Fish Lewes

One of things James and I wanted to do once we were married, was to create our own traditions, most of which take place around the holidays except for our annual group fishing trip out of Lewes, DE. We started it last summer and besides getting to go out into the ocean and fish, it is also a chance for us to get together with our closest friends and have some fun with them. This year it was James and I, Rich and Sarah and Rif and Suzanne. Tara and Ryan we missed you :( We do a half day of fishing, and rods and bait are supplied, all we have to bring are the drinks:) We like to make it a little competitive by seeing if the guys or gals catch more. Last year the guys won by 1 fish; this year I am very happy to annouce the girls won 4-2!!!! I did catch 3 of those fish, a sea bass, a pufferfish and a flounder. Unfortunately all were too small to keep. Even though the fish were no biting this year I know we all had a great time catching some sun and hanging out with each other. Just like last year we ended the day with a yummy meal at the Irish Eyes overlooking the marina.

James and I on our 2nd annual fishing trip

2011 group: Suzanne and Rif, Sarah & Rich and James and I

My flounder

James and his shark

England in Photos

Swadlincote, the town where I grew up

Strawberry picking and pub dinner

Family BBQ

Warwick Castle

Catching up with my oldest friends

Family dinner at the carvery

Calke Abbey

York, one of the oldest cities in England

Briddlington, the English seaside

Dovedale, one of my favorite places in the Peak District

RAF Air Show with the Red Arrows

Our last family dinner

England Holiday 2011

Where do I even begin? From the minute we landed to our last second in England we packed in as much as time would allow and spent every second in between visiting with family and old friends.

June 22nd: Our first day was some what of a blur thanks to the lack of sleep the night before due to a night flight but we were so excited to finally be in England. James has been wting to see where I come from and it has been way overdue for me to go home. It was a great flight though, James did great on the plane, for those who dont know he does not like to fly in the slightest. After landing at Manchester airport we had an hour and a half drive back to my Mum's house. We couldn't stay awake for a minute longer once we reached home and so we took a long well needed nap. In the evening we took James to the 'chippy', or fish n chip shor for you non locals reading this. We ordered a ton of food (fish, battered sausage, pineapple fritter and of course chips) and enjoyed every bite of it.

June 23rd: Thursday was still a catching up day, the jet lag heading to England is just awful. James didn't feel his body corrected itself until about 2 days before we left to come back home. Mum took us to have a full English breakfast which was deslish, before we did a little shopping in Derby. That evening we went for a lovely pub dinner and James enjoyed trying all of the different beers available.

June 24th:Both Mum and Paul were working today so James and I had a lazy morning. We decide to take a walk around Swad and show James where I grew up. We headed down into town, which for those of you who live there, it doesn't take long to walk through the main street of town lol. We had a great evening with all of my family who came to my Mums house for a BBQ. Of course, this is England and so it had to rain while Paul was outside cooking the food.

June 25th: Saturday was quite possibly one of my favorite days out ofour whole vacation. My Mum, Paul, Grandma and Grandad and James and I headed down to Warwick to go to the castle. James LOVES history so I had been excited to take him to the castle since we booked our trip. We toured all the different rooms, caught a bird of prey show and climbed all 530 steps throughout the turrets to go to the top of the castle. The views of the river Avon and the town of Warwick were amazing. I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. That evening James and I met up with some of my oldest friends. We had all been in school together up until I moved together, a couple of us have even known each other since we were in daycare together. We sepnt 7 hours catching up and having a great time.

June 26th: Grandma Smith threw us a lovely afternoon party to meet some of her friends that all hear endless stories about. Her and my Mum had bought all different kinds of cakes and then we had wine and tea. It was so nice to see all the people that she spends her time with. Today was one of the hottest days of our time there, 86 degrees which I usually dont find hot, but when there is no air conditioning in the houses or restaurants you start to overheat rather quickly. At night all of the family headed to another pub for a carvery dinner, which consists of fresh roast meat, stuffing, roasted and mashed potatoes, all kinds of veggies and the best part...yorkshire pudding!!!! Afterwards we sat in the beer garden as it was such a nice night out.

June 27th: James, Paul and I headed to the National Brewery Centre in Burton. At one point in time Burton had 30 breweries there. Bass was one of the most popular breweries for the longest time but was recently taken over by Coors. The museum explains the brewing process as well as having vintage vehicles and shire horses to look at. Of course there is plenty of sampling the beer :) We spent the afternoon walking around Stauton Harold which is one of the big estates local to the area. Until recently it was open to the public but now the house is privately owned so only the grounds are now accessible. James and Paul had a big night ahead of them as they went to the Pink Floyd concert. Our entire vacation was actually planned around this concert. They both seemed to have a really good time, James says it is hands down the best concert he has ever been to. While the boys were out, Mum and I had a girls night at home. My friends Becky and Natalie came over and Mum had her friend Faye over. We munched on cheese, crackers and fruit and drank plenty of wine.

June 28th: Grandma Smith was our tour guide today and she took us to Calke Abbey which is a huge estate and grounds about 15 minutes from where we live. Unlike all of the other stately homes in the area, this house was left exactly how the last family to live in the house left it. No restoration has been done and all furniture and objects have been left in the exact same spot as the family left them. It is very interesting to see how they lived.

June 29th: Wednesday was the begining of our trip to York. Mum booked a B&B 10 mins from the town centre for all 8 of us that went. It was the quintessential bed and breakfast. James and I were the lucky ones to get a 4 poster bed! York itself is a very historic town, dating back to the Vikings. I knew James would love the town. It still has the old city walls surrounding the main part of town in some areas.We went to a couple of museums and walked through the 'Shambles' which is the area in which the buildings nearly touch each other. We had a delicious meal at one of the pubs there, yes another pub! The food is so good at the pubs that you have no desire to eat anywhere else.

June 30th: In the morning we went to the railway museum which was very impressive. Next we headed to the seaside at Briddlington, which is on the east coast of the country. It is your sterotypical English seaside town with the promenade, some arcades, a fishing harbor and a ton of fish n chip shops! It is wrong to come to the seaside and not eat fish n chips or a 99cone which is vanilla soft serve ice cream in a cone with a chocolate flake in it. Of course we had to make sure James had the complete experience by having both. And what would the English seaside be without some rain? As we were walking back to the car the heavens opened, it was lightening and there was hail!

July 1st: A lie in was needed from all the walking we did in York! After a late breakfast Mum, Paul, James and I went to explore the Peak District. Dovedale is one of my favorite places in that area and I have a lot of fond memories going there as a child. The peak district is an area with huge hills and deep valleys with lots of walking trails running through them all. Dovedale has a river running through it and has stepping stones to cross one side of the river to the other. As a child this was my favorite part of Dovedale, and I have to say it still is today. On the way home we stopped in a quaint village called Ashbourne for a yummy cream cake.

July 2nd: Unfortunately it was our last day in England, its amazing how the time just flies by when you are on vacation! We headed to the RAF Air show which was worth the 4 hours of traffic we sat in to get into the place. It is held at an active air force base and they had shows by the Thunderbirds and the Red Arrows as well as flying WWII planes and the Vulcon. Our last meal had to be of course, a pub dinner. Grandma Smith joined us at the Ferrers and was def one of the top 5 meals we had during our time there.

I'm now back in the USA writing this and even though this is home now, England will always be my true home. I didn't even realize how much I missed certain things until I was back there. It was so nice being able to show James where I grew up, where I went to school, and the parks we played in. It goes without saying the best part of all was getting to see family and friends that we dont get to see on a regular basis. We never stopped laughing the entire time we were there, or drinking and eating:) Thats what a vacation is made of I believe.

Photos to follow!