February 17th we loaded the car and headed to tour Eric's mission. We woke up on the 18th and drove to Liverpool to explore there. First we went to the Liverpool Cathedral. I was massive!!! We thought 1 hour of parking would be plenty, but it was too big to see in 1 hour. Especially because the kiddos thought they could just run wherever, so we had a hard time staying together. It is so amazing to me that the could build buildings like this so long ago.

Liverpool Cathedral

Broden, Remi and Blake in front of the Cathedral

Cool building

Eric giving us the tour

 After the Cathedral we parked and walked around by the docks. We saw the "Yellow Submarine" or the little yellow boat that gives tours. It was driving along in the water, then drove right up the ramp and down the road. I didn't realize it could do that. The kids were pretty amazed by it. Remi even included it in all of her art work in the car on that trip. It was pretty cool.

The "Yellow Submarine"

Another cool building

Remi and Eric enjoying the view(it was freezing)

 This statue is where the saint from England boarded their boat to come to America. It amazes me the faith these saints had. They were willing to give up everything because they knew the church was true and they wanted to do what the prophet asked them to do. They had a long hard journey and I'm so grateful they were willing to do it. They were a good example of giving up everything for their religion.

Another cool building

 After our walking tour of Liverpool we headed to Preston to see the temple. The MTC is also on the temple grounds. It was fun to hear Eric's stories about being in the MTC and see it. The temple was beautiful and peaceful of course.

 After the temple we walked around Preston. We got to see where the first baptisms in England were performed. The river was huge! The park around it was so pretty.

I'm so sad I didn't take more pictures while we were there. After we walked around the park we went back to the car to find a ticket on it. We were only like 4 minutes past our parking time and couldn't see a parking officer anywhere to talk to. Finally we tracked one down and I realized that it was a ticket because we had improperly displayed our parking pass. I talked to her and she said there was nothing she could do, I would have to mail it in to fight it. So I did and eventually they let us off without paying it. Thank goodness:)

Then we went to downtown Preston. It was so funny when we were going to park. Eric said go up here then turn left and go down the hill. The last little road on the left won't have any parking signs, so you can park for free. Sure enough, we followed his directions and found a free parking spot!!! Not a big deal in Idaho, but a big deal in England. The things the missionaries learn. We also saw the house of one of his converts. That was cool.

We walked through some of the shops in Preston and ate at a little cafe then headed to another of his converts house. He had been dating a member when Eric was on his mission and Eric taught him and he got baptized. He married the girl and they now have 2 little girls. We visited with them for a long time and had tons of fun. Their house was amazing. He bought it through an auction and they remodeled the whole thing. They had picture albums of the whole process, so it was fun to see that. The building process here is so different than in the US.

After we left their house we headed back to the hotel.

Sunday morning we went to Eric's old ward in northern Wales. Blake went to park the car with Parker, so Eric and I went in with Remi, Broden and Alissa. People just assumed we were married and they were our kids. It was fun to meet people Eric worked with on his mission. He had to explain to everyone that I was just his sister:)

After church we went over to a family's house for dinner. We visited with them then tried to find a cool hike to some castle ruins, but we couldn't find it. Instead we went to some of Eric's converts houses and got to visit with one of the girls he baptized. She was really nice and I think she appreciated the visit. Then we went to a castle and let the kids get their wiggles out before we stopped by Eric's old house for a picture then headed home.