Today’s post is combined as I was just too spent last night to make it happen. When the sun came up yesterday, the first thing we did was explore the grounds here at Crayke Manor. We arrived the night before after dark , so we hadn’t been able to take in much of the scenery. I made a little virtual tour of the manor which you can check out here.

We had an hour before the local cafe was set to open for breakfast, so we turned left instead of right and quickly found some new friends. Two small horses greeted us with neighs but were disappointed to find we had empty hands instead of apples. Across from the horse pen was a small farm with fresh eggs for sale using an honor box for payments.

There were stables in the back of the farm house with a more majestic horse and an odd collection of Invacars, Britain’s 3-wheel solution to helping disabled citizens get around. The program existed in the 1970s as a government-sponsored aid to the disabled where they could get a 3-wheeled car for free. Rumor is they discontinued the program due to safety issues with the cars. Bright side though was if you did flip it over it was light enough you could flip it right back.

Throughout the day, Amir’s relatives began to arrive. Uncles, Aunties – cousins twice (maybe three times) removed. Amir was born in London and moved to the US at age 5, but with the exception of his nuclear family, all the other Brits are still here in England. When we got married almost 10 years ago, it was difficult and expensive for any of the relatives across the pond to make the trip. I met a few when Amir and I traveled to England in June 2014 after graduating medical school. That was nearly a decade ago.

Since everyone was arriving at different time on Friday, we were quite sure no one would want to be burdened with cooking. Amir found an amazing private Chef online – Shaun “The Cook in the North” – who drove three hours to the house and whipped us up 12 courses of Spanish tapas for all 15 of us. He comes to you with ingredients, kitchen tools, dishes and everything. He cooks, and almost most importantly cleans up, too. So you have NOTHING to do – except maybe decide red vs white.

Shaun – The Cook in the North

We sat 12 of us to a round table, outdoors, under a miraculously rain-free English sky. We passed dishes randomly at first, quickly realizing we needed to go clockwise to keep some semblance of sanity.

Shaun was still cleaning up the kitchen when I had to throw in the towel and head to bed… at 10pm I’d been up since 6am… I was exhausted and maybe a little tipsy. Our plans for the next morning were nebulous, but I knew I could count on the kids waking up from 6:30-7:30 at the latest.

Crayke Day 7

#1LittleSister let me sleep until 7:00 this morning. And by some stroke of travel luck, she’s been falling back asleep on my chest for another thirty minutes after I pull her from the crib.

I wasn’t brave enough to revisit the shower this morning. Yesterday when I took a shower I struggled to figure out which dials did what, and wasn’t even sure what I was seeing. When I initially turned the water on, a geyser shot up from the tub where the water should have been draining out. I was quite sure I’d wrecked the plumbing for the whole house. But it turns out I just had it in “douche” mode instead of shower, and that was exactly as it was supposed to be.

This afternoon we dropped Liza off in York to take some time off and explore. The rest of us headed to the York Birds of Prey Center. There we were up close with hawks, owls, eagles and falcons. Of course the skies opened up for the first time on our trip and drenched us. But we still caught some new sights and had a great outing.

Back at the house today we all relaxed, enjoyed some beer and wine, and geared up for a casual dinner. Michael made an amazing bolognese, accented by dessert by Linda. We were introduced to Colin the Caterpillar, which is apparently the standard cake/dessert that every English child grows up with.

Just before sitting down for dinner, the adults all enjoyed a champagne toast. Wine has been flowing freely tonight, so I’m quite sure Amir (my editor) will send me many edits in the morning. By all accounts this has been an amazing weekend reuniting and getting to know many relatives here in England. Tomorrow we are of to London for the week.

– Steph