Cornwall; (Part Four)

This day (July 6th) was Johnny's birthday!  It was so fun being in Cornwall, with our friends for his big day.  To start off we visited beautiful St. Michael's Mount.

St. Michael's Mount was a Cornish counterpart of Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France (which shares many similarities).  It was given to the Benedictines, Religious order of Mont Saint-Michel, by Edward the Confessor in the 11th century.  It has also been featured in a variety of films, including the 1983 James Bond, and Dracula (it was the exterior of Dracula's castle).  Pretty cool!

Taking a boat out to it was especially fun (due to high tide, the walkway was covered).  And we finally got around to eating a tasty Cornish Pasty!

Our next destination was a surprise location for Johnny's birthday; Roskilly's Farm.  They make the tastiest ice cream there (which we've only tried in the carton and loved), and so I knew he'd be pleased to get his favorite flavor, from the actual farm.  Hazel also enjoyed driving their big tractor.

After that, was a quick pit stop to Pendennis Castle.  This castle was built between 1539-1545 for King Henry VIII.

Finally we had a delicious meal at a nearby restaurant, where our sneaky friends busted out a cake for Johnny.  That was oh-so sweet of them!

Happy birthday my love!!

The Olympics

Lucky Johnny got to enjoy three days in London working as a volunteer at the USA House.  During his off time he would stroll the streets, and eat yummy things.  In the evenings he'd check important people's badges.  

Highlights were unknowingly telling Ludacris to go through security, and taking pictures with the Silver Medalist for beach volleyball, April Ross; and former gymnast Gold Medalist, Shannon Miller, from the Magnificent 7.  Other olympians he met or saw included Jennifer Kessy, and a handful of olympians from water polo, boxing, shooting, and wrestling.

Lucky boy.

more weekend highlights

Johnny was able to see the olympic torch in Newmarket on Saturday while I was babysitting. Luckily he got there just in the nick of time to capture a quick phone pic of the man running.  Pretty exciting to be living where the olympics are this year.  Hopefully we'll be able to venture into London for some of the festivities.

Then I asked Johnny what kind of birthday cake he'd like, and without hesitation he said sticky toffee pudding.  For those of you that don't know about this delicacy, I highly recommend you making it too.  We discovered it here, because it's a British steamed dessert consisting of a very moist sponge cake made with dates, and then smothered in a toffee sauce.  Um, yum!

This was my first attempt, and it made for a pretty happy birthday boy.