London 2013: Part 2

Our third day in London, we took a train to Stonehenge.. you know..one of the 7th wonders of the world. Apparently, not a lot of people have heard of Stonehenge?. The pictures will familiarize you if you don't know what I am talking about.

Anyways, we were really excited to see Stonehenge. The city (Salisbury) was so cute! I wish I would have gotten more pictures of it because it was adorable.Once we got to Salisbury, we walked to the bus stop (across town) to catch a bus to Stonehenge. It was about a 30 minutes drive. The stones are in the middle of nowhere on top of a hill. It was FREEZING!!! The bus dropped us off and another one would be back an hour later to pick us up so we were stuck out there for an hour in the freezing weather. We viewed the stones for about 15 minutes and then decided to spend the remainder of the hour eating our lunch and touring the gift shop. Bryce was cold...and if he is cold, it must be COLD!

A really neat building we saw on our walk to the bus stop...

The town doesn't look near as cute in the picture as it does in person...

There it is!!

This is what Stonehenge looked like when it was first built.

Once we got back on the bus, we headed back to the train station to jump on a train to take us to Bath! No, not to take a bath...the actually city, Bath! ;) What is in bath..you might ask? The ROMAN baths!!! It was SO neat!!

These pictures aren't edited because my Windows Live photo gallery was messing up but I couldn't hold out any longer on posting pics so here they are...

I just love the old architecture!! This is how it was throughout the whole city. So beautiful!

 This is a model of the Roman baths. If you see to the far left, the funnel is how the water system works. The water comes from way deep down in the ground so when it rises to the top (where they bathed), it is naturally REALLY warm. It is so neat that the hot water is all natural! I never blogged about our experience in Baden Baden but Bryce and I got to go to a day spa that was set up the same way. So neat!

See the steam coming from the water? Came from way deep in the ground!

This was inside the entrance! SO beautiful!!!

We had a great time in bath. We caught the train back to London that evening and we didn't get back to our hotel till real late. We went to bed and got up the next morning to head to the HIGHCLERE CASTLE!!! Definitely one of the top 10 best days of my life! ;)

Stay tuned Downton Abbey addicts... ;)

London 2013: Part 1

On April 6th at 3:30am, the alarm went off. We all got up and got dressed to head to the airport for our 6:30am flight to London.Within the next 8 days, we will travel to London, Bath, Stonehenge, Newbury (Highclere Castle aka Downton Abbey castle), and Scotland.

Ava slept most of the way to the airport. She did great on the 1 hour flight to London. Once we arrived at the London airport, we caught a train into the city. We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and checked in. It was way too early to get into our hotel room (8am) so we decided to go to Harrod's. I was not expecting the 4 story, 5-acres, 330 departments, one MILLION square feet store. I was expecting an upscale Neiman's. I was a little overwhelmed to say the least. It was such a fun place to see, though.

We were starving after spending almost 2 hours in the store so we went across the street to have tea at Richeaux's. It wasn't the nicest place to have tea but it was a neat experience. After having afternoon (or late morning for us) tea in London, it makes me want to have afternoon tea everyday!! I wish we could have gone to a really nice place to have tea like The Ritz but we just didn't feel like spending 100 pounds (around $150) to have afternoon tea and I also didn't feel comfortable taking Ava into such a nice setting. Maybe next time! ;) 

 Ava stayed entertained with the sugar packets.

After tea, we were exhausted from being up since 3:30am so we decided to go to the grocery store that was right next to our hotel to stock up for the week. Our hotel was actually like an apartment so it had a full kitchen. We bought breakfast and lunch stuff so we would only be eating out for dinner each day.

We got our groceries and went back to our hotel room. I was running a fever and feeling SO sick so we laid low the rest of the evening. I loaded up on the meds that evening and by the next day, I was feeling much better.

The next morning, we got up pretty early and went to the Kensington Palace which is the future home of Will and Kate (they will move in once Will is out of the military) and it was the home of the late Princess Diana. We went to the palace on our first trip to London but didn't tour the inside. I really wanted to go inside this time and I am so glad we did. It was beautiful.

This was a sign outside the restroom. Everyone is a prince or princess in this castle! ha!

These pictures really don't do this place justice. It was stunning.

Wouldn't you like to be the baby that sleeps in this cradle?! Wow! I am pretty sure this is the cradle that Queen Victoria slept in.

After we viewed the castle and had our sandwiches for lunch, we walked to St. Paul's Cathedral which was absolutely gorgeous inside but we weren't allowed to take pictures...

After St. Pauls, we went to see Buckingham palace, Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. They are all right next to each other except Buckingham palace. We had to walk a few blocks to see that one. Buckingham palace is only open a few weeks out of the year. It is the Queens main residence so it is only open when she is out of town. Unfortunately, it was closed both times we were in London.. :(

Parliament 

Westminster Abbey (Where Will and Kate were married)

We didn't spend much time at any of these places because we had already visited them on our first trip to London. 

Once again, we were super exhausted from walking all day so we ate dinner at Azzurro Italian restaurant and then headed back to our hotel for the night. 

If you want to read about our first trip to London, you can read all about it here..

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Next up... Stonehenge, Bath, and the Highclere Caste!!! 

Easter 2013

Looks like we will be spending Easter at home this year. Ava is so sick. She woke up congested on Wednesday and has progressively gotten worse. I went ahead and took her to the E.R. today (Saturday) since the doctors offices are close. I couldn't stand to wait until Monday and I am so thankful I didn't wait! I am also SO thankful that we were in and out of there in less than an hour.

Ava has an ear infection, pink eye, and a viral infection. Bless her little heart! She is on antibiotics so hopefully she will start feeling better soon. And don't you think she looks cute considering how bad she feels?

This was her after she got up from her nap. She actually laid on the floor and watch the whole 20 minutes of Baby Einstein! That is a record.

I think we're set on the meds... 

It is killing me to miss church tomorrow but I know it's best to keep her home. The McMinimy's invited us over for lunch after church and an Easter egg hunt for all the kids. I HATE that we will have to miss it. We have gotten together with the McMinimy's and a few other families for almost every holiday since we have lived in Germany and this will be the last holiday before we move back to the states. They have been such a blessing to us and we are truly going to miss them SO much!

On another note... thankfully, Ava's Easter dress doesn't have bunnies or any other Easter theme on it so she can still wear her dress this spring. (Oh, the things I worry about...) :)

Happy Easter everyone!

HE IS RISEN!!!


A little story that I want to document so I will remember it..

Bryce is only home for dinner about twice a week. He works late the rest of the week. When he is home for dinner, we all sit around the table to eat and always pray before we dig in. We encourage Ava to hold our hands and close her eyes. She gets a kick out of it. Well, a few nights ago, it was just me and her for dinner and as we sat down, I forgot to pray and just started eating. Ava didn't touch her plate. She looked at me and tried to get my attention. She grabbed my hand really tight and closed her eyes and started "praying" in her own little language. It was the SWEETEST thing I have ever seen. I am so thankful that she likes to pray and helps her mom out on nights that she forgets! ;) Oh, and she LOVES to say Amen. So sweet.

17 Months Old!

Ava Drew, you are 17 months old! You are SO close to being a year and a half old! I can't believe it!

I am not sure what your stats are this month but I am guessing you are around 30 inches tall and around 19 pounds.

You wear size 12 month clothes and a size 4 diaper and 3 shoe.

You sleep from 8pm-around 8/8:30am . You take one nap a day and you will only sleep for about 2 hours. I can't seem to get you to sleep longer.

Some of my favorite words that you say are baby (bee-bee), Jesus (Jeesuh), Bible (Bye Boo), Yellow, milk (meel), Char (chaw), snow (no), please (tees).

You have become really well at understanding what me and your daddy are saying. If I tell you to go look for something, you will do it and bring that item to me. If I tell you to go to the bathroom and get something, you will do it. You are SO smart and you impress me everyday.

When we ask you how old you are, you say "two". ;) You refuse to say "one".

You still love your baby dolls and you usually always have one in your hand.

We love you so much Ava Drew!!

Zoo d'Amneville

On Saturday, my family and some friends of ours went to a zoo in France. It was only about an hour and a half away. I was so impressed with how well the kids and little ones did! Once it was getting closer to dinner time, we decided to head out and find a place to eat. We went to a pizza place and it was pretty good! I tried creme brulee for the first time and it was amazing! Can't believe I waited that long to try it!! 

I am so thankful for the friends that we have made here in Germany. I am going to miss them terribly when we move in May! Thankfully, one of the families might end up moving to Texas after their next tour and the other family are from Texas so they will be friends for a lifetime! 

I will try not to bore you with the animal pictures but here are a few of my favorites from the zoo. 

Ava is ready to see all the animals! 

The crew checking out the Tiger!! 

My loves. 

We were seriously the only ones at the zoo for several hours!! It was wonderful!!! 

Momma and her baby playing around. 

The animals at the zoo were so depressed! This picture sums up all the animals moods that day. 

This was the most unique animal we saw. 

 Actually, THIS might be the most unique animal we saw. 

A Day in the Life

I am linking up with Kelly's Korner for Show Us Your Life: A Day in the Life. I am really excited about this. I have been meaning to write a day in the life post but just haven't gotten around to it.

Every day is different at our house. We have MDO on Wed./Fri. and bible study on Thursdays and every other Monday is a MOPS day. I will blog about our Tuesdays since those are our non-busy days.Our afternoons are the same everyday. Its just the mornings that are different.

Ava usually gets up every morning around 8:30. Bryce doesn't go into work until 12 pm so he usually gets up with us and makes coffee and fixes us breakfast. Its usually eggs with turkey but sometimes he will do breakfast burritos. I know, he's a sweetie! ;)

We usually just hang out after breakfast. Sometimes, I will run a load of laundry and pick up a little. Around 11 am, I feed Ava lunch and help Bryce pack a lunch and dinner for work. Once he leaves at noon, I put Ava down for a nap and that's when I clean up from lunch, do another load of laundry, or catch up on some shows/internet browse.

Ava usually naps for about 2 hours. Once she wakes up, I usually find an excuse to go to Ramstein. We check the mail, go see Bryce at his post, or go to the grocery store. I hate being cooped up in the house all day. I love being a stay at home mom but I'm not so good at the staying home part! :)

We (Ava and I) are usually home in time to get dinner made and fed. We eat around 5 pm and then hang out until around 6:30(ish). That's when I give Ava her bath and ready for bed. The longest part of our day is after dinner until Ava goes to bed. She is the fussiest during this time. I put Ava to bed around 7:30/8 pm.

After I put her to bed, I pick up my house and try to clean a little bit. If I don't do it right after I put Ava to bed, it never gets done because I get distracted with t.v. shows or things on the internet.

Bryce gets home from work around 11 pm and we spend a little time together before bed. I am usually in bed by midnight. I've become an old lady... I used to stay up with Bryce until 2 am but I am just exhausted by the end of the day these days.

So that's our day in the life!