An iconic canal in Copenhagen
It has been quite a busy three weeks in the Renton household. We drove to Iowa over two weeks ago right after the kids finished camp on Friday afternoon. Well, we actually spent the night in Kearney, Nebraska on our way. Then I was in Iowa less than a day because on Sunday morning I flew out to Copenhagen where I was attending a conference. I was there for three days and then flew to England where I met up with Marcy.
Near the summit of Mt Snowdon, the tallest mountain in Wales
She flew out of Iowa on Tuesday and met up with me in Cambridge on Wednesday night. I had a conference at the University of Cambridge and we had a dinner there and then a conference on Thursday. On Thursday night we drove to Wales where we stayed at a B&B for a couple of nights. We hiked around the coast of Wales on Friday and then on Saturday we climbed Mt Snowdon, the tallest mountain in Wales at 3,400 feet. Given that you start the hike from close to sea level it was quite a challenging day.
Marcy outside Buckingham Palace in London
After the hike we drove to London where we stayed right near Trafalgar Square for a couple of nights. Sunday we wandered all over London, visiting many of the major sights. We took in Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge, Tower of London and we walked along the Thames for most of the afternoon. It was an unusually beautiful day in London, warm and sunny so we made the most of it.
Near Tower Bridge
Monday morning we flew back to Des Moines to rejoin the kids. While they had had a great time with their grandparents and cousins they were really happy to see us. The weather was warm so we spent a lot of time in the backyard by the pool as we normally do and the kids staged a serious water balloon fight one day.
A cousins water balloon fight
I played some golf with Nathan on July 4 we had some sparklers in the backyard then we went and saw some of the local fireworks. On our last full day Baba and Grandpa took all five grandkids to Perkins for breakfast. This is a treat for Jude and Anna as they are order “Rainbow Pancakes” which is basically pancakes with whipped cream and sprinkles.
The kids love to go to Perkins for breakfast, look at those pancakes!
It was over all too quickly and on Thursday we were driving back home. After so much time away we had a pretty low key weekend here. We spent a lot of time at home but today we did venture up to the mountains for a hike which was fun. And this afternoon we all went to the local putt putt for some golf.
Hiking near Conifer, a solid 4+ mile hike