England

After hitting up Ireland and Scotland, we headed over to England for a week.  We stayed in York the first two nights and then were in London the rest.  Lots of stuff to see and do, and of course we didn't get even half of it done.  Just gives us more reasons to come back again!

 Buckingham Palace... just down the road from our hotel!

 Afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason's

 Drew & Lyndsey at Windsor Castle

 Stonehenge -- it was pretty awesome, and a beautiful day!

 The kids at Stonehenge

 Oldest pub in London... super cool. 

Definitely worth a visit!

 Pretty swan at Hampton Court

 And this is what I call the chicken-duck.

Seriously, look at its feet!  Long chicken feet with some flippers.

Weird, but I love them. 

Sister-Brother pic by Parliament

(we look a little tired... last day in London)

 My favorite pic of Drew ever.  For those of you that

know him, he is never this serious.  Love it.

 View from the River Thames...

 River Thames

A bossy sign in the bathroom stall.  

Give me a minute, and I'll wash my hands!  :)

Scotland, Rariden style...

We made it into Edinburgh really early in the morning.  Super early.  So needless to say, we were a little slow moving the first day.  The crew went on a Highland tour while I was supposed to be working on my dissertation.  That didn't happen on my end.  Whoops!  Then we went on a Lowland / Scottish boarder tour.  Drew and Dad got to go to a whiskey distillery, so they were happy boys.  I think that they all have fallen in love with Scotland and now understand why I love it so much.

 Mom & Dad at Elephant House

(where J.K. Rowling wrote some of Harry Potter)

 Hanging out with Greyfriar's Bobby

(if you touch him, it means you'll come back to Scotland)

 Lyndsey & Drew on our little wilderness walk

 Rosslyn Church (featured in Da Vinci Code)

 Ice cream!  As you can see, Drew is really happy.  He hearts ice cream.

 Melrose Abbey

 Dad & Mom at Melrose Abbey

 He made it!  A scotch whisky distillery!

 The men are happy...

More Ireland pics

So we have now moved through Ireland and Scotland, and are now in England for the week... so you can tell that I'm a little behind on updating the pictures! :)  I'll catch up someday, I promise!  We lucked out and have had some really beautiful weather in Ireland and Scotland... which can be hard to come by this time of year.  We're all having a really good time.  So glad that my Mom and Dad have finally made it out to the UK!  Woo-hoo!

 Drew & Lyndsey at the Cliffs of Moher

 Mom & Dad at the cliffs (I missed actually putting the cliffs

in the background.  Whoops!  Good job, Maureen.)

 O'Brien's Observatory at the Cliffs of Moher

 Lyndsey loves the Burren region!

 The Burren

 Mom & Dad at the Burren

Dunguaire Castle

Rariden family vacay - Ireland

I'm so happy!  Almost all of my family is out here for a UK/Ireland vacation.  I do wish Meredith was out here with us!  We are having a lot of fun, though.  :)  Here are some of the highlights from Ireland...

 everyone with Molly Malone...

 

 Mom & Dad at the Guinness Storehouse

 Our free pint of Guinness!

 Guinness!

 Dad is a 'certified' Jameson whiskey taster.

Enjoying some Irish tunes at Gogarty's in Temple Bar!

Weird advertisements...

I know that the UK is supposed to have a different humor than the US, but I honestly do not get this advertisement.  Does anyone understand it?  Also, this was in a women's bathroom, which disturbs me even more, and makes me more confused.

word bro...

This is my favorite graffiti that I've seen in Edinburgh so far.  I think that it's Jesus with chicken feet (?).  At least that's what I like to think... :)

graffiti

Gotta love this... Charlie Sheen is infiltrating EVERYWHERE!!!

Isle of Arran

So some friends and I decided to take a day off of dissertation writing to go on a day trip.  We headed out to the southwest coast and went to the Isle of Arran.  I will admit, if you do not have a car or a plan of what to do... there isn't really a ton to do there.  We just roamed around on the beaches for a little while and hopped on some buses to take us around the island.  We did get a few moments of nice sun, and I actually got a little sunburn.  Yes, a sunburn in Scotland.  I was as shocked as you!  Most of these pictures are just beaches/scenery... so nothing too exciting!