Anglesey Abbey and Gardens

My birthday turned out to be a beautiful, sunny, (although cold!) day so we went to the National Trust site, Anglesey Abbey, Gardens, and Lode Mill.  Being the middle of winter may not be the best time to visit a garden, but the snowdrops were in bloom, there was a lovely walk through them, the mill was running that day, and the restaurant had a yummy cream tea for afterwards!

Sophia and Tessa with some of the snowdrops-

They were able to try out grinding oats into flour at the mill.

Then we went up the ladder to see (and feel!) the mill working.  It is quite old and the whole building shakes while it is running.  They only run it occassionally, so we were quite fortunate to have gone on that day!

The mill

This is the abbey, but the house is closed in the winter for visitors.

There was a cool tree growing up the side of the house.

Look at this flower mummy!

Tada!

Sophia on piano while Tessa sings!

I'm a rock star!

I got my rock moves!

Exploring the wilderness, but they haven't gotten the hang of quiet just yet so it is hard to spot wildlife!

Cambridge Museums

The girls got a week off of school in February for half term break, so one day we went to Cambridge to check out a few museums.  I may have mentioned it before, but a fabulous thing about England is that the museums are free!  I think it is a brilliant idea to encourage everybody to go and see new things.  This day we went to the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences and the nearby University Museum of Zoology.  The first museum was quite fun, although Sophia was looking for a dinosaur that moved, which she had heard about but is actually in the London Museum.  Tessa was getting hungry by the end, so the last few minutes were nearly torturous getting Tessa to give Sophia another minute to check for the moving dinosaur.

Sophia in Cambridge, across the street from the Sedgwick Museum.

Tessa measures herself up to some feet outside the museum.

Sophia was almost big enough, but I was just right!

Tessa feels the different fossils.

Sophia loved the ammonites and nautiloids because of their spiral patterns.

Shark coprolite= fossilized poop!

 Tessa was much happier after lunch but had a very unusual reaction to the second museum.  She loves animals so she loved seeing all the different types of animals at the zoological museum.  However, she really does NOT like skeletons, and refuses to listen to any logic  (as four year old kids do) about bones being unable to move without muscles and the rest of the body, so she got frightened over and over and over again.  We honestly walked through the museum with her loving it, then scared, then loving it, then scared, etc...  A stranger might have thought she had a split personality if they saw her.  So she and I went at a quick pace through parts of the museum, then waited for Daddy and Sophia to catch up at other, less scary (?) parts.

A giant elephant from up above!

Hi Sophia!  (She had a great time and loved ALL of it!)

Tessa and a giraffe...her expression is half terror, half joy...she is just bizarre.

Sophia and the giant whale outside the museum.