England 2010

I am finally posting pictures from England. (If you put the cursor over the picture, there are captions.) We had a wonderful trip with Mark's parents. The primary reason for the trip was to see Mark's brother, Brent, compete in the Blackpool Ballroom Dance Competition, the oldest & most prestigious ballroom competition in the world. We also did some sightseeing in and around London. (We loved Oxford. Definitely skip Kensington Palace. It was awful to put it mildly!) But our unexpected favorite was doing family history in the Lake District. It was beautiful and we made some wonderful discoveries. The Gunsons lived within a few miles of St. Bees for over 150 years. It was exciting to see where they lived and to find so many of them still there!

Despite staying in some very TINY accommodations, we all got along well and had a lovely time. Paxton was an incredible traveler who made friends with everyone we met. The kids had a blast with their cousins and friends while we were gone. We can't wait to go again!




This video is our first hotel in London. So tiny! Mom & Dad were really good sports. Hopefully we made up for it a little bit later.


The view from the London Eye was impressive. Mom was not excited about going up, but she was brave and a very good sport.


There was a 10K through downtown London on Monday. Mark decided to run. He didn't make it in time to officially register, but that didn't stop him. Mom, Dad, Pax & I waited along the race, but we totally missed him. So sad!


Here is a clip of Brent and Amy dancing on the second day of competition. You'll have to come over to watch the video of the Formation Team competition as it is really long -- and will look much better on the big screen!



Haile Church was my favorite little church. So quaint and beautiful. Plus we found a lot of relatives there.



Our last day we made the long, beautiful drive through the Lake District to Windsor where we got to see the Castle from the outside. (We arrived too late to tour.) We had a lovely dinner on the Thames. A great ending to our fabulous trip.