London Baby!

After Scotland, we drove down to London for a few short days so that all my dreams could come true!  London is one of my all-time favorite cities because of the culture, the literature, the movies.  I just had so much I wanted to do!  Michael had been to London before and we both feel like it's a location that we will most likely visit again so we were ok with our short time there.  But we didn't let us stop us from packing it in!  :)

Our first night in the London, we called the missionaries and asked for Young Women in the local ward that would be willing to babysit for us. It was the best move ever!  We picked her and some pizza up and she stayed at the hotel with our kids while we took the train into the city to see Wicked for Michael's first time!  Such a fun date!

Saturday we set out with a big, long checklist and had so much fun checking off the boxes!  We started the day with the iconic Big Ben and double-decker buses and telephone booths and Westminster Abbey!

Harrison flying off to Neverland!

All the amazing things in one photo! I also have a few when a random guy came and stood right in front of me for no real reason and blocked everything. 

Next up was Notting Hill and Portobello Road.

Pretending this is the blue door in the movie "Notting Hill."

Laila loves putting money in cases of street musicians.  Portobello road was alive with the market, street performers, and yummy food carts.

We loved everything about it!

The last part of the afternoon included stopping at Diana Memorial Playground that has a Peter Pan theme.  This was so fun and special.  You are only allowed to enter if you have young children so there's one more reason to travel with your kids!  They get you into the coolest parks. ;) 

It started raining that afternoon, but that didn't stop us from enjoying walks through Kensington Gardens to get to one of my all-time top places I wanted to visit: The Peter Pan statue.  

Worth it!

We enjoyed some noodles that evening at Wagamama's.  The last time I had eaten there was when I was in New Zealand so that brought back warm memories and warmed our bellies too!

The next morning we got back on the tube and rode back into the city for church.

Her Scottish kilt!  Love her and the kilt!

We love finding church buildings during our travels.  It's always so wonderful to be with fellow saints- no matter our differences- all coming together to be more like our Savior.  London was no exception and with their location, I'm sure they see many visitors all the time!

The rest of the day we toured the Tower of London, oogled the crown jewels, enjoyed the sites, visited St Paul's Cathedral to feed the birds but they were probably hiding from the rain.

Laila making friends everywhere she goes.

A little windy on the bridge!

Then we needed to get our rental car back to Scotland for our last flight back to Romania.  Michael took a detour and surprised me with a drive-through of the beautiful town of Stratford-Upon-Avon!  Shakespeare's birthplace.  So charming and the perfect end to such a fairy tale trip!  I cannot wait to go back!