May 1 - 13: Our Last Trip Back to the States

We headed home in early May to celebrate milestone birthdays for both of JJ's grandmas.  Nana turned 99 and Grandma Kern turned 90!  We had two lovely back to back celebrations planned by the family.  It was so great to see everyone on JJ's side of the family and my mom and Aunt Sue stayed with us in Chicago the week in between.  We all had a great time and can't wait to be back for good!

First stop - Grandma Kerns!

This cake tasted as good as it looked!

Pinning the corsage on Grandma for her special celebration

The whole party group at the restaurant 

Grandma Kern and the Wisconsin ladies.  

Grandma Kern and all her grandchildren/great-grandchild

Matt horsing around with Grandma

Thomas the Train roller coaster made an appearance at Grandma's

Tyler loved going to the basement to ride on Thomas

Back in Chicago we rented a great condo on the 47th floor right downtown.  This was the view from our dining room table!  We ended up eating dinner at the condo every night.  You couldn't beat this view!

Aunt Sue and Tyler at Shedd's Aquarium

Kiss break at Shedd's for Tyler and Gigi

Caribbean Reef at Shedd's

Mom and Aunt Sue in front of Shedd's 

Tyler loves reading with Gigi.  He liked to wear his "glasses" when Gigi put on her reading glasses.

After another lovely dinner at the condo everyone was all smiles!

Tyler is obsessed with helicopters and this was a big moment.  A helicopter was right at our same level as the condo and was circling around for at least 20 minutes right by us.  Tyler was so excited he couldn't eat dinner.

We stopped by to see Tara and adorable baby Henry.  Tara's mom was there too - here they are all having tummy time with Henry :)

We met up with Briana and Colin downtown one day.  These boys are only born one day apart and like many of the same things - like music and sunglasses pictured here!

Then we headed up to Minneapolis to celebrate Nana's 99th birthday.  This is such a lovely picture of her!

4 generations!

Nana and Kern grandchildren

The family after Nana's party back at the hotel.  

We put Tyler in a Big Brother t-shirt to tell the family about the new baby in our little family

We are so excited for Matt and Raji - they are expecting their first child!  Due 1 day after our expected due date!  Those cousins are destined to be best friends!!!  Here we are giving a cheers (the preggers have some sparkling juice)

Tyler and Greyson (JJ's cousin's boy) bonding over a fire hydrant

"Uncle Matt, what is this cheesy goodness you are feeding me?  Mom and Dad don't usually give me this type of snack... more?"

Tyler and I had the worst travel experience on the way home.  JJ had to stay in Chicago so we were on our own for the flight back.  We missed the first flight because we were stuck in Minneapolis due to weather.  That night we just stayed with JJ in a hotel in Chicago which wasn't too bad.  We got booked through Newark the next day and sure enough thunderstorms rolled through Chicago at exactly the time we were trying to take off.  We were delayed getting to Newark and had to stay in Newark for the night.  Then we finally got off the next morning.  Tyler did so well after 2 unexpected late nights in a hotel without access to our baggage.  On the second flight the weather was so bad on the runway that the captain invited the whole plane up to the cockpit to look at the weather.  Of course we had to take advantage of that opportunity.  Tyler was amazed.  Now if you ask him about it he just repeats what I told him, "Don't touch anything" as he lunged for all the buttons :) 

  

April 21 - 28: The Chapmans Visit London

I've still got a lot of blogging to catch up so there are two blogs for today.  Here is the recap of the last week in April when our great friends the Chapmans came for a visit (sorry Rach - I stole a lot of these pics from your Facebook!)

The Chapmans outside Buckingham Palace

Rachel and I at Westminster Abbey

Big Ben from the boat cruise

We visited the Churchill War Rooms which was fascinating.  The war rooms that Churchill and his staff used during WWII were left virtually untouched and preserved so that you can tour through and see everything as it was.  There was also a great museum that chronicled Churchill's life.

View from the top of one of the towers at Tower of London

We missed changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace but we were able to catch it at the Tower unplanned

We saw the Crown Jewels - no pictures inside

A beautiful evening at the Tower.  We got there just an hour before it closed so the crowds were gone and we were able to ask questions to some of the Beefeaters.  We found out that retired and active guards and Beefeaters live right here on the Tower of London grounds.

Tower of London selfie

Rachel's uncle is an accomplished conductor and we went to see his concert at Cadogen Hall.  It was wonderful!  And great for Rachel to catch up with her uncle and his family

The boys at dinner

The girls at dinner, who is that in the mirror taking the picture???

They came to watch JJ's soccer game with us. 

Crepes on the last night.  No, James did not have 2, he was holding mine as I took the picture.  Thanks for coming Chapmans - it was a blast! 

They left behind these two adorable munchkins in Chicago while they visited us.  Theo had a blast staying with friends and clearly loved his rugby and soccer balls

Looks like Adelaide couldn't wait to get into her London bus!

A Guest Blog: The Queen Tours with 4 Girls From Oxford, MI

I mentioned in my previous post about the silliness that arose from Sarah's idea to buy the Queen mask when the girls visited, and The Queen ended up being a flat Stanley of sorts.  See below for The Queen's commentary.

I love some good street art

Tea Time!

The "commoners" on the train gave up a seat for me - how lovely!

Picadilly Circus, here I come!

Even Her Majesty likes to kick back with a fresh cold one from a local pub!

Let's shop girls!

What a lovely night for The Eye.

Rawwwr!

I like the true experience of "my people" and decided to watch the changing of the guard very far from my palace.

The tulips are lovely this time of year!

My backyard in St. James's Park is so beautiful!

Lovely day for a boat ride, ladies!

Tower Bridge selfie!

This young chap prefers the younger ladies I think!

It's hard to get a smile out of anyone these days!

Trafalgar Square and the Big Blue Rooster

Is it just me, or did I get a foot taller all the sudden?

Would you believe I got stopped for ID before they let me in the palace?

Eurostar is the best!  The young lady next to me doesn't seem to be as thrilled as I am about the journey 

Lovely view from another boat, these ladies like boat tours!

And these ladies like their bike tours...

Our host Ben showed us a lovely Parisian dive bar that I didn't know existed.  It reminded the girls of Roses in Chicago

This is a bit more classy of a place for The Queen.

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!

Nutella banana crepe? Yes please.  I need to work on bringing French butlers to the palace to cook me these on the regular 

By the time we got to Barcelona, I felt as though I was a burden on the ladies.  They didn't take me anywhere other than the Arc de Triumph.  Regardless, we had a great trip.  Thanks for the memories!