A Fall to be Thankful for ( Part 2 of 3)

Our Fall visitor parade continued, and with it came more fun and memories.....

September 7-13 : Uncle Kyle, Aunt Addie and (highly anticipated) cousin Carter!   From the time we told Avery that Carter was coming to see her in London, she was pulling toys aside to be ready for him, asking when he would get here, and constantly reminding me of all the things she had planned to do with him.  We were so happy when Carter, and his (brave for bringing a two year old on such a long flight) parents walked through our flat door! We spent the week taking them around town, negotiating toy sharing between three small children, and enjoying nightly "pajama parades"

The Flood boys on the London Eye

Playing at the Park.... Avery making the "little ones" push her

National Rail train ride with Aunt Addie

Carter giving the stare down to the Queens guard at Windsor castle 

Obligatory telephone shot of the family of three and a half ... baby girl Flood due in January

Avery and Carter saying hi to Paddington bear at Paddington Station

Our nightly "jammie parade parties". The laughter and toddler dances that occurred here were unforgettable

Nope, it doesn't get any cuter than these two stroller sleeping cousins

A family shot ( minus working Lane) on Parliament hill overlooking the city

September 26-29: Laci and Jessica leave the kid and husbands home for a girls trip! There is nothing better than having two moms visit who left their own kids and responsibilities at home to come have fun with us. They spoiled our girls rotten, and provided a lot of desperately needed girl time for me. We toured by day, drank wine and gossiped by night. 

These two literally got off the plane and said "let's go!". They were not about to let jet lag stop them from anything! They win the award for best time-adjusted visitors, or at least they faked it well.

What started as a work relationship, has developed into two girlfriends who got to be at Buckingham palace together. Pretty cool.

We've been friends with Laci for years, but had only met her best friend Jessica briefly before... by the end of the trip I am not sure who liked her more, me or my girls. 

This is why I love these girls. In a town full of high end designers and boutiques, they understand the beauty in "TK Maxx". (yup, thats the UK version of American TJ Maxx).

Girls night! This was fairly early in the evening... I'm not brave enough to show how we looked at the end of this night. It was my first time staying out in London beyond the time that the underground train runs. Enough said.

After a few days in London, they headed to Paris to end their trip.Where they apparently met this guy :)

Just writing about these visits makes us miss all of these people, 

~L, L, A&S

A Fall to be Thankful for ( Part 1 of 3)

While celebrating Thanksgiving this past weekend and counting our blessings, we remember how thankful we are for our friends and family. This year we are most thankful for those that spent their time away from work, paid crazy costs for flights, and were willing to sleep in Avery's princess-walled room in order to see us and enjoy our life with us. It is no doubt because of those visits that this experience is going so well.  

And talking about visitors? These past few months, from August to mid-November, the door to the Flood flat was busy! We loved every minute of it, but due to all of the fun we were having, have not had the time to post much on each individual's time spent here with us. So here are some of our favorite photos and moments from the most recent jet setters that landed on our doorstep. 

August 17- 26 : Nanny and WePa are Back! Just a month after we got back to London from our trip home, without enough time to even miss them again yet, Nanny and WePa were here again. Since they saw London previously in cold weather, it was nice getting them to our parks, the outdoor theatre, and they even took us away for a quick weekend trip to Dublin, Ireland.

Lane and the girls at our Dublin aparthotel

He's a certified Guinness beer pourer... not like he would ever drink a Guinness!

Mom and Dad at the 360 degree bar overlooking downtown Dublin 

Lane and I at Temple Bar... Thank you mom for watching the girls!

Mom and Dad at Windsor Castle 

Out and about in London - Hampstead Heath Park

Hyde Park Lido

Arica and Eddie - August 23-28 Overlapping with Nanny and WePa came Arica and Eddie. It was so nice having a few nights to spend just the four of us (while mom watched the girls!).  They spent the days looking around town, the boys caught a football game, girls shopped and at night we played endless games of euchre. 

Stella got her first crush on Uncle Eddie

Where you going Arica? ( Weeping Willow tree at Hyde Park)

Lunching at Hyde Park

Baby on Board! We can't wait to meet baby boy McCracken!!

 After they left London, Arica and Eddie headed up to Scotland and Ireland to continue their trip

Remember, I said we had a lot of visitors... part 2 of 3 coming soon!
~L, L, A&S