We thought it was raining before....

So, once we made it down and up and down a bunch of mud, you get to this nice path which leads into "the deep dark forest." It was a nice change from the previous kind of walking!
Caleb was totally water-proof and, in the end, he was the cleanest of us all!
When we came back out of the "forest," it was really raining.
Luke busted just before this picture but made a nice effort at a smile. :)

I had some serious laundry to do when we got home. We got lots of laughs from our neighbors as the 4 of us hobbled barefoot to our apartment caked in mud and Luke, in fact, had no pants on. (Pants in the American sense of the word----when a Brit says 'pants' it means underwear. He DID have on underwear!)

It was a WONDERFUL time. We loved the walk, the view, being outside and together, the rain, and of course, the mud.

We thought we'd seen mud.....

So, we went out again this Saturday for another muddy walk. But this time, it was serious mud and we were much better prepared. Here we are on top of a hill at a golf course / hiking trail looking down on the city. Where you see water is normally grazing land for animals.
About 10 seconds after arriving for our hike, it started raining. Caleb had a hard time focusing on the walk with all the puddles around.
Caleb did walk a lot of the way but he had to be carried through the super squelchy mud. We knew Luke was a good walker, but he really showed his stuff today. He walked up and down hills through mud that pulled at you. He definitely gets my vote for best walker of the day.
This is just to give you an idea of what we were dealing with. And amidst the mucky mud were incredible amounts of sheep poop. At one point, Luke said, "I've never seen so much poop in all my life."
The guys waiting for me to catch up. I was least prepared with shoes that kept coming off and getting stuck in the mud.

Saturday walk

We set out for Lechlade, a small town on the Thames and enjoyed a nice walk. But it was a little muddy and we weren't so prepared for that so we headed out in search of something less muddy---tea and scones.
Lechlade had plenty of pubs but no where for 'proper' tea and scones, so we went to Burford which was sort of on the way back to Oxford anyway. We went to a very nice, formal hotel and we sat nervously with the boys hoping against all odds that they'd be quiet and still. They were perfect!! In the end, Luke drank down some ginger ale and Caleb nibbled on rice cakes from my stash of snacks. It was heavenly!

This is a picture of our car in the Burford parking lot that is beginning to flood. Funny that it hasn't flooded in this area (Oxford included) in something like 100 years and it did this summer and now is about to again.

Happy Birthday to me!

It was a nice day.....playing with the boys, hanging out with the ole hubs, and of course, eating chocolate cake.
Caleb also loved the chocolate cake.

Here's to 32 being a great year!

Our safari

So, it's rained everyday for MANY, MANY days and I get desperate for new activities! :)

Bubbles in the cold

Thanks to Sweetie and Abbey for this great fun with the bubbles. It's becoming an almost-daily tradition. We just re-locate on the "deck" when it's raining.

Ringing in the New Year......

Caleb had a blast at the Summertown House New Year's party.
The boys hanging out and playing with new toys.
Their favorite past time.....bath time together. Luke is laughing at Caleb's wild hair.