Granthamania Eurotrip 2014 - Part 1 - London, England

**I'm sure there are so many typos in this post. I'm in such a hurry to get this post up and I'm really pressed for time with two kids these days. So forgive me for the lack of attention to detail.**

I want to document our trip before I forget so many details. So the next few posts will be about the trip that Mark and I took to Europe January 14-21st.

Mark was scheduled to go to Dublin, Ireland and London, England for work in January. Because he would already be over there, we decided to book a ticket for me to meet him after his work was finished. His work was complete on January 14th. I flew out on January 14th on an overnight flight to meet him on Wednesday January 15th. I flew into London, England on Wednesday morning and took the train from the airport to Paddington Station.

view from the Hotel window...a very cute street!

Castle built for Anne Boleyn

The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk

i have no idea..just wanted to show the landscape of London

From Paddington, I hopped a taxi to our hotel which was completely unnecessary since our hotel was in walking distance. I didn't know that and the cab driver was unsure of our where our hotel was, too. Live and learn. Mark met me at the hotel...he had to switch hotels when we was finished with his work portion of the trip. 

Aquarium and the London Eye
It was closed while we were in London, so we didn't get to ride.

hideous blue rooster statue that we thought was funny

We stayed at a Days Inn for 49 Pounds a night. It wasn't too bad either. I mean it wasn't the Ritz, but it was clean, warm and had a private bathroom which is the kicker in Europe.

From one of the pub windows. 

The first day in London we just roamed around and tried to see all the big sights. We knew with only two days in each city that we wouldn't have enough time to do a lot. We wanted a taste of each city (London, Paris & Amsterdam).

on the damp streets of London

The second day we took a tour of London on a double-decker, red bus. I had a great time seeing the city and we learned a little, but I think the tour could have given a little more information. It wasn't as thorough as Chicago's river tour. Although to be fair, London has hundreds of years more history to share than Chicago. In that respect, I'm sure those tours are very difficult to put together.

Lock & Co.
oldest hatters in England, responsible for the bowler hat...made them for Charlie Chaplin

Victoria Tower on The Palace of Westminster
This was an amazing site!

Big Ben...I think it was recently renamed Elizabeth Tower.
I'm going to stick with Big Ben.

Magnificent!

The highlight of London for me was Big Ben/The Palace of Westminster and the Tower of London. For the record, I do think that seeing the Crown Jewels (which are housed at the Tower of London) is overrated. There was no wait to see them since we went in the off-season. But, if I stood in line for any length of time to see some gold and a few crowns...I would have been a little upset with myself for wasting valuable time. I don't want that to sound disrespectful to any British folks and I'm sure it does. I'm sure there are things they feel the same about here...maybe the Liberty Bell or the Declaration of Independence. I will say that I've never seen jewels as large as the ones on the crown. I'm sure I never will, again. So there is that.

Hard Rock.
I thought it was funny that they made a huge deal that it originated in London; NOT AMERICA.
It was funnier when my mom looked it up and found out it was founded by two AMERICANS in London.

Buckingham palace wasn't too impressive either. (I mean look up Kinsington Palace or Windsor Castle and you can see what I mean). Compared to those places, it looks like a grey box. That being said, I didn't see the inside and I'm sure (like a lot of things in Europe...like, Notre Dame...more on that later) that it is breathtaking.

Buckingham Palace

Wellington Arch

Wellington Statue
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Thankfully, there isn't much of a language barrier in England. I think the only confusion we had was regarding restrooms. They call them toilets (we never heard anyone call them a "loo") everywhere we went in Europe. I think 'toilet' sounds kind of gross. (I know that's my own hangup and kind of odd).

It was difficult to cross the street. I was continually looking the wrong way, but they do have the direction to look painted on most cross walks so that helped. About the time I got used to looking the correct way for oncoming traffic, we left for Paris. They drive on the same side of the road as the USA so traffic was coming from the way we were accustomed.

The London Eye

The London Eye

Waterloo Station...where we caught the train to Paris

you can see shrapnel markings from the WWII

close up of the shrapnel marks...

I have no idea why I took this, but it looks like a cool place

Tower Bridge...not London Bridge

Tower Bridge

The following pictures are all of the Tower of London. Probably the oldest thing we saw. Parts of it date back to 1078 and William the Conqueror. We tried to take a tour with a Beefeater, but he was a bit obnoxious and we had a hard time understanding him. We left his company and took our own tour. We were able to see the Bloody Tower that housed Anne Boleyn among others. We saw the Crown Jewels. We saw a tree that was used to hang hundreds of "traitors to the crown". We also heard the story of the murder of the two princes. Basically a lot of very dark, fascinating history.

the Tower of London

the obnoxious Beefeater

gates to get into the Tower of London.

Mackenzie - 7 months

Mackenzie,

Today is January 11, 2014 and you are 7 months old today! You are pure joy, my dear. You have the most amazing disposition. You still rarely cry. Hunger and exhaustion are your triggers. I will say that you have no wind-up. You go from "happy as a clam" to furious in seconds with no warning.

You are not feeling well in this picture. :(

There is no way to tell right now, but I wouldn't be surprised if you are more of an introvert like me. I maintain that you have your dad's temperament. But you seem to really need your alone time like your mom.

You are letting us see more of your personality every single day. It's taken you a while to warm up, but when you did...you didn't hold back. You love to smile now and do it frequently. You laugh a lot, too...mostly at Chloe. You started to say blah, blah, blah last week and are quickly moving on to other consonant sounds. You prefer to practice talking alone in your crib. Once you master the sound, you will talk to us. (Now you may understand more of my reasoning for thinking you may be an introvert.)

Chloe hurt her arm...we went to the E.R. for X-rays. They say it's not a break.
We go to her doc tomorrow for a more thorough exam.

 You have started solids...I think I put that in your last post. We are still only feeding you solids once a day. You really don't seem to like them. I prefer more of a baby-led weaning style. So we are going middle-of-the-road with it. I'll do partially what your pediatrician asked of me and partly what you seem to prefer.

You aren't crawling; although, you do scoot backwards. You are really good at pivoting your body and rolling to get what you want. It's so funny! You are sitting up so well now. When you want back down on the ground, you just crash to the floor. You haven't cried yet despite the fact that you've bonked your head on the ground pretty hard doing it. You are a tough nut. But that doesn't surprise me...your sister is, too.

Your dad and I are leaving you with Shorty for the first time as an overnight. We will be in Europe. It's so hard to leave you. Especially since you seem to have your first cold. But, you are in great hands. Shorty was the best mom to me...she'll be a fantastic grandma to you.

I really feel like we finally connected, Mackenzie. I loved you before I met you. But, it has taken me longer to get to know you. I think part of that is your personality. I think more of it is that I have Chloe to take care of, too. It's a side effect of being baby #2 and not having your mom in your face 24/7 because she's distracted by your older sibling.

I love you so much! We all do. You bring so much joy to our lives. Our little family feels so complete with you here.

Mackenzie - 6 months

Mackenzie,

It's December 11, 2013 and you six months old today!

You were a whopping 18lbs. 9 oz. today at your doctor appointment. That's 90th percentile and you were 27.5" long which puts you in the 98th percentile. They say you are supposed to double your birth weight by 6 months. I will say you've surpassed that by a good 3 pounds. ha. You are wearing size 3 diapers and they are looking a bit snug. You are wearing 9 month clothing and quickly moving into the 12 month gear.

I can hardly believe it's been six short months since you casually and quickly came into our world. You are a joy! You are back to sleeping through the night. 6:30 to 6:30 is a good bet. You nap like a champ! What can I say? You love your sleep! And only on your tummy.

I could almost set a watch to your schedule. Which is funny, because I didn't try to get you on a schedule...I didn't have the time or the luxury with having two children. It just happened. If I don't have you in your bed by 6:30, you let me know and VERY LOUDLY that it is time for bed. It's funny, but problematic when we need to be somewhere later in the evening.

You started solids last week. At first you hated it and made awful faces at me every time you took a bite. The past two days you have seemed to really enjoy it. You've had bananas, peas, butternut squash and sweet potato. Your favorite seems to be the squash and the peas. You despise oat cereal and I don't blame you...I'm not going to make you eat it. It smells and looks like cardboard.

You are still all about your sister. You touch her whenever she gets close enough and you will not look at or respond to me or Mark if she is within eye or ear shot.

You are now rolling over from front-to-back and back-to-front easily and often. Your favorite toy is your foot. If you don't have socks or footie pjs on, the foot is in your mouth.

You are also quite 'chill' or as I like to loving tell you...a bit lazy. You drool while you eat your bottle & still have to use a slow flow nipple because you like to eat so slow. You can sit up, but you would rather slump over and play with your feet. I can tell you won't be in a hurry to do anything as you get older. Please don't misunderstand. This is wonderful! You are a perfect compliment to our family and exactly what we needed to balance out the mania!

We love you, Mackenzie Jewel!

Mackenzie - 5 months

Mackenzie,

It's November 11, 2013 and you are 5 months old.

MJ doesn't seem to thrilled that Chloe jumped into her photo shoot.

You are starting to engage with us more. We are getting lots of smiles and one or two chuckles. You babble a lot...mostly squeals. You will imitate us if we squeal first.

Ready to crawl

You only roll from back to front, though you have rolled from front to back. You want to be on your tummy and not your back. You are really trying to figure out crawling. You won't be crawling for a while, but it doesn't stop you from trying. You just really want to chase Chloe down. 

I think I see a tooth coming through your gums. I guess we'll see in a few weeks.

sleeping at El Arroyo 

You still haven't started solids. I'm tempted to try them a few weeks early. You are a big girl and recently started waking up to eat in the middle of the night. I wonder if letting you have a few extra calories via solids will help you sleep?

going to a baby shower for Renee & Stu

You are a great napper these days. If you are full and sleepy, I lay you in your crib and you go right to sleep. That's a huge improvement from your sister who refused to nap until she was much older.

Speaking of sleep. You sleep on your stomach. **Gasp** I lay you down on your back, but you immediately roll to your side or tummy and fall right to sleep. The doctor told me to leave you be if you rolled to your tummy on your own.  

first run

We love you, Mackenzie!

Just for fun...Chloe at 5 months and MJ at 5 months. The older Mackenzie gets the less I think she resembles Chloe. They have very different eye shapes and noses. Mackenzie has dimples and it seems her mouth is bigger. I know it seems strange that I compare them, but so many people ask me if Mackenzie looks like Chloe did. My response is, "you can tell they are sisters, but they don't look exactly alike." In fact, based on this picture I'm not even sure you can tell they are sisters. ha.

Halloween 2013

I suppose I'll post some of our Halloween festivities. I haven't been and won't be blogging much. I simply don't have the time with two kiddos. Well, I have the time...I just want to use the time for other things. I will be continuing to post MJ's monthly updates. I like going back to look at Chloe's so I owe her (and myself) that. With that said, here is our Halloween:


A few days before Halloween, we carved our pumpkins. Chloe didn't really enjoy it. I should have let her paint a pumpkin instead. She just didn't like the gooey pumpkin innards. Live and learn.

This wasn't as fun as we thought it would be...ha

MJ chillin'

Chloe picked the bat pattern.

Mark free handed a double T...turned out pretty good!

Chloe chose her own costume this year. She wanted to be the yellow Angry Bird. So I took the liberty of dressing Mackenzie as the pig from the game to compliment Chloe's costume. I know they won't want to do themed costumes for long, so I'm taking advantage now.

My mom came to town to watch Chloe's pre-school parade. So I recruited her as the blue Angry Bird and we passed out candy at the trunk or treat for Chloe's school. I just love Halloween! This was C's first year to really trick or treat. We only let her go to two houses last year. This year, we all over our neighborhood with her friend Kara and her family.

She was so excited when she went to one of our neighbors' house and he answered the door dressed as a pirate! She told me that she met Captain Hook and he was nice. Oh the world through the eyes of child! It's so magical. I love people like that...they take some time out of their busy lives to brighten the world of others...especially children.

The back of my car decorated for Trunk or treat! Super fun! I spent $3 on the decor by using dollar store purchases and crafting supplies I already owned.