Lots of 3 Day Weekends!

The last two weekends have been 3 day weekends, which has been so nice.  So one weekend we decided to start in on a new project...our overgrown front yard and back yard. Our goal was to clear out pretty much everything and just start with a clean slate. I'm so mad at myself though, because we should have taken before and after pictures. But the yard, especially the backyard looks so much bigger now! We just have to get rid of the huge piles of tree branches and shrubbery that we cut down. Hopefully we'll get the yard cleaned up and ready for planting next spring before the bad weather hits. The last few weeks has been absolutely beautiful here. Clear blue sky and in the high 70's. Although I always thought the 70's were perfect, it so hot here! I guess its because nothing here has air conditioning so our house feels like an oven. And thanks to our lovely cat explorer Bello, we can't open any of our screen-less windows. But I guess i can't complain to much because everyone keeps telling us how nice this summer has been and to enjoy the weather because it will be a miserable cold, raining and very foggy winter. Ugh.

Then this last weekend, we rented a chipper and turned our huge piles of plant rubbish into ground cover.  So now our backyard looks nice and clean.  :)  We also hung out with some friends and went to Bury St. Edmunds and went on a Greene King brewery tour.  I was so so about going but it was actually pretty interesting.  It just makes me laugh at how serious the English are about their beer.  It has to be served at just the right temp (which is sometimes warm) and poured the right way, etc.  So funny!  After the tour I decided to introduce Sam to my new found love of antique shopping.  And I think he kinda likes it.  ;)  

Last Saturday was such a beautiful day so we drove out into the country and went to the Audley End House, which is the biggest mansion in England.  It was absolutely beautiful!  We weren't allowed to take any pics of the inside but we took lots of all the grounds.  The inside is furnished with all the original furniture which was really neat to see.  I even recognized some of the tables and stuff that I had seen in some of the antique stores.  

Other than that nothing else is new. Sam's starting to fly a bit more which makes him happy. And I've just been keeping busy as a housewife. A group of wives and I get together once a week and each others' houses and have breakfast and then go on some sort of outing.  This coming weekend is yet another 3 day weekend (yay!) but i'm not sure what we are going to do.  Some of our friends are heading over to Belgium so we may do that or go see another castle or I would really like to drive down to Bath because I hear it is beautiful.  

Audley End Mansion

Random columns on the mansion's grounds.  

I think it was a memorial or something.

About to go inside...so excited!

Looking out from the front of the Mansion

Mansion's front lawn

Front of Audley End's Mansion

My good looking hubby :)

An apple tree that they grow like a grape vine...great idea!

The mansion's kitchen's garden

Ahhh aren't we cute?! :)

Mansion's Grounds

The Stables...they weren't open for the public

Front view of the Mansion

Lily pads...Sam thought that maybe 

this was where Monet painted...silly boy

Taking in the gorgeous view

The back of Audley End's Mansion

Dover Castle and St Augustine's Abbey

This last weekend, Sam and I decided to do a day trip to go see some castles.  We were so excited but on our way there, the main motorway that we needed to get on was closed for several miles.  Apparently if there is an accident or spill or something, the British will close the entire motorway for hours on end for miles and miles.  Where in the States we at least allow traffic to continue in the other lane.  So weird and frustrating!  But thank goodness for our GPS, we were able to navigate ourselves through all these small English villages and small country roads.  But eventually we finally arrived at Dover Castle, which is right on the coast.  It was huge!   

Dover Castle: what we saw as we were parking

We had to park in a overflow field since there were so many cars there already.  So once we parked we headed up the hill to explore this mighty fortress.

Almost there...

That drawbridge on the right is the entrance to the Castle

My very own Knight in Shining Armour waits... :)

View from the Castle's Entrance

We were a bit disappointed though with the inside of the castle.  The structure itself was spectacular but the way the castles was "decorated" inside was really cheesy.  It felt like pee wee's play house or something.  Just not very authentic looking.  Sam said he thought it looked like a cartoon.  They used really bright blues, yellows and reds.  I don't know, I guess for such a grand castle I would assume they would want to make it look "real" on the inside.  

View from the highest tower

View from the highest tower 

(look close, you might see France across the English channel)

English Countryside

A chapel and on the right-hand side of the chapel (the tower looking building) 

is a light house built by the Romans

Can you see France?

Rocky was there visiting too I guess :)

(The kitchen inside the castle)

The Chapel

The Outer wall of the Castle:

This is where the cannons were and those hut looking things 

are where they kept extra guns and ammo

The other side of the chapel and to the left is the light house

The mote

Another view of the Castle

Beautiful English Countryside

Sam shooting down the bad guys

The place where you can get on a ferry to head over to France

The Officers' Mansion

The ferries to France

(I was so surprise at how "tropical" the water looked)

We went on a tour of these tunnels, 

but we weren't allowed to take any pictures.

But it was pretty cool because these tunnels were top secret and built all within the cliffs of Dover.  Definitely a "boy" tour but I still thought it was very interesting. :)

So after spending several hours at Dover, we started to head to another castle called Leeds Castle.  I was so excited because I had done some research on it and it looked amazing!  But as you probably already guessed, another motorway was closed (arg) and so we were stuck in really bad traffic trying to wined our way through yet some more small villages.  Plus it started raining pretty hard and things were just not working in our favor.  So long story short, we didn't make it to Leeds Castle, but Sam promises me that he'll take me back.  Here's a pic of the castle from the website.  

So on our long way home, Sam felt bad about Leeds, so we decided to drive to a town called Canterbury and go and see St. Augustine's Abbey.  It was pretty neat.  I didn't realize that it was all in ruins though.  For some reason I thought there was still a chapel that you could go into. But oh well, it was still really interesting.

So other than our trip this weekend, not too much for is new.  Sam's still waiting to fly, our fingers are crossed for hopefully next week sometime.  He has gotten to do a few sims, so that been nice.  I've just been hanging out with some of the wives.  I've really gotten into going to auctions and finding some really unique antiques and stuff.  Who knew I'd like that?  I haven't bought much yet...Sam's thankful for that :)  But eventually I'd like to find a wardrobe and a chest or something.  But we'll see.