London

When we got back to England we had planned on a couple days in London, unfortunately Pam got a sinus infection so the Havecker clan didn't come in the first day. We went to London Tower and saw the crown jewels and where Henry VIII beheaded his wives, plus an exhibit of knights' armor and weapons. We only had about an hour and a half there and could have easily spent twice that there, but they closed :(
A guard outside the crown jewels

We also climbed "The Monument" which commemorates a big fire that destroyed part of London in 1666, it was 311 steps up the tower to a VERY narrow viewing platform that was probably cool 200 years ago, but now there is not much to see but skyscrapers. It is the tallest freestanding stone tower in the world, though.

Climbing up "The Monument"Brandon paying 20 pence to pee

Day 2 in London the Haveckers were all feeling well enough to join us. We saw Windsor Castle, caught the tail end of the changing of the guard there, then walked through Hyde Park to see Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abby. Then we rode up in the Eye of London, a gigantic ferris wheel that gave some fantastic views of the city.Mounted PoliceWindsor Castle...we all agreed that it was odd that the churches are so elaborate and the palace was pretty sedate.
Brandon making a call on the Queen's phone (anything with a crown on it is owned by the Queen)Westminster AbbyThe whole crowd in front of Big Ben and the Parliament Building
The London Eye
The view from up top

For all you Harry Potter fans, we found Platform 9 3/4 at London's King's Cross train station.

Ireland

Here are some pictures from our time in Ireland. We spent one day in Dublin and found it to be a dirty and confusing city. There was actual human poop on the sidewalk a couple times, and we wandered for about an hour and a half trying to find the Guiness factory. Not our favorite part of the trip, although the factory was pretty interesting, and we got free beer :)

Yes, Carole actually tried the beer...how can you be in Ireland and not drink free Guinness?? But it still tasted like beer!
St. Patrick's Cathedral

Then we took the train up to Killarney, in County Kerry. It is on the west coast of Ireland, and incredibly beautiful country. We visited Killarney National Park, Ross Castle, and drove some VERY narrow roads out to stay in a fantastic bed and breakfast on the coast. Some bumps along the road included a minor ding to the passenger mirror (someone didn't believe he was really that close to the rock face on the side of the road) and a flat tire. But all in all it was one of our favorite parts of the trip. The driving was insane, under the advice of the guidebook we drove the opposite way on the loop that the tour buses are required to go, which meant we didn't spend a lot of time following large groups of tourists, but did mean we had to pass large buses on roads that would only qualify as sidewalks in the states, while driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Made for some white knuckles and lots of nervous laughter! After leaving the coast we completed the loop and went on to see a sheep-herding demonstration.Ross Castle...built in the 1400's!Muckross Abby in Killarney Nat'l Park
Killarney Nat'l ParkOur B&B on the coast (the smaller building behind the main one was our cottage, can't wait to go back!) The last night in Ireland we stayed in a hostel...good experience, won't do it again! It was loud, bare bones and "aged" we decided we are more hotel and B&B people!
We had hoped to go out on a boat trip to the Skellig Rocks (You can almost see them to the left side of the picture on the horizon) to see puffins, but as you can tell the seas were VERY rough that morning so the boats weren't running. Guess we'll have to go back!
Cailyn was not a fan of the sheep, she screamed every time they came close! Smart girl, some of them were biters :)
The sheep-herding was amazing, the dogs just go out and do their thing. This farm has 3000 acres and 1000 sheep, so there is no way the farmer can do it without the dogs. The red on the sheep is a kind of paint that they use to mark which sheep are theirs, kind of like a semi-permanent brand.
There were O'Connors everywhere! Maybe some long-lost relatives?

Cambridge, England

Today we spent the day exploring Cambridge. The day started off with Carole, Pam, and Cailyn getting pooped on by a pigeon, but went uphill from there. We saw King's Chapel (finished by Henry the 8th), punted (boated) the river, ate a picnic lunch and wandered in the rain. Brandon is a pro punter as it turns out, he was very good at maneuvering!

We've Arrived!

Hi there everyone! Just wanted to let you know we arrived safely and made the trip from London to Cambridge. We had about a 2 hour taxi ride to get to Ericka and Ed's house. It looks very British, brick, tile roofs, etc.

We will send pictures sometime soon hopefully. It would seem that Carole left all her new camera cards at home!!! She sewed up a case to keep them in, but it seems to be missing. So, she only has 800 pictures unless she decides to try and buy a new one. I guess if we had to forget something that isn't TOO bad, but frustrating that we got new cards specifically for the trip!


Cailyn is doing the best of all of us probably, we are thinking of starting dinner and it is only late morning there! Weird!! The flight over was pretty quick, actually, we even arrived a little early. We have mostly been hanging out here, meeting Isaac (Ericka and Ed's 3 week old), we walked to the grocery store and then Pam and I did a little more walking around the neighborhood to get Cailyn to sleep. Tomorrow we are planning a day at Cambridge, possibly some "punting" (which is kind of like the boats in Venice, with the poles) you can either rent or hire someone to punt for you, we'll see how brave we are feeling!

So, we are resting up, taking it easy and tomorrow the action starts. Hope you are all having a good morning :) We'll update as we can, probably pictures will just go on the blog but we'll try to e-mail if we update it. Love you all and we are already having fun and relaxing despite being pretty worn out.

always, Carole and Brandon

And We're Off!

The dog thinks he is at the pound, everything we can think of is packed, the garbage is out and the plants are watered. Must be time to go on vacation! We are off to Europe, today we fly from Portland to Philadelphia, hang there for 5 HOURS, and then on to London, landing at 11 a.m. local time tomorrow. Love you all and hope you have a good 10 days, too. We'll e-mail and update the blog as we are able, but unfortunately our antique cell phones do not work with the European system so we'll be out of voice range. We'll be back soon with lots of pictures!!!!

Happy Birthday to America, and Me!

On Friday we did a small celebration for my birthday, we're trying to ignore 30, anyway, right? We did spend a good chunk of time house-hunting, and found a few that we liked. We're making an offer on one, but it is a short sale, so we are in for a long wait to find out if we get it.

Saturday we went down to an arts and crafts festival with the Brines family. It was not as happening as we had expected, but we had a nice lunch along the river and wandered through some fun little shops. The trip home got exciting when Kadyn pooped (for about the 100th time!) in the last diaper we had. It was a doozy, so we wrapped her up in a burp rag and bolted for the nearest Fred Meyer. Of course, we were in the middle of nowhere, so it took a little while, but she did good and only peed a little :)

Then we went back to Jon and Briana's and barbequed, made homemade ice cream and did sparklers, and even got to see some big fireworks that were being set off in a nearby neighborhood. It was a fun day!

Two Weeks

Two weeks from RIGHT NOW we will boarding the plane to begin our journey to Europe. We are SO excited!
Other than that life is good, Carole is now in her 30's, we are both working hard, and house-hunting continues. We made an offer on one house but it sold for $30,000 over the asking price, so needless to say we were not in the running! We are hoping that the next few outings will yield something and we can move on with the process.
Have a great holiday weekend, we'll post pictures of our celebrations sometime soon!

Back at the Beach

Yesterday we finally gave in to the fact that it was not going to get sunny and went to the beach under gray skies. It was chilly and overcast, but not raining, and after dinner the sun peaked out and we got a decent bit of a sunset. It was a nice day and we did a lot of walking on the beach.

Mom and Dad Visit

Mom and Dad Scheer arrived last night for a long weekend in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. After 2 weeks of 80 degree beautiful sunny weather here they flew after an afternoon of severe storms and tornado warnings and their first day was a typical gloomy and drizzly Northwest day. We had planned a beach day but decided to see if better weather is to come and instead went to the Rose Garden and REI. It was a nice relaxing day, and the roses were at their peak. We managed an hour or so at the garden before the weather closed back in and we started to get wet.

These are the Days of Our Lives!

Hi everyone, so not much new going on, but we took some cute pictures of Smokey playing in the field behind our house that we have decided it is OK to trespass on!

Also, new news on Carole's job front, she accepted a job as the school-age teacher at the YMCA for their Day Camp program. This may also continue on through next year as a part of their after-school program if there aren't any regular teaching jobs that come through. She is excited because she gets to help plan and implement the curriculum, and develop relationships with the same kids throughout a year instead of a day-to-day situation like subbing. The downside will be a much less flexible schedule (but a more regular paycheck is good!) She'll train on June 3rd and 4th and start on the 9th or 10th, after finishing up a few substitute jobs she has already committed to.With this coming through we are getting down to the business of house-hunting. That is sure exciting!! If you have any advice of things we should think about BEFORE we start looking let us know, this is all pretty new to us! We've started our "Need" and "Want" list and are waiting for word on our mortgage pre-approval. Yippee!!!

A Day at the Beach

We spent a fantastic day today out on the coast with the Brines family. It was 75 degrees, sunny blue skies, and relaxing. A good start to the weekend!
Carole braved the VERY cold Pacific to get a good shot of all the starfish!


We set up a tent on the beach and had a picnic, watching the waves roll in and people on boogie boards bite it.


Kadyn was a big fan of sand, walking in it, crawling in it, eating it...

Tulip Fields

This weekend we went to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival south of Portland. It was a fun day, although it could have been a little warmer. The tulips think so, too, they are very late in their blooming, you can tell from the fields that they are still waiting for a lot of them to show some color. It was not quite as spectacular as the Skagit Valley tulip farms near Bellingham, the sheer numbers there are incredible, but they had some beautiful varieties. Kadyn enjoyed getting out of her stroller and seeing things up close.As you can tell by looking at Brandon it was a bit chilly. He has been putting on some weight, but apparently not enough insulation yet!
We thought this was a cute picture, and apparently so did a lot of people because random people started taking pics of her! A little weird to say the least.
I really don't know how to explain this one...