Home Sweet Home!

First, a Happy Valentines Day to you all!  I'm thankful for the love from my Heavenly Father & the gracious ways He has shown earthly love to me through His goodness, family & friends.

To close out our Europe 2014 blog, we woke up at 5:30am London time Saturday morning (12:30am Memphis time) in order to be picked up for a ride to London Heathrow airport. After the long process of getting luggage checked & security checkpoints for our international flight, we grabbed a bite & exchanged pounds & Euros to US dollars.  I was very use to the Euros, & was trying to figure out the coin system of British pounds & pence when it was time to go back to our currency.  We boarded our flight for the 9 hour flight to Chicago. Our flight to the states was a longer, more miserable, may I say, flight than our overseas flight to Europe. It was an older aircraft, which makes a huge difference, & it was day time flying, so it was hard to rest, and uncomfortable.  But, that was okay.  We knew the time would go by & it did, & we're home now :).

You may remember from yesterday's London post a photo of our tour guide at Tower of London.  As we walked through the airport, we saw her picture saying Goodbye!  

Our ride from London to Chicago

The magazine had a feature article entitled "Three Perfect Days Bogota".

View of Greenland

Our view when we arrived in Chicago

After our layover, we got on a little plane from Chicago to Memphis

It was still snowing & so this is a picture from sitting on the plane watching it being de-iced.

Here we come at the Memphis terminal!

My parents, sister, & brother-in-law greeted us.  We were feeling tired & a little rough at this point, but glad to be back in Memphis!

Of course, our first stop was Chick-Fil-A before we came home!  It was delicious  We also spotted our car we sold the day before we left in the parking lot.  It was fun to see our friends inside who had purchased our car.

Some of Isabella's Jr. High friends surprised her at our house with signs.  It was a fun homecoming for her!

The next morning, Isabella made some British tea served on our London tray with her new Kate & William mug.

After being away from home for 6 weeks & in Europe for 5 weeks, it is good to be home.  We do miss our friends we spent the month with, but are excited about the next chapter for everyone.  We are encouraged & sincerely appreciate your prayers for us.  Thank you for reading & looking at hundreds of pictures along the way!   

London, part 2

We got off to a slower start on our 2nd day in London.  We had a late night at the play & Brook woke up sick, but thankfully, she felt better as the day went on.  The underground was working the 2nd day, so transportation was a lot faster!  We headed to the Tower of London first.

We had an overview tour of the Tower of London.  The girls were up front listening.  

I was here in this same spot both 1988 & 1999.  I would post those pictures for comparison, but they are in storage.  Maybe one day I can find them & post them again!

It was great having my girls with me this time.

We went to see the crown jewels, which were beautiful

Family photo in front of Tower Bridge

This hotel is where I met a baby girl in 1999 whose name was Isabella.  Our Isabella is named after that little baby :)

We have a precious neighbor who grew up in London near the Tower Bridge.  It was an honor to find the area where she grew up & think about her childhood there.

She lived on Wapping High St.

waiting on our tube ride

In case the background doesn't mean anything to you, look at the next photo.

Yes, that is William, Kate & baby George in front of the same steps.

This is the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's hospital where Prince William, Prince Harry, & now Prince George were all born.  It was fun to stand in that same spot!

Me & my 13 year old!

I grew up always liking Paddington Bear, who is a British bear.  Isabella's nursery was a Paddington theme.  It is only fitting her room was British & now she is a fan of the British!

Westminster Abbey

We went to a worship service there, which was a neat experience.  Of course, we loved sitting right in the area where William & Kate were married!  They actually prayed for the Royal family during the service.

Big Ben at night

The girls in front of the Eye of London

We rode in the Eye of London & that is Big Ben behind Brook.

It is a little hard to tell, but Buckingham Palace is in the background of Isabella.

And to close out London, I thank them for reminding me which way to look when I cross the street so I don't get hit since they drive on the opposite side of the road from America.

We enjoyed our 2 days in London & next stop was home!

London, part 1

We traveled via train from Brussels to London, which takes about 2 hours.  Once we arrived, it was a little chaotic getting to our hotel.  We found out there was a tube (nickname for their underground subway system) strike.  It took a while, and as you know, we had a lot of luggage to transport as well. About an hour later, we found a van taxi to drive us to our hotel.

In the taxi 

Original London telephone booth!

First view of Buckingham Palace

There she is with the balcony where William & Kate stood on their wedding day in the background.

Changing of the guards

Isabella at Westminster Abbey

Avery & the girls in front of the Abbey.  It was cold, rainy & windy our first day in London.

Big Ben

Trafalgar Square

Picadilly Circus

Mind the Gap

...the saying you hear while riding the tube

Delicious Fish & Chips

Since the tube was on strike our first day, we rode around in the rain on a double decker bus.  This photo was taken from the front row on top.

On the bus

No vacation would be complete without a visit to the wax museum.  I've said it here before, but the girls really enjoy these.  I'll only post royal pictures though to try to keep with our London Royal theme!

Isabella thanks you for Diana for having William!

And here is the rest of William's family

Isabella & the Queen!

And with the Duke & Duchess

The second royal family....One Direction

This was the first time we've seen them in a wax museum.

Les Mes is playing in London

We surprised the girls with tickets for Thursday nights show 1 hour before show time!

It was all great with incredible talent.  Intermission wasn't too bad either.  We were sitting on the 3rd row eating ice cream!

Tomorrow will be pictures from day 2, our final day in London.