!

But before I embark on the photo dump, I want to write out my Friday Fave Fives.  What were the best blessings of our travels?

1.  The precious times with my two daughters for the first week.  Holy Island, Hexham and Hadrian's Wall, York.

2.  Safe travels for everyone, especially the solo flight home for Younger Daughter and then The Professor and New Boy flying to meet his mom and me.  And of course, our different flights back to the US.

3.  Easter in Canterbury.  That was very special as we attended morning service at St. Martin's Church, the oldest church in the English speaking world.  Then we went to Canterbury Cathedral for Evensong.

4.  Reconnecting with a college friend who now lives in North Devon.  But!  She just happened to be in London the exact same one day we were there!  So we enjoyed hours of conversation and catching up.

5.  All. The. Memories.  Glastonbury, Jurassic Coast including Swanage, Poole and Corfe, Canterbury, Isle of Wight.  Don't ask me to choose my favorite place.  It was all wonderful.

But I am glad to be home.

OK.  Here are a few photos.  Just to whet your appetite...

Lindisfarne Abbey, Holy Island

A piece of Hadrian's Wall near Hexham

 

A church near the wall

City Wall around York

Wherever you walk in York, you can see the cathedral.

Corfe Castle. New Boy's favorite place

Just a quick taste of the wonder, beauty and history we experienced. Come back for more!

Don't Be Foolish; Be Thankful

 Friday Fave Fives in a hurry today.  Heads up.  I will be traveling for three weeks, so I may be in and out of internet.  But I'll do my best.

Here are five things that I am thankful for this week.

1.  The blessing of zooming for a memorial service for a very dear friend.  He passed away and is with Jesus now.  We might have shed a few tears, but they were tears of joy for him.   

2.  My girls and I are off on an adventure!  We've been dreaming and planning and it's happening today.

3.  I'm done packing BEFORE departure time!

4.  I am SO SO SO thankful for The Professor!  He is the best.  He ran to the store to grab something I realized I needed.  He is going to be keeping two teenagers and a pre-teen for a week while their mommies are gone.  THAT'S LOVE.

5.  We got fooled this morning!  Snow on April 1st.  The fave is that it isn't going to 'stick' around.  Can you see the white in the photos?  Yep, that's snow.  Big flaky ones.

Let us hope the weather heeds my advice.  Don't be FOOLISH!