I'm not very good at this so I thought it posted what I wrote and not that I had just updated. Brittany said it just sent an update. So, I finished a story to the elevator pictures from Paris finally yesterday. If you are looking for another story, check out the old post that starts with.... missed it by that much.

London: Day 6 and time to say good-bye not only to London but to a trip of a lifetime. One last look out our apartment window.

The girls on our train ride to the airport. Luckily, it wasn't crowded because we were all packing a load.

He takes after his mother. Tanner not being so subtle that the guy across from him doesn't smell so great. Todd must be worn down because he took the picture and didn't tell me to do something about him. That is what I don't understand, it bothers him but he asks me to do something about it. He didn't and I didn't and I don't know if the guy smelled either.

When the train stops, Todd starts getting irritable, knowing that we have to go through security in Hethrow which he is certain was developed by pre-schoolers. For a man who likes efficiency and order, this is his worst nightmare, after the past six weeks of course. After we have gone through four checks that check everything in reverse order, Todd is done. He reminds us for the last and hundreth time to make sure all the water is out of our backpacks, small items of lotion and such in plastic bags, computers and kindles in seperate bins, shoes off, belts off, pockets emptied; heck at this point, might as well go through naked cause it is about ready to all come off anyway by the time we remove all that is listed. We didn't fill the bottles. I am proud that the kids have gotten through and we seem to be doing O.K. We have cleared before all our gear so we sit down to wait until all the stuff comes through.  And then, the unspeakable, the blue back pack gets pulled, not the bomb back pack from our other trip through Hethrow, but the one I was wearing. Ooh boy, I know what is in it. I try and play it cool and just tell him to go and get his favorite butter cookies and I will wait for it. He doesn't take the bait. Do I tell him what is in there or play stupid. The lady keeps holding up a Dora backpack that nobody is claiming. She won't move behind that one and pick up ours because it's against protocol. I want to holler at her when she picks up the Dora backpack for the fifth time, "they already left because they thought they had everything and didn't know they had to wait an extra hour to get all their stuff." That poor kid is sitting on a tarmac right now somewhere wondering where Dora is. Nobody told her Dora got pulled and you have to have a body search to get it back. "Come back and get it next time you are through Hethrow. I am sure Mary Poppins will still be holding it up every now and again." She finally grabs ours and I fess up to Todd that I know what is in it. As he heads up so he can't strangle me and end up in jail before we really do miss our flight, I blurt out, "It's peanut butter." I didn't know peanut butter was not allowed. You can make bombs with peanut butter? I was just trying to make Granny Smith's taste better on the trip home because the boys were boycotting the rubber plane meals we were served on the leg over. Sure enough, she empties the backpack, finds my stash and drops it in the waste bin. Oh well, it was an honest mistake. Todd doesn't think so, but it really was.

Ourr layover in Houston couldn't have come at a better time for Tanner. He was so tired he couldn't stay awake another minute so he crawled in between the chairs and took a nap. We had a heck of a time waking him too. He never really woke up even when we boarded. I just prayed he didn't try to pee in the trash can or corner because he was so disoriented and thought I was marching him up to bed for the night. Last leg girls!

Tyler kept himself entertained. The Kindles were lifesavers. Good thing the airline was honest, not efficient, but honest . We got a call at around 10 o'clock the night we got home to tell us that our Kindles were in the Lost and Found. Oops, and the kids weren't at fault. In fact, the only thing we didn't come home with was one sock.  

PHX, home sweet home.

Thousands and thousands of miles traveled with equal amount of memories made. Thanks to Dad for planning this trip. It would not have been a fraction as successful or memorable without your meticulous planning and leadership. Thanks kids for making a dream of your Mom's come true. I love each of you and will always remember this summer we shared.

Getting ready to board the bus for a long rainy ride to Stonehenge.

The above Todd told us he was taking, the one below is his creeper picture he didn't tell us he was taking. Well, he didn't tell me he was taking. I think I was staring down someone else in the bus station, I am at the point that I am not as sutble as I tried to be in Venice. Maybe they were eyeing my backpack and could smell my food. I would break your arm, even Todd's, if you take my food.

Todd and Ty settling in for the ride.

Kylie and Tanner sitting together, at least at first. Tanner started feeling sick so we moved to the seats reserved for the aged a couple of rows up.

Stonehenge. A view of the horseshoe of sarsen trilithons on the inner circle and the circle of sarsen stones with lintels on the outer circle.

Blocked off to reduce further erosion, the stones are no longer touched by visitors. When stones have been repaired, the new elements added are drastically different from the original stone. This is done on purpose as to not take away from the original structure and appear to mimic or make it counterfeit. That is why there is such a dramatic difference on this stone.

A prehistoric monument constructed somewhere between 3000 B.C. and 2000 B.C., Stonehenge is believed to be a burial ground but nobody knows for sure.

A view of the Circle of bluestones, an igneous rock. These are rumored to be a couple of degrees warmer than the sarson stones. We couldn't tell the difference when we touched some on display.

Maybe that is because we were freezing. This was the coldest day by far since we have been in London. See the wind blowing and I am sure it was hailing if I could feel my body parts to tell.

The trilithons, a greek word meaning two vertical stones capped with a horizontal stone, were connected using a tongue and groove technique. Notice the round knob protruding out of the top of the stone? This was matched up with a hole on the lintel, the top stone. Sometimes, they would get it right, other times, they wouldn't, evidenced by lintels have more than one whole grooved in the end.

Without any sort of modern system to set these stones, or evidence of slaves like in Rome, the building of this monument is truly a miraculous achievement for the people or peoples who constructed it.

This might give you an idea of how wet and rainy it was. The rain was coming in sideways. We ran around Stonehenge. Not the awe-inspiring moment of silence I had planned for this bucket list activity.

Our kids never use umbrellas. We had to teach Brittany to face the wind with your umbrella or it will always cave in on you.

O.K., the world is about to end. I see the lightening coming, and we are still smiling. Is that not the most photogenic do or die travelors/vacationers you have ever seen? Come on people, give up the clap for us..... you have to just for my hair alone.

How come he always looks good? There are so many things that are not fair and that is one of them at the top of my list.

Last shot of Stonehenge and time to get some hot chocolate. Brittany has already ditched us. She got tired of trying to get her umbrella to work right.

There was a ton more history to this place but I fell asleep during the movie on the bus and ran through the audiotour so I wouldn't get electrocuted by my earphones in the rain. So if you love it so much, go check a book out of the library. I am done.

London: Day 5 and our last day in London. Todd sold us on this museum so we wanted to make sure we saw it before we left. The kids and I walking up to the Imperial was Museum, a short walk from our apartment, in the rain of course.

Right inside the museum, war planes from all eras are suspended from the ceiling.

Below the airplanes are tanks from all the wars sprinkled with missiles and bombs, 100% testosterone fest.

Todd was drooling, you can't see it because the picture is too far away, but I will verify he was.

A picture of the gas masks that were government issued and all school children were required to pack in the backpacks along with their lunches and homework. Can you imagine to remind your children to pack their gas masks with their lunches?

A replica of an Anderson shelter which were also government issued. By 1940, 2.3 million of these shelters had been distributed.

The kids with Graham Zeitlin, now 79 years old, a survivor of WWII. At the time of the war, he was a nine year old boy. He spent awhile telling the kids of his experiences as a boy during the way. He showed them a program from a puppet show that he had put on. He and his friends would rotate between their homes and put on finger puppet shows. You didn't have to pay to come in, but you had to pay to leave. All money collected was donated to the war effort. He showed them receipts from the a war department made out to Tinker. Tinker was his cat who he said was rather busy during the war years. She would have a litter of kittens every six months, he would sell them, and donate the proceeds in the name of Tinker to the war efforts. He was an only child so when the air raid sirens would go off and all the lights would go out, he would have to play by himself. There were no toys because all metal was given to the war effort and all manufacturing facilities were creating bombs, guns, and tanks, not toys. He made a monopoly game out of cardboard and paper. He said it was better than the real game because it had his streets on it.

To this day he remembers ice cream from a particular shop as being the best ice cream he ever had in his life. During the ration times, most stores didn't keep the same quality they had prewar times. But one store somehow did. They were only open for a couple of months in the summer. He rode his bike 10 miles there, sat down and ate his ice cream, and would ride the ten miles back home. The last ice cream of the year he would savor since it would be nine months before he would have another. The store would only be open for a couple of hours a day, only until they ran out of ice cream. He said, "it may not have been the best ice cream I have had, but it seemed like it because I had to wait for it and travel so long to get it." Some of the rations were an egg a week per person, a couple of cups of flour, one chocolate bar. Even the king had the same ration amounts as everyone else.

The Anderson Shelters were made of corrugated metal, sunk in the ground, and covered with a garden of vegetables or flowers. Used to protect the families during the raids, the shelter was made to house six people. During the Blitz, 60,595 British civilians were killed by enemy action. 2.25 million people were homeless and 46% of London's children were evacuated. Graham said, although these numbers seem staggering, the loss of life was greatly reduced compared to the number of people who lost their homes. He credited this to the Anderson Shelters. The German people were not so lucky. Hitler didn't provide anything for their protection. 

The whole reason we came to this museum was to experience The Trench.

This smelly, dark, and chaotic WWI trench gave you a good feeling of what the soldiers experienced sometimes for a year at a time.

The reason or trench warfare is below, the invention of the machine gun. The old way of lining up and shooting your opponent became obsolete with the machine gun. Too many men were lost with this invention. So the war went underground.

Ironically, the Brits were first offered the machine gun design, but saw no need for it so the Germans adopted it. By the start of the war, the Germans had 12,000 machine guns compared to the French and the Brits couple of hundred.

Look closely and you can see that this is Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, an actual replica of the original with a half-timbered and thatched roof like in Shakespeare's day.  Since the fire of 1666, all thatched roofs were outlawed until this one was built. The theatre performs on a regular basis come rain or shine. If you happen to be in the cheaper seats with an open-roof, plan on getting wet since it rains everyday in London and umbrellas are outlawed in the theatre.

Kylie getting cheeky with me. The kids thought I took pictures of everything. I think they are glad now, maybe not but I don't care. I didn't get the shower, but that is about all.

Kylie still being goofy. Everyone else is too engrossed in the tour or just asleep.

Not as famous as Big Ben, the Shell Mex building was originally built in 1886 and named The Cecil Hotel. Housing 800 rooms, the hotel housed the clock,diameter of 7.62 meters, that is the largest in London to date. At the time, the hotel was the largest in Europe. Poor Cecil, tt's all about the bling and Big Ben definitely has the bling.

This is an ancient Egytian obelisk given as a gift in 1819 to Britain that lines the Thames. The granite structure is a nod to Nelson's victory over the French fleet duing the Battle of the Nile in 1798. Nicknamed Cleopatra's Needle, the obelisk was brought from Alexandria where it was constructed in 1460 BC by the Pharaoh Thotmes III. Do your math, this obelisk flanked by two sphinxes is 3,500 years old.

A view of the Olympic Village. Due to security concerns the Observation Tower behind the Aquatics Centre was closed.

Tanner posing infront of one of the mascots for The Olympics. Their names are Wenlock and Mandeville. Tanner is infront of Wenlock, named for the village that hosted pre-Olympic events in the 19th century. Mandeville and Wenlock both have yellow lights atop their heads, reminding you of London's black cabs. Look closely and you can see the five Olympic rings worn as bracelets on Wenlock's wrists.

A display in the John Lewis store of legos. Tanner channeling the Force through C3PO. can you feel it? All I felt was gas.

Another Lego display representing Opening Ceremonies at the stadium.

A close-up of the torch bearer.

An artistic display of an obersation tower just behind the Aquatic Centre.

The Aquatic Centre from the view of the Olympic Store in the John Lewis shopping center.

The Water Polo Arena is the tail like thing shooting up. The two water centers together looked like a stingray.

I didn't know until I asked the sales lady why they had boys t-shirts in hot pink because they didn't look like they were a hot seller. Someone had a brain fart that the Olympic color would be hot pink. Yeah. So the soccer balls have hot pink on them, the floor to the gymnastic venue is hot pink. I like it, but twenty years down the road, they may wonder, "what were we thinking?"

The girls infront of the Paralympic mascot, Wenlock.

The closest the girls will get to one of the Queen's Guard. Go ahead, kiss away. I think if he were real, he would be just as friendly.