Windsor Castle

After a little lunch on the bus ride and an hour or so later, we made it to our next destination of the day: Windsor Castle!

It was so neat to pull up and see a ginormous ferris wheel and a view of the castle. We were so excited to go and check it out. And my favorite...take pictures! :)

We had about 3 hours to explore before all of us had to meet back up at the bus to return back to Lakenheath. My friend Emma once again saved the day and helped me with my children. The kids really loved having her around with us! And again, I missed my hubby and wished he was enjoying this day with me!

After we climbed off the bus, we went up an elevator and walked down the side of a train track to this...

The Queen! Andrew LOVES trains so this was the best thing to see of all time on this trip in his opinion! :)

And here it is...a view of the castle. So huge! And our FIRST castle to ever see in person! It was pretty much awesome! But it also felt a bit unreal to actually be standing face to face with an actual castle.

And here is where our adventure through the castle began. There's quite literally a town surrounding the castle walls...

Tons of shops and restaurants!

{A statue of Queen Elizabeth.}

Turning onto the street to the left takes you up to the front entrance to the castle.

We paid the entrance fee, walked through what felt like an airport security gate (metal detectors, etc) and then we kind of wandered around for a bit and took in the view. It then occured to us once we saw the British flag flying above the castle, that that meant someone from the Royal party was home. We of course didn't know who was there but it was still pretty neat to know!

I loved seeing all of the detail all over the castle!

The entrance to the front of the castle where Royalty live.

Closer view

And oh my were the gardens surrounding the castle beautiful!!!

The Royal Guard

And this is at the point that Aubrey, Jocelyn and I took a tour through Queen Mary's Doll House and a brief walk through the State Department where we saw the Waterloo, King & Queen's bed chambers, armory and shields on the wall, etc. We couldn't unfortunately take any inside photos of the castle. Those darn rules - obviously necessary, but still! :) I guess you'll have to just use your imagination.

While the boys snoozed, us girls had our picture taken next to the Guard.

We had a quick bite to eat before heading back to the bus. Smoothies, lemonades and yummy treats!

It was a FUN (and exhausting!) day! I'm so glad I got to experience this day with my children. :)

And then we made it back to the hotel JUST in time to see this beautiful sunset.

Stonehenge

Being in England for John's work conference allowed us spouses and children to take a few trips throughout our week's stay in Lakenheath. While John was away for all day meetings, the kids and I piled onto the bus and made our first stop to Stonehenge. It was quite the adventure with just myself and my four kids but I knew we may not have the opportunity to see it again so I kept my focus on that to get through the day. Trust me, it was A LOT of work! Thankfully, my new and dear friend Emma helped me out with my kids when needed and offered to push the stroller for me when I wanted to take photos or to tend to my kid's needs. She's awesome and I'm so grateful for people who stand up and help without being asked!

Aubrey sat next to her friend and they played ds games much of the bus ride.

Landon played and dosed off and on and was quite the trooper!

Andrew and Jocelyn sat next to me across the isle and weren't always this cute and loving so I did what any Mom would think to do...take a picture to preserve the good moments when they happen. Hahaha These two are wonderful and love each other but being siblings, they aren't always so nice! :)

A few hours later, we arrived at Stonehenge! It was sprinkling the whole bus ride and cleared up just in time for us to take our tour. Still cold and windy but definitely doable!

The rocks were HUGE! And due to them preserving their history, you aren't allowed to go past the gated off area and touch them. Still very neat to see though.

We were given devices for our self walking tour but the kids used them more like walkie talkies. So funny! :) Walking around with the kids and taking photos didn't allow me to hear much but it was a great place to sight see. I decided to buy their tour book and read up on it later. :)

It was so pretty there and I wished the whole time that John was there to join us! With my brother and his family living in England, I'm sure we'll be able to go again while we live in Germany for a few years. And if not, we have pictures! :)

Next up: Windsor's Castle

Lunch Date

With school out, we thought it would be neat to drive up to meet John by his work and have lunch with him. So we packed five lunches and drove to Arlington.

On a Friday.

And warm too.

I know...I'm craaaaaaazy!

Northern Virginia isn't a fun area to drive through. Especially on a Friday!!!!!!

After an hour on the freeway, we got there just in time to go to a nearby park and eat lunch with what seemed like everyone else on the city block. Cute park though! I was sort of hoping to take Andrew's photos here too. But luck would have it that it was way too crowded and Andrew wouldn't hold still for anything. I did try and I did get a bit frustrated and discouraged in the end. It just wasn't the best timing. We bagged the whole picture thing for the day and just enjoyed our time together.

{"Here's a rock, mama!"}

{This one is one of my favorites with all of them on the art sculpture.}

Cold Stone was a hop and a skip across from the park. So after we ate our lunches, John treated us to some ice cream before he had to head back to work. Mmmm.

We kissed him good-bye and started to leave when my phone rang. It was John. "Give me 10-15 minutes and I will be right out." It was a little after one and his boss was giving him the rest of the day off. Yay! :) He saw no sense in his family being up there and leaving and him having to stay - and then ride the 1 1/2 hour slow train ride home. It was nice spending more time with him. Even if it DID take us 3 hours in Northern Virginia traffic to get back home! :(

Friday's may just be out of the question for our lunch dates from here on out. It was worth it though this time - seeing my kids have fun eating lunch with their daddy. Something during the week they never get to do!