England Day 1

Ever since Harper was born and we decided we were finished having children, I have been itching to travel with the girls. About a year ago, we planned a trip to England with Allan's parents.

I took over 300 pictures on the trip, but have just picked a sampling from each day to blog about. A photobook with all of the pictures has already been ordered :)

We departed St. Louis on Saturday afternoon, flew to Chicago, then on to London. Thankfully, it was an overnight flight and both girls slept well. Harper slept 7 of the 8 hours which was an complete answer to prayer!!

Ready to go!

The girls' first international flight.

We hit the ground running as soon as we arrived - checked in to our hotel a little early, changed clothes, and started touring the city. Our first stop was Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. It was Palm Sunday, so Liz and Paul went into the Abbey for a service while Allan and I walked with the girls along the Thames and had some ice cream. The weather was great - sunny and in the upper 50s - but the crowds were horrible. It was a little nerve-wracking to manuever both strollers through all of the people.

The girls' first tube ride. By the end of the trip they were pros!

Harper fell asleep just after we arrived at Westminster Abbey. She had a quick snooze while Delaney played and ran in the grassy park and we snapped a few pictures.

I love that they painted all of the crosswalks for idiots like me who forget to look the correct way when crossing the street :)

She's awake!

The London Eye in the distance

Crossing a pretty bridge without a name

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben in the distance.

We walked along the South Bank where they had all sorts of street performers and activities. On one of the other bridges, we had to weave our way through all of the Russian guys who had set up various versions of the "shell" game (you know, the one where they hide the ball under the cup and move them all around quickly) trying to swindle money out of the gullible tourists. The walkway was narrow, the crowd was thick, and the traffic was heavy. I had to get out of their quick!

We all turned in early that first night because we were running on fumes. The girls took a while to settle down to sleep since they always get excited in hotels. Nothing a little Benadryl couldn't help :)