Concrete Cows

These are the famous, or so I've been told, concrete cows of Milton Keynes. My walking buddy, Naomi, took me here one cold January morning and insisted that I had to take photos for my blog.
I wish she had warned me, I might have put on makeup :) 

They were made by a Canadian artist, Liz Leyh, in 1978. My research shows that these are actually replicas, the originals are in the City Center of Milton Keynes(the shopping mall) which I've seen. 

They are interesting and I think they are famous because of all the vandalism that they have experienced, more then how artistically pleasing they are. But, who I'm I to say?  

Early Spring - 1 February 2016

There are lots of signs of spring going on here in England! The winter has been really mild.
I hope the plants don't freeze and have a rough year! I really enjoy walking around our estate and taking in the beauty that is all around us. Enjoy the photos.

The crocus and daffodils just grow in the middle of the grass.
I wonder how the bulbs got there?

I was trying to get a good picture of this cute cottage through the hedge.
Come summer, I won't be able to see it anymore! :(

Car Wash!

I know this is a funny thing to blog about, but I want to remember it. :) So, it is rainy and our car quickly gets dirty and muddy, inside and out! Since it is too cold for me to clean the inside of the car, I decided that I would budget this carwash in once a month during the winter...And it is worth it!!

My funny girl. When we got to the carwash, she said, "Mom, this is boring, I thought it would be pretty." I'm not sure what she expected at the carwash. She is our Fancy Nancy.

The carwash is mostly all by hand but we go through one small inside part.

We are inside the small waiting room, staying out of the cold!

I wonder what they are finding as they vacuum our car!

Not my car, but I just wanted to show how there are 3 to 6 guys washing,
vacuuming, drying, and polishing a car at one time.
They do a really nice job, I love it!

 My clean car, I just may stay in here for awhile!

Snow! 17 January 2016

One Sunday morning we woke up to snow! It wasn't much, about an inch, but we were excited!
We haven't seen any since...but we'll see. The kids enjoyed taking pictures of our back garden.

Our church building. Some of the kids(and adults)
had a snowball fight in the car park after church.

Lovely snow. I do miss it. I really miss standing on top of a mountain when skiing.
That is actually my favorite part of skiing, the views. 

Oxford University Museum of Natural History - 16 January 2016

We needed a day out! Kristy suggested some Oxford University museums and we thought that was a fabulous idea! Anything indoors at this time of year is welcomed. I also love taking pictures of Oxford, it is a lovely city. Enjoy!

A cute boy and a cool door. 

 The Radcliffe Camera of Oxford University. Some Harry Potter was filmed here.
 It is a beautiful building. Sam is always happy to get into any photo for me :)

The kids jump into any phone booth they can. This one actually still has a phone in it.

Hertford Bridge, also known as the Bridge of Sighs, looks similar to
 the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, Italy.

A little history: The Bridge of Sighs (Italian: Ponte dei Sospiri) is a bridge located in Venice, northern Italy. The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone and has windows with stone bars. It passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the New Prison (Prigioni Nuove) to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. It was designed by Antonio Contino (whose uncle Antonio da Ponte had designed the Rialto Bridge) and was built in 1600.

The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment. The bridge name, given by Lord Byron as a translation from the Italian "Ponte dei sospiri" in the 19th century, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells. In reality, the days of inquisitions and summary executions were over by the time the bridge was built and the cells under the palace roof were occupied mostly by small-time criminals. In addition, little could be seen from inside the Bridge due to the stone grills covering the windows.

A local legend says that lovers will be granted eternal love and bliss if they kiss on a gondola at sunset under the Bridge of Sighs as the bells of St Mark's Campanile toll.^[1] This legend served as a plot line for the movie A Little Romance, featuring Laurence Olivier andDiane Lane.

The Bridge of Sighs, Venice 
There is also a Bridge of Sighs in Cambridge, that looks lovely, I can't wait to see it.
I love researching all of this stuff to tell you about it!!

Cousins!!! I sure hope they remember this!

Do you see how short the door to this cottage is? Tolkien was at Oxford.
Maybe this is where he got his idea for dwarfs?

Another tiny door!

Oxford University Natural History Museum. The building itself is gorgeous. Inside and out!

I think I dreamed as a girl having a bedroom door that looked something like this...I still do!

The ceiling of the museum.

Sam loves rocks and minerals! He loved these samples he could touch.

Nathan wanted to be a dinosaur egg in the photo.

I loved these skeletons of different animals, not just dinosaurs!

Baby elephant!

This was interesting...

We then went to the Pitt Rivers Museum that is attached to the Natural History Museum. It is a museum of the archaeological and anthropological collections of the University.

So, it was basically a museum of things people made :)

The stocks

Really neat instruments. Dal loved this part.

The kids had a scavenger hunt to find little wooden white mice in this museum.
It kept them occupied.

Loving ice skating, as I do, this was one of my favorite displays. Who knew you could make ice skates with bones? I guess they had to start somewhere.

Nate loved this part! Samurai!

Dal and Preston enjoyed the gun section

Outside the museum.

We all really enjoyed the museums. I think it is my favorite Natural History Museum to date!

Fun buildings in Oxford

This is Oxford Castle right next to the Castle Mill Stream(which stems off the Thames River).
I didn't even know there was a castle there, but I should've known, we are in England.  It was a lovely sight.

We ended the evening by eating at Pizza Hut in Oxford. The kids loved it.