Goodbye Harold. Hellllloooo William!

Sooooo, our travels have been really really really subdued lately. I told you that my children have gained a love of staying at home since living as expats. For the first three years here we visited 5 countries each year. We are now 4 months into our fifth and where have we gone? Nowhere. Seriously. This has got to end. We are captive again, thanks to the UK Border Agency, but they can't keep us from exploring this island. 
I called our favorite travel companions, the R's (now 5 instead of 4...welcome Baby Eileen)+ Bubba (grandma equivalent for us...)and planned a quick overnight to Hastings. Where is Hastings and why is it significant, you might ask. 

From wiki: Hastings (pron.: /ˈheɪstɪŋz/) is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located 24 mi (39 km) east of the county town of Lewes and 53 mi (85 km) south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900.

MMMMMKay. That's boring. Here is the exciting bit. Just outside of Hastings is the town of Battle. Battle is the site of the famous fight between the Saxon King Harold and William the Conqueror. Guess what? William Conquered. Yay, Normans! (Hey, always side with the winner.)
The battle sight is actually just a hill and field. On the site an abbey was built by Will the C. to show off how awesome he is.

Highlights from the trip:

• Em jumping into the sea. Fully clothed. Wellies full of water. 

• Augi saying: "Aaaaw. Is this THE King Harold we are talking about? The one who conquered the vikings? The one who lost to the Normans? Gawd. Why do we always have to go places that I already learned about in school."

• Finn notifying other patrons that "There are no wales in there." [it was just a WELL]

• Eileen has a word, at just 3 weeks. It's "Waa." She actually says "Waa" when she cries.

• Free admission to the pirate caves thanks to the friendly ticket counter boy and my vexing stare. Then Chris throwing his $800 camera lense across the cave. So, a once free cave trip became a very expensive cave trip.  

First stop: The Abbey in Battle

 It is always important to stop for some clotted cream on a scone...mmmmm.

 Battle reenactment

 Soooo...this is where the "Battle" was. You come here often?

 Finn: "There's a whale down there?!" Evan: "No Finn, it's a well." Finn: "That's what I said! A whale is down there!"

 Em: "Ya, we saw the whale. It was huge." Finn: "How big was it?"

 Like all good parents, we let Emmett buy a spear for a souvenir.

 I could hold babies all. day. long.

 And I often convince Em that he is still my baby.

Second stop: Smuggler's Caves in Hastings

 Don't they make a cute couple? Watch your hand, dude.

 Add some purple and green lights to anything and it'll look spooky.

And last but not least: The Royal Pavilion in Brighton

Do you know about King George the IV? He liked to spend money, party, entertain the ladies, and eat! Some say he was mentally "instable". Meh. I say he was rich and wanted to live it up! If you don't want people to spend all your country's money, people, don't have a freakin' monarchy.

 In the tradition of all good tourist spots, no photography was allowed inside, there were swarms of tourists outside, and a fence in front of the building. Here is the outside of the magnificent palace:

And a drawing of George the Cooky.

What a fun time it was!