London 2012

We've been in Belgium just over four months and already gone on some awesome trips.  But, we hadn't yet gone to any of the big and popular European cities (i.e. Paris, London, and Rome.)  But this past weekend, we finally made our way north to London.  We rode in style on the Eurostar.  This is a fabulous train to travel on, but it is ridiculously expensive...even when you book early.  I thought train travel in Europe was cheap???  Anyway, we were excited to see the Kirschenmanns again.  You remember them from our travels to Scotland.  And here is our weekend adventure together in London....

We weren't in Kings Cross Station five minutes and already at Harry Potter's Platform 9 3/4.  Yes, I was even more excited than the kids!!

You wouldn't be tourists if you didn't pretend to be pushing your cart through the wall. :)

Since we arrived in London after 9:00 P.M., it was a quick check in at the hotel and off to bed.  We had a busy day ahead on Saturday.

Our first stop was Buckingham Palace.

and of course, Buckingham Fountain.

The palace was beautiful!!!!

The promenade...remember how packed this was for William and Kate' s wedding!

Thomas' new thing....you have to do the jump. 

Off to Westminster Abbey...this is where Kate and William were married.  Allison and I went inside.  It was very crowded, and unfortunately, you couldn't take pictures.  But, I stood at the beginning of that aisle with goosebumps because I was standing where Kate did.  It was so cool!! 

This is the gate where she got out of the car and looked absolutely STUNNING!

After a stroll around Big Ben (a quick one because it was raining), we headed to the London Eye.   This mega ferris wheel moves 26cm per second, so in all it takes about 30 minutes to make your way around.    The views were beautiful!

Thomas on the Eye.

Lovely....wishing it had been a sunny day.

Next up was Trafalgar Square.  You know,  this is the one that is famous for all of the pigeons.  But even the pigeons didn't want to deal with this rainy weather.  I think we only saw four of them. 

Olympic countdown!

One of my favorites of the weekend.

Well, we are traveling with children, so you have to make it fun for them too.  So, we stopped at M&M World.  And of course, they loved it!

Thomas got a stuffed M&M like this.  He is so cute!

Two very cool tourists. :)

We were walking through Piccadilly Circus and noticed a very large number of young men dressed alike.  We found out they were promoting the opening of Hollister (which doesn't open until May 12.)  

They were more than willing to take pictures with tourists, and this young lady was VERY red in the face.  One of the models was even from Peoria.  What a small world!

You can't go to London without stopping at Hamleys Toy Store.  And, here are the kids with the Lego Royal Family!

God Save the Lego Queen!

Thomas and Kolin racing up the escalators in the Tube.  Crazies! :)

The memorial for Diana and Dodi in Harrods.  Her ring from Dodi was under that chalice.  Oh, it was just a tiny little thing.  Ha!  What a stunner! 

After Harrods, it was off to dinner and then off to bed.  It was a busy day.  Stay tuned for day 2 of our trip.  There's plenty of drama to report, but we also saw some really amazing sites.

Until next time,

Wendy

Our (Almost) National Television Debut

Our friends Danny and Mackenzie, who are also expats, finished filming an episode for House Hunters International a few weeks ago.  Mackenzie is a Houston area photographer, and her business and photography skills were going to be showcased on the episode.  She kindly asked if the four of us would be the family she was photographing on the show.  Um.. YES...I love that show!  As it goes here in Belgium, it was POURING rain.  And, we needed to do the filming outside.  So, we were cut from our official TV debut. :(  There was an opportunity to film the following day, but with Thomas' busy social schedule, he was booked for the whole day.  And, it is bad enough to drag my husband to one photography shoot...let alone back to back shoots.  Oh well, we'll just see what's in store for us in the future.  There's a new show on HGTV about the lives of expats.  Maybe we'll find ourselves on there.  Chris prays that will never happen. :)

Since we were all dressed up with nowhere to go, Mackenzie snapped some indoor shots of us.  

Love this girl!  She is such a beautiful, young lady.

So handsome...and now you know why he desperately needed to get in for a haircut.

I don't think there is a shot that has captured him better.  This is my son for sure!

Thank you Mackenzie for the precious keepsakes.  Be sure to check out her blog at www.chubbyfoot.com.  They have done some amazing travels since they arrived in December.

Until next time,
Wendy

Our First Overnight Visitors!

Tuesday morning started like any other morning in preparation for visitors.  I was running around and getting things all situated when Chris told me he was going for a run (11:00).  I'm not saying he wasn't being helpful.  He just wanted to squeeze a run in on his day off.  So, I wanted to leave by 12:15 for the train station to pick up our guests.  This would allow us more than enough time before their 1:39 train to get parked and deal with traffic if needed.  It was a 45 minute run....or so it was supposed to be.  At 12:00 (nearing departure time), I was very upset at Chris' irresponsibility.  How could he be late? I was very clear about when we were leaving, and of course he would need a shower.  At 12:15, I was beyond annoyed but knew we would still be okay time wise.  By 12:45, I was panicked!  I drove around town, twice, looking for him.  At 1:20, I called emergency.  I guess it would ease my mind if an ambulance had not been dispatched in the last two hours.  Just as I was going to tell my story to the operator, Chris rounded the corner.  What a relief!!!  He thought he would head back through the forest, which is a much more scenic route, but that turned out to be a big mistake.  So at almost 2.5 hours and 12+ miles later, he was home safe and sound.  And, we were only about 30 minutes late picking up the Wyse-Fisher family!

Dustin, Tiffany, the boys, and baby live in Northern Ireland, but they are friends from our church in Morton.  It was so much fun having them stop by on their vacation.  First stop was the Grand Place.  You have to rub the gold lady for good luck.  I still struggle with whether or not it is even a lady???  But, rub we did!

We had to go back for these two to do it also.  Sometimes they forget they aren't tourists anymore. ;)

Strolling through the streets of Brussels en route to Mannequin Pis.

After a quick look at Mannequin Pis...you only need a quick look....we just had to have waffles!  We would be terrible hosts if we didn't introduce our guests to the greatest food group in Beligum.

Whoops!  Chris was wearing his waffle.

Look at that happy face!

Family pic....Liam is snoozing down there. :)

Updated picture...my own kids haven't been down here since the week we moved to Belgium.

St. Michael's Cathedral ~ This was new to our family too!

Next up ~ Cinquantenaire Park!  It was a gorgeous day.  It gave a very false impression of real life in Belgium to our guests. :)

Family pics!

Horsey rides...and falls

It was a holiday, so the WWII museum was closed.  Good thing I looked that up ahead of time, or I would have been very disappointed upon arrival.  At least we could see the very cool planes through the window.

Ho Hum....this traveling thing is exhausting!

I missed the good splashing.  :)

I wonder what they are talking about?

Instant buddies

More yummy snacks...The four of them are headed to Brugge today where they will enjoy their first Belgian frites (French fries) with mayo.  You can't do all of the good stuff in one day!

And, some fun back at the house.  The trampoline was a big hit!  Well, not really with Liam.  But, he thought the ladder was really cool.

Miles getting some air.

The coolest thing about this visit was the fact that we have never actually done anything together or spent anytime together outside of church.  And, it was like hanging out with old friends!!  I loved touring the city, but I had an equally good time just spending time at the house, eating tacos, and talking until 12:30 A.M.  It's funny how it took moving clear across the ocean and living in two different European countries for us to be brought together.  It was such a fun time!  Thank you, Dustin and Tiffany, for making our home a stop on your adventure!  You are welcome ANYTIME!!!

Until next time,

Wendy