BEST Vacation EVER Recap (part 4, the grande finale)

After spending a day making the most of Paris, we were TI-RED!!! We had a pretty chillaxed day, just hanging out at the house, with Spencer's family. We got to make pizza. By make, I truly mean make from scratch. It is SO good! We watched a few movies and then headed off to bed before our next grand adventure the next day.

We set out a little later than we thought (when on vacation never stop, or else you might not be able to start again) but we headed off to Stratford-upon-Avon. Yes, we went to Shakespeareland. We were able to see his birthplace, his grave in the Trinity church, as well as the theatre there and some really neat shops.

It was a lovely village with really neat buildings and structures.



It was pretty funny because they ask for a donation before you can go see the actual grave, and we didn't have enough small bills/coins, SO we went to the gift shop to break a larger bill to be able to see the grave!

They say this bust is quite the likeness to the bard himself because it was sculpted while his wife and daughter were still alive and they were a part of the creation of the sculpture.


This is the theatre that is there. It is a beautiful building.

The closer we got, the more detail jumped out at us.

I did a little happy dance when I saw this shop. I immediately thought of my parents, my dad especially.

It had A LOT of ornaments and such. Spencer stayed outside while I took it all in. I am my daddy's daughter in this way :)

After we wandered around a bit, we headed off to Cambridge. We had some AMAZING fudge, I had authentic fish and chips and we were able to go to King's College Evensong. It was so beautiful and spiritual and I felt the testimony of those who sang, and I know they weren't singing for us, but singing a praise to the Heavens.

SO DELICIOUS!!!


GORGEOUS

We had a bit of an adventure getting home, in that we thought we lost the car key, and after a stressful few minutes and a phone call or two, we found the key! YAY!! Celebrate good times! We made it home in pretty good time, and were able to watch a movie with family and friends.

Now, here is the thing. I don't generally watch scary movies. There is a very good reason for that. I get scared. Freakishly so. I jumped and squealed and possibly even screamed a little. We watched "What Lies Beneath" which I have seen, but only once and it was YEARS ago. Well, I survived the movie well enough and was doing fine, until I went on the computer to check my flight information for the next day, and Spencer comes creeping up behind me and scares the living daylights out of me! You better believe I screamed. His mom was not happy with him and gave me permission to do basically anything to him for retribution. We were then talking and someone came up to the front door (the ride for some of the kids). BUT he didn't just knock on the door, but he popped his head in the window next to the door. Mini-freak out again? You betcha! I did get to sleep that night, and didn't have a scary dream, thankfully!

Spencer and I made our way to the airport the next morning, but I had to take one last picture:

This is the place I called home for the last 10 days. Let me tell you, I felt so welcome and comfortable, it just added to the awesomeness that was my best vacation ever!

The airport proved to be an adventure as I misread which terminal to go to, so we ended up taking trams and escalators, and getting through to security was an adventure too, and then in Chicago I took a million more escalators and trams, but I made it back in one piece.

I hope you have enjoyed this walk with me through vacation memory lane. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to go to England (and Paris), and for the generosity of the Bugg family. I have precious memories of the BEST Vacation EVER!