we love GB (not green bay).

We had a wonderful opportunity to travel to Great Britain this last week.  What a great few days we experienced!  David had to work in GB and stay for about 10 days but the girlies and I decided to join him for part of the trip to see a few great friends and part of London (in a day).  We drove from our house to our friend's house (the Briggs) west of London.  It took us about 12 hours traveling to get there and the girls did wonderful.  We dropped a car off at the airport so that when us chicks flew home we would just get in our car and drive back to our place.  So, we drove through part of Belguim into France to catch the ferry with our car across to England.  How cool is that?!  The girls were thankful for the break and Norah was loving that we were on a boat.

So happy on the ferry ride!

We spend the evening catching up and getting to know the Briggs - having dinner, seeing the sheep near their home and learning about their life.  I know Melissa from college and had never met her British husband Stephen or her son Benjamin!  It was really awesome to experience just a piece of their life and have that TU connection.

Stephen, Melissa & Benjamin in front of their beautiful home.

After a spot of tea in the mornin' we were off to explore a bit of the city of London.  We mainly just hit the big spots walking here and there and taking the tube a few places.  We were able to see Trafalgar Square, the Queen's palace (Buckingham), Downing Street (wow, a street!), the London Eye (from a distance), Big Ben, and the Tate Modern Art Museum.  David's been to England a few times but I hadn't so we're hoping to go back for a bit longer to experience more of the city.

Behind Norah is the palace. Isn't Nors so beautiful!? 

The flag is up and the Queen is in :)

Cheerio from London!

Norah was in love with the fountains at Trafalgar Square.

Big Ben and Parliament. A truly beautiful building

Millennium Bridge

After the day of exploring we spent another wonderful evening with friends!  Jeff & Sharon have been friends with my parents since before I was born so seeing them and catching up was like being with family.  It was so awesome to talk about the transitions of moving (overseas) and building community and support wherever we go (and they go).  Jeff has the pleasure to work for the Billy Graham Evangelical Association and with that job has come a lot of moves (more than 11). It was just so great to talk about where we're at with our transition overseas and where they are at (they just moved to London 3 months ago).  David and I felt very encouraged and loved by being with the Andersons - thanks for having us!

We love those Andersons!

For the next two days David had to drive and speak at two different bases so the girls and I played stayed and played on the AF base.  We walked around the grocery store and BX and played at the park.  Here's a fun thing we did... the party aisle at the BX had packages of cheap sunglasses ($2/5 pairs) so instead of worrying about them breaking or losing a nice pair we got a package of cheap ones!  Great entertainment for us all :)

 

The last day we were with David (he stayed another week for work) we visited Cambridge.  It was a beautiful town and we mostly just walked the streets and saw some of the stores.  We stopped for awhile to lounge on this wide open grassy area where tons of people were out on blankets and reading.  Of course Norah wet her pants at the park so we changed her panties but she wouldn't put her pants back on - eh, kids will be kids!

One funny little story... since we try to walk near our village often we're out and about where there's no toilets.  We have offered Norah to go potty in the woods which now she loves to do and is proud that she does.  Last week a neighbor friend came by and took Norah on a walk with her and she definitely did ask our neighbor if she could go potty in the woods -- and she giggled the whole time :)  So, while we were playing at the park on base I was chatting it up with another mom and David says to me "Ummm, your daughter is going potty 'in the woods' here at the park."  In response I laughed and told Norah she did a great job not going in her panties (don't worry, she went over by the fence so it wasn't where other kids were playing).  And then finally, at the large grassy area in Cambridge, Norah says she has to go potty right before we were trying to leave and catch the bus out of town.  So, I just had her pop a squat right there in between my legs!  Do you all think we're terribly unruly and teaching Norah bad things?  I don't want her to act like an animal but I think it's so awesome that she wants to avoid peeing in her panties!  I know these are the funny memories we will love to look back on.

I heart her. Adorable. 

The weekend David had between speaking engagements he used wisely by exploring the beautiful landscape in Northern England (Yorkshire)!  He went on a 15 mile loop through 4 different towns in the hills.   Despite getting lost for an hour and walking through private property with angry looking sheep staring him down, it was a success!

One of the things David appreciated most about the hike was the local hiking community.  There were tons of people doing multi-day trips by staying in hostels and B&B's that accommodate walkers.  David grabbed a delicious microbrew at a pub in the middle of the hike!