A long absence

I seem to begin a lot of my posts with apologies for my lack of posting.  This time, I promise, I have a good excuse.  We went to England.  And Italy.  And England again.  And, before we went to England, I had baby showers to attend, birthday parties to throw, party dresses to make, and packing for 3 people to complete.  Maybe I should have written a few entries to post while we were away but that would have added to my list of things to do.  So, here I am.  We're back and finally getting settled.  Peter unpacked his suitcase right away...I've been pulling things out of mine the last few days but am still not quite unpacked.  I might be creative but promptness and neatness are not strengths of mine.  Sorry, Peter.
So, I'm going to try to share some highlights of our trip in the next few posts.  Be patient because I'm still trying to wade through all of the photos, laundry (not as much as you might think since my fabulous mother-in-law did most of our laundry while we were there), unpacking, and it's already time for back to school prep.

On the plane!

We decided to fly to England before going to Italy for my brother-in-law's wedding so we could recover (a little) from the jet lag before staying in a hotel.  Let me just take a moment to brag on my children.  They were FABULOUS!!!!!! on every flight.  We took six flights during this vacation and both kids were angels on the flights.  Even when we heard other children going crazy, our kids read books, ate snacks, played games, colored, and looked out the window.  Part of the reason that they were so good is due to planning.  I purchased a few new books/toys/games for each child and packed them so they could be discovered during the flights.  I also brought plenty of snacks and put them in the kids' bags. This planning made the kids excited  about the flights and kept them from getting too stir crazy.  We flew from Nashville to Atlanta to London.    The kids really enjoyed playing in Nana and Dad-Dad's back garden.  Look what we often saw in the trees and at the bird feeder:

It's a wild parakeet!

The kids loved the birds and helped feed them several times while we were staying at the Hamilton homestead.  In addition to birds, the kids also got to see a fox, a cat, and lots of slugs in the garden!