Visitng the parents in Kingston!

Since a few people have asked here is the start of MANY posts to come of our adventures in Europe. Be patient I am feeling a little overwhelmed with everything so I will get to it when I can.

So we left for our "sisters" trip on a Thursday the 29th of April in the afternoon from 3 different states and barely made it to Minneapolis to all fly together to London. Well I had a 4 hour layover waiting for them and the rest of them were all delayed and got there just in time to board the plane. This is Cherlyn and I getting ready to try and sleep (ya right) on the plane. I know you are jealous of our masks!

We made it to England!!! (except for Cherlyn's luggage) It was a long flight but so worth it. So the adventure begin.
1. Trying to make a phone call on a payphone with a hand full of change not sure what is euros and what is pounds! It was quite comical finally some man came over and gave us his change and helped us out.
2. Asking people how and what bus we take, no one seemed to have an answer.
3. 3 buses later 1 that was the same number but only took us all around the airport so we had an extra 45min detour.

4. FINALLY getting on the right bus and looking at the map mom sent us and NOT finding any street names thinking we were on the wrong bus again. After over an hour we asked someone and they looked at us like we were crazy. ( the picture above was the right number, but wrong bus)

5. Seeing the name of the stop we needed... PRICELESS!!! We cheered and could not wait to get off the bus. We had been traveling since Thursday early afternoon and made it Friday at 4pm. On this bus ride we did get to see all the kids getting on after school and they really dress and look like Harry Potter kids.

We meet mom and dad at the bus station and took a short walk to there flat had some home cooking from mom and took a nice walk along the river near there apartments.

Our first pastry in the center of downtown Kingston that they have a farmers market at on Saturday's.

 Mom standing outside All Saints church. There has been a church on this site for over 100 years and during the 10th century it was the site for the coronation of the Kings of England.

Pretty much what Jeanette did any chance she could get.

Some random store signs that I thought were funny!

So many emotions

I leave for Europe with my sisters tomorrow afternoon. We are going to London to visit the parents then meet up with my niece Marissa and Brother-on-law, Blake to tour Paris and then Switzerland. I am super excited to have this amazing opportunity to travel at a minimal expense and WAY nervous to leave my family. I have never left Brooklyn overnight before so this is huge for me. Let me go back for a bit. Cherlyn and Blake were so generous and used all there frequent flier miles to pay for our tickets to Europe so that the girls could go see mom and dad. This was an opportunity hard to pass up, not the greatest timing since we just bought a house, but since Jeanette is prego's and wanted to come we had to go now before she gets any bigger. My parents are excited to see us as well.

Now for the reason of this post, I know that while I am away Brooklyn will be in great hands she loves her daddy and her Nana is coming to help out as well so she will be set. Thank you Maria for coming up to help it is extremely helpful to us so Danny can keep working and making money while I go play. :) This helps me feel comfortable, but will miss B and Danny A Lot. I think I need to wear waterproof mascara since I will be crying the plane flight over. No really tonight when I put B to bed I was singing our usual songs before bedtime and she was hugging me patting my back humming along and I could barely get the words out. I was crying telling her I love her etc.. See even now getting teary eyed thinking about it. She can be a handful but is so sweet and sincere. Gotta love our Brooklyn Rose.

Some proof that she is a daddy's girl!

She loves to brush her teeth and yours as well - perhaps she will like the dental field like mommy.

Loves to walk in daddy's shoes

And fix things with her daddy, always a little helper.

This past weekend Brooklyn got another ear infection and ran an extremely high fever for 4 days it got up to 105.2 and down to 103.8. It was terrible to see her not feel good and we could do nothing for her. Luckily Monday she woke up with no fever, crossing my fingers that she stays that way while I am gone. I would feel terrible is she gets sick again while I am away. Oh and yes they gave her a totally different antibiotic this time and no reaction and yes it does cost more than the cheap Amoxicillin but totally worth not going to the ER again.
        I love you guys and am gonna miss you tons!!

Cousins

Cousin time for B, this week we have been watching Clara so Ricky can attend a Computer Show and Stephanie can relax and hang out with Ricky in Vegas after he is done at the show. It has been fun. Brooklyn gets super excited to see her then not so sure about sharing, but usually does in the end. I am sure Clara is wondering where all her siblings are running around, but I think she is having fun. They have opposite napping times so there is always one kid awake, normally no big deal, but his week I have been trying to clean and get things ready before I leave so it has been a rough one.I do not think I could be a mom of twins they need special parents. It will be an adventure for Danny he gets them for the next day and 1/2 on his own. 

Crazy weather lately, we were eating dinner and there was a down pour of hail for 10 min or so then it went away, same thing today! Crazy. Can't really tell in the pic but they are the size of marbles.

SLC Fun

 Danny went to Moab with the Casida/Chitwood boys and some other friends so on his way and to help break up the drive Brooklyn and I tagged along.Well for the first 5 hours tell we got to Salt Lake and then we left him and went to spend the weekend with Cherlyn and clan. Blake was out of town that weekend as well so it was just the girls and the kids. We got to go to a few sporting events for the kids. Brooklyn was trying to learn how to ride Eliza's scooter at Marissa's game. It was an exhausting weekend, but always great to spend time with Cherlyn and the kids we have a great time together.

 Eliza giving Scooter 101 class.

 Marissa showing her stuff, she is quite good. Her dream is to play softball for BYU, I think she has a chance.

 Friday the weather was not as good as Thursday, but we decided to brave the zoo. Since we have a pass for Boise we get into Utah's zoo free as well!! Of course we get out of the car at the zoo and it starts to rain, but we braved it anyways.

 This Peacock was so pretty when it opened up.

 Have to say this zoo is quite a bit more exciting than ours they have more animals, like Elephants.

 Go this way Lucas

 and Rhinos

 The Crew

 Ah such sweet girls

 The sistas braving it with the kids all weekend

 All aboard!!

 Lucas I almost did not recognize you

Cherlyn, because she has nothing better to do with her time. Ha Ha (she is the true definition of taxi mom) Is coaching the girls soccer team on Saturday mornings, she's a yeller but has a good time.

Sun=Zoo

 The nicest day of Easter Week was when only Josh, Kristian and Dani were here. So we took advantage of the sunshine and went to the Boise Zoo. Thanks to the Ricky and Stephanie we have a zoo pass so we get in for Free. It was a great afternoon we meet up with the Barnett's after Alli's adoption and explored for a few hours. We hadn't spent much time with just them so it was great to just stroll around and talk.

 

Obviously she was more interested in her snacks than taking a picture with me.

 Safari Girls

 B was pointing at the Lion basking in the sun.

Playing on the Giraffe slide, dad was having a hard time capturing the down the slide picture.

 Going home to make Breakfast for dinner!

 Stretching with daddy after his workout class

 Yum, can't get enough of those hash-browns, thanks Uncle Josh!

Special Day

This is Allyson she is a little girl that Brooklyn has become friends with from swimming at the YMCA over the last 6 months. She has been a foster child to Stacie and Rob since she was 5 months old she will be 2 in May.  The foster family has been blessed with the opportunity to Adopt Ally into there family and we were invited to be apart this special day.

We walked into the courtroom 2 min before the judge walked in, lucky us! This is the same Judge that has seen them for every court date up to the final one. Such a great family for Ally to be apart of. Her birth mother is a very messed up teenage girl so she is in a much better place.

The girls love to see each other. When they do they give each other hugs and are full of smiles it was an instant connection.

We are so happy for your family. Thank you for inviting us to be a part of this special day, it has been a long time coming and you will be forever blessed for taking Ally to be apart of your family.

The weather was amazing that day. It was the first sunshine we had had in a while, all the flowers were blooming it could not have been a better day.