our day started about 6am (for jonathan and i anyways), we finished all the last minute packing and were ready for the car to pick us up at 9. a friend of mine made the boys these backpacks for them to carry their toys in (don't worry, i saved room in my bag because i knew it wouldn't last that long)
here are the boys saying 'bye' and blowing kisses to our London flat
since being in London we had only ridden in a car about 3 times, so the boys were pretty excited to be sitting in a car!
7 large suitcases and 3 carry-ons... not bad for 6 months right!? all of our suitcases were over weight (imagine that) but thanks to jonathan's connections at the airport we didn't pay a dime (or pence).
the boys were SO excited to be going on an airplane, seeing pa, grandma, and t, and going to our red house that they were complete angels.... yes i wrote that correctly, they were amazing travelers, exceeded all my wildest expectations. here they are playing with some toys before we boarded the plane for a 10 1/2 hour flight!
here we all are finally on the airplane, it was 1pm, which happens to be adam's naptime.... he fell asleep before we even took off and slept for a couple hours!
they were SO good on the plane, i was SO proud of them... they slept, ate snacks, colored, and watched movies the entire time (blake did enjoy going potty on the plane a little too much.... a few trips to the bathroom without even going tinkles! and i have to say that i got pretty good at changing diapers in that TINY room!) we didn't have any major meltdowns, no ear pressure problems, time went by fairly quickly.... like i said, beyond my expectations!
adam and i watching a movie while blake slept....
no pictures in between flights, no time, we barely made our connection... we were the last ones on the plane. by the time we landed in dallas it was almost midnight London time, everything went smoothly we just had a short layover....luckily no bags were lost, no kids were lost, the drug sniffing dog didn't find anything, and the customs people didn't ask us any questions.
as soon as we got settled on the plane blake pretty much passed out and looked like this the entire flight: (what a champ!)
on the other hand this crazy boy was awake until about an hour before we landed!
the 4 hour flight from dallas to seattle seemed like a puddle jump.... we could hardly wait to get off the plane, we practically ran to baggage claim so we could see everyone. i think we all cried a little when we saw each other again, it was so nice to be home! (i know my sister and mom took some pictures... i'll have to get them and add them later)
we grabbed all our bags, which happened to be the first ones out probably because they were the last ones on the plane... but none were lost (that was definitely a miracle)! pa brought his truck per request from blake... he had been talking for weeks about riding with pa in his truck, which actually worked out great because we wouldn't have been able to fit us and all the luggage in the van!
i can't even tell you how good it felt to walk in our front door... when blake saw our red house he had the BIGGEST smile on his face and was SO excited! my parents were amazing and set up all our beds, filled our fridge and cupboards, and had fresh baked cookies waiting!
we were truly blessed to have the opportunity to live in London, we had the most amazing time, and were a little sad to see our time come to an end.... we made lifelong friends and memories!
WE ARE SO HAPPY TO BE HOME!!
