England

The kids missed the actual last day of school... because we flew to England! We have been looking forward to this trip for so long, and it was so exciting to finally be on our way! We landed in London the next day after our overnight flight, and it felt like we were coming home!


We spent the first few days in Oxfordshire where we lived three years ago. We visited with friends in Windsor, spent a day in Oxford, went on our favorite walk, and visited so many places where we have wonderful memories. We went to church in Banbury and loved seeing so many families that we love so much.


The countryside was just as beautiful as we remembered it, and we spent a lot of time walking around outside and soaking in the views and pleasant weather. It was hard to choose what to do since we wanted to revisit all of our favorite places, but also wanted to see new things! I think we ended up with a pretty good mix.

Next we headed toward Cambridge to visit some friends and some pretty towns over there. Matthew and Anna loved seeing their friends from Mississippi and walking with them to school! Cambridge was lovely, and we enjoyed punting on the river.

Next we drove down to the south coast and visited Beachy Head Lighthouse, Cuckmere Haven, and stayed in Pevensey. The views were incredible and the fog just made it feel even more magical!

After stopping by the London temple grounds, we hopped on a quick flight over to Jersey in the Channel Islands for the weekend. It was the prettiest little island and we fell in love with it right away!

We walked out to Elizabeth Castle at low tide, found the most magical beach with caves, waterfalls, and tide pools, visited the Jersey Zoo, and enjoyed meeting some lovely people at church. The buildings were so colorful, the roads were tiny, and we loved it all!

We headed back to London for our last couple of days. It was nice to not feel like we needed to do all the tourist sites because we have seen them before! So we just enjoyed exploring the neighborhood, visiting Portobello Road, and seeing Wicked!

We were all exhausted by the end of the trip, I think we walked one hundred miles! :) We had the best time together making new memories and seeing beautiful places. We are so grateful we could go back to a place we love so much!