Carters and Martins Visit {Day 2}

 Thankfully the trains were running to church on Sunday, so we all got ready and enjoyed the beautiful walk to the station to catch our train. We had all gotten ready quickly and were so proud of ourselves for leaving in plenty of time.

 

 By the time we reached the station we realized we were running a little short on time before our train came, so Rob and I madly bought our tickets (we had to buy them in two sets to get the best deals) and we ran to the platform just in time.....

...to see our train leave without us, thus, the sad faces.

We got home from church and changed our clothes and headed back out to go to Kew Gardens. Our sidewalk was completely flooded though, it was crazy! People had their shoes and socks off and are wading in the water on the sidewalk.

 Cary and Dave had somewhat different feelings about visiting the compost heap :)

 Grace is a photo-bomber extraordinaire. I don't think she even knows that it's a thing, but every picture we take she makes a mad dash or jump to get into it ;)

 

It's hard work holding huge tree limbs up!

 

It was a really fun day!

Carters and Martins Visit {Day 1}

 We were so lucky that Rob's parents and Aunt Kimmy and Uncle Cary came to visit us for 10 days! Can you tell what we asked them to bring? If you guessed extra suitcases (so we can send some stuff back) and Mac and Cheese you're right! (You can buy Kraft at the grocery store here, but it retails for around 5GBP-that's like $7.50 for a small box!)

 They got in without too much trouble (despite Cary and Annette not sleeping at all on their overnight flight), navigating the tube system all by themselves with all their luggage! We met them at Richmond Station and had a lovely day to enjoy the views of our beautiful city.

 We fed them some breakfast and let them freshen up a bit, then we headed back to the station to start on our great London adventure with them.

 Taking in Big Ben and Parliament

 One of my favorite things about the trip is all the pictures we got of our family! :)

 One of the many funny crisp (chip) flavors they have here.

After a little picnic under the statue of Abraham Lincoln, we saw Westminster Abbey, which sadly had a gigantic line that we opted not to wait in. So we headed over to the Churchill War Rooms. They have been preserved as they were exactly at the end of WWII. Down here, in this protected underground shelter the Britons planned their war strategy with Winston Churchill at the head. It was interesting to learn about his life and to imagine what it would have been like here during war time. There are some wax (?) figures placed around the rooms to look like they would if they were in use.

 

 

The War Rooms look out over St. James' Park that leads to Buckingham Palace, so we took the walk up there.

I think that it's so cool to swing with Buckingham Palace in the background!

 It was so amazing to have extra sets of hands to lift the buggy all over the place!

We ended up eating dinner, and poor Cary fell asleep waiting for his food! Ben, of course, loved having his own cup!

*Thanks to Kim and Annette for sharing their pictures of the trip with us!