Still in England, what have ye bin doin all this time?

Well, let me tell you!  Technically we are in Scotland now, but on the borderlands of England.  Since our tour will take us further north shortly, we have been venturing back into England for some sightseeing. 

A typical day for us consists of the following;

7:00 ish am - Usually a leisurely wake up of checking emails and Flickr uploads while still in bed.  Yes Ipad has remained a third wheel, but one we have come to appreciate a great deal.  Grab a quick bite of fruit or yogurt and throw on our workout clothes.

8:00 am - Drag the girls out of bed for the day.  They practice their dance for an hour while Mark and I head out for our morning run.  We enjoyed running along the river and parklands in England and now along the country roads and fields in Scotland.  It is not unusual for us to dodge raindrops, sheep and cow patties. 

We sure wish Dana was here, I really don't know enough
about Highland to be able support Ally as she needs right now.  

Working on her leaps!

9:00 am - Girls work on their schoolwork - half hour for English, Math and French each, and the other half hour is usually Art or History.  Most of the Geography lessons have been on the road with our in house Geography specialist pointing out every land formation, weather system and rock that crosses our path. While the girls are doing their schoolwork, Mark and I are supporting them, booking flights and accommodations, researching our outings, writing and catching up on correspondence. 

 

What school looks like on the road.

Any place works just fine!

11:00 am - Shower, pack lunches, snacks and water bottles and head out for the day. Sometimes we head out earlier if we have a big day planned.

We walk a lot!

 

We might visit a castle like Buckingham...

or a museum...

Big Ben...

or relax at the beach...

maybe visit another castle...

walk along Hadrian's Wall...

or climb a mountain.

We fit in dance competitions...

a chat with Cleopatra...

and more walking...

some time for posing with the Horse Guard...

and we always take time to relax and enjoy the journey.

4:45 pm on the dot - Check out the local village where we have been exploring for the day.  I think Mark plans the timing just so, allowing me only 15 minutes to browse before the shops close at 5:00, occasionally they stay open till 5:30 and that is a real treat.

 

There is always time to check out the Whiskey Shop it seems though....

York, what a beautiful little shopping village.

5:30 pm - Dinner time.  I’ll pause here while our family gets over the shock of us eating so early.  We have learned that dinner is enjoyed at a proper hour here, and if we want to eat in some restaurants we have to keep better hours than we are used to.  Mind you, if we are eating at home it is rarely served before 7:00 pm it seems.  Some habits die hard!

 

Hmmm, what to have for dinner tonight?

If it is up to Ally it is usually meat pies, tonight it is Yorkshire stew.  Papa look at the size of that yorkie!

and we must not forget dessert!  (Cousins, wish you were here!)

7:00 pm ish - We are usually back home from our day’s outing.  Photos are uploaded and organized from the day; laundry is done and hung to dry.  The girls usually do a workout and some more schoolwork and Mark continues his correspondence and research on the Internet for whatever the next leg of our trip requires. I make tea and lately a treat and we relax for the evening.  A walk, reading, piping, blogging, and on the rare occasion a DVD movie are activities that usually carry us through until bedtime if we are staying in.  We have ventured out in the evenings as well to a night festival, show and concert. (I tried to upload a video clip of the concert we attended, but blogger is not co-operating and Mark wants to head to the World Pipeband Competiton in Glasgow, so must run for now, sorry pipers!)

London at sun set.

Sometime after 10:00 pm - Head to bed to do it all over again tomorrow! This is the life and I highly recommend everyone add an adventure like this to their bucket list.