London Highlights

To say that we were devastated when we found out Debbie and Luke were moving to London would be an understatement. We have been blessed in this life with some great friends and Debbie and Luke most definitely are in that category. Only Debbie understands what's it's like to be married to someone like Ryan because she is married to someone almost exactly like Ryan. Those boys are something else and somehow we love them so. ;-)

We planned this trip the week after I was in London for the marathon. I knew Ryan would not only need to have some quality Luke time but he's been homebound for 3 months since his knee injury so it was time for him to get out and go south of the border! Here are some of my favorites from our trip from last weekend!

1. Running with Debbie- Debbie and I got up Friday and Sunday morning for a little jog through Wimbledon, the area where they live. We ran through the cute little village, the common (a huge, partly wooded area with trails) and through Wimbledon park. It's a beautiful area and it is always nice to run with a buddy! I miss our random runs together so I was glad we were able to squeeze in two while I was there.

2. Churchill War Rooms-this was one of a few touristy type things we had planned. Since Ryan's still not 100%  with his leg and not big on super touristy things anyway, we wanted to make sure the things we did do, were to his liking and something to do with WWII was right up his alley. We could have probably spent hours in the museum learning about Churchill, his influence and what was going on in the very rooms we were standing. All of the rooms were just as they were during that time and if you closed your eyes and imagined what it was like, it gives you chills. The influence Churchill had around the world was also intriguing to read and I am really glad we did this. A must see if the history of WWII is your thing or even if it's not.

He is so quotable. They had many of his quotes around the museum. I like this one, he and his wife were married for 56 years until his death. You have to go into life with a little bit of humor!

Original map with pin markings

Churchill's quarters

3. Mexican food- I knew when we booked this trip that Mexican food was a must while we were in town. Aberdeen doesn't really have a Mexican food place and we haven't been to Texas in 5 months so, needless to say we were craving some. Wahaca was recommended by my friend, Vicki, and it did not disappoint. Ryan was in heaven with his pozole, corn and tacos and Debbie and I were in heaven with our passion fruit margaritas. Yummy! I now think I'll make it til I'm back in Texas next month ;-)

Salmon tostados.

 

Boy loves his corn!

Best. tacos. ever.

4. M&M Store- this was a totally random stop. We had wandered over to Leicester Square to kill some time before dinner and came upon the huge M&M store on the corner and thought we would drop in to get a bag or two to snack on during the train ride home that evening. Instead, though, we got 4 bags or 5lbs of M&Ms valued at 45gbp /$70. I think my heart dropped at the check out counter but it got a good laugh. Who spends $70 on M&Ms?!?

The boys wanted M&M's in their respective college colors...

The girls wanted dark chocolate peanut M&Ms...my new favorite!

5. Great weather- we couldn't have asked for better weather, well maybe we could have, but for London in the Spring it was pretty great. It made for traveling by foot, train, tube and bus so much better and not having to haul around rain jackets, coats or brollies was pretty awesome too. And I wore my sunglasses for the first time since last year!

6. Borough Market- it was crowded, I mean really crowded but the food was mouth watering and I wish I could have brought more home. We only ended up with vension salami. Ryan, of course, had to get a pulled pork sammy while we were there; it was delicious. A cool spot to browse and sample foods from around the world.

7. Debbie and Luke- the majority of our time was just hanging out. We went to a handful of pubs to just catch up, reminisce, plan our next trip and shake our heads at the ridiculousness that is Ryan and Luke when they are together. A fun time is guaranteed when we are with these two and I'm thankful we were able to spend the weekend with them.

Make sure to check out Debbie's blog to get a play by play of the whole weekend! Can't thank them enough for picking us up from the airport, their fabulous hospitality and planning of the weekend!

Spring Sunshine

First of all, let me apologize for making you stare at my dirty laundry for a whole month every time you came back to check if there was an update (pretty sure that statement just pertains to my mama)! It's been a busy month, not much blog worthy stuff, but we have been busy!

We think that Spring is officially here, we've had some pretty amazing days in the last couple of weeks and we hope that they are here to stay. Spring/Summer can be used interchangeably, there really isn't much difference in the two seasons. Spring can often be warmer than summer but I'm hoping that's not the case this summer because we have lots of visitors to entertain and when Scotland is on it's best behavior in terms of weather, there is not a better place to visit and I want to be able to show our visitors why we love this place so much!

Our first set of visitors are Ryan's parents, arriving mid June. I'm in travel agent mode and I can't wait for them to get here. We have lots of fun stuff to show them! I will definitely have tons to blog about after their visit. Until then, here's what we've been up to.....

Family rehab time! Ryan is progressing wonderfully; he no longer has weight bearing restrictions so it's strengthen, strengthen, strengthen time! He still requires one crutch to walk so he doesn't develop a limp but he'll be back to 'normal' in no time and I'm hoping he's 100% by the end of the summer so we can enjoy at least one hike before the season changes.

This beautiful view on my and Angus' daily walk. No, it doesn't always look like this but when the sun is shining and the clouds are puffy, it's perfect!

We haven't been able to contain our excitement with the latest bought of sunshine! Thursday you would have thought winter was making another appearance but Friday the sun was in full force and Angus was lovin' it!

Saturday was another beautiful, cloudless day; perfect for a little BBQ. Ryan smoked a pork shoulder and we enjoyed our first spring meal on the patio. It was perfect!

We had some bonding time with our friends' pups. We were dog sitting Kady, Falene's dog, for the day and Jonathan brought over Sammy and Bailey girl to run about in the yard while we soaked up the sun and stuffed our faces!

Ryan and Sammy bonding, he was telling him it was okay to go in the water!

Bailey girl loving life

Sunday, was yet another perfect day. That's right, 3 absolutely perfect days in a row! Since Ryan's feeling better about walking distances, we took a short walk down to the river for Angus to splash around and for us to enjoy another sun shiny day. I could get used to this!!

 

You Know You're A Housewife When.....

Almost two weeks ago our washing machine went kaput. It starting making a bunch of racket like it was really off balance, even with a really light load, so we figured it was shot. Unfortunately, we have to go through the steps of contacting the landlord agency people and them getting a repair man to come out and confirm that, before we get a new one. This happened on a Saturday so of course nothing could be done until Monday. I put it in my husband's hands who happens to be very busy at work and doesn't quite understand the urgency of a washing machine since I've been doing his laundry since 2007 (not sure he even knows how any more). So, there were a couple of missed phone calls and miscommunication with the repair company (there's some fault on the repair company too) and we didn't get a guy to come out and look at it until this Tuesday. That is 10 days without a washing machine, 10 days of laundry (not to mention the 5 loads that were waiting to be washed when it broke)....do you know what that looks like? Luckily, I was able to do a few loads at my friend Eileen's house before I left for London and it hardly put a dent in the pile but did buy us some time before having to turn our undies and socks inside out.

10 piles + about 4 loads of towels....

Anyway, repair guy came and confirmed that it was done. It was old and something about a spring. I was dreading that it would take another 10 days to get a new washer but nope, we got a call Wednesday morning to tell us a new one would be delivered that afternoon!! I can not tell you how excited I was/am/will be for a long time to have a new washer! And good thing I'm excited 'cause there is lots of laundry to be done...

Look at that beauty!

It's also Angus approved!

Monday Funday with Debbie

I decided to fly back from London on Monday night so I could get a day of site seeing with Debbie! And rushing to the airport after running 26.2 miles did not sound appealing what so ever.

We took the tube (mass transport system) to Hyde Park and made our way to Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Parliament Building and Big Ben.

Spring has sprung!

Little Ducklings

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben

Parliament Building

We then took another tube over to Tower Hill to see Tower Bridge. This is one part of the race I actually remember because it was the first major landmark I recognized and it was super, super loud as everyone ran over. And it marked the 1/2 way point of the race. Super cool!

After the Tower Bridge, I just had a little bit before I needed to head to the airport so we decided to have a fancy cocktail at the top of Heron Tower at Sushi Samba. It's on the 38th floor and there are great views of the city.

The Gerkin

Monday Funday

So glad I stayed the extra day and now I can't wait to go back. Next trip (with Ryan in tow) is in the works! Thanks, Debbie for a fabulous weekend!!!