Strader European Vacation Part 3

So we survived the flight and even the adjustments to London and Ben's work schedule. On Sunday the girls and I waited patiently around the hotel for Ben to finish and pick us up to go and see/stay with Taz's mom and dad, Di and Robin.
Fortunately for everyone involved we managed the 45 min. drive with ease and arrived to the sweet familiar sway of an American flag on their gate. We were so happy to see a swing and a teeter toter, a bouncy ball, a whole kitchen of toys, and a house complete with crib, toddler bed, highchair and all! This truly was the saving grace of our trip! The bathtub was enough to keep the girls happy...Notice the very English faucet...



Ben stayed over and had to leave for two more days of work, the girls and I stayed on with Di's help and fantastic cooking. In fact when Ben couldn't make it over for dinner the first question was "What is Di making?", not I'm sorry you'll have to go it alone, or I miss the girls so much...just what delicious dinner will I missing out on.



Natalie and Ally slept so well, and ate fantastic dinners, they had a few playmates come over - We walked through the "magical forest" and saw the beautiful blue bells...which only grow in ancient forests of at least 1000 years old...amazing...



Robin and Di's house was 300 years old (the white front part)...and they took us to church which was 800 years old and still have the original door...This is where Natalie found out what gravestones were.


We met so many animals in the country naughty taughty was the turtle...then Bumble and OScar came with us to the bluebells....also the odd horse, chicken and rooster!

One of the days just the girls went on a shopping mission and Di took us to this little walking village where Natalie got fitted for a new pair of shoes and I bought some special gifts....we had a nice lunch a small cafe and this was the view from one of the little bridges...

We had such a great time staying with Di and Robin...Ben joined us after work was through and soon we were off to Ireland...Ben wanted to stay on with them in the country but those that know me understand my agenda and all the plans that I had made...

The Strader European Family Vacation-Part Two

London

We stayed in a Holiday Inn just outside London near where Ben was teaching. We ventured out for the first time and rented our own car from the airport along with a trusty Navigation system.

The car was great! The Sat Nav, as they called it, was not so great...and what do you do with a rental car in London and no Sat Nav? Get lost, get car sick and throw up, then have an argument in front of your kids (they were sleeping but it makes the story better) you also call someone you barely now and pay for a 20 min foreign phone call to talk you through the directions....

Once we got the "hang of driving" and we decided I couldn't scream every time I felt like we would run off the road or hit something Ben "pinched the curb" I wanted to say "I told you so" soo bad but didn't, he had to change the tire so I am sure he figured it out...besides I knew for sure he would be EXTRA careful after changing a tire so I guess it worked out for me in the end.


Our first night was like an all night slumber party...we tried to stay up as late as we could, after our 9 hour flight turned into almost 13 hour flight...we managed to stay up until 5pm. Then we all crashed! At 10pm we were all up again, as if it were morning...TV on, toys out, calling room service for food. Around 1 AM the next door neighbor banged on our adjoining door, I guess he didn't just arrived from America with two little kids??? Sorry:)
By 2:30 everyone was settled down again and we slept "in" till 10...this part, for those of you ever adjusting to UK's 8 hour ahead time clock, didn't go so bad...

The next day we headed to LegoLand...I'm sure I know what your thinking...why would we travel all the way to England to visit a park that is right around the corner at home? Strategy my friends...we were able to keep the girls up and busy and HAPPY! A round of applause please! We even found a really cool, really American, restaurant to eat nearby our hotel! SUCCESS!

Ben's classes did go really well, and he taught an extra day then what we expected...we are happy to have had this new contact and WILL be going back if they will have us! While Ben set things up Natalie and Ally did some playing in a HUGE park like setting with GYNORMUS dandelions...the biggest ones I've ever seen!

Another day I took the girls by myself, armed with only one stroller and a sling, onto the train and into downtown London. Once I figured out how to park the car (a whole other car story) we rode the 30 min train in with ease...I must have taken a wrong turn out of Waterloo train station because I ended up walking through a tunneled alley way covered top to bottom with graffiti art. I was convinced myself London is just so artsy and this kind of walkway was totally safe over here...you know London being so edgy and all. There even happened to be a group of "artists" painting a new space...they smiled? Seemed friendly, the spray paint fumes were a little strong. I didn't realize I had taken the "wrong" way until my way back to the station, whereby I came the regular route, with people and sunshine...there should be a bit in the tour book about not walking down strange graffitied tunnels - I wanted to take a picture, I guess it is good I didn't..When we surfaced to sunlight, Natalie said..."Mommy that was a little scary" I agreed with her - even though I never once felt unsafe at the moment...it was retrospect that I thought hmmm probably shouldn't have done that...however on the return trip I managed to get both girls so tired they slept the whole way home...see me in the train station:)

We ended up picnicking at the park just below the London Eye...we played at the awesome playground there! Then visited the Sea Life Aquarium...the girls slept the whole journey home and I was back to pick up Ben ON TIME! Not so bad!

We returned to the same fantastic kid friendly restaurant we even requested our same waiter...

The Strader European Family Vacation-Part One

We are a traveling family! Lots of our friends haven't taken their kids on an airplane, a road trip or even a camping trip...come on people what are you afraid of? Read on....you may be VERY afraid and let it be known...you have been WARNED!

It all started innocent enough...Ben had to teach some raceheads who all speak a bunch of different languages. I figured I could keep the girls busy and then we would start a little family vacation afterwards. I had the trip planned down to all the last details. That was exactly where I went wrong. When traveling with children keep no mind to details...they will waste you money!

Our flight...we have flown overseas a handful of times. Each time has been a piece of cake - I am serious. Natalie is a great sleeper and often times will sleep the WHOLE 10 hours...I should have known we were in for it when I realized I had NEVER booked our flight a mere 4 days before we were to leave. So thanks to my mom we salvaged, 4 tickets last minute on expedia.

We made it on the plane and had just gotten the girls down to sleep when we realize there was a drunk women swaggering down the aisle, drinking the bottle of hand soap from the airplane restroom...that's odd! Then she was taken to the rear of the plane (just the row behind us...she is searched (found to have Ambien and seems she has taken 8 of them, among other prescriptions) She is speaking to people who aren't there and tried to crawl away while barking and biting the flight attendtant's ankles. Quite entertaining really, not with 6 hours left in our flight. So she ends up getting handcuffed to the seats in the row behind Ally and I and her medical volunteers (who happened to be as lucky as we were) kept a comical eye on her antics. We had to make a u-turn, to the USA. Bangor, Maine to be exact. Here the police came on board to arrest her - she had a big surprise when she came to and wasn't in London. We should have known we were in for an adventure with a start such as this...

We (heart) Ally

Our little Ally is special in so many ways and she wants us to know it!

It all started when we were "trying" to get pregnant. As most know things didn't go well for us and we experienced two losses before being blessed with Ally. Then I was thrilled with the thought of a second attempt at natural child birth - Ally had other plans...she was discovered breech at 37 weeks and didn't move...AT ALL!

When she was born we learned of her Ptosis...AKA droopy eye...and will continue to monitor that (upcoming appointment in June). And now at her one year check up we learn of her irregular heartbeat. Sending us back into a panic...but I realized something while emailing my cousin about how hard it is to organize an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist...

"I am fairly certain our lives will be unchanged by Ally's heart...she is simply proving she is the more sensitive one...she was harder to conceive, stayed in a breech position resulting in a repeat C-section...she was born with her special eye which we have to monitor and now her special heart...

After Natalie, miss independent, stubborn (in a good way:), thrill seeker and never cries when hurt....I am blessed with one who needs me a little more and who I can baby a little longer..."

It truly is a blessing for God to give us the ability to see all things in a positive light. Even when we are down and the world is heavy on our shoulders I often hear God speaking to me and telling me all the ways I am blessed through these tough times...I am beginning to feel I am His positive messenger..always seeing His good works.Please pray for Ally, for her heart to be strong and for these doctors to understand my fear and worry. As of now our appointment is scheduled for July 6th...unless her regular doctor, who detected it, feels she needs to expedite the exam. My prayer is that we can KEEP the July appointment because then the doctor isn't worried. My other prayer is that when we go into see the cardiologist he finds nothing wrong, because God will have already healed it.

Camping revisited...

Remember not to long ago when I posted about beach camping and twisting Ben's arm into borrowing an RV...well look what is in our drive way!

Yup, our own little piece of RV heaven...ohh it isn't perfect! It has it faults...blue carpeting, a hole in the wall left from a fist...probably the former owner when he found out it was being repossessed.

It won't be traveling the friendly highways and byways...it will be semi permanent at Black Meadow Landing in Lake Havasu. Our little place by the lake...we wanted a nice lake house in Indiana but with Ben busy with the flight school and the horrible housing market we have to plan on sticking around here for a while.

So with a one hour trip to Parker, AZ and a 30 min drive to Parker Dam, CA we will enjoy the lake CA style...

Natalie calls it her little house and immediately went to her room and brought PJ's, a pillow and a blanket with her...I think she would have slept out there tonight if I let her...

Home Sweet Home - and as we always say...it is more FUN with FRIENDS...so call us up and meet us a the lake!

Comments...

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Ally's FIRST Birthday!

Here is Ally's cake...my second homemade one I have tried...The hat part was easy but the face was really tricky!

These cake pictures were taken by my neighbor Stephanie...she has done a lot of our family pictures and does a great job! Thanks Steph!

Ally had a blast celebrating her first birthday with family and friends! We held the celebration at Child's Play, an indoor play center and they handled ALL the clean up! A special present to mom and dad:)