Stoke-on-Trent

Blake had from Friday the 28th until Monday January 7th off of work. So last Thursday we left our house at 11:30 and headed to Stoke-on-Trent. First we went to Biddulph Grange Garden. It was awesome! They even had geocaching, where you get a gps from the front desk and follow it to different areas to find the "prize." It was like a treasure hunt in a beautiful garden. The kids loved the treasure hunt and exploring part, I loved the garden and taking pictures and Blake loved looking at all the different birds. 

Broden ready to go Geocaching

Remi and Alissa looking at the huge fish

Blake, Alissa, Parker, Broden and Remi looking at the fish in the pond

Parker showing me the fish

Alissa jumping out and scaring Parker

Alissa and Dad celebrating for scaring Parker

Parker, Blake, Broden, Remi and Alissa with our first "treasure" 

 So the way geocaching works is there is a little box that is put in a certain place. The gps knows where it is. So when you are where the GPS says it should be you look for it. These had a little clue to go with them. When you find it, you take out what the last people left and put something new in it. In this one we found some little balloons. We took those out and left a piece of candy.

Broden being silly

Some of the trees had Christmas ornaments still hanging in them

Broden in front of this cool old cottage

The view from the end of the garden looking back.

Alissa, Broden, Blake and Parker following the leader Remi with the GPS

Remi and Broden with Geocache #2

Broden, Remi, Alissa and Blake checking out the prizes and signing our name.

Parker loved getting candy!

Remi leading Alissa, Broden, Blake and Parker to the next spot!

Alissa exploring

Alissa being cute

Parker, Alissa, Remi, Blake and Broden checking out prize #3

Blake and Remi walking on the stepping stones

Broden in front of his "fort"

Alissa trying out the stepping stones

Blake and Parker exploring together

Parker looking for more candy

Broden and Remi

The view from outside

Blake and Broden with prize #5

The boys hiking out

 After the garden we headed to check in to our hotel. We found it and checked in, then went to down town Stoke-on-trent. We walked through the shopping center, ate at McDonalds and stopped in a few stores. Then we headed back to the hotel.

When we all got in our room we realized the bathroom floor was all wet. We wiped it up and a few minutes later it was wet again. Blake told the front desk and they moved us across the hall. Luckily they didn't say anything about having 4 kids in the room. I think this is the first time when the room was actually a really tight fit with 4 kids. There was a full bed and a pull out couch. When the couch was pulled out there was pretty much no walking room. So we had Broden sleep on the couch folded up, Remi and Alissa on the floor and there was just enough room for the packnplay for Parker. Luckily we weren't just hanging out in the hotel much!

Friday morning we ate at the hotel. We love continental breakfasts! Then we headed to Waterworld for the day. Hatch's met us there and we stayed from 10 in the morning until 6 at night! The kids had a blast. There were slides, a wave pool, lilly pad things, tube rides, hot tubs and a "lazy river." That is what it looked like, but it was a rapids ride. Basically water going around like a lazy river but really fast and you just go in and play and run and swim in circles. The kids loved it! Alissa and Parker couldn't do it, but everyone else had fun doing it. They weren't too strict on rules. They let me ride the rides even. I didn't go on all of them, but had fun on the ones I tried. Remi loved all of them. She was even brave enough to ride them by herself!

After we left the water park we ate at a fun family friendly pub that even had a little kid play area. We enjoyed our dinner then went back to the hotel and everyone pretty much fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows!

Shaylee, Remi and Rilyn in their matching pj's

Alissa, Shaylee, Remi, Rilyn and Broden being silly

 Saturday morning we ate our hotel breakfast again, then loaded up the car and headed to Llam. It is a little tiny town in the Peak National Park. It was a perfect place for our family. We saw so many fun things just on the drive. We saw this in a field and watched him take off and fly around. We saw a bunch of elk in a field, like an elk farm, then a cool bird hovering and diving for food right next to the road. The drive was beautiful too.

driving down into Llam

 When we got there we walked through the town and started our hike. It was supposed to be a 3 hour hike up a mountain and down the other side, through a canyon and into the town again. We didn't have enough time though, with our not so fast paced hikers:) So we hiked the mountain, enjoyed the view, chasing the sheep and just being together. Then we headed back to the car before it got dark.

The start of the hike up the mountain/hill

Remi and Broden climbing on the rocks

Remi half way up the mountain

Alissa and Remi taking a break and enjoying the scenery

Remi chasing sheep

Alissa taking another break

Dad and Parker headed back down the mountain

Remi resting at the bottom

Broden being a boy

Remi, Broden and Alissa on this cool tree

Alissa standing on the bridge

 I guess I'm just a country girl who loves wide open spaces! I wish I could write better to describe the freedom and exhilaration I feel when we go someplace like this. I don't feel fenced in by people and buildings and rules. I can see and breath and let the kids be kids. I also wish I could take better pictures to capture the beauty of this area. It is definitely someplace we will go back to so we can do the rest of the hike.

The sunset on the way home