Lets see taking us back a month my best friend Tina married Johnny. It was the most beautiful wedding I have been to. Both the bride and groom were stunning. The location was absolutely amazing at the Kings Family Vineyards looking towards the Appalachian mountains. It was truly an honor to be the matron of honor. We are so happy for them and we wish them the best of luck. Can't wait to see them in February again!
Then we spent two weeks at home finishing up our bathroom renovation, celebrating Grandpa Bob's birthday and packing back up for our trip.
The first weekend of October we went south to Vienna where we got to celebrate Jake's 1st Birthday and Kelly's baby shower. How lucky was Mackenzie to see both sides of the family in one day! Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day for both celebrations. Stacie did a great job with Jake's doggy themed birthday. I was very impressed by her cake decorating abilities. Maybe that will come to me after being a mom for a year but I doubt it. Kelly's baby shower went very smoothly and she got lots of helpful gifts. It is fun seeing what every other mom thinks is "essential." The Denholm ladies did a nice job with the shower!
Sunday we joined dad on a business trip to London. This was my first time to go with Kyle on a work trip and it was Mackenzie's 1st plane ride. I couldn't pass up London! Kyle and I were both a little nervous flying with Mackenzie but she did an amazing job. We took a night flight over which I have to say is a little more difficult than the day flight because I was trying to force her to sleep so she wouldn't wake the whole plane. We landed in Heathrow and took a bus up to Luton where Kyle worked for the week. It was about 30 minutes on a train from London. Not too far but far enough that I didn't want to go with Mac by myself into the city. The first few days Mac and I spent in the hotel getting use to the time change. By the 3rd day I finally decided that I had enough of the hotel food and wanted to go into town. Of course it was pouring down rain that day. But I still went to the town center and explored the shops. I came home with some food and lots of chocolate(none of which made it back to the US with us because we ate it all)! : ) On Friday we began our site seeing. Oh I forgot to add that while Mackenzie napped I sat in the dark I planned our 4 days in London. By the time Friday came I was ready to see what I had been reading about all week. So Friday we started our day at Harrods (I walked out empty handed and very overwhelmed!) then headed to Hyde Park. It was a crisp day to stroll through but beautiful. On our walk we saw the memorial for Princess Di. Then we headed to Kensington Palace. First we took a break at the Orangery for lunch to sample some of the Palaces food. Very tasty! The tour of Kensington Palace was a little disappointing. I guess since we have been through some other Palaces we had pretty high expectations but it wasn't as extravagant as you would think. It was good to see but did not rank high up on my favorite places. After the palace we went over the the British museum to see some of the oldest things on Earth, including the Rosetta stone. Crazy! We also enjoyed seeing some mummies. The museum was huge, the day did not allow to cover the whole place.
Saturday we started our adventure by switching hotels. Now normally this wouldn't be such a big deal but having a baby makes things a little more difficult. We took the train into the city and then we were suppose to take the tube to where the bus picked us up but of coarse we had a little bump. The tube line we had to take was shut down for the day for repairs. So our trip down was rather long. Train, tube, bus, bus....all with our luggage. Lets just say not every station has an elevator and I think Kyle got a good work out. Once we finally got to our hotel it was great. The view was a amazing, it was right on the Thames river. One direction was the city they other was canary wharf where the Olympics are going to be. We were early enough to grab breakfast again and head out to Tower Bridge (London Bridge is what most of us call it). We took the bus to one side of Tower Bridge and walked over it to the Tower of London. Yes me who struggled through World History in school enjoyed seeing it. Kyle also really enjoyed seeing it and reteaching me the history behind it. I guess it attracts women because all the jewels are kept there. The crowns were amazing. After the Tower oh London we went to the Millennium bridge to walk back over the Thames to the Tate Modern museum. Our day ended with a trip to a British pub for beer and fish and chips. Saturday ends with a BANG! We are woken up to the fire alarm just after Mackenzie is finally asleep (12am). It goes off but then comes back on within 15 minutes so this time we don't mess around and head down the stairs (no shoes and in a night gown). We aren't the only ones evacuating but I am the only one in PJ's. We get to the Lobby and they inform us that the boiler room has lots of steam but it's not on fire. We ended up having to wait for the worlds slowest fire department to say it was ok to go back. Early Sunday morning the power in our room went off and it took 2-3 hours to get it back on. Everything turned out okay but it was not exactly fun.
Sunday we attempted to sleep in but not too successful. We head out for a royal tour since some of the attractions are closed on Sunday. The tour was great, we had a very lively tour guide., which I was surprised about since he was studying to be a mechanical engineer. I won't say anymore before I get in trouble by all the engineers I know. He took us to about a dozen different places including 3 palaces, Big Ben, House of Parliaments, and Westminster Abbey. It was fun to hear some humorous stories about some of the places including drunk Irish men breaking in to Buckingham. After the tour we went to some of the shopping districts for lunch, which was capped off with a spot of tea and a cupcake. We then went over to the National Museum. Again the museum was huge and full of famous artwork.
Monday was our final day. With the sun shining we headed over to St. Paul's Cathedral to hike the 560 stairs to the top of the dome to see the city. The hike was serious since I was carrying Mackenzie on my stomach. The funny thing is when we got to the first view point she was crying because she was hungry. I guess she thought she did some work to get up there. Once we got to the top it was a magnificent view of the city. Since it was our last day we were able to spot all the places we had been. The hike down was a little scary without a hand rail at some points. But we made it! We couldn't leave the city without seeing Westminster Abbey. There really is nothing else like it! It's Iincredible how many people are buried there. Lastly we went to Oxford St. for some coffee and people watching. A great way to end a great trip!
And here we are today back safely. Mackenzie was great on the plane and the trip. She really seems to enjoy traveling.
Oh my goodness; that sounds like such an amazing trip. You guys did EVERYTHING! And you know I'm so proud to hear my little niece is a world traveller :) just like her Auntie Roo. Can't wait to see pics; see you soon!
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