Crossing the Pond...

We made the big trip! We flew out of Denver to England to visit Mike's family. Nicholas and Emma were great on the 9 hour flight. I was really nervous how Emma would be on such a long flight - but she slept about 6 hours of the overnight flight.

It was the first time the grandparents have meet Emma and only the second time they've seen Nicholas (and the first time was coming home from Ukraine when Nicholas didn't speak English - so really it was like the first time for him as well).

On the first day the weather was a bit rainy so we drove around Bournemouth. We stopped at the beach and the guys all got out and walked the beach in the rain. Nicholas loved every minute of it!

We brought toys for Emma to play with - but she didn't want anything to do with them. Her favorite activity while in the UK was pulling the magnets off Granddad's refrigerator! By the end of the week I got her to put a couple back ON the fridge - but she immediately pulled them back off... :o)

The next day the sun came out and we went out to Bournemouth again and walked out on Bournemouth Pier.

Then we went on the carousel. Nicholas rode a horse and I held Emma in a sleigh. It was Emma's first carousel ride!

Mike's Dad had the magic touch with Emma. She was fussing one night and Granddad held her and within a few minutes she fell fast asleep.

The next day we went to Corfe Castle - Mike's favorite castle! The wind was fierce so we kept Emma out of the wind as much as possible and kept her by the outer walls then took turns exploring the castle ruins with Nicholas.

Nicholas really enjoyed learning about life inside a castle and was pretending to be Prince Caspian from the Narnia movie.



London calling...

Nicholas liked riding the car ferry from Corfe.

We went to Beaulieu to tour the car museum. Mike's Dad told us stories about the cars he worked on as a mechanic. We all really liked seeing the cars from the TV show Top Gear. Nicholas loved seeing the limos made from tiny cars.


One morning we drove up to Windsor and toured the castle. It was quite the contrast to touring the ruins of Corfe Castle! :o)

Here's Cub Scout Nicholas standing next to the statue of Lord Baden-Powell - the founder of the Boy Scouts.

Our last night we went out to the pub for dinner. We had a great time with you Grandmom and Granddad and we miss you!!

We spent our last day in London and went on a double decker bus tour. Unfortunately it poured down rain - but that didn't stop us from sitting on the upper deck! :o)

Big Ben at night...

Our last adventure was riding on the London Eye. We realized on this that Nicholas is afraid of heights...! He did well and mostly stayed on the bench in the middle of the pod - but did venture out a few times for a better look at the scenery.



The next morning we boarded a flight back to Denver. Nicholas did great on the flight again. Emma was a bit of a handful since it was a daytime flight and she didn't want to nap. We walked up and down the aisles for about 8 of the 9 hour flight. We were so happy to get home and go to bed! :o) Be it ever so humble - there's no place like home!

Love to all...