We took Ethan to LegoLand for his 7th birthday. Ethan woke on Friday, March 28, 2008 to a surprise - we inflated lots of soccer balloons, put out presents, and brought him a doughnut with a candle. Ethan was so surprised! Here are some shots of the table and Ethan waking up to his suprise.

After the surprise breakfast, we headed to LegoLand with Grandma Sharon. We took a train to Windsor and then a short cab ride to LegoLand. We arrived just as it opened. It was sprinkling outside which was not too bad a the start, because we seemed to have most of the park to ourselves (no lines!!).

Here is what Ethan did on the train on the way ....

Ethan and Grandma at the park....

Lego garden....

LegoLand had lots of awesome life-size LegoSculptures. Here are a few examples. (Notice Ethan next to the Lego family).

These guys even played music!

We also wents on lots of rides, and Ethan's favorite rides were the roller coasters. We went on the biggest roller coaster in the park!

Here is the hill drop for the biggest roller coaster that we went on. I was even nervous about this one, but it was lots of fun - even Grandma went with us.

We went on one ride where Ethan drove the boat. It turned in to a three boat pile up!

Getting back to the weather - remember I mentioned it was misting lightly when we arrived at LegoLand? The mist turned to pouring rain, and I mean pouring rain. But we were not to be deterred - it was Ethan's birthday - the park was open and we were going to have our time at LegoLand rain or shine. We were sopping wet by about 1:30 when the rain finally stopped and the sun came out for the rest of the day. Here we are in our rain gear!

Here is Ethan driving a car in the pouring rain! Look at that expression on his face.

LegoLand had another really neat feature which was Mini Land. Here we viewed mini models of important sights in countries from around the world. Here is a Lego model Stonehenge.

Here is a Lego model Tower Bridge.

Here is Ethan resting on the train ride home after a long and successful day at LegoLand Windsor!

Grandma Sharon came to visit us just before Easter weekend. After a long trip to London where she ended up sleeping in the Chicago airport, she finally arrived and we wisked her away a day later to the west coast of England - the Devon/Cornwall area. We took a train to Exeter from London. Little did we know, we were in store for some of the worst weather to hit England over Easter for the last 25 years. Here is a picture of a newspaper headline with a picture of a huge wave (did I mention we went to the coast?). Here are Ethan and Grandma on the subway on our way to the train station.

After arriving in Exeter, we picked up our rental car and headed for Dartmouth a beautiful seaside port town along an area know as the "English Riveria." Of course, we took a car ferry and headed straight for the ruins of Dartmouth Castle. Here are some shots of rock collecting on the rocky beach near the castle.

Don't be fooled by the big smiles - it was freezing cold with gale force wind.

Here are Grandma and Ethan with Dartmouth Castle in the background.

After visiting Dartmouth, we headed for Lydford a tiny village in the Dartmoor Forest. We stayed at a bed and breakfast that was a real working farm. Here are some shots of the farm animals.

Lydford village has a castle used as a prison. The owners of the bed and breakfast told us that they used to do the hanging in the morning and the hearing in the afternoon.

Lydford is also home to a beautiful gorge and 100 ft. waterfall which we took a short hike to see.

After our visit to Lydford, we headed to Launceston a cute village in Devon also home to Launceston Castle pictured below. We had a few snow flurries while visiting the castle. After lunch of a Cornish Pasty, we headed to Tintagel in Cornwall where we would spend the next few nights.

We checked into our bed and breakfast at Tintagel and headed straight for the castle. As we approached the castle on the short trail the wind was extremely strong and very cold. When we arrived at the castle perched on a rocky cliff over the coast, we saw the crashing waves. Here they are ...

The waves were so strong in fact that we were not able to see the castle that day, because the walkway to the cliff was closed because of the wind. By the last day of the trip, we were finally able to view the castle (in the rain). Here is Tingagel Castle.

On Easter, the Easter Bunny visited Ethan and left a trail of eggs in the B&B. He also left a bag full of toys and candy! Here he is with his Easter basket.

After breakfast on Easter, we headed to the SW tip of Cornwall outside of Penzance to go to St. Michael's Mount. A beautiful castle located on an island surrounded by beautiful blue seas.

Later that day we visited an iron age village (Chysauster Village) and several standing stone sites. Here is Chysauster Village -

Here are the Lanyon Quoit Stones.

Here are the Men An Tol Stones.

Here are a few other shots from Easter weekend - Ethan in bubble bath and with Paddington Bear at Paddington Station in London.

Greenwich Mean Time - I have always wanted to say that ... We took a boat from London to Greewich last weekend to go to the Royal Observatory and see "the clock by which all clocks are set" and stand astride the Prime Meridian (point of zero longitude). Here is our boat - the ride took about 45 mins. The boat had a great tour with a few funny jokes. I learned that they call Tony Blair the "Golden Bush." I also learned that the original London Bridge was purchased by an American living in Arizona. The guy had it shipped to the USA, and it now stands reconstructed in lake Havasu City, Arizona. I was fascinated by this, so one need not travel to London to see the London Bridge.... for those wanting more info on the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/havasu.htm

Ethan took this great postcard quality picture of Tower Bridge on the way.

Here is a shot of Ethan on the top of the boat and then Ethan being goofy with dad.

Here it is - "the Prime Meridian of the World." Pretty cool stuff; I really enjoyed this trip, and Ethan learned a lot about clocks, time, and geography.

Here we are straddling the Prime Meridian with one foot in the Eastern and one foot in the Western Hemisphere.