Scott does London 2013

In May we were able to take a little family vacation to LONDON!  We absolutely loved the city and had such a wonderful time in England.  Scott was a champ.  He was so easy going, took all his naps in his stroller (my MacLaren Quest saved my life), ate whatever we were eating, and was such a delight.  I took about 500 pictures and had a hard time limiting what to post, but here are some of my favorites from the trip.

We took a red eye flight to Shannon, Ireland, then continued to Heathrow.  I was scared after this flight, because it was really the only time of the trip when Scott was a disaster.  It wasn't completely his fault.  I thought he would sleep the whole time, and boy was I wrong.  Unfortunately, we were seated right next to the bathroom, so people were coming and going the whole time and Scott is a little show off and has to greet everyone that comes his way.  Finally, after dinner service and clean up (about 9pm) they dimmed the lights and we jumped on trying to get Scott to sleep.  Like I said, there was just too much excitement and Scott wanted nothing to do with the little bed that was on the wall in front of us.  After many tears, I just held him and rocked him (as well as I could with my belly in the way) and sang to him.  Finally, he calmed down and fell asleep, and then we started the landing process an hour later.  Poor boy only slept for one hour that night.  As soon as we got to our friend's house we all crashed for a couple hours, but were anxious to get up and go exploring.  

Loading the airplane in Ireland after a long night.

Our first day in London we rode the bus tour around to get a feel for the city, then stopped at a pub for some English grub before we headed back to our friend's house for the night.  

^^ How is he so happy after one hour of sleep the night before? (And I'm taking about Scott)

The Tate Britain had a special William Blake display that Bryan was dying to see.  

A sleeping lad.

Big Ben and the houses of Parliament were so much more impressive in real life than in photos.  I was blown away at what a beautiful sight it was.  I wanted to lay in the grass and just stare all day.

Westminster Abbey was also incredible.  Scott slept the whole time we were inside, so we slowly listened to the entire tour and admired every single piece of art.

The London Eye with Big Ben

Kisses in front of St. Paul's Cathedral

Scott loved the wind in his hair and all the cool things to look and point at.  Here he is on the Big Bus tour with St. Paul in the background.  Funny how kids enrich experiences and make them even more special.  Even though Bryan and I would have had an absolute blast being by ourselves, it was so fun to have Scott with us.  Yes, it may have slowed us down a little bit, but I am filled with so much joy watching this boy learn and grow (and see amazing things).  My life is so much better with him in it.  (He has been spoiled in his early life and he doesn't even know it.)

Here we are at the Cortauld Gallery.  There was a live drawing class going on with this mime as the subject.  He kept doing different poses and he kept making faces at Scott.  He was giggling so loud!  I was afraid we were being disruptive, but it was so cute!  All the students were smiling.

Did I mention that we were in London over our 7 year wedding anniversary?  Yep, and I will let you all know that the day was almost half way over when I decided to remind Bryan.  He had totally forgotten.  Not to worry...he decided to take me to London, so I didn't expect anything more.  It was so funny and we had a great day.  At the end of the day we hit up some Thai food, then ran over to The Globe theatre to catch Shakespeare's "The Tempest". 

The beginning of Scott's love for Thai food.

We lucked out with the weather and really only had one rainy day while we were there.  We tried to stay indoors most of the day to avoid the rain.  We started out at the Winston Churchill War Rooms.  

The taxis!!!!  These would be LIFE CHANGING in NYC.  They were handicap so you could literally just lift the stroller with baby inside and put it right in the back seat.  After we discovered this I was temped to take taxis everywhere.  So cool.

We visited the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

For dinner we headed to Harrod's Food Hall.  Scored some yummy sandwiches and cupcakes.

Here you can see what we chose to spend our money on, and it wasn't fancy clothes.

We have some pretty rad friends that live in London (used to live in NYC) and they were SO kind to let us crash with them for a few days.  Their darling little Harper is 3 days older than Scott, so they have been buddies since birth.  They were clearly excited to be reunited.  Scott doesn't give tongue kisses to just anybody!

Here we are inside the Tower of London with Tower Bridge in the background.  Yes, I am 26 weeks pregnant on this trip.  Promise I'm not getting chubby for no reason!

Scott loved the guards.  I don't know if it was their goofy hats, their guns, or if he was just waiting for them to do something and instead they just stood still.  

Big armor, little armor.

Happy boy with his axe.

After the Wallace Gallery and Hadley's toy store, we took a stroll through Hyde Park.  Stopped for ice cream and to chase some ducks.  The park was lovely.  Reminded me of our own Central Park.

Made our way to Kensington Palace

I love this picture.  Our kiddos are being goofy and Casey is an absolute blast to be with...even at church!

After church we grabbed our rental car and headed out of the city.  We made a few stops on our way to Bath.  Windsor Castle was absolutely stunning.  

Driving on the right side of the car and left side of the street.  Champ!

Next pitstop:  Stonehenge.  Scott was really impressed with the ancient stones, but was even more impressed with the birds perched on top of them.

Pointing out the sheep in the distance.

Our first night in Bath we walked down to the local pub to eat some legit English pub food.

Our cute Bed and Breakfast we stayed at

The ancient Roman Baths

Lovers.

We drove into Salisbury to check out the Cathedral.

Could NOT get enough of the beautiful countryside!

Love these two

What a fabulous time we had exploring a new country.  It exceeded our expectations and made us want to return soon.  Best of all, I loved being with our little family on an adventure.  

Until next time, England...