Archive for June 13, 2011
Spring Travels
This May was our first world tour as a family of 4! We started out visiting family in England, where we met Jacob and Evie’s new cousin Cora. Tom’s brother Sam became a proud papa in December. We couldn’t be more thrilled for him and Emily!
Jacob and Evie quickly fell in love with Cora, as did Tom and I.
We took a weekend away with Sam and Emily to these amazing Eco Cabins in North Yorkshire called Brompton Lakes.
On our way to Tom’s mum’s house we stopped at Big Sheep Little Cow farm attraction where we toured the farm and were able to pet and feed the animals.
Jacob and his Uncle Sam drove the play tractor combine.
Evie and Cora loved watching and hearing all of the animals.
Grandma Charmian was nice enough to let us ALL stay at her house. She got lots of time with Cora, Evie and Jacob. The kids were thrilled to spend time with Grandma!
We had a lovely, sunny afternoon at Newby Hall and gardens.
Next we visited Tom’s dad in Barnsley where Jacob helped him out in his garden.
Jacob was lucky that grandad had a park right next to his house!
And Jacob and Evie’s great-grandma Jean was able to come up for a visit. We had a lovely day!
It was time for us to continue our journey, so we drove down to Oxford for a quick stop at Emily’s mum and dad’s house who were very sweet in letting us stay the night so we could catch the bus to Heathrow very early in the morning. We also were able to visit with Vicky, Dan, Beatrix and Harvey as well as Mark who all came to Oxford for the afternoon.
We had such a great time in England and we were sad to say goodbye. But our journey wasn’t over yet! Next stop- Detroit where we met our great-nephew, baby Joey! Joey was nearly a month younger than Cora, but was born over 2 months premature so he was a little guy in comparison.
What a cutie pie! We spent the day at the zoo and had a lot of fun (except for the train- Joey didn’t like that part).
Since the Dugan family is SO BIG and so spread out, we had a few outings where everyone could come and meet up. Here we are at Roger’s Roost with my parents and the lower half of my family (Michelle, Shelly and Noah), and, apparently an annoying stack of chairs.
Jacob also had a small birthday celebration (again!) at my sister Jill’s house. Of course he was thrilled!
Here we got to visit with my sister Jill and Jacob and Evie’s cousin Brittanie.
We also got to see my sister Jackie and her daughter Shelby.
Do you think Jacob is getting tired of getting his picture taken? Well, yeah, let’s just say the rest of the photos didn’t turn out all that hot (sorry to my friend Heather- it was great to see you though!).
We also visited Jacob and Evie’s cousins Carly and Stephanie, where they were sweet enough to let Jacob play with a load of toys in their play room.
Yes, we really do have a big family and we were fortunate that my sister Julie and my brother-in-law Nick graciously let us stay at their house during the visit. We were also thrilled to have my recently graduated (double major- material sciences and astro physics I might add) nephew Thomas home from Michigan State. We somehow slacked on photos at their house- boo.
Close by Julie and Nick’s are our friends Jim and Nicole, who’s adorable kids Turner and Brolin are the same age as Jacob and Evie. We also met up with our friends Yuen and Clint and their kids Max and Mabel and even Yuen’s daughter Izze joined us later. It was toddler chaos at it’s best.
It was sad to say goodbye, once again. Tom had to leave for Grand Rapids a day before us for a work meeting, so my mom and my sister Julie took the flight back to Seattle with us and hung around for a week. It was so nice to have them around and to show them a bit of the city. We were so sad when they left!
Pretty sure we are going to stay put for a while….well, until the end of the month when we take a family trip to the San Juan Islands for our 10th wedding anniversary. Yes, we are bringing the kids. And the dogs.
