Windsor Castle

Our flight landed at Heathrow airport on Monday morning at 10:00 AM. We were not exactly feeling rested, but we hit the ground running! Brian rented a car through Turo and off we went, driving on the wrong side of the road. Lol! Heathrow is only about a 20 minute drive from the town of Windsor and the Windsor Castle, so we made that our first stop. I actually had timed entry tickets for 11:30, and we were stressed about making it on time. We arrived in London on Monday, May the 8th, two days after the coronation of King Charles III. That Monday was a national holiday in England, and not the best time to visit Windsor castle, we learned. But hey, we were there, so we made the most of it! Finding a parking spot in Windsor was nearly impossible...after driving around forever with no luck, Brian decided to let me out to go find out if we would be able to still use our tickets if we were late, due to parking. He finally found a spot (in a legal lot), but he forgot to get a ticket to put in the windshield and when we came back at the end of the day, we had a $100 parking ticket...BOO. Figuring out how to actually pay the ticket was the biggest mess too.) We will just blame that on sheer exhaustion and count it as a memory to laugh about later! 

The entire town of Windsor was decorated with flags and pictures of King Charles, and it was obvious they were having quite a celebration. The night before, on Sunday night, there was a huge coronation concert at Windsor Castle, where Lionel Richey and Katy Perry performed. We just missed them! =0) Lionel was at Windosr castle singing "All Night Long" while we flew on a plane all night long to get there! 

Windsor Castle is huge & it was such an amazing place to visit. My favorite part was St. George's Chapel, where Queen Elizabeth was buried and where Prince Harry & Meghan Markle were married. 

I am not used to pulling all-nighters and I was feeling a little zombie-like, walking around Windsor Castle. If I could do it over, I would probably wait to go there until after we had some sleep. I honestly think we missed a lot, because we were just so tired. I do remember the delicious cheese bread & strawberry cheesecake & our first pot of english tea though...so, so good! They didn't allow anyone to take pictures inside, so we only have pictures of the exterior of Windsor Castle & St. George's.

After touring Windsor Castle and St. George's Chapel, we headed back to our tiny car and drove into London to find our hotel and crash. 

Driving on the wrong side of the road was a little scary, but Brian did a great job!

Our car was SO TINY, I felt like I was sitting in the actual dashboard! It actually made me very carsick, and I was glad I didn't have to ride in there very much. Looking back, we really shouldn't have rented a car. But because some of the mission work Brian was setting up was outside of the city, he thought they may need it. Taking the underground was much easier than trying to navigate with a car though.

Exhausted, but happy to be there!

Ughhhhhhhh!!! 

I don't know if I was just starving, or if it was just that amazing, but in that moment, I was convinced this cheesy bread was the best thing I had ever tasted in my life.

How cute is that crown?!

Drinking hot tea in England is just what you do...

We saw our first changing of the guards.

St. George's Chapel...

They didn't allow photography inside, which made me very sad, because it was absolutely beautiful in there! 

I had to throw this picture in, of Queen Elizabeth's tomb...I am too much of a rule-follower to take pictures when I'm not supposed to, but a friend of mine on FB went to London recently and posted this picture, so I "borrowed" it!

Red-Eye to London

A last minute trip to London?! Yes, please!! When the opportunity popped up for Brian to travel to London for a GoStudents prep trip, I just couldn't let him go without me!! =0) I am so thankful he has a travel budget, to take me along sometimes. The real MVP is GMa, for being willing to take care of our kids on such short notice, so that I can do things like this! She is the absolute best! Poppa & Louise and Rex all jumped in to help too...we have the most amazing support system. 

Our flight left OKC on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 and we flew to Chicago. Our flight from Chicago to London was supposed to leave at 6:50 PM, but it was delayed about an hour. I was definitely nervous about a 9 hour flight, but it went just fine. I haven't flown across the ocean since 2003 when we went to Moldova. The flight was fairly empty, and at one point, Brian and I both had our own row to lay down in. I think maybe I slept for an hour total, about 10 minutes at a time. It's so hard to sleep on an airplane. I was looking forward to being served a meal on the plane (why?? I don't know!) and I was sorely disappointed. No way was I eating that food! It's a good thing I brought a huge bag of chocolate covered pretzels, hahaha! 

As soon as I found out we were going to London, I started watching Downton Abbey again...I mean binge-watching it...by the time we got on this plane, I was down to the last season. I downloaded several episodes to watch on the flight, and it was so fun knowing I was going on a Downton tour while in London! That made the time pass quickly on the plane. 

I will say, flying through the night and getting no sleep, isn't easy. 

What a fun adventure this was though! 

Yuck.

Wrapping Up Discovery Year 3

Jonah is finishing up his 3rd full year in the Discovery program at school and we are so very proud of him! This program has been so good for him...it basically helps him learn how to learn better. Every single student would benefit from this program, and I'm just thankful we have the opportunity for Jonah to be a part of it. We have seen big improvements, especially when it comes to independent learning this year! Discovery does add extra work to Jonah's schedule, and he doesn't always (ever--ha) like that, but he gets it done. Mrs. Sherrer does a great job with him! I got to observe one of his sessions this week & I was completely impressed by this puzzle thing he had to do, from memory. I'm pretty certain I couldn't have done it myself! We are going to stick with Discovery next year for Jonah, because it has been so good for him. Rhythmic Writing continues to be the most difficult part to keep up with, but we do our best. So, so proud of our smart boy!! 

Jack sometimes gets in on rhythmic writing too!