Day 3- Our old Neighborhood

On Sunday we took the train down to Canterbury to go to church in our old ward.

It was wonderful to see some of our dear friends! We then spent the afternoon touring our old stomping ground.

As you approach the area that used to be the old walled city, you come to the Westgate, which is all that remains of it.

After you pass through the gate you can continue on foot down the High Street for shopping, or if you are travelling by car the street turns right and you are on St. Peter's Place, where we used to live! (Notice the Jaguar dealership on the right.)

Across the street is the Westgate gardens where Len and I used to jog in the morning. Further down the canal we found our favorite swans.

We love this crazy fat tree, and the building behind it is where the Canterbury City Council meets. I love the romance of old places!

Our old door. It's the exact same one, but it's been painted black. In our day it was green.

We window shopped down the entire High Street and noted all of the changes from the years.

The Weaver's Restaurant was still there, thank goodness. It's been around since 1500!

All down the street you can peak down little alleyways or canals.

This place is amusing, the second floor dates from 1573, then the third floor was added in 1698.

Take one of the alleyways and you end up in the charming Butter Market.

That leads you to the gate to the famous Canterbury Cathedral (the gate is also known as the scary green Jesus).

We LOVE this Cathedral and were year-long members when we lived here. There is so much history in this one spot. This has been a religious site since 597!! This is where Thomas Becket was murdered in 1170, which led pilgrims to this site depicted in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales written in 1381. There is beautiful stained glass pictures in every window. All of the old churches in England have cemeteries on the grounds. This Cathedral has a crypt underground and numerous sepulchres throughout the main floor, including one for the Black Prince. The Choir was practicing while we were there, and it was so spellbinding it gave me goosebumps. I'm so glad this is still used as a place of worship (we even saw the hymn and prayer books set out) as so many European churches have been converted to house modern businesses.

Peaking through the Cloisters.

Some of the old ruins in the back.

Our day ended with some clever sidewalk chalk art.

And these yummy little petit fours- chocolate, lemon, and pink (that's right pink not strawberry). I miss you already Canterbury!

Day 2- The Icons of London

On Saturday, we toured London via an open-air double decker tour bus, and a boat ride down the river Thames. Here are a few of our favorite sights: Big Ben and Parliament. The London Eye. Westminster Abbey.

St. Paul's Cathedral.

Tower Bridge.

The Tower of London. These are just a few. London is a spectacular city!

Day 1- To the Dungeon?

For our first night in London we decided to eat dinner in the basement of the Ivory House. After all, Henry VIII invited us, so how could we refuse? We did represent Hanover too and had to cheer for our brave knight during his sword fight. We feasted on a delicious 4 course meal brought out by serving wenches that kept delivering pitchers of beer and carafes of wine all night long (of course, we just had OJ). While we ate we were entertained by all sorts of musicians, acrobats, many wonderful performers, even King Henry sang to us. It was an absolutely fabulous night! The whole place was decorated right out of the middle ages. Len loved the bright coat of arms. I enjoyed the magnificent tapestries. We had a great time at The Medieval Banquet and would recommend it to anyone! Our home for the first 5 days was the Millennium Mayfair on Grosvenor Square. The other sides of the square are made up of the US Embassy, the Canadian Embassy, and posh apartments- fancy! We enjoyed our little room very much.

However, after we checked out we learned that this is the hotel where the ex-KGB agent was murdered a few years ago. We loved our scrumptious breakfast buffet each morning, but he was killed by his food being poisoned with uranium- augh!!

We like the GREEN!

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day this year very simply- with Shamrock Shakes from McDonald's. In my defense, it was also the same day we left for our trip, so I'm glad we at least accomplished that!

Gramma came to visit!

My wonderful mom came to take care of the kids for us while Len and I went on our vacation to the British Isles. They loved having her here and now miss her terribly! I found out I was pregnant 2 weeks before she came. It was killing me not to call her and tell her right away, but I decided to wait and tell her in person. We bought a small bouquet of flowers and I wrote her a little note from Kaleb, Noe, Gavin, Teague, and Baby #5. She read it out loud, then at the end looked up with a huge surprise on her face, and said, "You're pregnant? How come you didn't tell me?" It was so funny. We also sent flowers to our grandparents in Idaho and I signed the card from all 9 of their grandkids and included Reil baby #5/grandbaby #10. They were so excited too!

Thanks so much for coming mom. You're the best!

Pi or Pie Day?

You know how pi equals 3.14, well pie day is March 14th! Jenn told us about it and I was so sad that I've been missing out on this fabulous holiday all of my life!

She came and spent the day with us and we made A LOT of pie!

There was coconut cream, cherry, strawberry vanilla, chocolate banana, apple, butterscotch, and blueberry! I let the kids each sample 3 flavors to start with, then we sent Jenn home with half of what was left. We enjoyed pie all week, yum!

Disney on Ice

With the money the grandparents gave us for Christmas, we took the kids to see Disney On Ice: Mickey and Minnie's Magical Journey. It was a great show with character visits from The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Lilo and Stitch, and Peter Pan. The little boys were really into it and so excited to see all the spectacles. The big kids enjoyed it too, but were upset that I didn't buy them the 1 oz cotton candy for $20. Seriously, I wouldn't mind buying my kids a special treat or souvenir if they weren't so outrageously expensive! Teague was either clapping, dancing, or laughing the entire time. He was so cute to watch.

We always have fun if Mickey and the gang are involved!

7 more months!

I had my first visit with my baby doctor today- hooray! I love having an ultrasound and seeing the sweet little babe, it finally feels real. From my period I should be 10 w 6 d and due October 25th. However, the babe was measuring 9 w 3 d and that makes sense with my cycles, so my new due date is November 4th- 7 months from today! Although, I'll have to have another c-section and the doc says they schedule them about 10 days early, so that puts it back to October 25th- tee hee. He also gave me a prescription for the nausea, hallelujah! Happy day, I just can't stop smiling thinking of my new little one!