Oh, just a little dream trip.

Brad's field of study has an annual meeting in Chicago (the North American Patristics Society: NAPS), except for every fourth year when they go international and meet at Oxford with the world's Patristics scholars (yes, this is a thing). This year was just such a year, and Brad had a paper accepted! So, we begged our parents to keep our children, and he and I got to take the trip of my dreams. 

Literal, actual dreams.

We planned it out so that we went touristing together for a week prior to the conference, I left for home (to pack for our fall semester move), and Brad remained for the 5-day conference. We had about 7 days and all of the UK at our disposal! It was a tad difficult to narrow down what we wanted to do/where we wanted to go (spoiler: we will need to make many a return trip in order to do all the things that didn't make the cut. Plus redo all of the things that we loved from this trip. It's going to be a lot of trips, y'all). 

The itinerary we landed on:
Fly to Edinburgh and spend 3 days.
Fly to London for 2 days.
Train to Oxford for 2 days.

!!!
Perfect. 

Perfect because I'm an anglophile and history lover and general traveler AND because we've discovered that it's vitally important to our marriage to have a few days about once a year during which we are child-free and can just talk with each other. It's SO NICE to be reminded of how much we like each other. That sounds funny, I know, but I mean it in all seriousness. We're in the "little" days, which are physically and emotionally demanding, so time just to talk is hard to come by. We know our parents all get this and value it for us, and for that, we're very grateful.

So, we shipped the girls off the Tennessee (they were later returned to Durham, where my parents took over) and began our trip! I didn't even know what to do with myself the morning we left: there was no crazy rushing around or searching for invaluable lovies. I felt like I was forgetting something every time I turned around!

Just wanted some documentation that when I'm not packing the children up for travel, I can pack quite light: backpack + underseater! Note: Brad ended up packing in a midsize suitcase that we checked. He needed touristy/sightseeing clothes for the first part of our trip and then needed dress clothes for the conference.

Waiting at our gate in Durham

Super cute reading nook at the Philly airport

Trying to get more pictures of the two of us. We have shockingly few these days.

A not-so-fun fact: I wore a pair of shoes for our trip that I have worn for at least three years. They are well broken-in. And yet, somehow, walking around the PHL airport gave me the WORST blisters. That story to be continued in Edinburgh...

Claire's Adventures in Alabama + Kat Comes to Town

At the end of July, Claire got to visit Alabama for a solo adventure with Nana and Poppy, and the rest of us got to have a fun visit with Kat in North Carolina!

Mom and Dad invited Claire to Alabama for a fun week at a traveling WinShape camp, along with my cousin's daughter. Mom flew up to Durham and spent a few days with us before flying back to Alabama with Claire.

Everyone cooperating!!

But this is more realistic.

Claire arrived! (North Alabama is full of rocket paraphernalia.)

Ice cream (and Rosie's) almost as soon as arriving in-state.

Our friend Laura Kay arrived back in Alabama after teaching in Ethiopia for four years around the time that Claire also arrived. Unfortunately, LK's brother was in a car accident while she was traveling back to the US. Claire, along with Mom and Dad, spent quite a bit of time hanging with LK and her family at the hospital.

And sometimes at restaurants.

Visiting with Mrs. Melson at the Brighton store

Crafting with the cousins

Ready for the first day of camp!

And while checking in, Claire met my 7th grade English teach who was dropping off her granddaughter!

Matching jammies

Nana and Poppy do all the fun things

More camp!

It was a big week for a little girl, but she had a great visit overall!

Meanwhile, in North Carolina...

Lily and Brad went to movie night at church!

And Kat came to visit! She met Brynnie for the first time.

A local popsicle shop sells these itty bitty baby pops for littles, and Brynnie was living her BEST LIFE.

Locopops has this fun play area, too.

One of the best pictures we've ever gotten together, I'm absolutely certain.

Brynn definitely took to her new friend, Miss Kitty.

Hanging out at the airport observation deck!

And later at Costco!

Kindreds.

Brynn began playing dress up during Kat's visit. It was hilarious.

July was a fun month for trips and visits, it seems! Claire was sad to miss getting to hang with Kat, so we'll have to remedy that sometime. So many thanks to Nana and Poppy for a week at camp and to Kat for finding time to come visit! We love you all.