Tower of London

Tuesday we went to the Tower of London.  Mom had a pass here too so that was neat that she didn't have to pay. My parents were SUPER nice and got us 6 day   London Passes so we could do all of this without paying. It was really neat and a cool concept. We had to do a lot every day though so we could get our monies worth! (Well, my parent's monies worth anyway :))

We took the bus over there and enjoyed looking around at beautiful London.

We rushed in to see the Crown Jewels because Mom said it would get crowded. It was really cool to see the  crowns. They even had little kid crowns from the prices and princesses. So little. They looked heavy though.

This was a really neat place full of tons of history. A lot of it was a bit gory but it was still really cool. It is one of the most famous attractions here so I was glad to go. Not to mention even I had heard of it before coming here. haha. I have to admit though, as silly as it makes me sound... that I didn't know it was a whole palace. I guess I thought it really was just a tower! But it is a huge space of palace and moat and outer walls and whatnot. 

We took a tour with a yeoman. It was really interesting all of the things that he said. He told us a lot of gory stuff though. He explained what being hung, drawn, and quartered meant though. What a nasty fate!!

Scout was hungry about halfway through so I sat on a bench while Mom, Matt and Sadie listened on. 

We ended the tour in the chapel. The tour guide asked me to stay in the back in case my baby boy needed to be taken out. haha. It was pretty interesting though.

We saw some guards out there and Sadie was a little freaked out. She would not get close to them at all.

This is where some famous people got beheaded...such as Anne Boelyn.

This was one of the Yeomen. It is a job for life and they actually live at the palace. One of them is on guard at the entrance 24-7. 

This is when Mom and I told Matt we were going to go to the bathroom.

When we came out he and Sadie had disappeared. Mom and I looked for him for a while and then I went in two different museums and looked around while Mom waited for him. About an hour and a half later we decided that we were just going to go home...The original plan was for Mom to take Sadie home and me Matt and Scout go look at the Tower Bridge. But since we couldn't find him and we didn't want to wait for forever we were just going to go.

Right then, of course, he shows up. I was not happy with him. I was tired and hungry. Mom left with Sadie and Matt wanted to go look at the museum so I told him I would wait for him in the cafe. It took him almost two hours to do that. I was tired and grouchy. Poor Matt. Someday I will go back without kids so I can enjoy more. But what I did learn and see I loved!! Definitely a recommendation for anyone travelling to London!

Hampton Court

This little girl is so cute! :) We were fortunate that Dad could take the day off to play with us and go to Hampton Court, which is one of the palaces. They have a palace pass so they can get in for free to all the palaces. That is nice. They probably use it a lot when taking everyone! Mom and Dad are so helpful with the babies so that is nice!

Apparently she likes to stick out her tongue. I didn't realize this until I was looking back at pictures but she sticks it out a LOT!

Matt read up on the palace on the train while Grampy entertained Miss Sadie.

This week was Spring Break for the schools around here and so they were doing extra things, such as this demonstration. 

Hampton Court was originally built for a friend of the King Henry VIII...but he fell out of favor so the King took it for himself and enlarged it. 

Where did she learn to be so naughty?

Looking for the Royal Boat.

We enjoyed sitting for a minute by these people.

The architecture here in London is amazing! Way cooler than in the US. Look at these for instance. 

They also do a really nice job with the flowers. The tulips were awesome. They had sections and sections of colorful tulips. Yay for Spring!

Next we went to the maze they had and tried to find the middle. We let Sadie lead. She did really good until the end...then Matt took us there.

Matt wanted to take Sadie back in to throw her over the vine and Mom and I waited. Good picture Grampy!

These people love each other. 

This palace is so pretty! Not what you would imagine it looking like but still pretty neat. They said that some of it burned down a couple decades ago but that it was mostly restored. Another person told us that there are thousands of rooms in the palace that no one goes to. 

They had the largest vine in the world here so we went to look at that. We thought it was this place but come to find out it wasn't. 

This was right outside the largest vine. I just thought they were so pretty so I had to take a picture. 

Happy.

We were tired so while we waited for Daddy and GRampy to go through some of the palace rooms we watched the dancers perform. They grabbed people from the audience to learn the dance. Thank goodness I had children so I didn't have to go out and dance!

Here are some fun people. The one guy asked if we were from the states. I told him yes. He said something snarky to me and so I was snarky back. He told me that an area there was named after him. Carolina he said. I told him I had heard of it. He asked if it was doing well and so I told him it was doing so well they split it in to two. A north and south. Anyway, he was really funny and very in character so that was good. 

Some family pictures!

This girl was hungry and tired!!

One of the only things I remember was that Queen Caroline was though absurd because she believed in the practice of washing with soap! How funny huh?

It was a really neat experience and I am glad that we could go. And I am really glad Dad could take the day off to come and play with us! It was fun!

London

We arrived on Sunday around noon. We flew all night and were excited to get off the plane and to enjoy the first time in Europe for all of us. I brought melatonin since  I had a couple of recommendations to bring it for the kids to help them transition quickly and happily but we did not end up using it. My parents were nice and met us at the airport. Sadie was good and went to them to give them hugs. I think she was so happy to not be travelling anymore! She was so excited to ride on the train. 

Right when we got to Grammy and Grampy's house Sadie went down for nap and Matt decided that we should run over to Westminster Abbey for Easter Mass. (They live like two blocks away from the Abbey). So we did. It was fascinating and the building is absolutely beautiful. We got there right on time and had prime seats in the front of the back portion. By 15 minutes in it was packed so I guess they are all on Mormon Standard Time as well. Just kidding. It was a Catholic Mass but it was very interesting. There was a lot of sitting and standing and even one part where it said on the program to kneel but no one did. Matt and I had gentlemen on each side of us that talked  to us and explained some things. They were funny. My guy was from Wales and had been there a bunch of times. He was cute. His son-in-law was in the choir so he pointed him out to me. The music was beautiful and I liked the hymn that they had everyone sing. 

Here is a picture from right before we left for the service. (Mom had left some welcoming presents on the bed and one was the bow tie you see Matt wearing. Handsome eh?)

Then we went to a baptism at Hyde Park at the stake center. It was nice and we loved the big Christus statue. 

Mom and Dad showed us a couple things on the way home--this is shrapnel from WWII

And this is my goofy child.

Mom took us on a walk around to see Big Ben. How beautiful!! 

 We do love the Book of Mormon!!

 Such a pretty city!

We are excited to be here in London and excited to see what this time will bring. After mass we celebrated Easter with this awesome cake. Sadie was really excited about it. It looks better than it tasted though. :)