Easter Road Trip

School broke up last Thursday, so on Good Friday we packed up the car and the children and made our way to south Wales to visit with our friends for the weekend. We love driving over the bridge into Wales.

Our friends live close to my sister Amy, so we got to spend the weekend with her too, and see sweet Isobel:

The children made Easter nest treats:

And I indulged in a chocolate bunny:

On Monday we said our goodbyes and drove on to Windsor to go to Legoland. Nanny Miles came with us (it was her Christmas present for the children) and it turned out to be the coldest day ever to be outside. (Maybe not, but it felt like it!) We braved the elements and had a great time, Noah and Ethan especially loved the Star Wars display:

We did a little gold panning:

There were lots of fun rides to go on:

The children loved the mini Lego scenes, especially the London one:

On Tuesday we went into Windsor itself to see the castle. The queen was in residence (Rosie kept asking if we could visit her!) and the Royal Standard was flying:

We were just in time to see the Changing of the Guards at the palace. It happens a couple of times a day; when the guards change shifts the traffic is stopped and the new guards march up the streets from their barracks with a band leading the way:

This happens every day, come rain or shine! I caught a little video of the guards returning to their barracks after the changeover:

I love our silly traditions. I also love old cobbled streets, I think they give a place character...

...as does crooked old houses:

I really enjoy walking around old churches; the wooden carvings, vaulted ceilings, tiles on the floor and stained glass windows are just gorgeous.

After a trip to the museum and a little window shopping, we drove back west to Bristol to finish off our trip by taking Ben and Ethan with us to see Imagine Dragons while Nanny Miles looked after Rosie and Noah. James' brother Dave met us there too, so it was nice to catch up with him. As it was the first standing gig for the boys it was quite a new experience for them, and they loved it.

The band were really energetic, you can't help but get sucked in by the energy of the music and lose yourself for an hour and a half. Ethan didn't complain about my singing in his ear all night, so I can't have been too bad!

The band handed out the printed set lists at the end of the show and Ben and Ethan were thrilled to be given one each, it was kind of them to single out the young fans and make sure they had a keepsake from the night. It was a great way to end our trip.

Feeding My Soul

I've often said gigs are like buses; nothing for ages and then they all come at once. On Tuesday I finally got to see Ben Howard with Dawn, after an error with the ticket company prevented us from going two weeks ago. Thanks to the kindness of Mr Howard, all 1200 of us that were over-issued tickets were given free entry to the extra show he added to the tour to make up for the error. What a nice bloke! It was also great to only travel down to Plymouth to see him, not many bands make it so far down into Devon, but he's a local so of course he had to play here.

Let me tell you, this band is one talented bunch. They all played multiple instruments throughout the night, and Ben was doing some seriously ridiculous guitar playing. There were times I couldn't believe he was plucking those strings so fast. As for the drummer, he likes to play the bass guitar and drums at the same time, check him out:

It was a beautiful thing. If we could have listened to him playing on a beach by a roaring fire it would have been perfection!

Yesterday James and I took a road tip to Oxford to see Imagine Dragons. I'd been looking forward to this one for a long time, and it was everything I'd hoped it would be.

It was a loud, drum-heavy, energetic set with lots of crazy dancing and jumping around from both the band and the audience:

There were a couple of moments when Dan was almost in tears, he couldn't believe that so many people in the UK turned up to see them and knew all the words to their songs, even though the album isn't released here yet. (Thank goodness for the Internet!)

But here's the thing I wasn't expecting, the band sound so much better live than on their album! Don't get me wrong, I really like the album, but without all the extra production that comes with some of the album tracks, they were stripped down to the bare rock of guitars, drums and keyboards...and it sounded so good! We left that evening feeling hot and sweaty, with sore hands and feet from clapping and stomping so much, but with smiles a mile wide. If you get a chance to see them live, you must go!

 

P.S. What could be cooler than appearing on the band's Instagram photo?: