Day 4!

This morning started off a little earlier than I would have liked. Liam was up at 5:30, which then woke Callum up at 5:32. At 6am, Callum told me that he was going back to bed, but instead, went and woke his sister up. Thankfully, at 6am, cartoons started and I was able to keep them some what quiet, so as not to wake my in-laws:0)

Alex went up to London today with my in-laws to collect money to go towards the training of seeing eye dogs. She was good as gold and had a great time!! That left me and the boys for a fun day! We ended up walking up to the Broadway, (the shops) Callum did great. It is quite a ways, but he walked the whole thing and not once complained. I treated them to McDonald's for lunch, which they really enjoyed, prob. b/c they never get it, and then we just walked around. Quite a few shops have closed in the last few years. Sorry Gareth, but right now, the Charlton shop up the Broadway is closed.

The boys wanted very much to catch a doubledecker bus back from the shops. They behaved so well, that i wasn't about to tell them no, I just had to figure out which one would take us where we needed to go. I was told to take the B15, but I didn't see any of those. After a while, I bit the bullet and asked an off duty bus driver. He pointed me to a different bus, and although it didn't take me where I intended originally, I still got us home safe and sound. Unfort. Liam fell asleep right before we got on the bus, so he missed out and I coudn't take Callum to the top of the bus b/c I would have had to carry the whole stroller with Liam asleep in it. Oh, well. there is plenty of time to do it again:0)

The evening consisted of the kids playing in the back yard, and with some kids from down the road. They had a great time. Everyone went off to bed pretty well tonight. I am praying for a full night of sleep. We were going to head to see the kids Great-grandmother tomorrow, but she is quite ill at the moment with the stomach bug. She just turned 94, so please say some prayers that she gets her strength back quickly!!! Hopefully, we will be able to see her some time next week!!!

Day 3!!

Last night wasn't fun!! I got the kids off to bed around 8. We did have a surprise visit from D and E, which are my brother n law and his wife. That was fun, and really nice. It was the after's that wasn't fun!!! Anyway, the kids were asleep, so I got to visit for a little bit. Around 10, the kids started to wake up. I ended up being up with them until after 2 am. I think that maybe their little bodies just thought that they needed a nap. They were WIDE awake. Eventually, we all got back to sleep at around 2:30, in my mother n laws front room, (big slumber party), and we did so without waking my in-laws up...thank goodness.

This morning, I woke everyone up pretty early. We had a nice breakfast then headed up to London on the train. We spent the day at Crystal Palace Park. It was a beautiful day today. 65 and sunny. I have realized that i didn't pack enough warm clothes for the kids, but they aren't really complaining. Anyway, Crystal Palace Park has life size dinosaurs all over it! The kids thought that was great. We had a picnic lunch, and then let them play for a while as we waited for the petting zoo to open. The kids loved that too, Although Liam was frightened of the pigs!! We ended the afternoon with an ice cream and then headed back to the train for our trip home. Did I mention that this was during rush hour, with two very sleepy boys that I was trying to keep awake? Other than poor Callum having a horrible melt down, that i will blame on jet lag, we had a wonderful day!! We came home, had dinner and i did some school work with the kids. Alex did explain to me on several occasions that it is summer, and she didn't feel that she should have to do school work, but that didn't stop me:0) We should have nice weather again tomorrow, but the weekend isn't looking so good!! Hope everyone is having a great week!! I wish that I could post pics, but I don't have my camera cord!! Sorry!!

Day 2!

Believe it or not, we all slept until about 11am this morning. It was much needed. We had breakfast and then played in the back garden for a while. We made a picnic lunch and planned on going to Danson Park, and wouldn't you know it.....it started to rain. We ended up having a picnic lunch on a blanket in the front room:0) After the rain ended, we headed out to the park. The kids had a great time!! After about an hour and a half of playing, we went to feed the ducks. On the way back, we got absolutely drenched due to a down pour!! We sat out the rain under a huge tree, but the damage was done. Once the rain stopped, we headed home over a "train bridge". The kids waved to the driver and he honked his horn Very loud. I think that we will end up taking that route a lot. Alex is now in the middle of her first knitting lesson with nanny. They decided to knit a sweater for charlie. I am taking a break from playing cars with the boys. It is almost their bed time and then Mum, Joe and I are going to have a take away!! (Indian I think, yum!!) I hope by tomorrow, we will be on the right time. The kids have done GREAT considering!!! Have a great night!!!

We arrived safely!!

We made it! After almost an hour delay, we boarded the plane and headed out on our trip. The kids were great on the plane. They had a few melt down moments, but that is to be expected on such a long journey. We made it through immigration and customs just fine, and all of our luggage arrived. (whoo hoo) The kids made t-shirts a few weeks back to wear today, so we put those on and went to meet my in-laws. Today is my father n laws b-day, so when we met them at the airport, they were greeted with ;happy birthday grandad; shirts. He was thrilled.
We took the tube to the train on the way to their house, seeing all of the wonderful London sights on the way. We arrived at their house about 12:30. The kids went strong all day. They each had at least 4 hours of sleep on the plane, so all day, we waited for melt down. It never came. We made Joe a b-day cake for dessert after dinner. Liam did fall asleep around 6:30 while we were sitting at the dinner table. Alex and Callum are both now out. It is 8:45 our time and I am starting to settle a little. I did attempt to take a nap today, but in the 45 minutes that I layed down, Callum came in about 4 times to tell me something and then we had a horrible thunder/hail storm. So, we just figured that I am on about 32 hours with no sleep:0) (That's my excuse if this post is a little out of sorts) I hate to admit that I have gotten a little bit of a second wind at the moment.

The plan for tonight is to get a good night sleep, and then tomorrow, just take it easy. We may go to the park and the kids will prob. play in the back garden. We are so excited and glad to be here. Thanks for following along and I hope that you are all having a great summer!!

This time tomorrow......

This time tomorrow, we (all but Gareth) will be on a plane headed to England for the rest of the summer. I am so excited. I think that I have done everything that needs to be done. If not, then it is a little too late now:0) I am trying to wind down now to make an early night of it, knowing that I won't get any sleep tomorrow night. I am used to being up until 2am every night, so I am not worried on that end. I do hope the kids behave on the plane. If not, "oh well", (right kelley?) Not much I can do about it:0)

Please pray that we have a safe and uneventful trip. Also for the time we will be spending there. Pray for Gareth back home. I will try to post and keep updates going. I don't think I will be able to post pics, but I should be able to blog!!

And as we say when we go on a road trip,

Let's Roll........

Happy 4th of July!!

I hope that everyone had a great Independence Day!!! We had a good day. We (or I) spent most of the morning getting packed. We then spent the afternoon and evening at our annual picnic hosted by our friend K and M. Thanks guys for having us over again this year!! They kids went swimming, and then we all went for fireworks. Here are a few pics from the day! It was a lovely day spent with lots of friends!!

Family Reunion

Had to post this one!! Too cute!
Family!
Me with my cousin on his bike!


Last weekend, we went to PA for a family reunion. We realized driving up that we hadn't been to the farm in 12 years. Boy how time flies. I have posted some pics. Not sure if they will be in order or not. We had a great time. The kids camped out with Gareth. I, spoiled self that I am, slept inside:0) We had chickens cooked on the open fire. We all took turns on the 4 wheeler, my cousin took me out on his bike, and we just hung out. I think there was about 50 of us there for the chicken roast. We had such a wonderful time and I really hope that it will become a yearly tradition!!