More London Pics

Quinn falls asleep every time we get on the tube! She says the warmth, rumbling, and motion just lull her to sleep. "I just can't keep my eyes open Mom!" Of course, then she is wide awake at bedtime!

The kids in front of Westminster Abbey. We toured the abbey and then took a river cruise down the Thames to the Tower of London. I'll post a few pics from the tower too.

There is an ENTIRE department in Harrods just for dogs and cats! Quinn was just going crazy thinking about what we could take home to Ozzie. In the end, cooler heads prevailed (dad's!) and we didn't make a purchase in that dept!

Quinn in the toy department at Harrods. It was fun to see all the toys there. A salesperson tried to sell us "instant snow". "We have plenty of snow where we come from!" I told her!

First Day in London

The London Eye at twilight. It takes 30 minutes to go all the way around. We may get back over to take a ride but we have a lot on our agenda!

The kids in front of Big Ben. Oh, the pictures are just starting . . . these kids better get used to smiling!

Quinn & Travis in front of Parliment. We went to ride the London Eye, above, but arrived just a bit too late. It was ok, we sat along the river and watched the sun go down. It was a wonderful way to end our day.

Here are the kids in the American Airlines waiting room where we had the place to ourselves. It was a great way to wait for the plane, but we were really glad to catch the first plane so we didn't have to spend any more time here!

Double Decker Bus Tour

Today was our first full day in London. Rolf was trying to talk us into getting up at 6 am this morning to get our day started early. The kids and I rebelled and we slept until noon! By the time we were out the door it was close to 1:30. Just the way I like it :)

We spent the afternoon taking a double decker bus tour around the city. We saw every major (and many minor!) landmarks. Quinn wants to go back to Harrod's, Travis wants to go see the Tower of London, and Rolf wants to see the Globe Theatre. I'm ready for Westminster Abbey. Tomorrow we'll start seeing everything in more depth.

England won today in the World Cup game and we could hear cheering from many pubs as we drove by! Quinn is searching for a London United shirt, that's all that is on her mind.

Travis is enjoying finding all the differences between England and the US. His comment today after coming out of the bathroom: "Man, even the handle to flush is on the wrong side!"

I took tons of pictures but BOTH of my cameras ran out of battery. It was a good thing the tour was over. I was in a panic! So I have to charge before I can download. I'll post pics as soon as I can. We're on our way to our hotel as soon as we leave Kathy's but we're meeting her for dinner tomorrow night at a local thai place that she highly recommends.

Hope all is going well with everyone back home. Thanks for the comments, we love reading them!

We made it!

Hello All,
Well, we couldn't have had a more perfect trip. Dad took us to O'Hare this morning; we left Lowell at 4am! Thanks Dad, we owe you big time!

Thanks to Liz we were able to take advantage of American Airlines' Employee lounge. In the words of Travis & Quinn: this place is awesome!! We had our own private waiting area complete with CLEAN bathrooms, food and drink. The kids put puzzles together to pass the time and Rolf and I just relaxed.

We were a little nervous about making the flight. It was packed and we didn't know if all 4 of us would be getting on. For those of you who don't know, we flew using our friend Liz's employee passes. Which means we got tickets for a ridiculously low price, but the trade off is that we have to fly stand-by. We had our fingers crossed and it paid off, we were close to the last 4 people on the plane! Rolf was in first class, that lucky dog, but also the person with the longest legs so we voted that he should get the first class seat. The kids and I were back in coach. Wasn't bad though, we were surrounded by some really nice people that we chatted with throughout the 7 hour flight.

We arrived in London, 10:45 pm local time, breezed through customs in less than 30 minutes, picked up our luggage and headed out the door, straight to a waiting taxi. Now, the taxi ride was quite a thrill. Our driver almost rear-ended the car in front of us before we were even out of the airport. That was just a taste of what was to come! Quinn and Travis were thrilled to sit backwards in the jumpseats but Quinn soon found out that it wasn't all it was cracked up to be: car sickness hit with all the twists and turns the driver was making.

Tonight we are staying with our friend Kathy Rathke, she is also an old neighbor of ours from Saline. She has been living in London for a few years now and her flat is just wonderful. We were so glad to arrive and see her! She has welcomed us warmly, even though we are taking over! Rolf just pointed out to the kids that her building is older than our country. That kinda boggled their minds!

Tomorrow we check into our hotel, take a double-decker bus tour, and who knows what else! It will be an adventure, of that I am sure.

No pictures yet, not really anything to take a picture of. Well, I guess that's it for now. We're trying to go to sleep, it is 2 in the morning here, but only 9pm in Michigan so we will suffer tomorrow!

I'll check in again when I can and hopefully get some pics posted. Love you all!!

Hello All,
Well this is going to be quite an experiment for me. I take photos and I journal but I have never done both together on a blog until today. I'm setting up this blog so that if you would like to follow us on our summer adventure, you may do so.

We leave for our month-long trip to Europe on June 21, Rolf's birthday, what a present! We'll be in London for my birthday on June 23 and for Travis' birthday on June 26. We won't be in London for Quinn's birthday on January 28 - haha!

On June 28 we travel to Dover, England and board a Norwegian Cruise Line ship bound for the Baltic Sea. We will spend 2 weeks traveling to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Germany, and Estonia.

We then are traveling UNDER the English Channel via the Eurostar Train, otherwise known as, "The Chunnel". I may need heavy medication to get on that train! We'll arrive in Paris and spend 5 days there before flying home.

This 'Trip of a Lifetime' has been in the works for the past 20 years! Rolf and I went to Paris for our honeymoon and always said that when we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary, we would take our kids back to Paris. We celebrated our 20th this past November and here we go! (I didn't want to go back to Paris in November, it is cold and rainy!) We thought since we would be over there anyway, we would also work London into our plans.

Our friends, Dave & Lisa Butler, who live in Nashville, but who we grew up with, were planning a cruise for this summer. (Dave sat in front of me in first or second grade, can't remember which one now, but now you know how long we've known each other!) We have kids the same age, in fact their daughter Anna was born on the same day as Quinn, just one year later. (They are two peas in a pod!) We have always talked about taking a trip together, and they called us to see what we were doing this summer.

As luck would have it, we were planning on being in London the same time they were planning this cruise that leaves from Dover! We just couldn't pass this opportunity up.

So here we go, off to Europe, first to London, then with the Butler's on the cruise, then to Paris for a few days before returning home. I hope to be able to post pictures and updates on this blog. I'll practice before we go so that I know a bit about how to work this thing!

We are really looking forward to this trip, can't wait to see these cities through the kids' eyes. The cruise will be something new for all of us, we have never cruised before. Yes, I have sea-sickness tablets! Wish us luck!

Here she is in action! She had forgotten her jersey that day so instead of being her usual #46, coach gave her #89. It threw me off! I kept looking for #46!

Lacrosse!

Quinn is back on the lacrosse field after breaking her thumb in a game a few weeks ago. She is playing with a cast/brace that the orthopedic doctor made especially for her. It fits under her glove so she is able to play, even though the thumb fracture isn't fully healed yet. She is one tough cookie out there. It is so much fun to watch her play. Last night's game, which they won, was very exciting. Quinn evaded 6 defenders to reach the goal, only to have the ball fly out of her net just as she was getting ready to score! I'll see if I can also get some action shots posted!