In June we had a free pool morning at this beautiful pool, courtesy of the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation. Wes loves being in the pool so we knew we had to go. It’s always nice to see other families with kids with Down syndrome. I’m used to how Wes looks; he just looks like Wes. But when we’re in a group with lots of people who look like Wes, I remember that he really does look like he has Down syndrome.

Carissa is pretty timid in the water. She warmed up after a while.

But Wes is always all smiles in the water.

John and I took turns with each kid.

The pool has a small water slide for the littles and a couple big slides. Wes kept asking to go on the giant slides but we made him stick to this little one.

Wes had fun.

On Thursday we left Bath, England and took a train to Leeds, which is about four hours north. We were using BritRail England passes, only available to tourists. It costs a bit of money but offers flexibility. We just showed up at train stations and hopped on the next train to wherever we wanted to go. First we took a short trip from Bath to Bristol, and then a long train to Leeds.

There are a few different train companies in England and we used about three of them. Each one was different. The train from Bristol to Leeds was different than others we had ridden. It was a long train, going from southern England to Scotland. Above every seat was an electronic strip that indicated some seats were reserved for certain legs of the journey. So we had to find seats, together, that were open for the duration of our trip. We managed it. And we managed to get the kids to sleep for a least a small portion of the trip.

We actually wanted to spend two or three days in York, which is a smaller, historic town near Leeds but it was so expensive ($200+/night for cheap accommodation) that we opted to stay in Leeds instead. It’s only about a 20 minute train ride between the two places. I used Priceline to book our hotel. Sometimes Priceline can be a real gem. Instead of $200+/night we booked a Marriott in downtown Leeds within walking distance of the train station for $78/night.

Our hotel:

I think this was my favorite hotel we stayed at. Our room wasn’t giant (two double beds with a little port-a-crib squished against the wall for Carissa) but it was nice and comfortable. It also makes me feel better that we got a good deal on it.

When we arrived the mini fridge was stocked full of treats and drinks with a sign warning us not to move anything unless we were willing to buy it. An electronic sensor automatically detects if something is moved, and it charges it to your bill. We asked them to come clean it out and turn off the sensor, and then we had room for all the stuff we actually needed to put in there, like our many liters of milk and pots of yogurt.

What can I say? Wes loved having a big double bed with down pillows all to himself.

Carissa was fond of her crib. This was the only hotel that gave us a baby blanket to use with the crib in addition to just a sheet. It was a nice touch; Carissa loves blankets.

The kids also loved playing with the many, many pillows and cushions, transferring them from the bed, to the chair, to the floor, to the crib, and back again.

Our first night in Leeds was spent getting groceries at M&S (love that place; it’s a department store with clothes on the main floor and a posh grocery store in the basement) and eating dinner at McDonald’s. McD’s was such a welcome break from typical British food. However, the menu was different than ours in America. They served American-style glazed donuts in cases on the counter instead of the cookies you see here. They had different styles of sandwiches. And when I asked for a hot fudge sundae (a McD classic, right?) they were confused and gave me a caramel sundae, which is all they offered.

Kids looking at the second floor window at McDonald’s at the buses.

The next day, Friday, we took the train to York. We could never figure out which platform had the next train to York (the electronic signs show the final destination, not the next stop) so we always had to find someone to ask.

At the Leeds station:

With Grammy and Guy:

The York station:

We really liked York. It’s old, founded by Romans in 71 AD, and the original city walls still stand and you can walk along them.

You can see famous York Minster in the background:

It even has the old arrow slits in tact, used for shooting arrows at enemy attackers.

Our attempt at a group photo, but Carissa just wanted to hold the camera.

Some of the sights along the pleasant walk from the train station towards the York Minster. (That’s the nice thing about York: you can walk to everything.)

The big attraction in York is the York Minster. It’s home to the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England. I saw a lot of Gothic-style cathedrals when I was a BYU student touring England, but I never saw the York Minster, and it is one of the best. Seriously stunning. Probably second only to the Canterbury Cathedral (which is home to the Archbishop of Canterbury–THE highest office of the Church of England). Seeing the York Minster was one of the highlights of our entire trip.

One of the best parts of our visit was that it was during a live organ concert. There is nothing better than walking through an ancient Gothic cathedral with the organ music reverberating all around you.

There was a cool line of statues depicting kings.

Wes examining a coffin.

Carissa slept through the whole time.

The York Minster is famous for its East Window, the largest example of medieval stained glass in the world. But it was under renovation. Instead, they had a huge digital picture of the window hanging in its place.

Some cool architecture on a door to the Chapel House.

Part 2: museums, treats, high tea, and getting ready to go to Spain!

Today was somebody’s birfday.

He had a helper to open presents. (The helper is the little guy.)

The loot.

We had a party. Wes discovered all the root beer bottles in the fridge while I was upstairs and when I came down again, I found the refrigerator door wide open and the bottles lined up neatly in a row. Wes is very organized like this.

We had a cake. Don’t count the candles.

And we had ice cream. YUM.

On Wednesday of our trip to England we took a day trip from Bath with Mad Max Tours to see a few nearby sights: Stonehenge and Avebury, plus two quaint villages called Lacock and Castle Combe in the Cotswolds.

I had read about the tour group in Rick Steve’s guide to England, and we felt it was a good, affordable way to see these places.

I visited Stonehenge as a BYU student years ago, and I clearly recall my professor saying how difficult it was to see Stonehenge in good weather because of its location. It’s often very windy, which only makes a typical overcast and rainy British day even worse. Sure enough, when I went in college, it was cold, windy, and rainy. Kind of miserable.

However, we hit the jackpot this time around. Wednesday had the most beautiful weather of any day we had in England–blue skies, sunny, semi-warm. This was one of my favorite days of our whole vacation.

We started the day by taking a taxi to Bath city center to wait for our tour van to show up. While we waited I crossed the street to take a look at this beautiful park. It seemed to cost money to get inside but it was pretty to perch Carissa in front of.

Our tour group was about fifteen people, and we all fit in a big van. John took this video during our drive. I’m not sure if maybe he didn’t realize he was filming at first…

After about an hour, we reached our first stop: Stonehenge!

Stonehenge was probably built between 3000 and 2000 BC. The “why” has different theories. In any case, the way it was built is pretty fascinating. I mean, from what I could catch from the audio tour guide, which Wesley held onto for most of the visit. I actually heard very little.

Stonehenge is in the middle of vast, expansive countryside with sheep in the neighboring field. The day we were there happened to be stunningly beautiful, with big open skies and gorgeous white clouds.

The Stonehenge stones themselves are roped off and you walk around them. My most favorite part of the whole visit: running with Wesley in circles around Stonehenge. It was good for him to get his wiggles out and good for me because I missed exercising. Plus, how often do you get to jog around one of the most famous historical landmarks in the whole world? We had fun and I wish I had video to prove it.

But I do have family pictures.

We stayed about 45 minutes to an hour and then it was time to push on. The countryside scenery:

Next stop: Avebury!

Avebury is comparable to Stonehenge, only it’s not. It’s the largest prehistoric stone circle in all of Europe, but the stones are smaller, and you can walk right up to and touch them.

One of the coolest things about Avebury is that it’s built (purposely) above an earth energy pattern called geospiral which charges the stones with magnetic energy. Our guide pulled out what I could call a diving rod–an L-shaped copper rod that he held up to the stone. We watched as it appeared to move on its own, and then we got a chance to try it ourselves. Surprise! The rod moved without me making it.

We hung out in Avebury for too short of a time. It’s a lovely little (LITTLE) place that you would enjoy strolling up and down along its country roads. For such a small place there seemed to be a number of tourists. Wes and I took a little wander and ended up at this church (St. James parish). The wonderful thing about churches in England is that usually you can just stride inside, which we did, and had a look around. The oldest part of the church dates from about AD 1000. The graveyard outside had some very old tombstones.

After Avebury we drove to a village in the area known as the Cotswolds called Lacock. Never heard of it? Me either. But have you seen the first and sixth Harry Potter movies? Harry Potter’s childhood home was set in Lacock.

And don’t tell me you haven’t seen the famous 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice… The lovely town of Meryton that Elizabeth and her sisters window shop in and meet the dashing Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham was filmed in Lacock. (I admit, I recognized the street right off the bat, I’ve seen that film so many times.) Try to picture it without cars and modern people walking around.

A few years ago some film studio(s) put a lot of money into the town of Lacock to hide all the electrical wires underground and change all the street lights to period-correct lamps to make filming easier. Now all they have to do is clear out the cars and throw dirt down on the pavement and, voila!, you have instant 19th Century British atmosphere.

We ate lunch at the very old and historic The George Inn. I think it dated back to the 1600s.

Our food was good, and we were hungry, but it is so sad to look back at our receipts and realize how much everything REALLY cost, after the conversion from pounds to dollars. I think our lunch here (two plates plus an orange juice) was about $40. We spent so much money in England on just food. But that’s just how it is. Things got MUCH more affordable in Spain.

St. Cyriac’s Church (which made a brief appearance in the first HP film in Godric’s Hollow).

Ceiling of the tithe barn, where people in the olden days were required to deposit their tithes.

Lastly we visited the small, quaint village of Castle Combe. When I say “small,” I mean it. It was about two streets big with a population of about 350.

Castle Combe is called “The Prettiest Village in England.” It was virtually unknown until one day a news story ran giving it this title, and the very next day it was overrun with tourists. Thousands of them. But it really does live up to its name. It’s a lovely little place. “Warhorse” was recently filmed here.

Standing beside a letter box (mail drop).

The group spent some time inside this church, but Carissa (and later Wesley, too) and I stayed in the churchyard to enjoy the serenity. A stream was flowing behind the church, and it was very peaceful and pleasant here.

I love this part of England–the phone booths.

We didn’t stay long here. Here’s a sampling of the typical narrow roads we drove on to get back to Bath.

Once back in Bath we paused for a meal at one of the more famous places to eat: Sally Lunn’s.

It’s famous for their giant scones (more like American scones–fried round pieces of bread) served with jam and clotted cream with tea. We tried it and, honestly, weren’t overly impressed.

Wes mostly ate salad.

And Carissa? Well, if you knew how much she adores whipped cream you would understand how she fell instantly in love with clotted cream. Yes, we let her eat the whole pot. Because we are bad parents like that.

This was our final evening in Bath. We did laundry (in our bathtub) that night, and the next day we packed up, got on a train, and headed north to Leeds.

Cards and gift from the kids (with plenty of help from Mom).

This year the Primary (children’s group at church) provided ties for the kids to decorate for their dads to wear to church on Father’s Day. I thought this was a great idea.

On Saturday morning I invited the kids to paint with acrylics.

Anything artistic is right up Carissa’s alley. You can tell how much focus she has by the set in her lips.

But Wes really likes to paint, too.

After the paint dried I took a stencil and cut out star and heart shapes from their pictures and then glued them to the tie. It’s not fancy, but it was something made with love.

And he had something snazzy to wear to church and teach Gospel Doctrine in. We love the Daddy of this home!

On Tuesday we checked out of our London hotel and took a taxi to Paddington Station to catch a train to Bath. Taking a taxi in London is expensive, but it was a nice change to see the London streets from, well, street level instead of using the underground. We crossed the bridge we had been walking along on Saturday, right past Big Ben and the houses of Parliament.

The train to Bath takes just 90 minutes. The train actually had TV monitors on the seat backs that you could tap to see our location, elevation, etc. (as well as news and TV programs if you wanted to pay for it), and Wes had fun with that. Ever since John got a tablet Wes and Carissa have both learned how to tap screens to make them work magic, and they’re pretty good at it.

The scenery in England is lovely. Lots of green, hilly fields and quaint old buildings. We saw bright golden yellow fields everywhere but I wasn’t sure what type of agricultural crop it was. My mother-in-law asked someone and she said it was rapeseed, which we would know as the maker of canola oil. It was stunning.

Bath is a fairly compact area with lots of interesting things to see within near walking distance of each other, so we made sure our hotel (the Bath City Hilton) was centrally located and within walking distance of the train station.

It WAS within walking distance of the station, but it was a bit of a walk. John and I didn’t mind it but his parents didn’t appreciate the scenic stroll while lugging baggage. Bath really is a beautiful city to walk through but I felt bad that it was hard for them.

We finally arrived to the Hilton–Carissa was dead asleep by now, and Wes was winding down for nap time–and we were told that they had overbooked and moved us to a different hotel. This was probably the last thing my poor mother-in-law wanted to hear after walking all that way, just to be moved someplace else, and she made sure they knew it.

I didn’t mind, personally. The Hilton transferred us to a 5-star hotel called the Macdonald Bath Spa Hotel. It was a little further from city center, though, so the Hilton arranged for free taxi service during our entire stay in Bath. My mom-in-law was satisfied.

When we arrived we had to wait for them to sort out our room needs, as there was some misunderstanding between them and the Hilton. We requested adjoining rooms with my in-laws, and of course we needed a room with space for our two kids. We hung out in the lobby, Carissa sound asleep on my shoulder, and we chatted with the butler. Yes, there was a BUTLER.

At last our rooms were ready and I got to deposit both kids on the posh King-sized bed for their naps.

And then I had the most peaceful hour of our entire trip as everyone else left for lunch and I stayed in the nice and quiet hotel room for an hour of relaxation. It doesn’t take much, sometimes.

The hotel was nice, although maybe not quite five star quality. (Then again, have I ever stayed in a five-star hotel?) Our room was small but it had a nice balcony overlooking the front gardens.

At one point during our stay we walked from the city center to our hotel, and it was a nice walk. We walked along the famous road where Jane Austen once lived (in one of the homes on the left), and at the end of the road you can see the Holbourne Art Museum.

We turned down a side street before we reached the Holbourne, though, and walked up a steep-ish hill to our hotel.

It used to be a private school and was later turned into a hotel. The gardens were lovely and English.

There was a leafy garden house (seen here with John and Wes) out front that had a fountain.

The hotel’s exterior:

I didn’t think to take pictures of our room (and if I sound like a nerd for documenting our hotel in such detail, that’s just how I am about hotels. And I always write reviews about our stays on Tripadvisor.com), except for this picture of the kids playing, and the next picture of John doing laundry one night in the bathtub. We had bought some detergent at the grocery store in Bath and cleaned our clothes the old fashioned way and hung them all over our room to dry. No laundromat nearby, and it wouldn’t have been practical to go do laundry with our kids anyway. So we did our laundry twice this way while in England. (It worked fine, but I have to say, it was super nice to have access to a washing machine once we got to Spain.)

The very best part of the hotel, hands down, was the spa. Not that we used the actual spa ($$$$), but we did use the pool area each night we were there and it was the best I’ve ever seen at a hotel. The pool itself was nice and big, as was the indoor hot tub. But my favorite was the outdoor hot tub, which was big and had a waterfall thing.

(Not my picture.)

And instead of just a sauna, they had two sauna rooms at different temperatures. They also had an aromatherapy shower, steam room, salt room (where salt sprays from the ceiling and you sit in it a while; good for the skin?), and an ice room, which I walked inside once but didn’t dare try (you splash ice on yourself and take a cold shower; refreshing?).

Anyway, the pool and spa area alone made our stay at this hotel worthwhile.

But I digress. The afternoon we arrived in Bath, once the kids were awake, we took a taxi downtown to THE Roman Baths.

Bath is a beautiful, old city. Here is the cathedral that we didn’t have time to visit.

Ceilings in the Roman Bath Museum:

The museum didn’t allow strollers but they provided baby carriers. Carissa was not, I repeat NOT, happy to be forced into one of these. Poor John could barely hear the audio tour.

She was much happier once we finally abandoned the carrier and let her wander (and use my audio tour).

The main bath area:

Bath was anciently known as Aquae Sulis (“waters of Sulis”). Sulis was their goddess. People would come to the baths to bathe and to worship. There was a temple overlooking the baths. This is remnants of the pediment on the temple, featuring the face of the god Gorgon.

Another interesting tidbit was the curses that people would toss into the baths, believing that the goddess Sulis would read them and avenge them their wrongs.

The baths were famous and popular in part because of the natural hot springs they were built upon.

But some of the water still needed to be heated, so Romans came up with a heating system involving stones and hot air called “hypocaust.”

When we started our tour the weather was cool and wet.

But by the end the sun had emerged, warming everything nicely. When the sun shines in England, there is no place more lovely. Even the ducks came out to swim in the baths.

We enjoyed our time learning about the Roman baths and the ancient people who once lived there. By the time we finished it was nearly 6 pm—and, it turns out, the whole city of Bath basically shuts down at 6 pm. We were fortunate to find this coffee shop café open and willing to cook us food for dinner.

After stopping at the grocery story for snacks, laundry soap, and milk (which we were ever on the hunt for for our kids) we took a taxi back to the hotel. John and I ended the night with an hour at the pool before doing laundry and preparing for our next day’s adventure: an all-day tour of Stonehenge and the surrounding area.