Birthday in Wales

Not the baby's, to be clear. Mine.

We rented a car and took a four-day trip to Wales. We stayed in Swansea and visited Three Cliffs Bay and Rhossili beach. We also stopped at Margam Castle (and park) on our way there.

Andy very bravely driving our rental car. He did great!

 Margam Park

 Inside Margam Castle

 And outside

 I think this was an abbey

 Jane has really gotten braver with her climbing lately. She never used to attempt the wobbly things like this.

 Jane took some pictures at dinner. This place had good pizzas--we all had one. Jane's was gluten-free, of course. They didn't score quite as highly in our book when our breakfast the next morning took two hours all told.

 Another Jane shot

 Ice cream with freshly-made chocolate sauce just for her!

 The bay near our hotel (on what turned out to be the nicest day weather-wise)

 Is this a full English breakfast, or a full Welsh breakfast?

 This place was kind enough to let us bring in our own cereal for Jane.

 Sand dune at Three Cliffs Bay. I told Jane about Sleeping Bear Dunes and that we'd go there someday.

 Beautiful cliffs

 Jane being Supergirl while I drink my Frappuccino

Apologies, but things always get messed up when I upload pictures from our two different phones, so we'll be jumping around a bit.

I missed the Welcome to Wales sign, so I snapped this instead.

 You may not know that blackberries grow all over the place in the UK. We paid for parking at Margam Park, but I think I earned our money back with berries.

 A carving that has drumming slats and is cool.

 Being silly

 Seriously. You guys can't imagine it.

 Jane driving a model boat around

 Peekaboo!

 Margam Castle (and my family) at the top of the steps.

 Selfie. Welsh-fie?

 Stopping along the water after dinner the first night

 Yarrrrr

 The rocks had netting on them and Andy said how sad it was that they had to keep the rocks restrained like that.

 I wonder how long these stay looking so vivid with all the rain. This was at Mumbles Pier

 Piratitude

 There was a staircase down to the beach at Mumbles Pier where we saw some cool tide pools.

 And I found a quartz smiley face.

 Affogatos for us and gelato for her. Unfortunately we think it had some gluten in it.

 Rhossili. There were cool tall grassy features (I'm sure Andy could tell you what they were called. Were they just cliffs?) and then a long path down to the beach. It was too windy to stay up high for long.

 A shipwreck, the Helvetia

 The less-windy, better beach day at Three Cliffs

 Jane would go get a single scoop of water and bring it back to her bucket (which got farther as the tide went out). Efficiency was not her concern.

 Good weather for flying the kite

 A bit of sunshine!

 Not the best shot. "More poetry is needed."

 Jane wearing my glasses

 Back home :)

Fifteen weeks but who's counting?

I found some secondhand maternity clothes earlier this week and I am excited to have maternity PJ trousers. (Not to be confused with pants, which are what Brits call underwear.) I actually look pregnant now, not that anyone should be asking or assuming.

This is a loaf of gluten-free sourdough bread that we had last week. It was delicious. Picture for Wendy.

 A Gromit spotted on a boat.

 We went out for sushi last week when I had a craving. It's OK, UK sushi has to be frozen for 24 hours so the midwives gave me the go-ahead. Jane is trying a salmon roll! (She didn't like it. But she's been very good about trying new foods lately!)

 They are doing construction outside Andy's office. Quite close.

 Jane volunteered to be part of a live-or-die predator experiment.

 What would happen if you were all furry and white against the snow? Could a predator find you then?

 Jane's friend Victoria trying to hit her with a wet sponge.

 And the other way round

 I don't usually eat chips with mayonnaise. Just when I'm pregnant or on vacation. This shop, called Just Chips, made my dreams come true with Dutch-style cones and SO MUCH MAYO.

 Jane sharing a cuppa

 I attempted a pigs-in-a-blanket type meal with a gluten-free mix. It came out quite spiky instead of crescent-like, but we ate them all.

 Baby snail in the garden

 Jane made me a shavasana rest area for when I finished my prenatal yoga. She even washed some blueberries for me to have as a snack.

 She has told me that this is how five-year-olds use the swings.

 Kicking her football.

 Jane and Victoria after Jane's "mermaid" facepainting. I'm a little sad she's out of her go-to Batman or Spiderman paint choice. But it's cute.