The Grand Vacation

We are home, exhausted, and adjusting to real life. The last two weeks were spectacular. I can't believe all of the things we did, saw and ate. It was simply amazing. I am going to try and document some of it here for you, in part, but mostly for me. My goal is to do one post a day on all the places we visited until I finish our trip itinerary. We'll see how it goes, but I hope you enjoy the pictures and live vicariously for a few minutes as you check out The Grand Vacation.

10 Months

On May 20th Phinn turned 10 months old. I couldn't get him to stay still for even a second for his picture. There are a series of pictures, most of them are blurry and he is holding various items he grabbed in the second I left him to grab the camera. I am only posting two. You can see in the second picture how ecstatic he is to have the phone. This kid is quick, and smart. His hair is getting a little longer and curlier in the back, and Dave loves to make it stick out, while I try to brush it down. He is a fantastic baby who has a lot of patience and is more quiet, contemplative and serious than our other kids at this age. He is also very active when he is given any freedom. He loves to climb, crawl, stand, and even lunges forward in half-hearted attempts to walk. We recently went to some friends house for dinner and they had a nice grass lawn that he just LOVED crawling and walking on. I think he is going to love the great outdoors.

Family Photo

The Yorkshire Younce family photo. We had a bunch of fabulous pictures taken recently, here is a family shot that we got a large canvas print of. It looks so fantastic!

9 Months

Phinn is 9 months old now! He has four of the sharpest teeth known to man, and I know this because he wants to try them out everywhere now - food - mom - dad - etc. He claps and is starting to wave, and as you can see, is just adorable. He loves to eat, especially if he is feeding himself. Some of his favorites include crackers, blueberries, yogurt and cheese. If Hilde is within reach he has her hair in his little fists. If Enoch is around he grabs his ear. When snuggling he grabs the skin on your elbows or back of your arms and pinches it. While soothing to him, it can be quite painful to the recipient. His hair is still nearly non-existent, but has grown out just enough in the back to be what we lovingly call "old man hair". He has these small little curls that stick out in back. And of course, this month he has worked really hard on building up his immunities by having an ear infection, multiple fevers, diarrhea, a rash and a bad cold. Although he suffered, he had only moments of fussiness. In fact, I think his parents were grumpier than he was as they juggled work and home responsibilities. We loved spending some quality time with him, we just wish it was planned versus spontaneous!



And a recent shot of Enoch lying on the couch. Everyone comments on how much Phinn looks like his big brother. If he grows up as cute as Enoch he'll be a very lucky boy. We love them both dearly.

Robin Hood's Bay

The kids have been begging to go to Robin Hood's Bay for some time. We finally relented and surprised them with a spontaneous trip. And although it was one of the most beautiful places we have gone, we learned that spotaneity doesn't always pan out. So we made the most of it and disregarded: the hike we tried to take that turned into a nightmare, the only way to the beach involving a long walk down (and of course back up) the steepest street I think I have ever been on, getting to the beach to discover the only way to it involved carrying the stroller up and down a series of steep stairs, then the tide being in so there was almost no beach, and a series of things going wrong. In spite of all that, it WAS beautiful and the kids WERE in heaven to be there. Next time though, we are going to Whitby instead!

Sunshine

We are enjoying some of the best weather we have seen during our time in England. The sun has finally come out to play, and we are enjoying it as much as possible. The sun comes up early now and goes down way past the kids bedtime. We took a trip to Valley Gardens where Enoch dressed up as a Knight and stormed the castle. Hilde dressed up in her princess dress, but as you can see, she was a force to be reckoned with as well. They had a blast and we just soaked in the sunshine. Here's hoping it stays a while.

Easter Fun

Easter was a lot of fun. Here are the kids charging down the stairs to collect the goodies. We did Easter baskets for Enoch and Hilde, Easter bowls for myself and Dave and Hilde and Enoch picked out the stuffed bunny for Phinn. I think Phinn was the happiest of all, he was adorable snuggling the bunny.