A few random things

We tried this last week and it went over well. Hailey had three helpings and ate as much as I did!

These are called "Man size tissues" and are huge tissues. Cracked me up! Chris is a big fan!

The kids loved our new bubble horn from Poundland (I thought Hailey might have an easier time with this kind):

Remember this? Looks like fields full of yellow flowers but Chris and I figured it must be a crop of some sort? It's everywhere! Chris coincidentally came across an article about it on NPR. Turns out it is rapeseed. In the US, the name "rapeseed" did not go over well (it sounds terrible, when I kept seeing it here, my mind automatically put a "G" at the beginning at first, without even realizing it) and we know it as canola oil. Only most of our version is GMO. (I always thought canola oil was corn related but what do I know).  England has made rapeseed a huge gourmet industry and have different varieties, virgin etc. like you see with olive oil. So interesting!

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/04/30/403041486/how-british-farmers-are-making-rapeseed-canola-posh-and-flavorful

Cornwall

First stop after being on the road for 4.5hrs (Memorial Day weekend traffic added an hour)--ice cream! Not just any ice cream but creamy Cornish Dairy ice cream:

Then we perused the Lost Gardens of Heligan. It was ginormous and very unique/cool!

Is it just me or is there a troll behind me?

They had all of these cool wooded obstacles, trails and forts for kids!

Sleeping Lady family pic (saw a photo of this in some top 10 enchanting places in the world list and it's what made me want to check out the Lost Gardens of Heligan):

I had no idea Rhodies could form these huge trees! There were several of these (that had to be over 100yrs old at least, to get that big) that were as big as a house!

Cool rope bridge:

There were lots of roads (probably the same or original roads that had been there for centuries) that were very narrow lined with hedges and/or brick walls. They were the mapped routes and went like this for miles and were not a driveway! Chris and I were wondering why they didn't at least put in another road so that there could be one in each direction.  There are all these big open fields around there. Ha, most were barely wide enough for one car (this particular one scratched the side of the car) and if another car came you'd have to maneuver into a turn-off or back up so you could get past each other.

Cow traffic jam coming into Gurnard's Head in Zennor:

We lucked out and stumbled upon a Beer and folk music festival at Gurnard's Head (with free admission)!

Ethan took Hailey's hand and wanted her to dance with him. They were having a great time!

The festival had lots of kids they ran around with and became fast-friends with. Twirling around the pole, wrestling, taking off their shirts etc. Ethan was a sweaty mess after running around.

St. Ives before the fog descended. St. Ives is this cute little artsy town by the sea with tons of galleries and gift shops. Chris and I split up to do a little shopping and so he could get my (late) birthday present.

He had Ethan so this also included taking Ethan to the beach to dig:

This pic is for Grandma Suzie:

Ethan says, "I don't like seagulls. I like other birds but not seagulls." This one seems to looking right at Chris through the fog.

Cornwall is known for their bakeries (they are abundant) and their Cornish pasties. Chris and I got lamb and mint ones for lunch and the kids had chicken ones. When in Rome...

The crowded (even more so this weekend due to the holiday weekend-finding parking was a challenge) shop-filled alleyways lined with galleries, shops, silver jewelry stores, cafes and restaurants:

Exploring the beach with the kids at low tide:

Trying out some Cornish booze:

Tregwainton Gardens. We went to a lot of places this weekend and spent a lot of time in the car and also heard a lot of whining from the kids. Ethan's quote of the day was, "I don't want to go to any more fun places." Chris and I had to repeat that one in jest many times. :) At one point we made the empty threat that he could sit in the car but then when he acted like he actually might do that we were like "oh crap." Here he is in front of these huge flowers we saw several places in Cornwall. At first he refused to have his pic taken and then got all upset that I wouldn't take his picture in front of them (he's all over the place)! :)

St. Michael's Mount. From the oceanfront place we were staying (we got upgraded to the honeymoon suite so we had these nice bay windows), it looked like it was right there and we could just walk. But it was deceiving, it was a bit of a drive! It is still occupied by a family but you can go over there and peruse the grounds either by ferry or walking across the causeway at low tide. We had the stroller and only got part-way before the tide was starting to come back in and cover the path. We had a busy day so this was fine, was cool to just check it out from the beach and Ethan and I climbed on the rocks nearby.

The kids look thrilled here. :)

That night we went to eat at the Dolphin Inn. Good food and we lucked out and sat next to a friendly couple from Rhode Island and a pair of English grandparents and their granddaughter. Both were super friendly and really interacted with the kids which made it a really nice outing.

Cute little town called Mousehole:

Gotta try the local products!

Heather Mead! 

Three clever shop names in Mousehole:

Overlooking Porthcurno Beach:

Minack Theatre (a rich lady had it built outdoors on the side of a cliff overlooking Porthcurno Beach and the ocean) for everyone to enjoy. It's only 4.50 pounds per adult for admission whether you are seeing a show or just checking it out (totally worth checking out regardless, it is seriously cool/beautiful)! Carousel (Rogers and Hammerstein) was playing there that night at 8pm.

Last stop on the way home--Kynance Cove. It was a 15min. Hike down and then we shared some strawberry ice cream and a few Bacon (bacon here is more like ham) Cranberry and Cornish Brie sandwiches at the cafe there!

Motorcycle Tuesday's at the Pier

So, we had always heard all of the motorcycles on Tuesday nights for Tuesday Night Motorcycle Night but we finally got to see what it was all about. We were out attempting to catch crabs using our crab net and some ham lunch meat bait. Although, it was a little difficult for me to keep both kids from the edge of the pier and Hailey kept falling and landing in green and brown slime and was a little impatient. Ethan wanted to pull up the net every 2min. so I don't think we really effectively put the time into catching a crab. I think we need to try with Chris there next time so there are two of us to keep an eye on the kids/entertain Hailey.

Check out some of these rides:

(This one seats 5!)

And we also tried these things from the store:

(I like the Spanish Raspberry Lemonade better. The presse is okay but different than I thought.)

And we had custard for dessert. It was the kids' first time trying it and Hailey especially liked it (she finished Ethan's as well):