England

We had a fantastic time last week visiting with my Brother's family in England. They have traveled to see us a few times, but it was the first time that we have traveled to see them. They showed us such a great time! While the "European Hurricane" remnants were working against us, we had a ton of luck because it seemed like every time we were out and about, the clouds totally disappeared and the sun even peaked out a little. It was actually kind of neat because we saw rainbows in the sky each day of our visit - definite luck!!

We were able to go to Liverpool and see where the Beatles first played. I was surprised at what a cool town Liverpool was - it is even a Unesco World Heritage site. We also went to Wales ( a definite highlight, because we probably would have never had the opportunity to visit that country). Bryan got to go to "Old Trafford" in Manchester ,to see where the soccer team Manchester United plays - definitely a highlight for him too! And then of course the traditional; Fish and Chips, driving on the wrong side of the road,  dinner at an English Pub, fiddling with pounds instead of euro, testing British Ales, trying out our English accents etc. One of our other highlights was kind of cute (O.K, maybe a little weird that it was a highlight).... We loved seeing my nephew in his school uniform. All students in England go to school dressed just like the kids in the Harry Potter Movies - absolutely adorable! England is Bailey's absolute favorite country - so she was especially fond of all of it too. It was a great visit and we already miss them!!!

Our gang :-)

The Beatles photo made out of jelly beans :-)

A street performer in Liverpool - it was hard to figure out how he did it... He was frozen in mid air :-)

Absolutely breaks your heart - this headstone was in a public park in Liverpool - they were all orphans who died so young from disease, back in the late 1800's. They died without a family :-(

My brother looking back - this was the entrance into the park...

Mia in front of the entrance to China town

Bailey heading up to the church - the crazy thing is... this church was bombed in WWII and the inside was completely destroyed, but the walls still stand.

Erik and Ali :-) - our great hosts!!!

English sweets :-) I've never seen so many candy stores in my life!!!

We enjoyed the seeing a few Halloween costumes :-)

Our family

We always get such a kick out of this - a "humped Zebra" in England means a speed bump/crosswalk)

Liverpool!

The Cavern Club on Matthew Street is where the Beatles first performed as a group - Very Cool!!!

Liverpool is a big ship town, and was one of the cities to pick up passengers on the Titanic before its tragic end.

This was really cool - it is one of the actual propellers from the Lusitania Ship that was destroyed by a German U -Boat in 1915. The significance of the attack triggered America's involvement in WWI.