The sights of London

April 23, 2008Leaving in the morning for more adventures in London.
First and most important stop Hamley's toy store.
It is 7 stories of every toy you can possibly imagine.
It didn't take Sophie long to find her favorite section.
The store is very hands on and so the kids could really put the toys to the test. Westminster Abby. Big Ben!
Strolling through the park, Sophie gets a great view.

Trafalgar square was hopping with all sorts of people. People were loving the great weather and the excitment of the city.
Kids and water-it's hard to keep them apart. I guess with their rain gear on they feel pretty secure.
10 years ago when we were here it rained everyday and so hard that we couldn't keep our umbrellas from blowing upward. We have the greatest picture of Mark in front of this statue with his turned up umbrella-here he is 10 years later in the sun and no rain!Buckingham Palace

Do you think these legs have put in the miles? We seem to be good at wearing them out.
Logan-he was the model for this great statue.

Jesse-she always knows how to make things fun! She has taught Sophie many things this year including hand slapping games.

Annie at Buckingham Palace.
One of the most exciting parts of our experience is all the new friends we have made. The boys instantly had friends in London. They played football, capture the flag and everything else you can cram into an afternoon of fun.

This little boy's name is Patrick and he asked Mark with his darling British accent, "Are these your boys?" "yes" "Oh, I like them".

Saying goodbye to our new friends.
A little bit of heaven on earth!

We had such a great time with the Smith family and Andrea was such a great hostess. Thanks for making our time in London so memorable.

The boys are bigger than the car. We had such a hard time saying goodbye that we had a nail biting ride to the ferry. Mark put the pedal to the metal but we still missed it. We had to pay a 20 euro fee and wait an hour and a half for the next departure. We were just happy that there was another crossing that night.

London is Wicked

April 22, 2008

How lucky we felt to wake up to blue skies and the sun shining! As we were walking to the underground we passed this neat church.

These two pictures are the result of Logan and Sophie practicing their photo skills.

We went straight to the Tower of London where we spent the bulk of our day.
Logan was making sure we always knew where we were going and what we wanted to see next.

He was a great guide.

Dallas trying to see if he has what it takes to be a knight.

We got to see the guards march around the grounds and shout out their commands with their British accents. Our kids have their march down pretty good.

The Yeomen Warders or Beefeaters, wear my favorite uniforms at the Tower.
The Tower Bridge.
We couldn't stop saying this little phrase, now the kids say it on any public subway system we go on, just make sure you get the accent right. We couldn't believe it when Logan spotted Travis-He was right there in the underground. We aren't sure where he had been, but he looked like he had a good time.
We miss you Trav!
The famous phone booths of London.
We surprised the kids and bought tickets for Wicked before we left for London. We weren't going to tell them until we got there, but they were having such a great time in the beautiful communal garden behind Andrea's house that it was a little tricky to pull them away, so we told them and they ran in like lightning. They were hooping and hollering. Annie, Jesse in their seats. The man we sat next to didn't know anything about Wicked (hard to believe since we have the entire CD completely memorized), so we tried to fill him in a little but I'm not sure it worked because at intermission as we left to go to the restroom he said, "See you later, have a great trip!" We had to tell him it was only half over-the best was yet to come.
The girls thought that was hilarious.

The kids were completely mesmerized the whole time-they loved it. When I asked Logan if he would want to see it again he said, "Yes, like 100 times".

I must say it was totally Wicked!!

Thanks Mark for continuing to make my dreams come true.

London- Hampton Court

April 21, 2008

We packed up and left Wales for England, Our first stop was Hampton Court.

You can see it in the distance.

Our family in front of Hampton Court.

There are animal statues that line the main entrance, the kids each picked their favorite to have their picture taken by.

It seems like yesterday we were here for the 1st time-the journey that started it all.

The Tudor kitchens were the kids favorite part of the tour.

I am glad I don't have to cook in a big open fire every night.

We wish we had a brick oven to make all this good bread.

Walking through the alley into the courtyard of the palace.
The gardens were full of beautiful spring flowers.

It makes us feel like summer really may come. The kids were pros in the maze-they were able to guide us right to the center.

Now we have to find our way out of here.
One good lookin' guy- even at 42!
Here we are heading in to London, Mark did such a good job driving on the other side of the road, once we were inside the city it seemed a little more crazy to be on the "wrong" side.
We arrived at our friends the Smiths a little later than planned because of traffic but Andrea had Domino's pizza for the kids. They were pretty excited-we haven't had that in a while.

The Smiths have three children Charlotte, , & Christopher. Ours kids hit it off and had a great had a hard time going to sleep because they were having such a great time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

To the guy who never asks for anything but continues to give everything.

We love you!

Andrea was so great and supplied us with strawberries, chocolate and candles.