Welcome to the jungle.

                           We spent the evening trimming the jungle aka our bushes!

The boys HAD to help!  

The boys found scissors and decided to trim everything those little scissors would cut!

It took Nate two trips with the seats down to get all the trimmings cleared away.

This is an after shot of the patio.  (I wish I had thought to take a before.  You could not see into the patio because that bush and vine were taking over!!!  

Unfortunately, our water heater stopped working and we had to take cold showers after all this work!  Oh well!  It looks good!

Sunday in Turquoise

Mar sent the boys (including Nate) matching turquoise polos.  I found my matching skirt and we dressed up for church.  When we went to church, we got a few "CUTE" comments.  When we went to the BX after church, Nate said we got a few looks and whispers!  I don't care!  They won't let us dress them for too much longer! I need to make them match for as long as I can!  

Butter Beer Floats!

 Ever since our Harry Potter tour, we've been wanting Butter Beer! 

 I found a recipe on Pinterest for Butter Beer Floats, and made them Friday night!

This guy liked them.

 This guy loved them!

This guy made them again tonight! :)

CUBO

 95 degrees today!  Yes, I think we will go to the pool!  

It's a natural pool with 75 degree water!  It was great for a hot day!

Park fun

 We had some fun playing at the park on Thursday! 

 Can you tell this kid has a mom that blogs?  He can POSE!

 There is the perfect bike loop for Link to ride.  

He made about three loops and decided to come lay on the blanket with me!

 I brought their drawing books and they had so much fun just sitting in the shade and drawing.  

 More  crazy posing.

 This may be the best face EVER!

Soft

Lincoln:  (While rubbing my arm)  Girls have soft skin.
Me: Yeah
Lincoln:  I mean I don't touch girls, but I have you to touch.

Pirate Playground

The fellas have been looking forward to going to this park for a while.  It's been HOT this week, so we thought we would give it a go today!

There were about ten of these wooden rafts and they were a hot commodity.  

Once the boys got on one they wouldn't give it up!  

In fact, they took turns getting on the pirate ship so they wouldn't lose it!

So the German kids knew exactly how to use these.  They found a long stick and used it like they do in the bayou and pushed off with it.  My fellas couldn't not figure it!  

Link finally got off and pushed them.

Then they got on their bellies and used it like a kick board.  

I was cracking up watching how hard of a time they were having ! 

In the distance, Ethan is holding on to the raft, so Link can get on the pirate ship.  

The sun went behind a cloud and Ethan got out and wrapped up in the towel.  Link stayed in and two American boys came over.  It's funny how they could find the one American boy in the water.  They played for a long time and then a girl yelled, "LINCOLN."  Link and apparently the other Lincoln turned their heads and said, "WHAT?"  It was funny.  My Lincoln said, "How in the world does she know my name?"  The other Lincoln said, "I have no idea." I was rolling!  It was so funny!  

Full Life

 One of our favorite pizza places is right near a little pond.  We decided to take a walk and explore the pond today.  First stop was a little playground right on the pond.

 I packed some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and we found a 

bench where we could sit and enjoy our lunch!

 As I was eating, I noticed this tree.  I voiced my thoughts that they were cherries and said that I was going to try one.  They were indeed cherries.  I asked Link if he would like one and he said, "Are you crazy?  I don't want to die at six years old!!!"  I guess he didn't believe me!

We decided that we were going to have to come back with some balls, drawing books, and a blanket!  This place was nice!

BTW....as I am writing this Link is reading it over my shoulder!  

That little stinker is reading like a champ!

What do you wanna do today?

Me:  What do you wanna do today?

Ethan:  Draw?

Lincoln:  Cookies, donuts, cakes, candy?

Aja & Blair

Aja told me months ago that she was going to come visit this summer.  I was super excited, but didn't get too excited until she sent me the date and time of her arrival.  I was even more excited when she told me she was bringing Blair!  

We picked them up Friday and spent a few days touring, eating out, and catching up!  Our few days went too fast!  All four of us fell in love with Blair. 

 I think Aja may have some competition with Lincoln!  

We dropped them off this morning so they could enjoy Paris!   Aja remember, Paris is for Lovers!

Last Day :(

Today was our last full day in London.  We made reservations at Gordon Ramsay's  Bread Kitchen and it was very good. The boys were absolutely wonderful at the restaurant!

Nate had a few things left on his Clark W. Griswald list that he wanted to check off, so THANKFULLY he went on a seven mile run this morning to see everything.  The boys and I relaxed in the hotel.  After lunch, we stopped at Harrods to cross my last list item off!

 After Harrods, we went and had scones, cupcakes, and tea.  Nate and I didn't want to admit that our scones were basically Grand's biscuits, but once Ethan and Lincoln said they didn't like their cupcakes we admitted our scones were not very good!  

We all enjoyed the tea.

 It was only 2:00, so we walked over to the Natural History Museum.  It was free!  :)

 We stayed about an hour.  It was so hot in there!  

They had all the windows closed and it was very crowded.  

 We relaxed at the hotel (Nate napped after his seven mile run).  We walked up the street for burgers one more time before we leave tomorrow.

YUMMY MILKSHAKE!  None of us want to go home.  London, we have enjoyed every minute!  (ok....maybe not those 45 minutes at Ben Frankin's house)

Harry Potter

 Let me start this post off by saying the pictures from today do not do this place justice!  We went to Warner Bros. today to see where Harry Potter was filmed.  Nate and I purposefully put this at the end of our trip because we knew that nothing could top this for the fellas!

 I have not seen a setup this good besides Disney.  They did a great job of making sure you had plenty of time to see everything and they spread the crowd out really well.  

Above is a picture of the Great Hall.  

 They had actual costumes and props from the movies.  Here is Harry's costume in various stages of wear throughout the movie.  They also had all the wigs to look at.   

 Gryffindor bedroom.  You can see Harry's bed and Ron's bed.

 Invisibility Cloak

 Dumbledore's office was amazing.  We stood there for about five minutes and still didn't catch all the details they had in the room.  

 In fact, Nate caught the sorting hat at the last minute.

 Wand lesson

 The Weasley's Burrough

 I was sooo hoping that we would be able to try Butterbeer!  It was great!

 The Knight Bus

 Ron's flying car

 #4 Privet Drive 

 Hogwart's Bridge

 The special effects were amazing.  They did a great job of showing you how they did certain effects.  The costumes and masks were so detailed.  We couldn't believe that they kept so much for display.

 My Diagon Alley pictures definitely didn't do it justice.  It was so cool!  Here is Ollivander's.

At the very end, they showed up a scaled model of Hogwarts that was used during all the movies.  

It was breathtaking!  All in all, we spent a quick four hours here. 

 It flew by!  We had so much fun!  

I think the boys will be talking about this place for a long time!