Day 2 - Regents Park

We are still getting acclimated to our surroundings and time zone, so we went to the closet Royal Park to our apartment - Regents Park. Its in walking distance which is really cool! We only saw a part of the park so we certainly have more to explore later. The London Zoo is on the northern side of Regents Park so we will be sure to go there another time.

Look - another playground!

 

How cool is this big piece of driftwood to climb on?

They found some American kids to play with and created an obstacle course at the park.

We rode the bus home to take the scenic route. Except we got on the wrong bus going the wrong direction.

But we saw Regents Street which was beautiful.

And we hung out at a bus stop...for a long time.

But then we caught the right bus and rode on the top deck. Front row on a double decker bus! Awesome!

We passed this building with all of the window boxes of flowers. I love it!

I didn't let the kids nap today to try to get them adjusted to the time zone. But then I found this on our couch. Both of them were completely out.

In the evening, we walked in the rain to meet Kevin for dinner. We decided to take them to a traditional British pub for dinner. They didn't like the food but it was the experience that counts.

Kevin ordered fish and chips and really liked it.

Day 1 - Paddington Street Gardens

6/27/2016
Today we stayed low key and pretty close to the apartment. I saw Paddington Street Garden on the maps app and thought it would be a nice thing to do on the first day.

On our way out, I took this picture of our "flat" (apartment) from street level. Its called a basement flat because its below the street-level flats.  This means a few things: its cold, it sound like cars and buses are driving over us, our cell and wifi signals are almost non existent. Inside is very nice though! That's a post for another time. :)

Walking into Paddington Gardens

Merry-go-round

See-saw

Look at this amazing equipment fully shaded by huge, gorgeous trees!

Picnic lunch in the garden.

We weren't sure how to use the playground toy so we made William try it. This is one of those moments when I feel like the locals are enjoying watching the Americans.

Proof that I was with them.

After a nap back at the apartment, we walked to the Embassy to meet Kevin.

We had dinner outside at an Italian restaurant called Prezzo. The weather was amazing.

Our flight and our first evening in London

We had a good, uneventful flight to London!

Here are our bags lined up outside our house in San Antonio waiting for our uber to arrive. Considering there are four of us going for 2 months, I think we did great!

Killing time in the San Antonio airport with selfies...

Boarded for Houston.

In the Houston airport, we had a last minute exercise class to wear the kids out.

Ready to go.

Boarded for London!

The plane was beautiful!

Lots of cool movie and tv shows but "London Has Fallen"?? Seriously??

 

They served ice cream after dinner!

Kevin had an empty seat next to him so we put William there to sleep. And boy did he! Seven hours of sleep for this guy. Slept right through breakfast service, PA announcements and everything else.

Getting close...

Will woke up about 30 minutes before we landed.

Caroline was too excited to have "her own tv" with lots of tv and movie choices so she didn't sleep much...until 30 minutes before landing.

Made it!

The line to get through Customs was 1:45. The kids were troopers considering.

Caroline is convinced Kevin is famous after Miguel picking us up with this sign.

After getting settled a little in our apartment, we walked to the US Embassy. Its .8 miles from our apartment.

On our first evening in London, we had dinner at Chipotle. Its actually a block from our apartment and the closest restaurant. Perfect huh?

Of course we found a phone booth on our walk and we stopped to take pictures...with the selfie stick.

Will in our bathtub.

The kids are sharing a room and bed for 2 months. Wish us luck!