This morning we left Wales to head to see family in Ludlow. We took a slightly longer route so we could pass through Hay-on-Wye. The drive went smoothly except for having to wait for hoards of sheep to clear the road. I’m starting to realize why Shepherd is such a common name around these parts.

Millie woke up this morning asking for ice cream. Earlier this week we decided we needed some rules in place for when to have ice cream to prevent being asked about it every 3 minutes. Friday, today, was ice cream day. And she did not let us forget! So our first stop in Hay-on-Wye was ice cream. We parked the car and as if it had been placed there by a higher power just for us, there was Shepherd’s Parlor Ice Cream shop.

I had rum raisin, Millie had straccietella, and they even had dairy free ice cream for Nick. I felt very smug with my personally branded cone.

We walked around the adorable “town of books” where every other shop was a used book shop. Even the sheds were used book shops. We filled up on new-used bedtime stories.

We ate a picnic lunch outside of the castle.

And then attempted to find some kids to play with at a little playground. Unfortunately there were none. It’s been a few days since making a friend and I can feel Millie’s longing to play.

We drove on to Ludlow, where we are staying with my aunt Bryony. After catching up with her we walked over to my cousin’s house. On our way out Millie slammed her thumb in the car door. It immediately swelled up and she screamed for a while before calming down. It really looked painful and I hope it’s better tomorrow.

We spent the early evening having some champagne and growing in excitement for the big event tomorrow: the Shepherd family party.

We all stayed up way too late and Millie cried about the fact that the teenagers are all camping in the backyard and she’s not. On our walk home we tried to explain why staying in a warm cozy bed is better — it will be almost freezing tonight! We said things like “the bad thing about camping is it’s hard to sleep and then you’ll be tired tomorrow.” She said “the only bad thing about camping is when other people do it and you get left out.” My heart!