London

Nina has wanted to visit London for some time now and her first trip did not disappoint.  We had a great time wandering some familiar streets from pop culture and being back in a major city.  Abbey Road, Baker Street, Paddington, Big Ben, the Tower Bridge, Piccadilly, Buckingham Palace, Chinatown, the Borough Market, and even Ted Lasso's Richmond, we got our steps in.  Ben and the girls spent a day on the sets of Harry Potter in Leavesden while Kara and Nana went to explore antiques and rural England in Petworth.  We enjoyed all the public transportation again and being surprised by unexpected crowds - stuck in the middle of a big cricket match crowd (Lord's Test) between England and Australia.  We liked all the food options from the standard fish and chips, to the Indian and Chinese cuisine - not to mention just getting food at a reasonable price from the grocery store and just making some meals ourselves.

Westminster & Big Ben

London Eye & Charing Cross

Buckingham Palace & Kew Gardens

Ted Lasso    ---    Come on, Richmond!

Getting some old favorites in Chinatown

Petworth

A portkey & a horcrux

Fish & Chips     -----    Lots of food at the Borough Market

Tower Bridge

Iceland

 

Iceland is an incredible country with some fantastic scenery.  From rocky terrain to waterfalls, glaciers, and black sand beaches, this country has a lot going on.  We didn't get very lucky with the weather while we were there, but tried to make the most of it.  Iceland is an expensive country and we were glad to have brought some of our own snacks and cereal, but we had some great sweet rolls, crepes, and soup while there.  The other highlight was visiting the geothermal baths of the blue lagoon.  The silica and mix of ocean and freshwater made for quite the experience.

Fording the river to the cruddy hotel    ----    Wild puffins are down there

Three videos

We've made it back from our European vacation and had a wonderful time.  We literally grew up on the trip as we celebrated some birthdays while away and Karen was so kind to spoil us all with special dinners and treats.  We'll write more about the trip in the coming weeks, but for now, here are the birthday videos and a small collection of what we saw on the trip.

Nina is a teena!                 ------               Pip is 11

Lots of walking movie