I have been very bad at updating my blog lately, sorry (or so'y as the English would say). A lot has happened. I celebrated a birthday and my mother in law arrived from the US. More about that later.....
With my mother in law visiting we decided to head down to Windsor to visit Windsor Castle, the place where the royal family spends their weekends.
We arrived in Windsor easily enough. Finding the castle proved to be another issue. Super Handsome drove around and I tried to help him. First, we tried the GPS, our first attempt landed us down in Windsor in sight of the castle and frustrated. So, the second attempt with the GPS took us to a a nice little pub called the Windsor Castle.
Super Handsome gave up on the GPS and started driving around. We could see it and were determined to go! So, we started following following the little signs and FINALLY pulled into a car park and walked. He parked very close. The castle is right near the shopping district of Windsor.
It was right around lunch time, so we grabbed a bite to eat before we went through the castle. The tour was suppose to be around 3 hours. Super Handsome and the boys grabbed McDonalds. My mother law and I split a little panini and we each got a pastry from a little patisserie.
After lunch we headed up to the castle and purchased our tickets. Since it is the Royal Families residence, we were required to go through security. It required our pockets to be emptied and our bags to be x-rayed. As we got into the line, Oldest Son told me that he had his pocket knife (dumb). What? Super Handsome asked Oldest Son why would he ever bring his knife to what Son 2 replied rather loudly "To stab people with!" (Dumber) So, I took it intending to send it through the x-ray in my purse. As the other kids emptied their pockets, we figured out that they had dragged all their DS's with them, instead of leaving them in the car. Super Handsome and I were divided with these two incidents going on and not happy. Super Handsome was stuck with lecturing the other kids and as Oldest Son emptied his pockets, I decided to stick the knife in his tray. I showed it to the security person. They asked to examine it, asked a few questions and then gave it back to me and asked me to keep it in my purse and send it though the x-ray. After I went though, I was asked for the knife again and this time they told me that they had to confiscate it as it is a locking blade and they are illegal in the UK. I had to sign a release form and Oldest Son's blade is now on it's way to the police station to be destroyed.
We went on to start our tour. Oldest Son was so angry and upset he declined the audio tour and sulked his way through the castle. The rest of us had a great time. Youngest Son's has a special audio tour just for them and they were given a scavenger hunt. They were provided clues and they had to find presents in the different rooms that we went though! They had a great time and at one point, Kid 3 had forgotten to mark off one present so we waited while they went back to confirm what room it was.
We started off the tour as we walked up to the castle. We heard about the castle's defenses, the dry moat, and why the castle was built where it was on the hill side to afford a view from all around for easier defense and early detection of enemies. The view of the country side was fantastic! We also found out that since the flag was flying, HRH Queen Elizabeth II was there!
Once we got into the castle we could not take any pictures and we were very disappointed. We saw so many fantastic things! We started with Queen Mary's doll house, and then moved through the state rooms. We saw many of the royal treasures that had been won as they conquered territories. We also saw the part of the castle that had been destroyed in the fire of 1992, it had been restored beautifully!
We ended our tour at St. George's Cathedral where we saw where queens' parents and here sister were buried. As we left the cathedral we found out that Liam had dropped his DS somewhere. Super Handsome took him back to find it. We then grabbed some cupcakes to celebrate my birthday and ran to the car park because our time on the pay ticket was up. (paying to park stinks!)
So, we left the castle with out meeting the queen and with out going to jail (thanks Oldest Two Sons, but thanks to my Dumb and Dumber kids, I am probably on some list of the government's somewhere....
With my mother in law visiting we decided to head down to Windsor to visit Windsor Castle, the place where the royal family spends their weekends.
We arrived in Windsor easily enough. Finding the castle proved to be another issue. Super Handsome drove around and I tried to help him. First, we tried the GPS, our first attempt landed us down in Windsor in sight of the castle and frustrated. So, the second attempt with the GPS took us to a a nice little pub called the Windsor Castle.
Super Handsome gave up on the GPS and started driving around. We could see it and were determined to go! So, we started following following the little signs and FINALLY pulled into a car park and walked. He parked very close. The castle is right near the shopping district of Windsor.
It was right around lunch time, so we grabbed a bite to eat before we went through the castle. The tour was suppose to be around 3 hours. Super Handsome and the boys grabbed McDonalds. My mother law and I split a little panini and we each got a pastry from a little patisserie.
After lunch we headed up to the castle and purchased our tickets. Since it is the Royal Families residence, we were required to go through security. It required our pockets to be emptied and our bags to be x-rayed. As we got into the line, Oldest Son told me that he had his pocket knife (dumb). What? Super Handsome asked Oldest Son why would he ever bring his knife to what Son 2 replied rather loudly "To stab people with!" (Dumber) So, I took it intending to send it through the x-ray in my purse. As the other kids emptied their pockets, we figured out that they had dragged all their DS's with them, instead of leaving them in the car. Super Handsome and I were divided with these two incidents going on and not happy. Super Handsome was stuck with lecturing the other kids and as Oldest Son emptied his pockets, I decided to stick the knife in his tray. I showed it to the security person. They asked to examine it, asked a few questions and then gave it back to me and asked me to keep it in my purse and send it though the x-ray. After I went though, I was asked for the knife again and this time they told me that they had to confiscate it as it is a locking blade and they are illegal in the UK. I had to sign a release form and Oldest Son's blade is now on it's way to the police station to be destroyed.
We went on to start our tour. Oldest Son was so angry and upset he declined the audio tour and sulked his way through the castle. The rest of us had a great time. Youngest Son's has a special audio tour just for them and they were given a scavenger hunt. They were provided clues and they had to find presents in the different rooms that we went though! They had a great time and at one point, Kid 3 had forgotten to mark off one present so we waited while they went back to confirm what room it was.
We started off the tour as we walked up to the castle. We heard about the castle's defenses, the dry moat, and why the castle was built where it was on the hill side to afford a view from all around for easier defense and early detection of enemies. The view of the country side was fantastic! We also found out that since the flag was flying, HRH Queen Elizabeth II was there!
Once we got into the castle we could not take any pictures and we were very disappointed. We saw so many fantastic things! We started with Queen Mary's doll house, and then moved through the state rooms. We saw many of the royal treasures that had been won as they conquered territories. We also saw the part of the castle that had been destroyed in the fire of 1992, it had been restored beautifully!
We ended our tour at St. George's Cathedral where we saw where queens' parents and here sister were buried. As we left the cathedral we found out that Liam had dropped his DS somewhere. Super Handsome took him back to find it. We then grabbed some cupcakes to celebrate my birthday and ran to the car park because our time on the pay ticket was up. (paying to park stinks!)
So, we left the castle with out meeting the queen and with out going to jail (thanks Oldest Two Sons, but thanks to my Dumb and Dumber kids, I am probably on some list of the government's somewhere....
No comments:
Post a Comment