Saturday, June 21, 2014

Royal Ascot

I'm not sure if anyone has heard of the Royal Ascot- I can tell you that I didn't until I moved here.  It is a five day event - an event that consists of horse racing, top hats, formal dress, BIG hats, extraordinary fascinators and oh yeah, seeing THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND.

Thursday was Ladies Day during the Royal Ascot and there were plenty of ladies showing their stuff. You can see for yourself. This was my chance to wear a bigger fascinator and an opportunity for Mark to wear a morning suit and top hat. Funny thing is that I thought my fascinator was big. Ha...just take a look. Next year, I will be biggering and biggering my fascinator.


 
I could have taken pictures of the hats all day long. Here are a few.
 
 
These ladies sang "A diamond is a girls best friend." on queue. Love it! 


 
Lady Gaga style.





These ladies were VERY serious about their racing. Very.








 
Yup.
 

 
Yes, that is a fascinator on top of her head.
 
 
 
 
 
                                              Mark and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

 
10:45am




 
Waiting for the Queen of England. It's what we usually do on a Thursday afternoon.

 
I do say Sir, you look quite smart.

 

 
Here she comes!

 
FYI-For some reason this video may not play from your phone but should play on a computer.
 

 
 
 
 
The Queen and Prince Harry within an arms length. Pinch me!
 
 


 
 
Oh and there were some horse races to watch. If I didn't already live here, I would want to move here just for this event. It was like living in US Weekly for a day. Fashion do's and don't galore and a reason to have some cocktails during the day = brilliant fun.






 
 

 

Father's Day in the Cotswold's

Father's Day is a day that Mark gets very excited about- almost as much as his birthday and if he had a choice he would make a whole week of it- for both occasions.  Fully deserved of course! The boys were equally excited for Father's Day because they made him something special at school and could barely contain themselves all week. They also wanted to make sure they gave him breakfast in bed, like they did for me. Henry was particularly keen on making sure there was a flower on his tray.  And so the day started out as such.

The boys hand made Mark special mugs and they were so excited to give them to him that they practically unwrapped them for Mark.


                                                        Breakfast in bed...with flower.


 
For Father's Day we decided to go somewhere we have been wanting to go for a while.  The Cotswold's. It is a extremely idyllic part of England that is thankfully pretty close to us. There are several villages that make up the Cotswold's. You can pick any one and you would find yourselves lost in the perfect setting. We chose Burton on the Water. It is called the "Venice of England" There is a small river that runs through the town, shallow enough for kids to walk through. Mine didn't -but many did.
 
This small village has so much to offer for families just coming for the day.  They have their own model village - of Burton on the Water, a Motoring Museum, Birdland and a maze. Never mind the shops, restaurants and the fact that there is an ice cream shop every 100 feet. No lie.
 
 
 
 We started at the model village.







 
Followed by lunch at The Croft restaurant. 
 

 
I'm posting this beer because it was a really good beer. Really good.
It is unfortunate that we could only have one.
 
 
And then the ice cream.
 


 

 
 
The motoring museum was pretty cool. It took you through each era of automobiles. Not only did it have the cars of that particular time but it had all the paraphernalia to go with it- music, gadgets, games, clothes, etc.   The boys loved it.  It took me back to being a kid and my Dad being in love with these types of things and I was usually bored because it wasn't girly- BUT I can appreciate it now, so thanks Dad for exposing me to boy things when I was little.
 
1956 Jag. This ones for you Dad.
 
 
The boys sitting in Brum. Brum was the star of his own show back in the day and very
popular with the kids.

 
I have no idea of the names of the cars that follow but they were cool.
 




 
The Dragonfly Maze was our last stop. We got a little stuck in one section of the maze which proved to be a little tricky- but once we got out of that we found the end and Henry was sad to be leaving for the day and Oliver tried really hard to cheer him up.
 

 
"Don't worry Henry, we can come back."

                                                        
                                                          "Oh really? That is great news!"


 
"Yes, that is what I just said, we can come back!"


                                                      "Ok, Olo, as long as you are with me"

 
"You're the best Olo. Smooch!"



                                                    "Let's sing our love for each other."
 
"You're the best Henry."
"No you're the best Olo."

 
All in all, it was a great day, said the Dad of all Dads.