My two little princesses got to visit a REAL palace for the first time in their lives! They were so excited to go experience it all, and I must say it's pretty surreal to live only 20-minutes (by bus) from such an extraordinary place --The birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. It's fabulous.
Now, allow me to be transparent and vulnerable for a second... If I were being truly honest with myself I would have to admit that I do tend to be "that Mom" who tries to be fully prepared for a day's journey. I think I inherited it from my own Mother. You know, that Mom whose bag is the bottomless pit of life-saving gadgets and sometimes even an emergency costume closet... That's who I try to be. So, I packed my bag the night before and off we went in the morning! Extra change of clothes, check! Snacks for the kids (both sweet and salty, just to suit their mood), check! Rain gear, check! Gloves, check! Kleenex, band-aids and hand sanitizer, check! Camera... CAMERA???... Fail. You read that right, although it's not exactly accurate. I did bring a camera, but I just didn't bring our nicest one. For some reason I thought it would be a hassle to keep up with the "big" camera, but when has that ever really mattered when you come home with those perfect pictures?! (What was I thinking?... Leave the extra rain jacket, TAKE the nice camera! Sigh...)
But even if I don't have the memories perfectly preserved through the mastery of my lovely Canon EOS Rebel T1i (camera names should never be longer than palace names), it was the perfect way to spend a day. And with the exception of getting a little turned around (okay, hopelessly LOST) inside the hedgerow maze, we had a FANTASTIC time! We let the kids run out some energy on the palace grounds, had lunch in the gardens, climbed some trees that look like something built for a movie set, found our way through a maze with the help of some kind strangers and ended the day with a good face painting. What's not to love? We will be going back at Christmastime to see the palace decorated for the season and to ride the train. For that trip I will have my nicer camera. (I may forget the children or something, but by golly I'll have that camera!!) :)
Avery and Archer... Such a GQ little man!
Avery and Ellie Claire - Buddies!
Such a pretty place to sit and have some lunch!
...then, onto the Pleasure Gardens where the children's activities were planned...
Avery looks hesitant to enter the hedgerow maze. (If we had it to do over again, we wouldn't have attempted it with our strollers!)
Whew! We're out of the maze, of which only 1/8 is pictured above. It was a BEAST! On to face painting!...
...and more tree exploring...
(Below: Sleepy/cranky kiddos after a long day of fun. Didn't even make it home before they were sacked-out! That's kid-speak for "it was a good day.")
