Author: tosatotarporley

On every to-do list I make, I write down “blog post.” Usually, it’s somewhere near the bottom because of all of the things that need to get done on a daily or weekly basis. We have officially lived in England more than a year now, which is unbelievable. There’s so much to say and update on, sometimes I don’t know where to begin. Often, writing sits on my to-do list until I feel compelled, despite all of the other things looming, to just sit down and write. Continue reading “Sorting the Stories in My Head, and My Heart. (And the Photos in My Phone.)” →

Hello! Sorry it’s been quiet here; we’ve been busy with end of school and getting ready for our summer trip to the U.S. I’ve enjoyed sharing about our life the past almost-year. I can’t believe time has gone by so quickly. I still have so many trips to share and discoveries to write about, but all in good time.

But instead of that fun stuff, let’s talk about driving. What could I say, you wonder, when it’s simply a switch from the right side to the left side? Oh, if only it were that simple. Continue reading “Tales From the Left Side of the Road” →

This past Sunday was Father’s Day! (Hooray for a holiday that’s the same in the U.S. and the U.K.!) I kept saying to the boys, “Whatever Daddy wants to do, we’ll do! He gets to pick!” Being the loving son he is, Bennett responded, “Aww, does this mean we have to go on a hike again?” Continue reading “To the Peak District” →

Many of the adventures I’ve shared have started with something to the effect of, “I didn’t plan a lot, or very far in advance, but actually it all worked out!” Our luck was bound to run out. Continue reading “I Guess We’ll Make it a Day Trip: Portmeirion & Anglesey, Wales” →

On Friday morning, we loaded into the car and headed out of Edinburgh without much of a plan. We had heard about St. Andrews, a seaside town on the east coast of Scotland, less than two hours from Edinburgh. We pointed the car in that direction, heading out of the city over the Queensferry Crossing bridge, one of the Forth Bridges – three side-by-side bridges built in three different centuries to cross the Firth of Forth. Continue reading “Spring Break in Scotland: The Coast & Countryside” →

Scotland had been at the top of our list for a visit, and over the Easter spring break, we went for it. Our criteria for this trip: see a few key things in Edinburgh but not run ourselves ragged, see something outside of Edinburgh, me: chill in hot tub. We managed to kind of do all of these things. Edinburgh is a fantastic city – so much to see and do, so I’m going to do one post just about our time there. Continue reading “Spring Break in Scotland: First Stop, Edinburgh” →

Hello! As I slowly work on all of the travel posts I need to do (they seem very daunting… so much to remember and write about and so many photos to sift through), I thought I would just do a quick check-in about what’s happening with us lately. Continue reading “April update: Easter, grumps, and the little wins” →

Here I am, almost a month out from my last post, which I was feeling bad about (based only on my self-imposed desire to blog more)…but then I thought about why that was. In the past few weeks, we spent time with good friends in London before spending four days exploring Scotland. So while I’ve been too busy to post, we’ve had more amazing trips and bonus, I now have a long list of blog posts to write.

On to Part 2 of our half-term break trip… Continue reading “Riding the Rails in Yorkshire and Going Beachside in Whitby. (And SO MANY STAIRS.) “ →