Goodbye US, Hello UK!

 Let me start by declaring just how dang tired I am right now. This post will most likely be photo-heavy, since I can't guarantee I can be witty right now...much less spell anything correctly. We rushed around on Wednesday morning trying to get some last minute things taken care of. I even got yelled at by my (dear) mother to get off the computer and stop blogging. I tried explaining to her that I really wanted to get some pictures up before hopping on the plane and got quite a stare-down. Ahh...to live with my parents again. Anyway, somehow we got our luggage repacked, ate lunch, and zipped over to SFO with plenty of time to spare. 

My parents, my aunt Joyce, Marcus, Jaelyn, and my sister all joined us at the airport for one last goodbye. I've seen people have tearful departures before, but experiencing it first hand was harder than I could have ever imagined. I wasn't even on the plane yet and I was already feeling the pangs of homesickness. I felt like I started regressing and becoming a 2 year old child again--snot dripping down my nose, wailing inconsolably, and calling for my "mommy." It wasn't pretty.

My dad's best attempt at taking a "normal" picture

 

 Me and Mom

We got through security with only one hiccup--I somehow packed 4 new tubes of Sensodyne toothpaste in our carry-on luggage. Oops! Anyway, with priority boarding and the awesome crew members of British Airways, we were in our seats and ready for takeoff in minutes.

The flight was surprisingly uneventful and both kids were model flyers. I didn't even have to break out my baby Dramamine to dope up the little guy! This is basically what they did the entire 10 hour flight:

For about an hour, the kids were awake to watch some shows and eat.

 Audrey getting her tea sipping form down

Before we knew it (seriously, the landing took us by surprise), we had touched down at London Heathrow Airport! We couldn't leave without snapping some pictures with the most attentive flight crew we've ever flown with (ok, maybe they're tied with Quantas when I flew to Australia).

 Right out of customs, our taxi driver was waiting for us. His Mercedes van was pretty awesome...I think I need one.

We got to our corporate housing in Maidenhead quickly and tried to settle into our new space. 

Maybe it was the unfamiliar furniture, or the half shower door that allowed water to spray everywhere...or maybe it was just the fact that the Disney Junior app wasn't working... whatever the reason, the homesickness hit me hard. What did we just do?! When can we go home?! I want my mommmmmyyyyy. 

Thankfully, Stegen reminded me that I needed to "get it together" for the sake of our children. We left the flat and went for a walk to High Street, which is about a 5 minute walk away. Every town has a "High Street" and this serves as their downtown where most of their stores and restaurants are. We met some very nice people on our outing and I started feeling better about being away from home.

 Stegen, Audrey, and Dorian on Maidenhead High Street

We picked up some McDonald's and Oatmeal aka Oat So Simple porridge. I don't know if this "Chicken Legend" sandwich is a UK special menu item, but I hope not. It was pretty good!

 
It's about 7:30pm over here in England and we're going on 2 hours of sleep in the last 24 hours. It's time to sign off, but before I do, here's how kids dealt with the jet-lag...Good night!