Conference & Oxford

It wasn't long after we came back from that preaching assignment out west that we were headed back west again - this time to attend a conference with our church.

We were challenged with lots of good teaching, were encouraged in worship and time with friends, and enjoyed lots of family fun in between.

The girls loved the bouncy castle...

...not to be confused with the Mickey Mouse bouncy slide.

There was face painting...

... and MORE face painting!

There were lots of nice chats with friends around meals.

And there was a movie... Frozen, of course!

We traveled with some of friends we've gained at LTS - Alex (Robert's classmate), Lucy and boys, Finn & Henry. They're just great people - the kind of people you'd want to brave a long journey of long days and little kids with. Lucy, wife and mother extraordinare, made lunch for ALL of us EVERY single day... and she has a 2 year old and a 4 month old... I'll rest my case right there.

So after leaving the conference, we went to our increasingly favorite UK destination: Oxford. We braved a rainy day (I'm sure no courage was needed for our companion family - see paragraph above!) and enjoyed a morning at the Natural History Museum.

Finn had a special connection with this stuffed pony - we kept finding him here!

Then Lucy and her sister-in-law watched all of their children plus my two big girls so that Robert and I could get an insider's tour of Christ College, Oxford from Alex who was a student there. It was beautiful and interesting and fancy and I felt smarter just being on the campus :)

Alex & Robert with the campus and cathedral in the background

The Harry Potter dining room! And also the Christ College dining facility apparently...

We had such a wonderful time at the conference and in Oxford... partially for the content of the trip, but mainly for the company!