White Cliffs at Dover

We recently had the opportunity to go on a retreat with our team leader and his wife to Dover. It was great to get out of Birmingham for a few days. The day we arrived we took a walk out on the Cliffs to look around. It was very windy and cold once we got to the top.

The Dubnicks at the White Cliffs of Dover

Kayla and Max on
top of the world!

View of the cliffs from our hotel.

Here we are trying not to blow away!

The next day we took a ferry over to France and
drove to Brugge, Belgium. As soon as we parked, it
started raining. It didn't just rain; it poured!

It was fun but it rained and rained and rained.
There was a very short break in the rain.
Just enough time to take a few pictures.

Kayla and Max in
City Centre Brugge.
It was a beautiful
city.

Kayla and Max did get to

enjoy a Belgian waffle!

We left Brugge a little earlier than we planned
because of all the rain. We had some time to
look around Calais, France before catching
the ferry back to Dover.

On the ferry ride back to Dover it was cloudy
but we did manage to get a few pictures of the Cliffs.

On the last day we visited Canterbury.
We toured the Canterbury Cathedral. We also visited a place called the Canterbury Tales where you could listen and see the stories.
Of course, it rained and rained and rained!

Weston Super Mare

Kayla's class at school has been learning about the seaside (beach). They wanted the kids to experience a traditional English seaside trip. So they planned a field trip to Weston Super Mare. It is a beach about 2 hours from our house. For the first time, it was open to parents. It's the first field trip I've been able to go on with the school. For security reasons, usually parents aren't asked to be chaperons. It was great to have the opportunity to spend some time with Kayla. I also had a great time connecting with some of the other parents. In true English fashion, it was cloudy, overcast and rained most of the day. There was about one hour without rain where Kayla got to spend some time on the beach and not in the shopping mall!

Kayla really enjoyed playing in the sand
and trying to build a sand castle. She also
collected a few seashells.

This was the strangest beach I've ever been to.
It was low tide so there was literally no water.
It's hard to tell in the picture but you could not see
where the water started. There were signs posted
about not running out too far because there is a
danger of quicksand. I checked the internet
when I got home and sure enough, during low tide
at this beach the water is 1 mile off shore!
Isn't that crazy! A beach with no water!

Spring Break Adventures

The kids were out of school for two weeks at Easter. We were busy with a team from the US the first week. During the second week we had some really nice weather. We decided to get outside as much as possible to enjoy it. We went to some local parks to ride bikes, play football (soccer) and throw Frisbees. We also visited the local Botanical Gardens. Here are a few pictures from our adventures.

Max or Evil Knievel?!

Kayla let Max choose her outfit for the day!

Let's play football (soccer)! People in England
are passionate about football! That's what
everyone does when they go to the local parks.

A peacock was walking around the

Botanical Gardens for everyone to enjoy.
The kids thought that was really neat.

Kayla didn't want to leave the peacock.
She was really fascinated.

It's always great to find a tree to climb.







King Max in the bamboo forest.



We do love each other!