*uk - part 2*

First of all, many people have been wondering how we managed to do this trip with the kids and still survive. Pretty much we are just awesome parents. Or realistically we have a high tolerance for pain and just bribe and spoil them like crazy- but occasionally I get in the mood to do something fun to mix it up-- like building tents in the hotel room. I have many tips for traveling long distances for children - though most are top secret. I may share a few here and there for my loyal readers.



We are now back in Zurich for a few days to wrap things up before heading back to the US, so I'll try to get the rest of our trip posted before things get too crazy.

Note to reader: those who read my blog regularly probably noticed that the last post was done a little differently... more coherent, more orderly, more informational. That's because Jared did it. I'll try to follow suit... but no promises.

Sam's new alter ego --- "Kitty man" --- was discovered in Stratford upon Avon, Shakespeare's home town, where we'll pick up our journey.



Day 6 - Stratford upon Avon (Shakespeare's birthplace): Day 5 (previous post) we spent at Warwick Castle...nearby Warwick is Stratford Upon Avon, a charming little town on the river Avon that might not be so famous except it was the childhood (and adult) home of Shakespeare. The town essentially revolves around Shakespeare tourism now. We spent the night here and the better part of the day exploring Stratford, including a tour of the home where Shakespeare was born and grew up in. All of our pics of this town are on our video camera... which we are having technical difficulties with right now. Lo siento.


Walking around we had lots of fun looking in the shops...



...until about a minute after this pleasant picture was taken Sam took a face plant on the cobblestones and split open his chin.


...the cut was quite deep and we were worried it might need stitches, but fortunately the incident occurred outside a pharmacy and the guy inside fixed Sam up with that tape stuff that holds gashes closed. Sam's Manchester United soccer jersey did look pretty cool covered in blood though.

After finishing up in Stratford, we started our drive North to the Manchester area. En route we stopped by Lichfield (town on the North side of Birmingham)...a place where Jared's great-grandmother (Lucy Heap) was born...for all Barlows reading this blog...Lucy Heap was Isreal Barlow's third wife (the one we're from); all the Heaps come from the Lichfield area. Everything seemed to be closed in Lichfield when we were trying to find dinner...we found a pub that said "families welcome" so we headed on in. Unforch they didn't like Sam's Manchester jersey so much (our theory) and told us a little bit later that this pub was not an appropriate place for children and would get pretty rowdy in like 15 minutes. Hmph. So we ended up hitting Mc D's which didn't sit too well with Alyssa and ended up in the back alley of a rest stop off the highway a few hours later. Ahhh... lovely pregnancy.

Day 7 - Lancashire (our roots):

Kids in Turton

It's kind of a crazy thing... Jared and I have very similar ancestory. Both of our mom's have Swiss roots and both of our dads (Barlow and Prestwich) come from the Lancashire region of England. (It's baffling that we look so similar and our kids look like clones of each other.) Here are Jared and the kids in the area of Turton where the Barlows come from. Gorgeous countryside and quaint towns-- including Chapel Town and Edgeworth. We had some amazing homemade ice cream in a little shop there and the kids had fun playing by the Barlow Institute - essentially the community gathering place and town hall in Edgeworth. It was really fun to spend some time there.


Jared near the Barlow institute













We also went to the town of Prestwich, England. We pretty much just drove through because we had to drive to Scotland that evening, but it was fun to see my family name on all the local pubs. In itself it wasn't too interesting of a village... kind of a "colorful" urban area really. So much so that all of our pictures of the town are of signs in the town not the town itself.

Does the difference between the towns of our roots that say anything about the difference between our family heritage? We try not to read into it too much.


I love how the Prestwich church social club drinks and plays cards for fun.
















Next post.... Scotland. The land of lassies, laddies, and wee bearns.