University town

Wednesday the kids finally finished their current school year and were let out for summer, in an attempt to keep them somewhat stimulated throughout this break I came up with a list of things to do with them. I wanted to come up with things that would hopefully entertain them but not be too painful for me to be involved, and as my daughter was given several homework assignments and they are going to learn a little more about the work I do around the house as I am getting a little tired of the 'What DO you do all day' question, not too time consuming. I thought it might be fun to show off the efforts of these activities as they are completed, or at least the ones that go well. Thursday we made microwave chips, and although our first attempt were tasty we agreed some tweaks needed to be made and then next day I applied the changes and the results were very nice.

Returning to a Pinterest recipe for Fridays stimulation, we tried a homemade chocolate sauce recipe. Both the kids were anxious to try this one and to sample the fruits of their labor. Which is why it was tried in milk and on ice cream, both which we enjoyed, luckily as the recipe made more than I would have expected so we will be having that for pudding and nothing else.

Having heard much about its beauty and many offerings too look at and explore I was happy to spend Saturday exploring Oxford. The home of 34 individual universities all within very close proximity, that make up the Oxford university, it is a beautiful city of learning. 

Very compact and heavily populated they encourage you to park outside the city and take a bus into the center of town. This weekend was also graduation ceremony time and the streets were spilling over with accomplished students and proud families attempting to get the perfect photo op and shower congratulations. I admit I wished I was wearing the long gown with fur trimmed collars standing with my scroll in front of the historic building as it was very easy to get caught up in the excitement that was palpable in the air. As so many people opt to not bring their cars into the city Oxford becomes a very walkable place to be. The campus's are not only close together but are also interspersed with shopping and restaurants making it very easy to imagine living the student life there.

It is a city full of libraries, bookstore, beautiful architecture, and galleries and so made you feel somewhat intelligent just by walking around its maze like street systems, as if the walls themselves can teach you. As so many of the buildings have been standing for hundreds of years there is a distinct possibility that these particular structures could in fact teach me more than one thing. Despite the threat of rain that hung over us ominously all day, most green spaces were filled with people soaking up the vibe of the place with artists drawing and singers singing, adding to the development of self this place seems to create. Crowded, noisy, and for me easy to misplace myself but still a place I will encourage my children to someday attend, enjoy and grow from being in.