By now our family has been separated for a while, I'm ready to get us back together. I'm ready to find us a home and get the kids enrolled in American schools. I'm ready to settle down. I think being in the UK at times made our family wonder what they were missing "back home." Well, we settled down rather quickly once we got to Utah. And I don't think it was more than a couple of months before we realized, we weren't really missing anything. London was this huge amazing opportunity for our family to grow and learn and better understand people and the world. Wouldn't trade it for anything!
We Are OUTTA Here!
By now our family has been separated for a while, I'm ready to get us back together. I'm ready to find us a home and get the kids enrolled in American schools. I'm ready to settle down. I think being in the UK at times made our family wonder what they were missing "back home." Well, we settled down rather quickly once we got to Utah. And I don't think it was more than a couple of months before we realized, we weren't really missing anything. London was this huge amazing opportunity for our family to grow and learn and better understand people and the world. Wouldn't trade it for anything!
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We sprinted up to London for one last visit before we board our plane back to the US. It was a beautiful evening and sunset in London. It's just such a magical city, never disappoints. Until next time London. You've been so good to us!
I could go on and on about what an absolute amazing experience it was being a member of the Selsdon Ward of the Maidstone Stake in England. What a treat to be welcomed and accepted and loved by such wonderful people. I never imagined when I walked into that unique church building in July 2012 that I would feel so at home there. Two years later, it is so hard to say goodbye. But we've made some friends for life. We are so grateful.
We left Edinburgh and drove to the Lake District. We spent the day exploring the area. We hiked, swam in the lakes, and rode bikes around one of them. It was a pretty long ride for Dallin. He was such a great sport! He did great! What a lovely day.
We spent a couple days checking out Ednburgh. And this is mostly how it went... These kids have had unique opportunities to see so much, but lots of times it's just lots of old stuff that they don't appreciate. And their little legs get so tired! It's still pretty amazing though! We had a great time in Edinburgh, played quite a while at Princes Street Garden, walked through the Parish Church at St. Cuthbert, St. Giles cathedral, traversed Edinburgh castle, and got lost in the little streets and alleyways. To make it that much more fun for the boys they enjoyed a ferris wheel, water balloon playing, and ice cream. And we enjoyed the best fish-n-chips we've had the whole 2 years we've been in the UK, appropriately wrapped in newspaper! It was a fun couple days. We felt a little guilty that we didn't make it up here with the older kids. We only have a couple weeks left here in the UK, and we figured we need to make the most of it. Jason took a couple days off and we went for a bit of a roadtrip. Destinations: York, Edinburgh, The Lake District, Preston, & back to London. First stop: York. We arrived Wednesday evening and checked into a little bed and breakfast with the boys. We explored the city just form our little B&B, walked along the river and checked out a few sights. It was a beautiful evening. The next day we ventured more into York, discovered the quaint little city, reminded us a lot of Diagon Alley from Harry Potter. We even enjoyed a cool train museum! We had our fill and then headed to Scotland next!
When the weather is this warm, there's only one thing to do! Take off and find a beach! We live on an island goodness sakes! Certainly, We can find a nice little beach for the day! We headed to a place called Sunny Sands Beach in Folkestone, it was about an hour and 15 minute drive from our house. AJ now was gone on his mission, the girls had left for the States, and Jason was working. So it was just me and the little boys. But it was great fun! Folkestone is in Kent, nearly as far as Dover (which is the sourthern most east end of England). The sand was awesome, the beach was huge, the boys loved it. Here's the deal though, I'm a California girl, and don't have a lot of experience with high and low tide beaches. Well, you could imagine my surprise as the beach began to get swallowed up as the hours progressed. From having this massive expanse of sand to witnessing the entire beach vanishing, now that was an experience! But what a fun day. Wish we had more sunny summer days in England to enjoy! Janae would be leaving London just 6 weeks before her 16th birthday. We didn't want her to be in a new place without any friends, so we pulled off an epic surprise party in July! She never expected it! Who would? So after breakfast in bed, we explained what hat secretly planned for her day. We told her that she would go to her last day of school, and then hurry home where shed get dolled up quick. Then we would meet her many Bromley friends at London Victoria where we would go out to eat and then see Wicked together. After that she had to say her teary goodbyes. It was an amazing day! Ok, ok, BESIDES the people, the thing I miss most about living in London is date night. In fact, about three weeks into living in Utah again my husband said, "I'm not going out if it's going to end at Wal-Mart or Target again!" What we loved to do most, just walk around. It was so fun to hang out at Southbank near the London Eye and Parliament, or stroll through Covent Garden and watch all the tourists eat local food, and stop by our favorite gelato place on the way home. How fun to hang out and NOT be the tourists. We loved all the museums, the tiny little restaurants, and talking and interacting with people from all over the world. Yeah, it's the same here in Utah. :-D |
Julie Tucker
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