LONDON: Day Three

We were busy on Tuesday, our first full day in town.  Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace happens every other morning during the winter months, so this was our chance to see it.  Steve, April, the girls and I walked down the street to the Tube station that morning, hoping to get a good spot by the palace gate in time for the 11:30am show.

At first, the best we could do was stand about 3 or 4 people back from the Gate and let Grace and Leah take turns on Steve's shoulders.

The Household Calvary started things off:

 
Jane was enthralled by the spectacle!

 Once the new guard marched in, they began a highly choreographed and repetitive sequence of marches and flag exchanges while the band played tunes like "Eye of the Tiger".  Yeah, kind of funny.

A nice couple from Michigan let Grace and Leah stand in front of them against the gate!

 We crossed the street to meet the rest of the family at the Victoria statue in the center of the round-about there in front of the Palace.  Then we watched the old Guard march out.

This was a moment after Her Majesty the Queen drove into the far gate in her black Rolls Royce.  Some of us spotted the back of her head, but it all happened so fast I practically missed the whole thing!  You can see the gate is still open:

Next we all parted ways.  Most people went to Westminster Abbey for a tour, while Steve and I took the girls back to the Tube for a visit to Hamley's Toy Store on Regent Street.  First was a walk through Green Park (desperately wanted to take some portraits of my adorable kids in this park, but Jane was strapped to me half asleep and everyone else was fussy.  Oh well.) on our way to a pitstop at Starbuck's for a couple of sandwiches, juice for the girls, coffee for me, and several trips with girls to the bathroom.  On to Hamley's:

The Calico Critters section!  Otherwise known as Sylvanian Families in the UK, they're our favorite.  I may kind of wish that I was 7 again so I could collect some!

Back on the Tube.  It's waaaay more fun to stand and hold onto the pole:

 A Tube station exit at the top of our street:

 Walking a couple of blocks down Villier Street to get to our flat's front door, which was on the left hand side of the street.  You can see the second Tube station sign at the bottom of the street:

Aunt Rachel and Uncle Matt were there!  Rachel presented the girls with their official Flower Girl earrings and bracelets:

Later that evening a bunch of us went to Covent Garden, a short 10-15 minute walk away, so see what we could see.

We passed by a restaurant on Villier St. and happened to find these people in it!

LONDON: Day Two

Traveling around a bustling city with three little kids and one baby was fun, but it was not always relaxing.  We had a lot of help- namely my parents (Mom Mom and Poppy), my Aunt Becki, and my cousin Bradyn... but we were constantly saying things like "everyone grab a hand!", "Leah, try to walk in front of us, please!", "Watch out for that bus!", and "I need a coffee from that Starbucks!!" (haha).

Steve and I also had one of two things strapped onto us:  a bundled-up Jane OR a very heavy shoulder bag holding everything a family with young children could need for a day out on the town in the winter time.  This sometimes made taking well-lit and well-composed photos a little difficult, especially when it was my turn to carry the baby and her head was in the way of my heavy camera!  I decided to focus on getting a few nice shots each day, so I hope that you get a good picture (pun intended) of what each day was like for us, despite the fact that I didn't get a photo of everything.

We landed at Heathrow on Monday morning, October 28.  After several hours spent in traffic getting to the flat, and getting ourselves settled, we decided to tour the city a bit.

Here we are at the Horse Guard's Arch, which is guarded during the day by two mounted sentries of the Queen's Household Calvary.  

Through the arch, you enter the Horse Guards Parade grounds.  This is when our first London downpour occurred and we all got soaking wet.

Next we moved on to this corner, near Westminster Abbey and Parliament. Grace and Aunt Becki took some photos of Elizabeth Tower, which houses the bell known as Big Ben (Grace won't let you call the clock tower "Big Ben", that's technically incorrect!):

At this point we were a little chilled, so we returned to the flat (apartment) to unpack and cook some dinner.  The groomsmen, who were staying with Matt at his place, joined us for the meal and then we settled in for the night.

The flat was on Villier Street, which is a short road lined with restaurants and apartments, including two Starbuck's cafes.  Heaven.  At the bottom of Villier Street is the Embankment Underground train station (the Tube) and the Thames.  At the top of Villier Street is the Charing Cross Tube and Overground train station, and a bus stop.  Just a five minute walk down the street took us to Trafalgar Square.  Buckingham Palace was a 15 minute's walk.  God provided for us abundantly with this flat!  (I wish I had pictures of each room to show you all, but alas it was one of those things that I kept telling myself I'd do later and then never got around to doing it.)

Our location was so central to Tube stations, major landmarks and historic sites, and, yes, Starbuck's coffee, that coming and going was easy.  Naps were easily accommodated, groceries and "take-away" prepared meals were steps away, and it was easy to hop on and off of the Tube.  There were several bedrooms for plenty of privacy, and a large dining room table in one of the kitchens to gather around for talk and a cup of tea.  Or a coffee from... you guessed it.

The girls slept pretty well that first night (Leah and Grace were not excited to share a bed and both accused the other of being a terrible blanket-thief) and we were all ready for more adventures the next day...

LONDON: Day One

We feel so incredibly blessed to have been able to travel to London with our whole family of six!  

We've thanked God for it so often since we've been home.  It's the kind of trip that we never imagined taking, and I want to start by thanking all of our family and friends that helped us in one way or another- blessing us financially, watching kids while I undertook the challenge of packing all those bags, picking up random but necessary items at Target for me, praying faithfully over all the logistics of international travel with little ones, and of course our traveling companions who held little hands to cross streets, watched over sleeping babies, and took little girls on many trips to the airplane restroom while Steve and I rocked and soothed a sleepless baby by stuffing Gerber Puffs in her mouth.  And thank you to those who bought us Gerber Puffs for the trip.

I also have to thank Matt and Rachel for falling in love and getting married.  Not because we got a trip to London out of it, but because "Uncle Matt and Aunt Rachel" as a couple have already brought so much joy to our little family and we're thankful that Grace, Leah, Avery, and Jane have another beautiful example of love and marriage in their lives.  Three thousand miles isn't too far away to have an impact for Christ in the girls' growing-up years!  And I have to say that even before she was officially an Aunt, Aunt Rachel holds a very special place in Grace and Leah's hearts.

Without further ado, I present to you Day One:

Leaving our house for the drive to BWI airport.  They were so excited that it was finally time to do what we've been talking about doing for so long... ride on an airplane to London! 

The whole group of Americans before going through security!  Every group shot turned out to be blurry, but you can make out everyone I think.  My parents and paternal grandparents, my Mom's Aunt and Uncle, our former youth pastor and his wife, my Mom's sister and one of her boys, my sister April, and the six of us Deterdings.

While sorting baggage for checking in was a bit confusing, the journey through security was easy-- we were the only people there!  One of many prayers answered.  We also learned that a hurricane hitting England was holding things up, but we just missed having our flight delayed or re-routed.  

We could see our plane being loaded with what we hoped was ALL of our baggage!  My cousin Bradyn was a huge help with the girls!

Avery claimed a seat in the middle of the plane next to her Mom Mom, of course.  We'd read library books all about airplanes and the city of London, so our precocious two-year old was prepared for everything.  At this point it's about 9pm Baltimore time.

Jane spent the majority of the overnight flight looking over seat backs!  Here she's saying hi before take-off to her great-grandmother, great-grandfather, and my cousin Bradyn.  

The blessed hour or so of sleep that Jane got in her special baby seat.  Before someone slammed an overhead compartment shut and woke her up.  No, not bitter about that at all.

We arrived in London at 7:30 or so local time, which of course felt like 3:30am to us.  We had to circle above Heathrow for an hour waiting for storm winds to die down... but of course that all happened on Day Two, so I'll leave that for the next post!

Grace's Interpretation of "Crazy Hair" Day

Crazy Hair Day in the first grade!  Can you guess how we pulled off this style?
It lasted all the way until indoor recess when it was toppled by a ball thrown across the room.

Happy First Birthday!

This was the fastest year of our lives.  I guess what they say is true; time passes more quickly the older you get.  Or the more kids you have!

Jane Elizabeth is still small and petite and lovely, so maybe that makes it harder for me to believe she's ONE!  She has an official "first word", and it's "Uh-Oh!"  Adorable.  She may or may not be saying Mama, I can't tell for sure.  She still makes lots of babbly little owl noises and lights up whenever she sees a family member. She always pretends to be shy and bury her head in your chest when you're holding her and someone says hello.  She can finally clap her hands and can point to a nose!  Other than that, she's content to just grin.

Jane can take five or six steps in a row when she's in the mood, then it's right back to army-crawling.  She's almost startlingly fast with the army crawl.  She's conquered the stairs and often gets stuck standing under the kitchen table.

She's about to become the proud owner of FOUR new top teeth that are erupting all at the same time, poor girl, just in time for her to sink her teeth into her birthday cake this weekend!

We love you, little Jane Jane Choo-choo Train!

The Kids Have Been Here:

Found abandoned in the kitchen this morning.  Unsupervised snacking has been suspended until further notice!

And the 2013-2014 School Year Begins!