Lubbock Science Spectrum

The weekend before Christmas we headed for Lubbock for a family reunion. While in town we took Cole to the Science Spectrum. We spent many hours exploring there as kids so it was fun to bring Cole. It was just as awesome as I had remembered it being! Cole loved it! Ryan loved it too!

Snow Day

A couple weeks before Christmas we got several inches of snow and basically the entire city shut down so we got to enjoy a couple extra days at home with Cole.  He enjoyed the snow and insisted on wearing Ryan's snowboarding goggles!

 

 

Things were great for about five minutes and then some snow got down his shirt and he was ready to go inside.

Salisbury

Part Three of our trip we headed to Salisbury for a day to check out Stonehenge!  The area surrounding Stonehenge was gorgeous and it is neat to be able to say we've been there! Here are a couple pics:

 

 

 

After Stonehenge we stopped by the Salisbury Cathedral. It was gorgeous! We also got to see an original of the Magna Carta (no pictures allowed) and read up a bit on the history of democracy.

We returned to London and tried to do some more sightseeing, tried being a key word. There were people everywhere and it was impossible to effectively sight see. We tried to hop on a bus but it was so stuffed with people they would only let one stroller on.  Ryan and I decided to wait for the next bus which never showed up,  so then we just started walking.  Traffic was so backed up we're petty sure we caught up to the original bus. We decided to hop on the tube just to get away from all the commotion. We actually ended up finding an over ground line that stopped about a block from our apartment. (That could've really come in handy had we realized its location earlier in the trip, oh well.)

 

 

 

Overall it was a great trip and I am so glad we went. I am so glad we brought Cole and that he got to experience this, however, the time change was VERY difficult to deal with for such a short time and Cole was unimpressed with such long flights and I would not call London a stroller friendly locale.

London

 After Rye we got back on the train to head to London for the rest of the week.  We went to St Pancras Station and got the obligatory Harry Potter pic.

 

 

Then we stopped for lunch and got some REAL fish and chips.  They know what they're doing in London, it was fantastic.  They also serve fish and chips with mushy peas, I could do without that.

 

 

We met up with Darcy and Madi and headed out to explore the city.  Here's a pic of us at Green Park, it was gorgeous. 

 

 

This is a blurry pic of Westminster Abbey, it was gorgeous and a very intersting tour. 

 

 

Here's me and Miss Madi.  Just love her smiles :) 

 

 

Outside of Westminster Abbey there is a pretty good view of the London Eye and Big Ben. 

 

 

Here's a pic of our cutie patootie on Thanksgiving sporting his jack-o-lantern shirt. 

 

 

Obligatory pic with a phone booth and as a bonus also got a double decker bus. 

 

 

We stopped by M&M World at Picadilly Circus and Cole was much more interested in running around than posing for pictures. 

 

 

Jason met up with us on Friday and we headed to Winter Wonderland.  This is a huge carnival in Hyde Park.  There is tons of shopping, bars, food and rides!  We got a great commemorative Christmas ornament, some great souvenirs and gifts! 

 

 

Cole wanted to ride on the train. 

 

 

One humorous tidbit from our travels around London cannot go unshared.  We used public transportation the entire time and almost entirely without a mishap.  One of the times we were trying to hop on the tube (basically the London subway) we had some stroller/door issues.  We (attempted) to hop on quickly right before the doors closed and unfortunately, the door closed on the stroller when Ryan was trying to push it in.  When the door popped back open it hit the lever near the front tire and the front tire fell off into the tube car.  I picked up the tire and thinking that Ryan and Cole were going to be stuck on the platform threw the tire out of the car.  At the same time Ryan picked up the stroller and ran into the car.  Hmmm.  I then ran out onto the platform to retrieve the tire, I turn around in time to see the dumbfounded looks on Ryan and Darcy's faces as the doors close and I'm left on the platform.  Point of the story, mind the gap and the doors.

 

Rye, Sussex

We headed over to the UK for Thanksgiving week and had a BLAST!  I do have a couple suggestions for anyone wanting to travel international with small children:  First, your child is too big to be a lap child.  I don't care how big or tiny your baby is he/she is too big.  Second, even if your flight leaves right around bed time no one will sleep like planned, everyone will stay up ALL night.  Third, do it!  Even though we had a couple rough patches with Cole I am so glad he came with us!  Here is what Cole looks like after staying up all night.

 

 

Here's what Ryan looks like, haha, good thing I was the one with the camera.

 

 

 We flew into Heathrow and everyone was so kind at the airport.  They let us jump the line at customs because we had a little one.  We then hopped on the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station.  From there we hopped on the tube to St Pancras station and then hopped on a train destined for Rye.  Public transportation is amazing!  (my suggestion for anyone going to London, would be not to take the Heathrow express unless you are in a rush, definitely more expensive). 

 

This is the view from the doorway of the apartment we stayed in.  This arch was build in 1369!!!  Rye was on the coast back in the day and was run by the smuggling gangs!  It has a very interesting history!

 

   

 

This is a picture of the restaurant right next to the arch.  It was closed the entire time we were there, but I thought it looked like it could be a part of a Christmas village!

 

 

And this is a picture of our apartment.  It was teeny, tiny.  I don't think we got any pictures of the inside.  It had a wonderful wood-burning fire place the we took advantage of every night! 

 

 

Walking through the arch this is the view you see just down the road.  I'm telling you, Christmas village!  We really felt like we walked into a story book! 

 

 

Here's Cole and I enjoying some sausage and mustard 'crisps'! 

 

 

This is the Rye Castle.  And Ryan and Cole are standing on real cobblestone roads!  It was gorgeous!

 

 

This is a view from the castle looking towards the women's prison.

 

 

This is a cemetary in the middle of town, I just thought it looked neat. 

 

 

Here's Cole wearing a crown and posing as a knight, right before he knocked over the whole display. 

 

 

This is a beautiful fireplace from one of the restaurants.  It was so large you could walk into it! 

 

 

More pics to come! 

 

Tech/Baylor

This last weekend we went to the DFW area for the Tech/Baylor game and had a blast!  Cole loved it and enjoyed listening to the bands!  Stevie came with us and we met up with some friends too!  Here's some pics!

 

 

 

 

Playdate

Weekend before last we had some friends over. They have an adorable little girl, Avery. We snapped some pretty adorable pics of the two kiddos.