We woke up early today at 6:30 and got out by 8:00 and headed towards the town of Torquay (pronounced Tore – kee). We knew we were going to be too early for our first stop so we went to walk on the beach a little bit. There was a bunch of seaweed on the sand which squished under our feet, but Makenna had fun throwing shells into the water. We walked along the sea wall and it was very windy. Makenna is not feeling well today and we didn’t know how bad it was, but she was just always crying and fussing. Luckily, she went into the cart pretty easily for our walk.We next went to Cognton Castle, but found it closed until 11am. We decided to go to Kent Caverns instead which was only 20 minutes away. It was an hour long tour of some underground caverns which they call one of the greatest archaeological and geological discoveries in England. There were thousands of years of bones of various animals including bears, mammoths, and hyenas. There were stalagmites and stalactites, but nothing like you could see in
the states in Carlsberg Caverns in New Mexico or even Howe’s Caverns in north east NY State. The advertisement made you think there were cave paintings, but when a little girl asked about them, the guide said they haven’t found any there yet, but there are a large number of caves under the main cave we were in and there could be some there. Highly unlikely, since those are even further from the surface so ancient man probably would not have made it there.They also were doing a bit of new digging in the cave, but they hit bedrock very quickly so they had to stop and dig somewhere else. Apparently, they needed to get permission to dig from the English Heritage organization even though the cave is on private property. They decided to dig through concrete which I didn’t understand…there were plenty of places that weren’t concreted over, but they chose this one place. I thought it was odd and they hit bedrock about a foot down or less from the concrete…then they had to get more permits and moved to the right about a yard and guess what?! They ran into bedrock again...not the smartest in my book.
They had a cafe at the caverns (not in the caverns) and we had Devon Pasties which are pastries filled with meat and potatoes. The Cornwall Pasty is the famous one and it was created for the miners to take into the coal mines with them. These weren’t as good because I think they were made with ground beef (or minced as they call it here…Cornwall Pasties have chunks of beef almost like a stew inside.
Makenna slept through most of the cave and through lunch. The cold she has is taking the life right out of her.
From there we went to Torre Abby. This abbey actually became a home to a family for many years and then they had to move out and rent it in order to pay bills (and this was back in the early 1900’s).
That’s why it no longer really resembled an abbey as much as it did a home. We did get to walk through some of the home and see different things (not being able to take pictures,) but we were mainly taking the lift (elevator) and getting off track from what the guide sheet was telling us. We finally got on track but Makenna was awake and not in a good mood whatsoever. It was more of a “sick” cry than anything else. We think she was still tired but something was definitely wrong. We kept asking her but she couldn’t really give us a clear answer.
We went outside and that’s where we could see the ruins of the abbey but no real explanation of what we were looking at. Like, was it where the cloister used to be or where the rooms for the monks were, etc. So we just walked around a bit then walked in the greenho
use they had. We found a small pond set up in the greenhouse with goldfish in it and Makenna was excited to feed them crackers. Then she went right back into miserable mode, so we left.
Teri asked her while putting her in the car seat if she was going to be better behaved at the castle that we were going to and she replied, “sure, why not,” as though it was a good idea. There’s nothing like an adult comment from her to make you smile.
We left there and went to Cognton Castle again and this time we noticed the sign that said it was only open Monday Wednesday and Friday, so, slapping myself, we left and drove down the beach some, then headed back to the Hotel. I also need to mention that the roads around some of these places were absolutely insane. Teri taped a small bit of it but it was literally a two way road but only room for one car…barely. We had the unfortunate pleasure of running into other people coming the opposite way a couple of times and had to make some quick adjustments and move as far over as possible. When we got to the hotel later, you could see red mud on the outside of my tires from where I scraped up against the wall trying to get out of the way.
We happened to notice a sign for a grocery store and decided we stop in to find something to help Makenna. Teri went in and found some paracetamol (their version of baby Tylenol) and gave her some as soon as she brought it to the car. It took maybe 15 minutes and Makenna was now her annoying self instead of her miserable self.
We stopped at the hotel and asked them where a local carvery was. Carvery’s are big here. It’s kind of like our Old Country Buffet with a big difference. Not as much food and only one trip. Of course, Makenna was again not willing to eat anything we got her. I went up and got her some turkey, and carrots and peas, along with a Yorkshire Pudding and a stuffing ball. After much coercing, we got her to eat two bites of turkey and then she was allowed ice cream. We didn’t get her, her own ice cream though, she just shared ours. She is just so determined and defiant at times it’s extremely exasperating. We think tonight it was more of a texture thing than a food thing. She “felt” the turkey and decided not to eat it.
While I was paying the bill, Makenna took off running through the restaurant and Teri chased after her. She finally caught up with her just before she ran off the sidewalk into the parking lot. Teri was very angry and upset and we discussed what we should do about this little child of ours who sometimes doesn’t seem to want to live until three. Teri explained to her why it was bad to run away and that they weren’t playing a game. Tonight after prayers, we again talked to her and told her why it was bad to run away and that if we say, “I’m going to get you,” then it’s a game. Otherwise if we tell her “stop” that she needs to stop and not run away as that means it could be dangerous and she could get hurt. When we asked her if she understood, she said, “sure, sure, sure,” in her exasperated, bored voice.
Tonight, while we were in the hotel room, she had to “do her business” and she walked away for about a minute then walked back to Teri and said, “I did it.” Teri asked her if she was done pooping and she elatedly said, “yeah!, I did it.!”
They had a cafe at the caverns (not in the caverns) and we had Devon Pasties which are pastries filled with meat and potatoes. The Cornwall Pasty is the famous one and it was created for the miners to take into the coal mines with them. These weren’t as good because I think they were made with ground beef (or minced as they call it here…Cornwall Pasties have chunks of beef almost like a stew inside.
Makenna slept through most of the cave and through lunch. The cold she has is taking the life right out of her.
From there we went to Torre Abby. This abbey actually became a home to a family for many years and then they had to move out and rent it in order to pay bills (and this was back in the early 1900’s).
That’s why it no longer really resembled an abbey as much as it did a home. We did get to walk through some of the home and see different things (not being able to take pictures,) but we were mainly taking the lift (elevator) and getting off track from what the guide sheet was telling us. We finally got on track but Makenna was awake and not in a good mood whatsoever. It was more of a “sick” cry than anything else. We think she was still tired but something was definitely wrong. We kept asking her but she couldn’t really give us a clear answer.We went outside and that’s where we could see the ruins of the abbey but no real explanation of what we were looking at. Like, was it where the cloister used to be or where the rooms for the monks were, etc. So we just walked around a bit then walked in the greenho
use they had. We found a small pond set up in the greenhouse with goldfish in it and Makenna was excited to feed them crackers. Then she went right back into miserable mode, so we left.Teri asked her while putting her in the car seat if she was going to be better behaved at the castle that we were going to and she replied, “sure, why not,” as though it was a good idea. There’s nothing like an adult comment from her to make you smile.
We left there and went to Cognton Castle again and this time we noticed the sign that said it was only open Monday Wednesday and Friday, so, slapping myself, we left and drove down the beach some, then headed back to the Hotel. I also need to mention that the roads around some of these places were absolutely insane. Teri taped a small bit of it but it was literally a two way road but only room for one car…barely. We had the unfortunate pleasure of running into other people coming the opposite way a couple of times and had to make some quick adjustments and move as far over as possible. When we got to the hotel later, you could see red mud on the outside of my tires from where I scraped up against the wall trying to get out of the way.
We happened to notice a sign for a grocery store and decided we stop in to find something to help Makenna. Teri went in and found some paracetamol (their version of baby Tylenol) and gave her some as soon as she brought it to the car. It took maybe 15 minutes and Makenna was now her annoying self instead of her miserable self.
We stopped at the hotel and asked them where a local carvery was. Carvery’s are big here. It’s kind of like our Old Country Buffet with a big difference. Not as much food and only one trip. Of course, Makenna was again not willing to eat anything we got her. I went up and got her some turkey, and carrots and peas, along with a Yorkshire Pudding and a stuffing ball. After much coercing, we got her to eat two bites of turkey and then she was allowed ice cream. We didn’t get her, her own ice cream though, she just shared ours. She is just so determined and defiant at times it’s extremely exasperating. We think tonight it was more of a texture thing than a food thing. She “felt” the turkey and decided not to eat it.
While I was paying the bill, Makenna took off running through the restaurant and Teri chased after her. She finally caught up with her just before she ran off the sidewalk into the parking lot. Teri was very angry and upset and we discussed what we should do about this little child of ours who sometimes doesn’t seem to want to live until three. Teri explained to her why it was bad to run away and that they weren’t playing a game. Tonight after prayers, we again talked to her and told her why it was bad to run away and that if we say, “I’m going to get you,” then it’s a game. Otherwise if we tell her “stop” that she needs to stop and not run away as that means it could be dangerous and she could get hurt. When we asked her if she understood, she said, “sure, sure, sure,” in her exasperated, bored voice.
Tonight, while we were in the hotel room, she had to “do her business” and she walked away for about a minute then walked back to Teri and said, “I did it.” Teri asked her if she was done pooping and she elatedly said, “yeah!, I did it.!”
No comments:
Post a Comment