at the end of may, (the twins and) i went on a little getaway to the english countryside with three of my best friends.

we stayed at the most amazing airbnb that jess found. it was a cozy little apartment that was part of a magnificent countryside manor. we got in late the first night, and august and eve woke up really early the next morning. my friends were able to sleep in without their kids and were still snoozing (yay!) even after i put the babies to sleep for a morning nap! so i went on a little walk around the grounds, which were stunning.

once everyone was up and at ’em, we went to the darling little town of ludlow.

we found this super cute bakery and enjoyed some yummy pastries, and then wandered around the village streets and the saturday market in the main square.

we went back to the candy stand a few times, haha.

we found shelter from rain in the beautiful village church:

and then the sun came out again!

we went to this viewpoint overlooking the shropshire hills – it was sensational!

if you look really closely in the picture below, you can see jess and drew!

then we went for a little hike.

jess kindly strapped august on and i wore eve. we had a great time without the other ten children between us, but also kept remarking on how much those kiddos would love playing around on this trail 🙂

check out the incredible roots of this tree! // nina was almost full-term pregnant on this trip and got a hand on a few tricky spots on the trail 🙂

the hike claimed that it led to a waterfall known as “the niagara of england.” as americans that have seen the real niagara and lots of other very big waterfalls in our home country, we were very amused by the size of the cascade we found. we googled it to make sure this was actually “the niagara of england” and realised it was!

this photo is random but i love that it captures us doing something we did really often on this trip – laughing! we couldn’t stop giggling about how puny that waterfall was, haha.

we drove past super expansive rapeseed fields…

…found some dinner and had a little belated birthday party for jess in our airbnb.

the next morning we hung out on the grounds together… there was even a tennis court and we had fun attempting to play tennis.

and then we packed up to head back to london, stopping in a cute town to get a full english breakfast, and at some lovely church ruins on the way home.

my friends were so sweet the whole trip to help me take care of my babies.

the best parts of this trip i don’t have pictures of: lots of talking deep and connecting and true friendship. i will forever be grateful for these london friends, the experiences we’ve leaned on each other through, and the sisterhood we share.