Week 2: Snowdon, Pembroke and seeing Sarah again in Brixham. May 9-14

5/9 - We stayed two days at a 3 floor house in Gwynedd. An interesting layout with a bathroom on the ground and top floors and bedrooms in the middle. Lots of stairs, but it was convenient to the shops.  The morning of Tuesday the 9th we started with a trip to Beddgelert to visit a monument to a fabled dead dog.  

It was a beautiful walk along a river and through pastures.  Here's a statue of said dog, former hunting hound of a 13th century Prince of Wales. 

One of the bridge crossings.  We hadn't been fighting about the kids 20 minutes earlier... I don't know what you are talking about. 

At the end of the walk the kids got ice creams and Melissa and I split scones with cream and jam... and shared them with the kids too.  They keep doing this, "I want ice cream... and some of whatever you're having!"

We then drove to through Snowdonia National Park and on the way saw a pull out, so we pulled out and got a shot of the green gorgeous vista. 

We road the Snowdon Mountain Railway to nearly the highest point in the UK.  They don't go all the way up until June.  At the top we had a picnic and wandered around.  Finn peed off the mountain because he's learning to notice when he needs to pee... with about a 10 second warning. 

The train uses cog and gear setup to be able to climb such a steep grade. The descent was much faster than the climb, only had to stop for sheep on the track once. 

Hannah took advantage of the ride to get some cuteness rest. 

On the drive back to our AirBNB, we decided to stop at this ancient stone circle/kids park outside of Tremadog.  We were driving past and it is right next to the motorway.  Kids played on the slides and merry-go-round, then we ran round the stone circle and returned to the park another 20 minutes.  It was only about 10 minutes from our place.  Never saw it on any maps or websites.  I guess stone circles are so common they can't be bothered to advertise them all. . 

5/10 - Wednesday morning we headed south to Pembrokeshire.  On the way we drove through several seaside villages.  We stopped in one to ask a butcher for a lunch recommendation.  I went in and asked him were to find a pub near the sea, he sent us 2 villages on (5 minutes) and we had a great lunch at the Prince of Wales pub then walked along the coast/played in tide pools for an hour.  The sausage I bought from him were great at dinner that night, too.  

On the way we stopped at Cilgerran Castle to take advantage of our National Trust pass.  The castle was closed (not open on Wednesdays) so we appreciated the rubbish bin wearing a crotchet crown...

Then played at the river Afon Teifi, below the castle, instead.  The kids had a blast and were very careful hoping across rocks in the shallows, until Lily stepped in the water on her last step climbing up the bank.  

We finally reached our AirBNB in Pembrokeshire, a farm outside Hundleton.  It was 10 minutes by car from Pembroke Castle, but felt like the middle of the country.  

"Photos by Finn" Good job son.  We loved this place.  We had 4 nights and could spread out and relax again like at Sarah's. 

5/11 - Thursday we went for a wander around the city. It had a great high street.  We went to the post office, grocery shopping, sat down in a highly recommended café, didn't eat there because the kids were being punks. We went back to the AirBNB for lunch and a lazy afternoon with quiet time and everything.  It was just what we all needed. After a particularly long bedtime, I found Melissa and said, "I need to run to the pub!"  I jogged to the pub in town and back, bout 1 mile each way.  I stopped and said hi to the barkeep and a couple locals.  

5/12 - Friday we were re-energized and ready to explore.  We went to Barafundle Bay Beach.  There was a 3/4 mile walk to get to a beautiful big, soft sand beach. 

The water wasn't super warm, but the kids had fun.  Melissa had a nice conversation with a couple of local mom's while our kids played together/near. 

Hannah remembered the wave jumping and kicking which made Hawaii so much fun. 

As the tide was going out the sand was so soft it absorbed Melissa's feet. We spent a little over 2 hours at the beach, plus a 30 minute walk in and out.  We then stopped for ice cream and pastries at the Stackpole National Trust café. 

After a couple of hours' downtime at the AirBNB, we went to Pembroke Castle for a fair.  Pembroke city fair was going on all week, and we joined the last night.  The castle grounds had kids bouncy houses, face painting, and acrobats (Melissa demonstrated her misspent youth with rhythm sticks). We had dinner and listened to Queen and Elton John cover bands.  

Fierce children and a fair maiden after escaping the castle.

5/13 - Saturday, in another live as locals choice we spent the day at Manor Wildlife Park.  The kids fed and petted wallabies.

The time of year was perfect as females had joeys in all different stages. 

We saw a bunch of animals.  After the park we tried to find lunch, but we weren't local enough.  We didn't realize that all the small villages around would have all their restaurants shutdown from 2-6 PM.  So we ended up eating brownies and ice cream at a pub near our next destination. 

Freshwater East Beach.  A stream runs right down the beach into the ocean.  We weren't in swimsuits today, so we dug in sand and built a complex network of canals to divert some stream water into pools.  

5/14 - Sunday became a travel day.  We packed up in Pembrokeshire and headed toward Devonshire.  We stopped in Cardiff for church.  The time online was wrong so we caught the second half of sacrament meeting, then we attended classes. The kids are doing really well with visiting different primaries.  They seem to be understanding the accents alright as well.  

Then, after a long drive we made it to Brixham and Sarah!  She led us down to the harbor and we walked all around, had a nice fried cod or scampi and chips. Hannah loved the cod! Finn had chicken nuggets and Lilian ate a sausage. Her house wasn't super far, but the hills back up were quite steep. We had to make up games to keep the kids going.