Freestyle Cruisin' - On the Way to the Baltics

We are off on another BIG adventure...actually our biggest trip of the year - a twelve day cruise to the Baltics captials. We thoroughly enjoyed our past two cruises and thought this was the best way to get a taster of loads of countries we didn't think we'd get to on our own. This time around we chose to go with Norwegian Cruiselines which is far different than the premium Royal Caribbean, but we were ready to try out the "Freestyle Cruising" experience. There were also two other big differences that we noticed right away than previous cruises - it was COLD and we were one of the youngest couples on the boat by about 30 years younger than the average. Despite that we were excited to be together and away from reality for a bit.

On our first day of cruising we didn't sit by the pool in our swimsuits, but in jeans and jackets. The kids had a great time playing with the deck chairs and even on our first night we got to dance along with the ship's house band out on the main deck.

One of the things Kevin and I were anticipating was some time on our own while the kids would play in the Kids Club. Well, since Harrison wasn't technically 2 until our 3rd day on the cruise he wasn't allowed to stay and that lead Addison not to be too keen on staying on her own. Also there were only about 40 kids on the boat (compared to 200+ on average) and our kids (once they started going) made up about 25% of the kids that actually showed up on a regular basis there. For the first couple of days we all went and played in the Under 2 Zoo which was set up with some toys, coloring books, tents, books and more. It was nice just to sit and play with the kids without any other distractions.

Addison found her element - coloring!!!

The kids and I caught a quick nap back in our room, but then we ventured out again. Here we are hanging out in the back of the boat snacking on some fruit and French fries. It's obviously not warm out but it is the warmest place on the ship (on the outside).

Happy 2nd Birthday Harry!

I can't believe my little British boy is two already. He's quite the little man now and chatty as ever. He has actually taken quite an interest in Buzz Lightyear after only seeing Toy Story 1 twice. So for his birthday I made him a special rice crispy treat cake and decorated it as best as I could with his hero - Buzz. We are celebrating his birthday a little early this year as we will be traveling on our cruise on the 30th. Poor little guy gets shafted again out of a birthday party so we can indulge ourselves on yet another holiday on his birthday. I promise that next year we'll have a big bash for you sweetie.

The little guy did get some cool little gifts though. Grandma Sue sent him a Buzz and Woody back pack and he also got another one from dear friends, Simon, Sarah and kids.

From Addie and us, we got our little destruct-o boy a tool bench. He seems to really like to bang on things and hit things so we figured we try to focus that energy into something that could be a productive trade some day. He loves Handy Manny as well and has named all of his tools like the characters - Squeeze, Dusty, Philipe, Turner and more...

At two Harrison is still a really good sleeper, but now likes to have stories read to him and someone to sit in his room a bit while he drifts off to sleep. He loves to play with his sister and gets into all the girly stuff. Addison makes Harry play "puppies" where he is the ever loving puppy who gets to walk on all fours and Addison leads him around. He is quite daring now on the climbing frames at the park and can make is way around the big kids one very well on his own. When he smiles for pictures now, he closes his eyes with his big cheezy smile, but he's still quite a little snuggle bug which I love!

Love you sweetie...Happy Birthday!!!

Playing Tourist in London and Visiting the Aquarium

We hadn't been to London in a long while and decided it had been long enough. Since it was kind of an icky forecast we picked to go to the London Aquarium for our main destination which is located across the river from Parliament next to the marvelous London Eye.

We got to London plenty early and wanted to kill a little time before we got our lunch at the ever reliable McDonald's and then head into the aquarium. We walked down the river front past the Eye and the street entertainers until we got to the skateboard/bike "park." The kids enjoyed watching the guys do jumps and act goofy on their bikes.

It is an interesting little gem in London as the graffiti is pretty interesting and I'm sure there are layers and layers of peoples "artwork" on these walls. I particularly thought the HELLO sticker with Not Important for the name on it was interesting.

After our nice little lunch we headed into the fairly busy aquarium. The aquarium is not what I expected at all, but I have to say that my first ever aquarium was Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and do have to say it blows away the London one. But with that said we did have some pretty neat experiences in this underground aquarium. As you first walk through you see several tanks built into the walls and it's pretty dark so taking pictures is a bit challenging.

The jelly fish were pretty cool and they kept changing the colors of the light in the tank so they were really mystic looking.

One of my most favorite parts was the manta-ray tank which was open with the sides only going up about 4 feet so you could look right down at them swimming about. They clearly sign and announce that you are not to touch them but people were still reaching into the tank.

When we went through the rainforest section, Addison really liked all the turtles and insisted on showing them to me over and over again but when I snapped her picture she wanted to protect this turtles identity so she covered his face.

There was a really big tank filled with fish, sharks, a huge sea turtle and whale bones. As you weaved through you actually got to walk through a glass tunnel and a really close look at things.

We got to hold a live star fish.

All day we searched for Nemo, Marlin, and Dory. Off on the side all fenced off was the display of Nemo that they pose you with for pictures so we got the kids to pose a bit for us, but Harrison wasn't so cooperative with big sister Addison's positioning.

After 2 hours or so at the aquarium we headed back over the bridge to walk along the north side of the river a bit. Of course, ice cream was involved in our afternoon break.

I tried taking my own picture with Big Ben with my new phone, but couldn't get it right so Kevin had to help me out. For the rest of the day we played total tourist and took loads of pictures with our camera phones. Honestly we didn't know what we were missing not having them before.

We made our way down to Downing Street to wave hello to ol' No. 10 which is the Prime Minister's residence - former home to Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, and Gordon Brown. Essentially it is the equivalent to the White House in the US.

There is a gate with police officers guarding out by the road. The actual No. 10 is just across the street from where the grey Land Rover is parked.

Next we walked down to and through a bit of St. James Park. It is one of my favorite parks and as we walked past the little house on the east side we saw this really funky looking tree that was worth a quick picture.

Then we made our way up towards Trafalgar Square and looked back down the street towards Big Ben with all the tour and double decker busses....ahh driving in London!

Saw one of the duck boats making its way around.

A favorite spot to sit for a break is Covent Garden Market. The Jubilee Market Hall is filled with stalls everyday with loads of different things. On the weekends it's usually arts and crafts things. You can find old beer bottles converted into clocks, wine bottles turned into cheese and cracker platters, cheap pashmina scarves, homemade children's toys, framed photographs of London, and loads more.

Here we sat on the edge of the pedestrian road and just people watched. I took random photos of interesting looking people. This is one fashion that I haven't quite understood in England but girls wearing black tights under really short shorts and this gal is pulling it off with a pair of trainers.

This guys was a great singer/songwriter that sounded a lot like James Taylor.

Across the way from us was a Jacket Potato cart which seemed to be the popular thing to do for something to filled your tummy.

Loads of people lined up across the street from us enjoying their own yummy spud with toppings like baked beans, cheddar cheese, cole slaw, and more.

We sat and enjoyed ourselves and rested our feet for a good 1/2 hour while Harry got a sleep, but I snapped a photo of my sweetie and me enjoying yet another wonderful day in London.

We moved to another side of the square to watch another entertainer who ended up being a total pain. After the last guy left we sat down he started moving the crowd in by tossing out a rope. He threw it out three feet shy of where we were sitting so people started standing right in front of us, so we quickly sat down in front of the rope on the side now so the kids could see. He was making a really poor attempt to put up some rope between the two pillars of the building as if he was going to tight rope walk on it. But then he got frustrated with the crowd again so he asked the whole back section (where we were sitting before and had to move to the side) to now have everyone stand up and move up 3 feet and sit down in down wet ground so that people behind could see. Now there were not many people in the back and now the crowd had crowded us out again. With it now starting to rain harder, we just got up and left. But we got inside the pavillon in time to see an really neat string group playing modern music in the lower level.

We gave Addie a boost up so she could see over the crowd but it was really cool.

Another weird sight for us to see in England....Mt Dew. Apparently it is sold in selected stores now, but is marketed as Mountain Dew Energy. Neither of us have tried any but it looks like the real stuff....these two bottles were just sitting on the side of a building and loads of other empty bottles were scattered about.

We left Covent Garden and headed towards Leicester Square and Picadilly Circus where we ducked into TGIFriday's for a bite to eat and to get out of the rain.

Our favorite American treat in the UK. Also wanted to make note of the nachos in front of Kevin that cost 10GBP. At first we were a bit taken back that for 10 pounds we only got 10 nacho chips covered with stuff but then we tried them and they were AMAZING!!!

Time to head home so we jumped on the Piccadilly Line back to King's Cross to get our train home.

Addison likes to ride the escalators. This was our first trip down to London with both kids without our bid Phil and Ted pushchair so it was nice to let Addie walk around a bit and let Harry ride.

The Piccadilly line goes WAY down but with the newly renovated tunnels it's not to bad of a ride.

Addison loves to hold onto the poles while riding on the Tube...so does little brother but we quickly clean our hands once we get off...icky germs everywhere!!!

We check the board to see when the next train is leaving and we've got a good 40 minutes to hang out before the next fast train. Train travel is great and for about 32 GBP the four of us can make a return trip from Peterborough to London on the 50 minute train leaving whenever we want....it's awesome!

Since we had time to kill we just wandered around in front of the train station. Here is Addie and Daddy in front of the entrance to the Underground from King's Cross.

Another interesting thing that Addison found. Nice bike!!! The front wheel is there if you look by the back where it is hooked on to the bike and the fence.

What a great day in London...can't wait until we head back!

Library Time

We love going to the library and the Werrington library is the closest for us and the most convenient as there is a little Tesco store close by to pick up a few bits and bobs as well. The kids love to run around in the kids section and pick out loads of books, while I sift through travel books, cookery books and craft making books. Addison has her own library card to check out books and both her and Harry love to put our returned books in the self serve slot...Harry even likes to find non-checked out books to throw in there as well.

Burghley Water Park

Today we went to the Burghley House Surprise Garden and Water park with our toddler group. It wasn't the warmest of day but after a walk through the gardens and then a lovely picnic the kids had about an hour's run around in the water fountains park.

Harry in the maze of mirrors...

The four elements statues - here Addison is with her friend Leanne

A big game of some sorts with chess pawns that I didn't know how to play but we made up some fun rules on the spot for our own sake.

A super great day with friends and a good little splash as well.