Day One- The Voyage

I think that I am finally back to normal after a wonderful vacation. It's been really fun reading everyones posts that I missed for the past week or so. There really is so much to tell that I'm just going to take it one day at a time.

Taking a long airplane trip with a 16 month old baby was something that didn't sound very fun: AT ALL. Brent and I knew we wanted to take Britton to see his relatives he's never met, but thought that it might be a little challening. We were up for it, but I was scared to death. Mostly afraid that he would be fussy and disturb the other passengers.

He was an absolute dream the entire trip: there and back. It truly was an answer to our prayers. I had anticipated the trip there would go smoothly because of regular nap and bed schedules. In fact, he fell asleep before take off on the flight from Chicago to London and we had to wake him up to get off the plane.

By the time we had gathered car seats, diaper bags and carry on's, we were usually one of the last off the plane. When we landed in Chicago I walked to the front of the plane to get off and noticed this man still sitting in the very front seat. I thought to myself that he was big, I mean really big. Once off the plane we were waiting for the stroller and one of the stewardess's asked if we knew who this man was. She said it was Richard Kiel. Yeh, I didn't know who that was either. He's the man that played "Jaws" in a few James Bond movies.

Sorry, no pic's of the real encounter. Here's the 7'2" actor. The lower middle picture is Mr. Kiel as "Jaws."

You know, I was a little apprehensive about the whole driving on the wrong side of the road thing, narrow roads, etc. But when I got into the rental car and noticed it was a stick shift, that added a whole other dimention to the already scary picture. Brent did absolutely fantastic driving though. He seemed to know where he was going most of the time, navigated the small roads with ease and maneuvered every round-a-bout with flawlessness. Seriously, he was an expert. My heart only left my chest twice the whole week :)

When we left the airport, it was about 3 a.m. our time after a entire day traveling. Britton fell back to sleep immediately. I really did have every intention of staying awake to keep Brent alert, as we had a two hour drive to my Aunt's house. I did open my eyes for a few minutes to take this shot.

This sight was absolutely amazing to me. The last land I had seen was flying over Denver, not a green sight. I had to keep reminding myself it was still Winter time. The grass, the trees: absolutley spectactular. My sister Sarah just did a post on her trip to Europe a few years ago and her pictures of England were taken in the Summer and the trees and grass were twice as green as even this picture I took. I guess the price is RAIN, but the results are gorgeous. Luckily, we never got rained on, which is absolutely amazing.

That evening we went out to dinner with my Auntie Marion. Most of you probably know what a Pub is. Pub stands for public house. Traditionally, pub's are where you go for the booze, but nowadays many are family restaurants also. We went to "Hole in the Wall" pub for a lovely meal. I got a few strange looks because of taking this picture of my food. This pub's restuarant is called a "carvery." It's like a buffet, choose your meat and veggies. That's a Yorkshire Pudding in the middle of my plate, one thing I'd been waiting for. Roast Beef and Yorkshire Puddings go hand in hand, but I opted for the turkey. It was delicious.

That night we were very ready for bed. Britton had about two hours in the middle of the night when he was up, but went back to sleep about 2:30 a.m and slept until 8 o'clock. Adjusting to the time schedule was pretty easy, and it's been even easier on the return trip. I was really excited to be in England again and was really anxious for the next week: the sights and the people.

Next time:

Day two: The Wedding

Add On:

We just returned in time for the Blue and Gold Banquet. I had previously made this dragon cake for Britton's first birthday, but made it again on Friday for the banquet Friday evening. I am so proud of Dallin's commitment to scouting and I love watching how much he enjoys it.It was so fun to make. Some gave me the, "You got off a 15 hour plane ride and made a dragon cake?" But you make time for the things you find enjoyable: this was fun.