London (Days 0 & 1)

I had tirelessly made list after list for 2 weeks prior to our trip. Slowly but surely items were checked off and just before departure Danny snapped a picture of the various crossed off lists. Here is an example. I definitely found the list making experience pretty intense for a 2 week international trip with two kids. (In the end, I don't think we forgot anything...)


Our journey began at the Eugene airport which is such a beautifully relaxing way to begin. There aren't long lines, the security people actually help wrangle the kids and stuff rather than walk away after dismantling any semblance of travel organization.

I think Maya remembers at least a couple of flying experiences; although, she looks a bit nervous in this pic. Please take note that Baby made the trip to England as well.

Our first flight took us to Denver where we had a brief layover before hopping our plane to London.

the plane ride was pretty much as expected…

luckily jen and I hit the wall at different times

me about the 5th hour jen about the 8^th…

there were some spectacular moments of brilliant teamwork

and some not so pretty snappy moments

Maya called our black flight attendant Barack Obama…

and made “friends” with the poor girl next to her.

I have to admit I cringed and squirmed in my seat in the only way a mother of a chatty and precocious 3 year old can. Other high points from the flight include me feeding Maya and Danny (he was holding Fin) supper. I had 3 meals stacked on top of each other on my tray table and 2 hungry, grumpy and tired souls on either side of me. The flight attendants didn't really know what to think of us.

Thankfully, Maya slept for a few hours in her car seat and Fin slept in short spurts in the wall mounted bassinet provided by the airline. Bulkhead row is the only way to fly with kids--the extra space in front of us saved our sanity over and over and over again!

we spent our first day here in a stupor of deplaning

cab riding and checking in…

Maya thought the cab ride was cool (no car seat, don’t tell!)

but was not convinced we were in England till we saw a double decker bus…

we checked in to our room and despite plans and intentions to the contrary

ended up taking short naps…

The "Magic Bag" produced a lovely pair of new sparkle shoes for the trip. Maya got these on the airplane as a final distraction for the last hour or two. When she put them on I noticed they were a bit tight but I assumed it was because her feet were a bit swollen due to flying. She wore them a bit in the airport but started to complain about them hurting so we switched to her old shoes. After nap she put them on again for our grocery mission. Let's just say that the 8 hour time difference and the 20+ hours of travel time hit Maya (and us) square in the face. The sparkle shoes that fit brilliantly in the store a mere 2 weeks earlier were at least a half size too small. She didn't want to wear them, she didn't want to wear her old shoes, she didn't want to stay home, she didn't want to go out...she wanted and didn't want simultaneously. Here are the culprits. I promised her that we would go and buy a proper fitting pair when we got back stateside...I think she has forgotten...at least until our next trip to Target.

then out for groceries

home for dinner

and some play/movie time at home

we had a little midnight snack to help adjust our clocks

and maya was enamored with the city at night!

(but the screaming man upset her just a little bit.)

Thankfully our London accommodations were quite spacious which helped us deal with jet lag a bit easier than if we had been in a family room (all of us sleeping living in a single room). We had 2 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and living/dining space. They also provided a pack and play and highchair for our room for Fin.