Tintern Abbey in Wales

We left last Thursday at 6:00 AM to go to Wales for an overnight trip. Trying to get a family of 7 ready at 5:00 AM isn't easy. Somehow we managed and I was impressed actually. All the students were ready too! It helps that they serve breakfast and had everything ready for us to pack our lunches. We could never get out on time if they didn't.

Anyway, our first stop was Tintern Abbey. It dates back to the beginning of the middle ages and was added to until the mid 1500's. Even though it was in ruins, I thought it was beautiful. I even liked the fact that it was in ruins. We've seen so many Abbeys, but this one stands out in my mind.

Of course Daniel always makes things interesting for us. As usual he was running around. It had been raining and things were a muddy mess. Does anything else need to be said? Scott just said, "I'll take the camera."  I was surprised because Scott is usually the one to deal with the kid's messes. He's such a great husband and dad! This time Daniel was mine to clean up. He had thick, mushy, mud ALL over his left side. I was wondering why all the students were smiling at Daniel and looking at me. Scott was kind of mad, but I just laughed and took a picture. Then Scott and everyone laughed. The picture doesn't show very much. And wouldn't this be the trip that I only brought one pair of jeans for him to wear. (The pair he was wearing!) The grass was wet and we were able to wipe off his coat and hands. The jeans were toast. He wore his PJ's the rest of the trip. He fell in those too at another place, but not as bad.

Daniel before (With an attitude!)

After and covered in mud!