Ryan's Birthday Weekend
Topic: Ryan
Friday morning Ryan and I left to go to the airport at Leeds. It was a beautiful morning. While waiting in the lounge for our gate to be announced, Ryan made lots of friends. He does that wherever he goes. I was letting him walk around and push the stoller to get some energy out before the flight. Most of the people we passed would smile, or start conversations. Ryan seems to have a positive effect on people, which is one of the many things I love about him.
The flight went smoothly. Ryan slept the whole way. Yay! We flew into London, and from there came into Frankfurt. Ryan slept on that flight as well. Yay again! I was so happy and excited to be back in Germany. Unfortunately that feeling wasn't to last long.
When we got to the baggage claim area, Ryan's car seat wasn't there. After waiting quite a while and talking to airport staff, it still wasn't there. I had to file a lost luggage report. I was not happy. I was hungry and tired, and so was Ryan. The airport didn't have a loaner car seat for me, and all the rental car places wouldn't rent me just a car seat. I'm afraid I cried at that point. My cell phone wasn't working either, which puzzled me since it was a tri-band phone (supposed to work in the UK, the States, and Germany). I fought with the pay phone and got a hold of Larry, who was driving up from Garmisch. After our conversation, fighting with the pay phone some more, and an aborted plan to find someone to borrow a seat from, I called Larry back (Ryan had been screaming pretty much the whole time I was struggling with the phone, and at some point had become very smelly). All I wanted was to be in Wuerzburg. Larry told me to go ahead and take the train (my original plan) and that he would pick us up at the bahnhof in Wuerzburg. So I took Ryan and myself and my cart of luggage (one big suitcase and one duffel) and started to make my way across the airport. A kind stranger pushed the luggage cart for me. I've noticed that chivalry is alive and kicking for women traveling with small children. Throughout almost every leg of our trip, people offered to help us, and most times I accepted. I don't know how I would have done it without any help at all.
I got on the train two hours later than I had planned, sans car seat. Ironically, the airport found the car seat twenty minutes before I left. However, I didn't realize I had to turn my phone off and back on again to get it to work in Germany, so no one was able to get a hold of me. (Much later Larry suggested I try turning the phone off and on again. It worked.) That night I had wanted to attend a dinner in honor of a visiting taekwondo master, but that definitely wasn't going to happen. I didn't get into Wuerzburg until around 9:30pm. The train ride was smooth, at least. It was Ryan's first time on a train. Ryan just dozed and I had two very nice companions to chat with. Both were German and spoke excellent English. The second was a very nice man who helped me get all my stuff off the train at my stop. Getting my stuff down off the platform was another matter. There was no elevator and I had two pieces of luggage and a stroller, not to mention Ryan! Luckily bahnhof (trainstation) employees helped me.
I was so happy to see Larry when he arrived to pick us up. He had managed to get to Wuerzburg and get into the px as they were closing. He bought a nice new car seat. I went ahead and installed it forward facing. It was Ryan's first time riding in his car seat forward facing. I told him he was riding like a big boy now!
It was weird to be in a car driving on the right side of the road. I'd just spent five weeks driving around on the left side. I jokingly told Larry he was driving on the wrong side.
We got onto post and it felt so good to be back. I really felt like I'd come home. It felt natural and comfortable and I really thought that if we just drove to our old apartment, all our stuff would be there and we would be home.
We stayed with a friend from taekwondo, Marcia, and her son, Randy. They live in the first building we lived in when we moved to Germany. It was great to see Marcia and Randy and to finally be at our destination. It was late, but it took a while for us to unwind from our repsective long trips. (Larry had a long and stressful drive up. Garmisch is about three hours or more from Wuerzburg. You have to go through Munich, and the traffic is always bad. Since Larry had a full day at class first, he couldn't even leave until the afternoon, and ran smack into rush hour.) Finally we all went to bed. Ryan slept really well.
The next morning flew by. Before I knew it, we were running a little late. Ryan's party was at the Marshall Heights Bowling Center in Kitzingen. (For those of you not familiar with the posts in Germany, Kitzingen is a town about fifteen mintues away. The posts in that general area are spread out. There are about half a dozen military installations all within about twenty minutes of eachother, give or take a little.) We got there and started to set up for the party. My mom had sent party supplies in the theme of Baby Einstein. We had cups, plates, napkins, a happy birthday banner, goodie bags, and hats. Ryan had a felt hat that said, "Happy First Birthday," and a vinyl bib that said the same. I'd also brought streamers. Guests started arriving, and very kindly helped us set everything up. Our friend Niki was wonderful and brought balloons and took care of the cake. (She also came up with the idea of having the party at the bowling center, and reserved it for us.) In no time the place looked quite festive.
It was so great to see so many friends! I had the best time talking to everyone and catching up. All of my friends from the parenting group I attended were there with their little ones. It was fun to see how they have grown. My friends from taekwondo and the theater were there, too. (To those of you reading this who were at the party, thank you so much for coming! I cannot begin to tell you all how much I enjoyed seeing you again!)
We had pizza and drinks, then it was time to do cake. Ryan had an ice cream cake from baskin robins. It was really cute and said, "Happy First Birthday Ryan" on it. It was cookies and cream ice cream with chocolate cake. I had a "1" candle to put on it. Funny thing was, I hadn't thought about how to light the candle. No one had matches or a lighter. No one smokes anymore! We checked all over the bowling alley and finally we found someone with a light. (Note to self: for future birthday parties, don't forget matches!)
We lit the candle and sang happy birthday. When we went to blow out the candle, Ryan pursed his lips as if he were blowing! Poor Ryan was really tired, but was a trooper. He seemed to perk up a bit when he got his fingers into his cake! He actually didn't make that big of a mess, but more cake make it onto him than in him. That's the way it's supposed to be!
After cake (thank you Linda for cutting it!), we opened presents. At first Ryan enjoyed pulling the bows off and playing with them. Then, Ryan was most taken with a huge dumptruck given to him by our parenting group friend, Michelle. Ryan played with the truck pretty much the rest of the party! Everyone gave Ryan such nice things. Unfortunately we had to box them up and mail them, because I never could have gotten everything back in my luggage. I can't wait for it all to get here!
Towards the end of the party, everyone was great and helped clean up. (Thank you!)
That evening Larry and Ryan and I went with Marcia, Randy, and a bunch of Marcia's neighbors to my favorite restaurant in Wuerzburg, Vesuvio's. Yum! Unfortunately Ryan hadn't napped like I thought he would, so he was cranky. Larry was very kind and took him outside a few times so I could have a break and eat.
That night and early morning, Ryan didn't sleep at all well. It was driving me quite crazy, even though I knew it wasn't his fault. One of the other reasons Larry and I came out to Wuerzburg was taekwondo related. Larry had a test, and I had a seminar for part of my taekwondo teaching certification. Ryan picked a bad night to not sleep! I was nevous as it was, and now tired on top of it. However, things turned out quite well. The visiting master, Master Abair, was very nice. He put me at ease right away. There was only one other student besides myself. My instructor, Mr. Rabon, was there as well. The seminar was very informative and I enjoyed learning from Master Abair. At the end of the day, I came away with my level II certification, and a wealth of new information. I now have only one more part of the certification to do, then I will be certified in the ATA to open my own school or club.
Larry had Ryan while I was in the seminar. Larry took Ryan on his first volksmarch with Marcia, Randy, and their neighbors. It was in a nearby town, Karlstadt. From the pictures Larry took, it looked pretty. I can't believe we never went there. But then again, you can't go everywhere! I was really glad Larry and Ryan got to spend the time together.
Larry had to leave that night to go back to Garmisch. My parenting group friends, plus spouses that were around, got together at parenting group member Melinda's house. Melinda picked Ryan and me up and we got some Thai food from my other favorite restaurant, The Rainbow. We all had a great evening at Melinda's. It was quite relaxing and enjoyable. Another girl in our group, Beth, was kind enough to give me and Ryan a ride back to Marcia's.
One of the moderators of our group, Anne, had told us that she still gets together with friends she made twenty odd years ago in her parenting group. I really hope we can all stay in touch and meet again at some point.
Later on I found out that Larry had gotten really sick not long after he left, and had to stop and get a place to stay. I was really worried, but there wasn't much I could do. Luckily, he was improved enough in the early morning to make it back to Garmisch.
The next day I took a walk with and hung out with my friend, Shawn. We used to take walks together almost every day, and get coffee and cinnabon sometimes. It felt like old times. The weather over the weekend was gorgeous, too, so it was perfect for being outside.
I really did not want to leave. I felt like my life was right there where I'd left it. I had such a great, relaxing time and I just didn't want to go. Shawn reassured me that one day I would feel that way about England. I hope so. I was never good at letting go, especially of people and places where I was happy. Wuerzburg was my home for amost five years, and there are a lot of good memories there. I feel like I did a lot of growing up and changing there, and experienced so much. I became more independent. I became a traveler, a black belt, a mother. I went places and did things and made many good friends along the way. All that will always be a part of me.
I realize though that even if I could stay in Wuerzburg, it's the nature of the military for people to leave (three of my good friends had already left - I missed one by just one day!). Also, a lot of posts are closing down and Wuerzburg will too, eventually. I also have to remind myself that in order to have had all these experiences, I had to let go of where I was previously. I've already gone some neat places in England and met some nice people, so I'm sure I will look back and be glad I was here. The transition is always a little tough though. I may have left Germany behind, but I carry my friendships with me always.

Marcia very kindly took me and Ryan to the bahnhof, and helped me get everything on the train. In retrospect, I didn't use about 75% of the stuff I brought, and could have done just fine with only a duffel bag. Oh well. Live and learn. I'm usually underpacked, but having a little one, I overpacked.
The train ride to the airport was going really well, until Ryan had a severe case of diarhea that soaked his clothes, and got on my jeans. Poor little guy. The men in the compartment we were in cleared out so I could clean Ryan up. Luckily I packed an extra outfit for Ryan in the diaper bag. Once we were at the airport, I opened our luggage and pulled out another outfit for Ryan. We got checked in and got on the plane, and just as we were about to take off, Ryan had another leaky episode. They actually held the plane for a couple minutes so I could try to clean him up. I didn't do as good a job as I would have liked. They told me not to take too long, and of course it's difficult to do anything in those lavatories. I only had one clean outfit for Ryan (I had no idea he was going to get so sick), so I saved it. I asked for a blanket and just wrapped Ryan in that. After we took off, he had a third episode. I wanted to wait until we got to London to really clean him well and put his last outfit on. We smelled like raw sewage. It was terrible. I felt really bad for everyone sitting around us. Ryan was just dozing, so I didn't want to disturb him. We finally landed and I got a chance to clean him up well and put on that last outfit. Fortunately, there were no more episodes and Ryan just slept from London to Leeds. Whew!
We got to Leeds around 10pm and went to the baggage claim. I was utterly stunned to find out that our brand new car seat (you all know those things ain't cheap) wasn't there. I was LIVID. To lose one car seat is one thing. To lose TWO in four days is unbelievable incompetence. I believe it was Lufthansa both times. I filed a missing luggage report. The employee had the nerve to suggest I just buckle Ryan into the car without a seat! I told him I didn't know the laws in this country, but if I did that in the States, there would be dire consequences. (Besides, I would not dream of doing that!) This employee, ("Pauley," I believe) said the airport doesn't normally have car seats for people. I said, "Well then don't lose them!" Pauley found a horrible, dirty, old car seat that someone had abandoned at the airport (I could see why). I didn't have any other options, so I took it. I couldn't figure out how to install it or even how to get Ryan buckled in. I did my best and prayed the whole way home. Luckily, we had a nice car seat at home that I'd bought back in March. I installed that one first chance I got. This was all Monday night. As of today, they still don't know where the new car seat is. If they don't find it by Saturday night, then we can file a claim.
On top of Ryan being sick, Sunday night I started to have a mild cold, which I still have right now. A not very good ending to what was a wonderful trip.
All the car seat nonsense and not feeling well aside, we really did have a great time and I am so glad we went. Now Ryan will always have a great story that for his first birthday, he flew from England back to Germany to the town where he was born to have his first birthday party!

The Spider Is Dead, Long Live the Spider
Topic: The House
The corpse of the Enormous Spider materialized on the stairs today. The weird thing was, I'd gone by the stairs not that long before and it wasn't there. I would have thought I would have seen it limping along to the place of its demise. That's the second Dead Enormous Spider I've seen since moving here. It makes me wonder if the Enormous Spider has nine lives, or simply a lot of look alike cousins.

Checking In
Topic: This and That
Hello. I wanted to let everyone know that I haven't dropped off the planet. Ryan and Larry and I had a wonderful time in Germany. Ryan and I came back sick though, so that's why I haven't written in a couple of days. I just have a cold (I really miss being able to breathe through my nose) and Ryan got a relapse of his stomach bug. We should be all better in a few days. I don't want to make any promises about when I will write next (last time I did, I wound up not keeping them, and that's not cool), but I am hoping it will be soon.
It's funny. Of all the things I have written about so far, it's the Enormous Spider that friends commented on when I visited Germany. *grin* Just to update everyone who might be interested, I have not seen said Enormous Spider, or even the Not So Enormous Spider since the last time I wrote about them. Of course, writing about them seems to conjure them, so I'll be sure to note if they come back.
I did something yesterday for the first time: I passed a truck on the road. There's this one spot on the way to MHS that you can see for quite a stretch. I did it there.
I will try to get our weekend posted here as soon as I can. It's just hard right now when Ryan and I aren't feeling well. Larry's got all the pictures and video from the party. He'll be home Friday. I will be sure to post a photo album.
I do want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who came to the party, and especially to Marcia and Niki, without whom Ryan's party would not have been possible! Thank you so much!

Topic: This and That
The weather since I last wrote has been mostly really nice. I'm enjoying the last bit of summer here.
Another little bit I keep meaning to post is there's a street in Harrogate named, "Electric Avenue." I personally think that's pretty funny. (For those of you who have or had AFN in Germany, remember those commercials for the library?)
Ryan's been sick the last few days. I looked back and realized I put the little guy through a marathon of exposure to other kids and such last week. Between going to a new friend's house and playing with her kids, going to a playgroup, and going to the Hydro, it's actually no surprise Ryan got sick. He seems to be doing better now though.
Last night I went to a spouse's coffee. (I originally wasn't going to go since Ryan was still a bit under the weather, but after talking to the hostess, I decided to just go for a little while. Ryan was fine, thankfully.) The gathering was actually very enjoyable. Everyone was nice and it was good to meet some more people.
I wanted to let everyone know that I won't be writing for the next few days. Friday Ryan and I are flying back to Germany to celebrate Ryan's first birthday. I'm having his party there, since so many of my friends are still there. Also, Larry will be able to come up from Garmisch to be there. We'll be coming back to England on Monday. I'll be sure to write about how our long weekend went. I'm excited!

This and That
Topic: This and That
The last couple of days, the weather has been what I worry is the norm here: gray and misty and windy and generally blah. On days like that, I just want to crawl back into bed and stay there. It's probably a good thing that with Ryan, that's just not possible. It will help force me to get out of the house. I'm told that most of the time if you wait for a nice day to get out, you'll never do it!
Interestingly, I've noticed that a lot of locals don't turn their headlights on when it's a little bit foggy. They do turn them on when it starts to rain though. Not sure what the rationale there is for having them on for one but not the other.
I did really used to like overcast, rainy days. That was because I lived in the desert and it hardly ever got like that. So when the weather was that way, it was something special. Having lived in Germany for five years and now living in England, knowing I have many, many rainy days before me, it just loses it's charm. *grin*
The Enormous Spider is going to be a recurring guest, I think. He or she was back again last night. I don't know why. It doesn't have a web and there can't be anything for it to eat in the house. It just hangs out on the floor. As long as it only comes out after Ryan goes to bed and it leaves me and Ryan alone, then fine, whatever. Live and let live. The Not So Enormous Spider that hangs out near the front door has been MIA the last couple nights. Hope I didn't accidentally vacuum it up. Don't get me wrong. I really, seriously dislike spiders. However, these two seem to go with the house, and as long as they keep to themselves, I can live with it. They seem to think they belong here, so maybe they do. Of course, if they start inviting friends over and start having parties, I am going to be forced to break out the Raid.
Wednesday I went over to a new friend's house for lunch. It was nice to meet a fellow army spouse. The following morning we took our kids (she has an eight month old and a two year old, both boys) to a playgroup at a church in Darley. Darley is a gorgeous town not far from MHS. I love the countryside here. It's rolling and looks like a patchwork quilt of green fields, shrubs and those low stone walls, with sheep and dairy cows dotting the green fields. The weather was nice and sunny that morning, so the kids could play outside. Everyone at the playgroup seemed nice. There were both Americans and British people there. It was a bit hectic though. There were a lot of kids there. I was told that next week they go back to school, so it ought to be a bit quieter next time. I'm planning on going back next week. They only ask for a pound donation, and that's to cover the juice and snacks they have for the kids (along with coffee and tea for the moms).
Yesterday I met my friend and her boys at a place in Harrogate called, "The Hydro." It's a swimming complex and a gym too, I think. It's very nice. They have a separate pool for kids. It was only four pounds for me and Ryan to get in. They have free floaty arms for the babies and kids. They keep it nice and warm inside, and the water is heated nicely as well. We had a very good time. Ryan likes the water. When we got home I tried to feed him some lunch, but he fell asleep in his highchair. I don't know why he was so tired - I'm the one who carried him around the pool for almost an hour!
Today I missed out on two things: one, getting my car washed by the local firemen for charity, and two, a kite festival. With the car wash, I basically just forgot. With the kite festival, I didn't know about it until I was coming home from my friend's house. From the road, I saw all these neat kites in the sky. I started driving in that general direction. I found out that it was a kite festival, complete with kite fighting (can someone please tell me what that is???), face painting, and various other activities. Unfortunately, parking was back up the road a stretch, and with visitors needing to take a tram in. Since Ryan was out cold in the backseat and in dire need of a nap, and it was cold and rainy out, AND I had absolutely zero pounds on me, I decided to just go home. However, it looked like it was probably a neat thing to go check out.
On the topic of things I am going to miss out on, there is a huge flower show next weekend here in Harrogate. It's apparently quite a big deal. Next weekend is Ryan's birthday though, and we're going to be back in Germany for it. Hopefully we'll be able to see the flower show next year.

Return of the Enormous Spider
Topic: The House
No sooner do I post my last entry, then I go out into the hallway and what do I see? The Enormous Spider! This time I was able to catch it in a glass and escort it outside. I was so skeeved out that I didn't even pick it up off the floor. I just sort of scooted it along then picked it up at the last minute and threw it out. For a second it looked like it was going to come back in, then I guess it thought better of it and went out. Ugh! There was a Not As Enormous Spider near the door as well, but it scurried away (probably still inside the house) when I threw the other one out. The cats are not doing their jobs. Larry informed me he'd seen Misty hunting spiders a time or to, but I have yet to see it. Besides, this one was so big, I think it would fight back!

Misc.
Topic: This and That
I'm afraid nothing too exciting has been going on the last couple of days. I didn't want to go too long without a post though. There are some random things I've been meaning to include somewhere in here. There's a restaurant called, "Damn Yankee" near our house. I think that's pretty funny! They serve, "American" style food. In a magazine I read some advice from various famous chefs about choosing restaurants. One of the chefs said to avoid places abroad that serve, "American" food. I agree! Larry and I ate at a place like that when we were in Scotland a few years back, and it wasn't very good at all.
Today Ryan had a sort of well baby appointment. Our healthcare situation here is weird. We get part of our care on the base, and part on the economy (the National Healthcare System, or NHS). The NHS has a slightly different schedule of checkup and shots for infants. The base doesn't do well baby checkups, but they DO do the shots. So today Ryan's appointment was at an NHS doctor. They didn't really do much besides look at him and weigh him. He's doing really well and I don't have any concerns, so there wasn't much to the appointment. The people were really nice though, and unlike in the States, they encourage you to give them a call if you have any questions or need anything.
I've met my next door neighbors. They are really nice. They are a British couple with four kids, and they all love Ryan! Tomorrow I am getting together with a girl whose phone number I got from the WIC lady on base. Hopefully we will hit it off. It would be nice to have some friends here.
Knock on wood, there have been no more Enormous Spider sightings.
The weather was great today, warm and sunny.
I got a running stroller a week or so ago and I am really frustrated because one of the forks is bent so it won't go straight. I am going to try to find a place that can fix it asap. There are a limited number of nice days left here, so I want to be able to run in them as much as possible. Speaking of running, there's a local running club here that I want to join as soon as I'm in good enough shape to keep up with their slowest group. *grin*
I can't believe tomorrow Ryan and I will have been here four weeks. The time is flying by. I still need to sort out my stuff. I only have so much free time though. Ryan didn't even take his afternoon nap today!
I hope everyone is doing well. I am working on a website for Ryan's and my summer vacation. I can't believe summer is almost over. That flew by, too. I hope you all had a great one.
One more thing I can't believe: Ryan's first birthday is coming up in less than two weeks! We are flying back to Germany for his party. I am really looking forward to it. It will be great to see my friends there!
Enough babbling. I hope to get out and around some more soon and have some more daytrips to tell you about.

Spiders
Topic: The House
Yesterday morning I started down the stairs and on one of the steps saw an Enormous Spider. It was either an exoskeleton or dead, thankfully, but it was still gross.
Just a few minutes ago, I saw another Enormous Spider trucking across the carpet. EEEWWWWW!!! I am now officially skeeved out. (Not sure "skeeved" is a word, or if that's even the correct usage, but it describes how I feel!) I was going to try to catch it in a glass and throw it outside (way too big to smoosh, and I hate doing that anyway), but I wasn't sure it would fit! It ran under the couch before I could try. So now I've got the heebie jeebies and jump if I feel the tiniest thing. Larry told me when I first got here that there are a lot of spiders, but there are supposedly none that are poisonous. I really hope so, especially for Ryan's sake. Luckily they seem to stay away during the day. I'm glad because Ryan and I spend a lot of time on the livingroom floor. I haven't seen very many until now, and I've been here over three weeks, so hopefully that's a good sign. Man, the cats need to step it up! I'm hoping that there aren't many other Enormous Spiders in the house. I usually have to get up at night at least once to either go to the bathroom or check on Ryan. I'm going to have to take a flashlight with me now to make sure I don't step on anything with too many legs!
While I'm on the topic of "The House," I might as well mention that for all the sinks in the house, there are two faucets: one for hot and one for cold. Is it me or is that not the norm in the States? I don't seem to remember there being two. It makes getting Ryan's bathwater the right temperature interesting. The kitchen is slightly different. There's only one faucet, but mixing the hot and cold water is weird. When you turn them both on, you can feel cold and super hot spots in the stream of water. It doesn't just blend to one temperature. Also, the knobs don't keep the water pressure up, so sometimes the pressure will lower and sort of peter out on its own.
Don't get me wrong, I like living here. It's just interesting getting used to the house's idiosyncrasies.

Knaresborough
Topic: Day Trips
I had spoken with two different people who asked me if I'd been to "Newsbury" yet. I was told it was very nice, and that Wednesday was market day. I was trying to figure out where the heck "Newsbury" was, when it dawned on me I was actually hearing "Knaresborough" filtered through a regional accent.
Knaresborough is only a few miles away from Harrogate, so it didn't take long to get there. We were blessed with another really nice day out, so it seemed a great day to check out a local market. The market was part farmer's market, part swap meet. There was local fresh produce and baked goods, but there was also clothing and various odds and ends, including drug store type items on sale for just one pound. There were even tools and DIY supplies for sale. It was an odd mishmash.
It didn't take long to walk through the market. I decided to keep walking around the town. It was warm out and I got thirsy, so I went into a shop and bought a bottle of water. I asked if it was far to walk down to the water (there's a river but I don't know the name of it) and the lady behind the counter suggested I walk just around the corner through the car park and check out that area. So I did just that. That's where I found Knaresborough Castle.
The photograph here is of the view from next to the castle. I thought it was beautiful. Knaresborough Here are a few more pictures. (I hate to have to put them in a separate album, but the way this blog builder is, if I put more than one or two in here, it takes up the whole screen.)
I didn't go inside the castle since I had Ryan in his stroller, but for a small fee you can tour the inside. I was content to push Ryan and stroll around the castle grounds. There's a park around the front of the castle, and even miniature golf. That's something I hadn't seen around a castle before!
Since it was a lovely day out, I thought it would be fun to share an ice cream cone with Ryan. I've heard Brymor (I think that's how it's spelled) Farms was good, so I tried some from a hole in the wall ice cream parlour. It was indeed very tasty! Ryan and I went back to the park near the castle and enjoyed our ice cream there.
I am looking forward to going for a walk down by the river while the weather is still warm and sunny.

Ripley
Topic: Day Trips
I can't believe it's the end of August already. I also can't believe that as of today, Ryan and I have been here for three weeks. Time is flying by. There were fireworks just now. They were part of the Harrogate Stray Fair. I could only see a little of them. Unfortunately a building across the street was blocking most of the view. What I saw though was neat. Earlier there was a thunder storm with a pretty good downpour. I'm glad it cleared up for the fireworks.
Ripley. Monday was the Summer Bank Holiday. I think it's like the British version of our Labor Day, in as far as it's the last four day weekend of the summer. In the morning the weather was miserable. It was windy and rainy. However, the afternoon turned out to be glorious. I decided to get out and celebrate my first bank holiday.
Ripley is just a few miles northwest of Harrogate. It was not my original destination. I meant to go to Knaresborough, which is a few miles northeast of Harrogate. Oops. I'm so glad we went to Ripley though. Ryan and I had an adventure there before we were even out of the car park (parking lot). The parking area was on grass. It was also free, which from what I understand is pretty rare. There was a fenced off area with some outbuildings, and behind the fence was a horse. (Please see my photo album in yesterday's post for the photos from this trip.) I wheeled Ryan in his stroller right up to the fence. Before I knew it, the horse had bent down over the fence and was nose to nose with Ryan. I figured it was nice of the horse to say hi. Bystanders suggested I move Ryan away from the horse. Ryan just smiled and laughed and apparently enjoyed his close encounter. I picked him up and let him pet the horse, which seemed incredibly friendly, and quite used to people.
On our way out of the car park, I saw a sign for a "Spot the Boar Competition" (over here they use the word "competition" where we would use "contest"). As I walked down the street into the village, I saw my first boar - hanging in a tree! Apparently the point was to walk around the town and find the 26 odd papier mache boars, then turn in an entry form for a prize drawing. I was told by a local that these contests are growing in popularity as a way to engage the kids while the adults enjoy the site. The people who made and hid the boars in Ripley seemed to have a good sense of humor regarding boar placement.
The village itself was quaint and small. In keeping with what I've seen around Harrogate and vicinity so far, there were flowers everywhere. It really makes things beautiful.
I saw signs for Ripley Old Farm. After walking around a bit, Ryan and I found it. There was a small gift shop in front, with an area behind it with lots of stalls around a small, open square. There were different types of sheep, goats, chickens and chicks and at least one rooster, piglets, goats, and horses. It was weird because the majority of the animals were out loose, and you could just walk up to them and pet them. There were also things to do for older kids. You could make your own rope, churn butter, and milk a faux cow.There was also a horse drawn carriage ride, which Ryan and I went on. Ryan especially loved it when the horse got up to a trot. He stood up on my lap and bounced up and down excitedly.
After that I walked around a bit more. There's a castle and gardens in Ripley. I explored the gift shop and asked about the tours of the castle. They highly discouraged children under five. After looking around the giftshop - which had some really nice things - I took Ryan and found a path outside the castle gardens called Hollybank Lane. It was really pretty and from there I could see a little bit into the castle gardens (which are stroller friendly, but I would have had to pay to get into).
I decided to have tea at the castle tearoom. There were benches outside and it was sunny and warm, so we sat outside. I had tea and a scone with clotted cream. It was delicious and really hit the spot. (I shared my scone with Ryan.) We sat with a friendly lady who was kind enough to share the bench with us. It was nice chatting with her.
Before walking back to the car, I stopped inside a shop called, "Hopkins-Porter Ltd." It was a really neat market with all sorts of interesting food and drink. It had a delicatessen, and anything you could want for a picnic. It also had beer and wines, some of which were local. I picked up some fudge.
There's also a church in Ripley that I would like to go back and visit another time.
There are a lot of castles and the like here. Having a stroller makes it difficult to visit those places. However, I do have a backpack that's on its way in the mail, so I imagine carrying Ryan around in that will open up places we can go.
I really enjoyed Ripley. It has a nice atmosphere and is very scenic.
Today Ryan and I went to Knaresborough. I will write about that soon. However, right now it's getting late and I need to get to bed.