D Has A Birthday

Yesterday was a very special day -- D's birthday, so we let her be in charge of how she wanted to spend her day. So off we went to explore Penzance and the ocean and had a nice walk about the town. Mamma and Daddy P and Little P spent the morning touring around St. Ives and then met up with us at St. Michael's Mount and we all had a wonderfully glorious afternoon together. Meg and Sir IF couldn't have been happier.

St. Michael's Mount is near the south-west coast of Cornwall. It is an amazing castle that was built in the 1200s and is currently in use today with a family still living it. What makes it so incredibly amazing is it is built on an island that you have to access by way of walking across the ocean, when the tide is out, or taking a boat while the tide is in. Due to the time we were there, we had to opt for the boat route. The views getting to the castle, and then from the castle heights, are absolutely incredible. It was also really interesting to see the tide go out and the boat captain paddling away to get his passengers out on the last boat of the day. 

The birthday girl and her favourite niece and brother!

Sir IF out on a ledge!

This is a model of St. Michael's Mount made by the butler of the castle. 

Mamma and Daddy P

The easy part of the hike.

Mamma shares too!

When you get to the island you get to hike up yet another very steep cobblestone-covered walkway up to the castle. Such a great sense of accomplishment we would all get being able to climb to this peak. Meg in particular was pleased that she seemed to have her hiking legs back after a pretty exhausting hike up Tintagel (which she is now attributing to the time-change adaptations which she is totally over now). We got to explore all of the inside of the castle and saw an incredibly beautiful chapel with stunning stained glass windows. The dining room had one of the largest tables we have ever seen. Little P loved running around all of the open spaces outdoors and her particularly favourite site was the cannon which she could sit on. 

This was a great trip with a little one in tow as there were so many different activities included in the outing. 

Back at our home for the week we settled in for a lovely dinner cooked up by Mamma and Daddy P along with a gluten-free chocolate cake that was only enhanced by the dulcet tones of our version of Happy Birthday D!