London and the big 3 0

Sense the move to England I have had my sights on one goal. To see London! I even told my husband that if it didn't happen with in the first few months that as soon as my birthday rolled around I wanted nothing but to go to London and see all of the tourist sights. Well just as I predicted we did not make it to London tell Aug 22nd, which not only was my birthday but the big 3 0 for me. Yes, yes I said adios to my 20's and I think I sure did it in style. To start the day my kids wanted me to open up all my goodies of course. I was soooo lucky! First I got a poem read to me that Shyanne wrote. It totally melted my heart talking about how much she loved me and her heart would not beat with out me in her life, (tears of joy)....then I got a broken jewlery box from Anika, lol I have to laugh but it was kind of thoughtful. Allyson drew me a picture and mike got me a bunch of mushy cards, he loves to see me get chocked up. Brat ;)
I got a box of fun stuff like yarn, yay, and stationary from Sherrie my birth mom and a wonderful suprises from back home. My really good friends Esther and Amber loaded a box up full of my favorite things including little goodies for the kiddos, so sweet they are.
My in laws sent me the plates that I wanted and my brother in law sent me the matching canisters that I wanted! I am so spoiled!
(Side note: We had a taco night at my friends house and all my Brandon friends (church group) sang to me and had cake, signed a card, and even got me Starbucks gift card! I am totally feeling loved.)

Anyways back to the Trip to London.......
We had to drive to a town called Epping, this is where you park your car then get on the tube (Subway). This takes us about a hour and fifteen minutes. The parking was crazy and we ended up doing a little walking but not to bad.
Hoped on the tube for about another 25 mins, due to stops and such and then we made it to Piccadilly where we got off and started our awes and oooohhhs.
It was a pretty wet start to the day as it was true England weather, raining and getting us all soaked. We were not going to let rain mess up our day though so we pushed on.
We decided the best way to see London for the first time was to take a Big Bus tour, where they have someone who tells you all the things that your passing and stops every so often and you get off and on as you like. Our first stop was the London Eye. Its the largest by far Ferris wheel I sure have ever seen. It was pretty pricey for a ride though so we decided that should wait for another trip. We were all hungry about this time so we headed to a Chinese/Indian type restaurant that looked promising. It was so yummy.
After our wonderful Lunch we hoped on the river tour and floated down to the London tower bridge. Everything was just breath taking. Big Ben, the London Tower, Bucking Ham palace was even amazing, we saw some shops, got starbucks (um of course!) and then hoped back on the Big Bus to head over to the Queens house. She was on holiday but that did not matter the place was still amazing. I felt a little sad for her that she most likely can not even enjoy her own garden because the place is just swamped with people. I would hate to look out my window and have so many people taking pictures of my house. Although I guess thats why she runs away on Holiday?
We figured after that we should probably have dinner and headed over to the Hard Rock cafe, it was in walking distance but still a long walk through the garden!
After Dinner we realized we didn't have much time before the buses would stop running. It was good because are feet hurt but sad because we feel like we did not come close to seeing as much as we wanted to. I did not even get a I love London T-shirt so I told mike we would HAVE to go back again soon!
After we hoped on the Tube and got to our Van it was already 8:30 at night and we still had the drive home.
But all in all it was a wonderful Birthday full of memories and I will surely never forget it.

Cromer is B.E.A.utiful

We decided on the spire of the moment to go to the beach. It was a hot week here in England. We're talking low 90% and no one has a/c. Yuck! So to beat the heat we decided to go somewhere with  water. I had never been to the beach here before so I was asking friends on fb and ended up going with another home schooling mama and her two boys to Cromer. It was about an hour and 15mins away. Sadly mike couldn't come because he had been working night shift, yay that changes this next week. 

So we left him home to get some rest and headed out.

After what seemed like forever in the car due to traffic, I think everyone else had the same idea we did.

We got to the most beautiful clear watery beach of Cromer.

It was quite a hike down to the beach and was packed full of people.

We didn't care though because it was well worth it.

We spent the day relaxing. Sadly I didn't get to go in the water. My 8yr old child decider that she wasn't going to double check the stack of towels and things I had placed on the couch for her to grab and so my suit got left behind. Boo. But I did get a chance to really have a nice adult conversation with a new friend. We had a picnic lunch and after a very full day of Amariah eating the sand we decided to cal it a day. This ended up being a good thing because

we all got sunburnt, except for Levi that decided to leave his long sleeve shirt on all day. Go him.

The drive home was much quicker and we were all so exhausted we at a very light dinner and drank our weight in water before heading off to bed. I am still peeling from the adventure. Can't wait to go back so that mike can see this beautiful beach.

London color run

So I will make it short because its late, but wanted to share with you guys about the London color run that I got the chance to be in. 5k the longest run I've ever been in on probably one of the hottest days in England. I took my 10yr old daughter and 7mo old daughter along with me. two of my friends also came with and one had her baby as well. We did not get in as much sight seeing as we wanted to but got the chance to go to London for the first time.

The run its self was well a run.....what can you really say. I ran I got tired, I walked haha.

We got covered in color and looked very messy.

We drove to Epping and then hopped on the tube from there to London. We had to switch from one tube to another. This task ended up being a big deal. With a double stroller no handicap access and like four different flights of stairs, ekkk! But we managed to get it done.

On the way back we ended up getting separated from one of the other moms, she didn't make it in the tube before the doors closed. And we had her baby! Luckily we got connected pretty acidly but she was so shaken up. Even knowing we would take care of her baby. But did I meant chin we also had her purse and cell phone? Yup I probably would have almost cried too.

Here's some photos, enjoy.

Busy But Happy

I would like to say sorry to those of you reading my blog on my lack of post. I have been so buys, but in a good way. I am still and currently in rolled in Grace Bible college and working hard on my Old Testament survey. I am trying to prep and get everything ready for my kids to start school on Monday (homeschool so it's all up to me), and of course normal day to day life in England.

We have been so blessed. We found a church almost right away that we just love, including the people in it. We have also been able to find some really great new friends. I have quite a nice group that I feel very supported and well liked in so this is very pleasing to me. 

I have also been trying to sell my hats and headbands, working on new inventions maybe dog sweaters and what not.

I have been baking like crazy too and selling a few of my bread loafs as well, so yay for extra cash.

I am currently tying away on my new iPad 2 so I haven't learned much of the adding photos part. I will have to figure that out so I can post pictures of my beach trip the kids and I took. It was the best day for the beach, we were so lucky....and hot!

Well I will try to work on more blogs very soon......keep on smiling!