Going to the UK and Ireland

… Shari and I, that is.

What? Really?! Yes, really.

Let’s go back a few years. When we first got married (and what a cool day that was!), we decided that someday, somehow, we would like to take a trip to the UK and Ireland.

So we’ve saved and saved and saved. You know, I get a little money for my birthday, and I set some/all of it aside for this future trip. And so we saved and waited and waited and saved.

Fast forward almost 15 years. We finally decided that we would go, for our 15th anniversary (which technically is in April 2012). You see, it’s a lot cheaper and easier for us to fly from Canada, so the timing was right.

In addition, I could count on one hand the number of overnight times we’ve had without our kids in the last 10 years. Yes, ok, we need to do better trying to get time together as a couple. And we’ll work on that. But it’s a challenge for us for various reasons.

So we decided to take our holiday time and spend time as a couple, specifically.

The original idea was mine. I wanted to go and see some of the places where my family came from (I’m only a second generation Canadian born Canadian on one side). So we’re going to see three of those places, including a place where the Cottrills have probably lived for at least 1000 years.

We’ll also have time to see some of the normal tourist sites (particularly in London). And, for those of you who know my interest in the origins of the Bible, you’ll be interested to know that we’ll be (Lord willing) seeing P52 – the St. John’s Fragment (one of the oldest fragments of the New Testament in existence today).

So, the kids will enjoy some (very) rare time with grandparents, and we’ll enjoy some time together alone. (Well, alone with the 67,435,803 people of the UK and Ireland)

I won’t be blogging, but we may have the occasional update on Facebook and Twitter (mine will also post here at the blog once a week), and I’ll try to eventually get some photos up after we get back.

Also, while we’re gone, I’m going to do something a little different here on the blog. I’ll be posting links to some blog posts from the past few months – highlights, that might interest you for one reason or another. I’ll post one each day (except on Sundays). Just a link, the date, and a few words to explain why you might be interested.

So, enjoy! And I’ll be back sometime in the last half of September with new posts.