England!

As promised, here are some photos from our trip to England last week.  We arrived in Manchester late on Thursday and spent the night in an apartment right outside Piccadilly station.  This coffee was much needed on Friday morning.

We spent the morning looking around Manchester.  It was hard for me to get my bearings after so long away but we went to Affleck's Palace for a late breakfast and really enjoyed it.  We also saw several of the bee statues that are taking over the city at the moment and will be used to raise funds for victims of the Manchester bombing.

On Saturday we were at my sister's wedding.  Above is the beautiful couple.  The weather had cooled off a little but stayed fine for them and we had a wonderful day celebrating their marriage.

Here's a picture of me at the evening reception with the beautiful bride, our mother (far right) and her friend (my sister's Godmother, Kathy).

Sunday was a quieter day.  The weather was terrible so I raided my sister's wardrobe, we showed my mother-in-law around my hometown of Morley, had lunch at Wetherspoons, bought long clothes from the charity shop and took her to Morrisons on a Sunday (the supermarkets in Germany are different and also don't open on Sundays).

Excuse the finger in the next couple of shots.  On Monday we drove to York for the day.  Dad took Isabella and her cousin on the train for an extra adventure.  We walked around the city and saw a lot.  The weather started off a bit dull but really brightened up for us.

We walked the city walls and met my sister and brother-in-law from their mini-moon.  At the minster was a tent with some Summer - kids - crafts going on and we kept the kids busy there while the rain blew over.

Here's Isabella's rock.  Looking forward to more crafts with her at home.  She had fun making this and playing in the tent.

We had a brief look into York Minster.  I'm always amazed at the scale of the building.

Afterwards we had lunch, said goodbye to the others, visited the castle, carousel and railway station.  We could have spent much longer there but we had to get back to visit friends.

On Tuesday we met some of my friends at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.  I'd been before with my Gran but only visited the indoor area.  This time, with the kids and my friends' dogs in tow, we explored the grounds in the beautiful weather.

There was an area with sculptures of the different Chinese years.  We posed in front of ours - the ox.

Here are my two best friends from my high school days.  It's always nice to catch up.  The last two years, we've met up at their weddings and this year was more relaxed but also nice that we were all celebrating anniversaries close together.

Afterwards, we had lunch at Blacker Hall Farm and bought some gluten free cake.

Our last day was very special as we drove to Scarborough.  I didn't think I would get quite as emotional as I did but it brought back lots of childhood memories and it was nice to experience this special place with my own children.  It was also new to both Nico and his Mum.

We spent a good hour on the beach, where we met my Mum, step-dad, nephew and nieces.  The kids played and we went in the sea!

Afterwards we went for fish and chips, bought some souvenirs, visited the 2p machines in the arcades (which both kids loved!), bought books on Bar Street and had coffee / ice cream before heading back.  It was a wonderful day and we drove along the coast before heading back.  It was nice to see Yorkshire as a tourist again for the week and while it was exhausting, we had a really fun week.