Dad And Linda Come To Visit

Living overseas has one major downside—we do not get to see family very often.  That is why it is so nice when instead of all five of us flying to the states, our relatives come to see us here.

We had not seen Robert’s Dad and Linda for almost five years! Last time we saw them was when I was pregnant with Mark in Florida and they came to spend Thanksgiving with us. That means that this time was the first time they ever saw Mark in person! We are so happy that they made this very long journey to England (and a side trip to Switzerland!). In fact, they got a double whammy on their visit to the UK since Robert’s brother is here too and they got to see SEVEN grandkids.

Dad and Linda were able to spend five days with us. Robert was able to take one day off and show them London on one weekday and then on Saturday.

On one of the days that I was in charge of showing them around, we drove to Sandringham. I don’t think I ever wrote a post about our daytrip to Sandringham a year ago…hmmm. It’s the the country retreat of Her Majesty The Queen—a beautiful place to walk around and see why the Queen loves it here so much. This is where she spends her Christmas holiday!

Another day I had with Dad and Linda I took them to Cambridge. It wouldn’t be a trip to Cambridge without a punting tour of  course!

The only inconvenience of our days was always having to be home by 3 pm for school pick up. At the same time I am sure our guests appreciated having some downtime in their sightseeing days and opportunity to visit with the kids.

I am very happy that Robert got to spend some special time with Dad and Linda. Both days that he had a chance to spend with them they got to go to London.

One of my favorite pictures of them ever! hahaha

That was the day when they got to go on the double decker bus tour and ride around London with an audio guide. I guess Robert wasn’t taking a ton of pictures since we have been to most of those places before. But here is proof that we have been to THE London Bridge (that is hopefully not falling down).

And here is Shakespeare’s Globe that hopefully we can visit soon.

There was one thing that all of them really wanted to do—go to Madame Tusseuds, the wax museum. But I must keep those pictures for a separate post since they took so many!

Katya, one lucky duck, got to join Robert, Grandpa and Grandma on Saturday since it did not cost any extra to bring her along. Alex had to stay around here because one of his best friends was getting baptized and he did not want to miss that.

This time Katya got to go to Westminster Abbey! Kids are free, but they still get an audio guide with a fun quiz-trail to follow as she walks around. The whole gang really enjoyed the abbey.

So touristy but so fun—going on the London Eye! Robert and Katya stayed behind and were able to snap a few pictures of Dad’s “cabin”.

Next stop was most educational—a visit to the British Museum (free as always).

Here is Katya with the Rosetta Stone.

And cool Egyptian artifacts. 

Katya, the mummy.

We still need to take the boys to that museum…soon!

After a long day of walking around ice cream was a special surprise treat.  That’s what you get when you hang out with Grandpa and Grandma!

We never get tired of London! I hope our visitors enjoy this huge city as much as we do. Okay, and let me work on that Madame Tussauds post really quick.

Good night for now,

Lyana.