First Trip to London

On Saturday, we made our first trip into London! We went into full-tourist mode and bought a Merlin Pass which gives us admission into all sorts of attractions. This weekend, we used it to ride the London Eye - an amazing giant ferris wheel which the kids loved! We also made a trip over to Covent Garden to see the street performers and have some treats.

Golden Boy

Ryan got a "gold badge" today for "settling in well." You can see from the photo that he is very proud! We're proud of him, too, and glad that the kids are adjusting well to their new school!

Grocery Shopping

Today I spent over two hours in the grocery store in town – Sainsbury’s. It was about time! I needed to slowly make my way through all of the aisles and see exactly what they had and where to find it. While I’m excited to try new things here (and am already a fan of iced finger buns!), I was also glad to find a few things that are harder to find in the smaller markets around here…

My new car...

After driving the four-door sedan Mattel lent to us for a few days, I quickly decided that I wanted a SMALL car for our time here in England!  So here it is...

Lane's Birthday

Only 3 days since our arrival and we are celebrating our sweet girl's eighth birthday today!  She was thrilled to find a Barbie camper in her room this morning, then we were off to St. Piran's to meet some people, have an assessment and take a look around.  This evening, we went to Wagamama's to have noodles for dinner (and they were even nice enough to bring a candle in her ice cream).  :)  Here's to the year ahead!

Our Arrival

The UK has greeted us with some very interesting weather. We had to circle Heathrow for a bit because the conditions were so bad at the airport, yet by the time we landed the sun was shining. Less than hour later, when we dropped off luggage at the house and headed out to the hotel, we were met with hail. Driving away from Holyport, we looked back to see a rainbow - a wonderful reminder of God's presence!

Getting Started...

A few friends and family members suggested that I keep a journal of our adventures in the UK in a blog. I had already been thinking about this… One, because I can keep everyone updated here and two, because I can have this printed and bound when this season is over and have a keepsake of our time in England.

So, here we begin. I’m not sure exactly what I’ll be posting here. I don’t predict that it will be our emotional journeys. I do think, though, that you’ll see lots of pictures here and get a feel for what’s going on in our lives.

The trip is off to a good start. Things went incredibly well at LAX when we arrived at curbside check-in with 12 bags to check and 6 carry-on items between the four of us. Things got even better when we were pleasantly surprised with an upgrade to business class!


And off we go….!