Getting to the airport in London

The next day, July 25, we headed back to Heathrow Airport in London. All twelve bags, four carry ons, two car seats and double stroller. The same van came and picked up our luggage and a separate car took us to the airport. The drive through London on Saturday morning was so pretty. Our driver took us past Buckingham Palace. When we arrived at the airport, our flight was going to be on time. Thank goodness. Getting all the bags to get checked in was another hassle. But, we did it. Jeremy is getting really good at just taking off his shoes when he sees the security people.:) The flight from London to Lagos was 6 hours...but during the day...so not another overnight flight. I think the kids are starting to know what to do on the plane. both of them slept for much of that flight.:)

Our Day in London

Friday was our full day in London. We wanted to do things with the kids that they would enjoy. Guy found out about a boat ride on the Thames River. So we got on the boat right by the Tower of London. We took it to the London Eye ( the huge ferris wheel in London). The ride on the London Eye was amazing. You could see everything from up there. Jeremy loved it, but poor Elizabeth, it was just too much for her. She fell asleep right before we got on and slept all the way past the time we got off.:) We had an awesome view of Big Ben. Even though it started to rain while we were on the Eye, it was still so neat to see London from a bird's eye view. From there, we took the kids to Hamley's Toy Store. It has to be the biggest toy store I have ever been in. There are FIVE full floors of nothing but toys!!! It was complete madness! But, Jeremy and Elizabeth had a ball looking at all the toys and watching the different workers demonstrate the different toys in the store. We went from there to the National Art Gallery. We had better luck finding children frendly food that night. We rode on the Underground ( subway) quite a bit that day. Jeremy loved the train " under the street". We also rode a double decker bus. I think Jeremy was in heaven that day: toys, trains, and buses.:) Eizabeth just enjoyed the ride.:)

Arriving in London

After our overnight fight from Houston to London, we arrived in London at 4:00 .m. local time. I was pretty exhausted. Elizabeth did sleep off and on...but i couldn't really blame her...everything was different. Jeremy slept really well on the flight and was pretty awake when we got off the plane. That child can sleep anywhere!!:) After , we got off the flight, we needed three carts to get all of our bags to the van that was taking them to the hotel. We had a van just for our luggage and a separate car to drive us. Jeremy thought it was pretty neat that the steering wheel was on the other side of the car. We made it to the hotel at about 6 p.m., and then it was time to find somwhere to eat. We walked a little ways from our hotel and found a pub. I was excited because I really wanted to get fish and chips while we were in London. Boy, was I surprised to see rabbit's belly and pigeon gizzard on the menu!!! There were tons of things like that. Needless to say, the kids ate pretty much only goldfish crackers that night. We did order a chicken pie that was amazing.....but the kids wouldn't try one bite of it. It was a good time, though. Elizabeth also learned how to "cheers" everyone. ( Jeremy learned it a while ago) Everyone in the pub was clinking glasses and Elizabeth wanted in on it, too.:)