Our First Visitor(s)

During the second week of school, we had our first visitor(s). Brian texted me Tuesday afternoon the Darren's flight was delayed and that he would be stuck in London for the night. Brian would pick him up from the airport afterwork and then he would be spending the night with us. I would give him a ride to the airport in the morning for his flight to Houston. This was just the thing I needed to get the guest room in order. It was the one room I hadn't unpacked and was still full of boxes and random stuff. I got everything cleaned out, the bed made, and bathroom ready before they got home in the evening. We had a nice time catching up and then headed off to bed. In the morning, Darren came with me to drop the boys off at school and then we went back home to relax a bit before heading to the airport. Thanks to my trusty Tom Tom we made it there in one piece and right on time. I got out of the car to say good-bye to Darren and when I went back around to the driver's side of the car, there was my best friend, Kristen!!! I was in complete shock. I had no idea she was coming! It was the BEST SURPRISE EVER!!! Darren put his suitcase back in the trunk along with Kristen's luggage. They were staying with us the whole weekend!!!

We headed back to our neck of the woods stopping for lunch at the Toby Carvery near the Asda. It was the first time I had ever been. It was like Thanksgiving dinner. There were four different types of meats and then a bunch of different sides and gravies. We then headed home to relax before going to pick up the boys from school. Both James and John were excited to see Aunt Kristen!! It was a surprise for them as well. They had really enjoyed seeing Darren the night before and were so happy to see Kristen as well.

Thursday morning we got up and went to a coffee morning at the home of one of John's classmates. It was so nice to meet some of the mothers and chat for longer than the brief hello during drop off and pick up. After that, we made the hour drive out to Stonehenge. It was crazy windy and super cold that morning. We didn't spend much time out at the monument because of the weather. We stopped in one of the little towns on our way home for lunch. Then it was home for late afternoon naps.

Brian took off work Friday so we could spend the day all together. After dropping the big boys off at school, we loaded up in the van and headed to Windsor castle. Again, it was cold, windy and rainy but we enjoyed a nice walk through the castle and lunch at a pub across the street. Thankfully it stopped raining just after lunch so we had a pleasant walk back to the parking garage. We headed home to rest up for our big London outing the next day.

Saturday morning we were up and out the door bright and early. We made the 30 minute drive down to the train station in Farnborough to catch our train into London. The boys had a great time on the 30 minute train ride into London. Again, it was cold and rainy and for some reason, incredibly crowded. The lines to get into places were crazy long. Instead we kind of did a walking tour of some of the major sights. We first walked to Big Ben and the houses of Parliament. Right next to that is Westminster Abby. Then we were off to Buckingham Palace. We arrive just before the changing of the guard which explained the huge crowds. We got some great photos and then started walking to Trafalgar Square. There was some sort of big bicycle ride going on so they had a lot of the square closed off to traffic. This allowed us to let Jonah down to run around for a bit. We boosted the boys up onto the monument and took photos with the lions. Then we walked just down the street to The Texas Embassy for dinner. This was the first place we ate in London when we took our backpacking trip to Europe back in 2001. The food was fairly good but a bit overpriced. It was quite nice to get out of the rain for a bit and rest our feet. After lunch we did a bit of shopping and then began our walk back to the train station. It was a bit far for our tired boys so we hopped on the Tube (underground subway) which made the trip back to Victoria station a lot faster. We arrived back home mid-afternoon and everyone took a nice long nap.

Early Sunday morning we said good-bye to our friends (thankfully there were no tears this time) and Brian drove them to the airport for their flight home. It was so wonderful to see them and I can't wait to see them again when their baby is born later this year.