Celebrating Brian's birthday...

We celebrated Brian's birthday in style this weekend! Brian and I spent Saturday night at the swishy Tribe Hotel in Nairobi (courtesy of a raffle prize I won last year) and then, on Sunday, instead of making cake, we made birthday kimchi and pizza. So fun!

Summer at home...

Our five weeks in Ontario flew by in a blur of visiting, laughing and camaraderie. What a blessing it was to spend time as a family with all of our three girls together, as well as time with our parents and many friends and family members. Throw in a level 2 heat wave (while staying in Hannah's un-airconditioned student house), time at the lake, canoeing, strolling in the Gatineau Park, shopping at the Byward market, changing of the guard at Parliament Hill, and biking in Kincardine: a perfect holiday.

Bath, the Roman ruins, Salisbury Cathedral, medieval Glastonbury...

Other highlights from our UK trip included wandering around the beautiful city of Bath and admiring its Georgian architecture, exploring the site of the ancient Roman baths and temples, visiting Salisbury Cathedral and participating in an Evensong service, hiking up Glastonbury Tor and drinking ale in a 1300s-era tavern, exploring Avebury and the largest stone circle in the UK, and much more. Wow - what a fabulous five days!

End-of-year trip to Stonehenge...

In June we spent five wonderful days in the UK before heading home to Ontario to see family and friends. A major highlight while there was spending 50 minutes at Stonehenge, alone with the stones. Brian had sent a request months ago to take part in the special access program, where approximately 25 people each day get to wander amongst the stones before or after the site opens/closes. If you visit during normal hours, you have to stick to the path around the site and cannot get up close to the ancient stones. Alas, the site was closed for special access for two weeks around the summer solstice but Brian was able to sweet talk the powers-that-be into letting the three of us visit one morning. Because the site was otherwise closed that morning, it meant we had the entire site to ourselves for an entire 50 magical minutes.The clouds and sun were quite dramatic that morning and we enjoyed every second!