December!
Be prepared for this to be broken out into many, many posts. This is a huge event.
Started off the month by getting a haircut. Arabella was loving the extra time spent with her daddy, and she wanted to post a photo with her pig named “what”. Then we went to the Los Angeles International Auto show where she got to see her all-time favorite van. A Minnie Van! The boy spent his time oo’ing and ahh’ing as babies do, until he fell asleep.
Our trip was set to go! We built in all sorts of layovers across the board. Below is a photo of us driving to the airport (my parent’s car in front of us) so that they could take our car back when we left. Where were we off to? Charlotte, NC (tickets below). Upon getting on the plane we took a selfie (but poor Elijah was buckled up in his seat so he wasn’t seen in it. However, we did take one of him once we landed and got situated in Charlotte.
Another state checked off for the kids. We didn’t have time to go sightseeing as it was one of our shorter layovers. We did however spend some time roaming around the airport. Next up? Charlotte to JFK!
We got on our flight with no issue and took off for the Big Apple. Everyone was ready to start this crazy adventure. Below you can see our boarding pass as well as our sight when we were getting ready to land at JFK. After we landed we ventured through the airport some. They even had a mothers breastfeeding area (which we thought was amazing – no other airport we visited at that point had them).
There is a great photo of Arabella in front of a glass art sculpture called “From New York to the World” which was very fitting. You can see some other random photos in the airport including one of the “Big Apple” because.. well… when in Rome!
We then stopped and got our car rental. We had plans to visit a few states- including where I was born.
After we got our rental car we made our way out. Above you will see photos of Times Square. We also drove by the Rockafeller center and saw the tree in all of its glory. Most everything was closed (as it was midnight east coast time when we landed).
We visited CT, MA, and even RI. Yeah, we didn’t get to see a lot in those states, except for a CT and MA a little. Rhode Island was more of a “let’s go in since we are right here” kind of a thing. However, we were able to visit the first house my parents owned when I was alive (the yellow house above) before they moved to Arizona. I wanted to take our kids to Friendly’s as well – because you have to go. I wished we could have just gotten ice cream or something – but they had just opened and were selling breakfast.
Anyway, we also visited the hospital I was born, as well as the grave of my grandmother (whom my mother has still not been able to go back and visit since her passing). We also went to a few places in town where my dad use to go (we knew this because we were on facetime with them back in California while driving).
After this, we had to hurry back to JFK to catch our flight.
Here is a photo that we noticed in JFK before we left for London. It was fitting as it was our destination. Then there are a few other photos to see. One is Arabella and her coloring of the pig, before dozing off to sleep. The view outside the plane window – landing in London. also the details of our car rental. Pickup December 6th, dropping off December 14th. Why a Jag? Well, our credit card offered primary insurance coverage for our rental and we found this car to be cheaper than an economy class for whatever reason.
Finally, the last photo seen is one that says “Welcome to United Kingdom! Your Tmobile plan gives you unlimited data….” but I was just excited to get the “Welcome to the United Kingdom” text!
We were ready to land and get this show started! We were not able to sleep much on the plane because the kids slept most of the way in the car ride in NY, CT, MA, and RI. We knew we would be tired, but that should be the worst of it, we have pushed through, and now will be unlike any other time. Right?
just Pray
note: this post was published on 08/01/22 but moved the publish date back to the middle of December 2017 to keep chronological order.
