First Trip to London

Hi Everyone! It took me a day to rest after our trip to even be able to type this for you all. We woke up early on Saturday morning & drove the hour over to London & caught the tube right outside the city. The kids loved riding the train. Colin knocked his head off when it stopped one time & had a big bruise on his forehead all day in the pictures but if you know Colin he is always bruised from one of his stunts! We really had no clue what we were doing since it was just a spur of the moment day trip but managed to find the best tube station to ride in on & then caught the big red double decker bus to view the city from a tourist perspective. We wanted to get a feel for the beautiful city before we delved in too far. We are going to back in a week to tour Buckingham Place, the London Tower & all of the other things we missed. It of course rained all day but around here thats just kind of a part of living, you just go on with life whether it be touring a city on foot or grilling in the rain like yesterday. Usually short, hard showers but well enough rain to soke you to the bone. When we were walking across the London Bridge the wind kept blowing my hat off & turning my umbrella inside out so we just gave up! The kids again were complete troopers even through the rain all day. The highlight of the day for us all was getting to see Charley meet "Ben" for the first time! She anticipated it all day & when she finally saw the giant clock she screamed at the top of her lungs for literally a minute! "BEN, BEN, BEN!!! WE MADE IT TO ENGLAND!!! YEA!!!" Then as we were leaving in the sweetest Charley voice she said "Thank you for taking me to England". WOW, kids truly are amazing! Daniel hurt his back really bad a few weeks ago & has been dealing with it & never complaining but Friday night he hurt it again really bad & could hardly move. At some points during our trip he would move the wrong way & the pain would literally take his breath away. He said he has never been in so much pain. He popped it Sunday turning around & it made it a little better but will finally get to go to the Dr today (which is huge because he NEVER goes to the Dr)! Anyways, it was a little crazy with my weinie self carrying Colin & his stroller up & down all of the stairs. We walked around the city all day & barely ate because we never wanted to stop for long. (We did attempt Japanese food for lunch but it was horrible even to Daniel who is not picky at all). No wonder Europeans are so skinny! They walk everywhere & barely eat! The other highlight of the day was watching the guards at Buckingham Palace! Charley was literally enthralled with every movement or lack there of! She watched forever & really didnt want to leave the gate. She had seen the map earlier for a brief moment & when we arrived at the gate she said "WAIT I need to see the map!" We had no clue what she was doing, we thought she was mockinig us but then in a very excited voice she said : "There they are we made it to the men! I told ya! There they are!" And sure enough there was a small picture of the guards on our map that I suppose she had been waiting to see. She was so proud of her accomplishment! The most interesting part of the day was reminding ourselves that we didnt have to see everything that day, we are going to be an hour away from one of the most beautiful cities in the world for 3 years, we will go on many day trips & we can take our time & see it all for the wonder it truly is. We left London after a FULL DAY & headed back to the base around 9:00pm. Once we got home we put the kids to bed & were able to watch the Alabama game live at midnight. I fell asleep before the game was over but Daniel being the loyal fan he is made it all the way through to 3:30 am...just to wake up at 8am to go visit a new church! Bless his heart! The game was neat to watch half way around the world because we still felt like we were watching it in the states...so glad its just as good! As a matter of fact my family ordered it on pay-per-view from 86 miles away from the actual game & the satellite messed up so they missed the first 30 minutes & we are on another continent & didnt miss a minute :). It is a funny thing, each night we just sit in the living room not wanting to go to bed because we are so excited about the next day to come. I fully believe if we didnt have to sleep we wouldnt! Each day brings new exciting adventures & we get a little closer to being able to really feel like we live here. This all seems like a really great vacation! I cannot believe I am so fortunate to get to stay! You all will know what I mean when you come visit. The people, the gorgeous surroundings, the history, the culture & mistique of another country make for a truly wonderful experience each new minute! For those of you who have asked we are 6 hours ahead of the Central Time Zone. We are on London time if you ever need a reminder. Please keep our housing inspection & everything in your prayers. We would love for it to go off without a hitch but things arent usually that easy but with all of our combined prayers & hard work hopefully it will be "The Peebles Home" before too long. Hopefully I will have good news tomorrow! Thank you all for your well wishes & support, sorry I cannot get back with you all personally right away but I will soon! Take care ~ we love you all! - The Peebles