pictures from England.

This was taken in Charleston, upon leaving the States. I am including this shot, because I have never seen a full-grown frog so small!


And so our journey begins...




Bury St. Edmunds - visited a historical Abbey that was turned in to a park, while preserving some if its remains.
















The town of Bury St. Edmunds



A visit to Cambridge.










Duxford Imperial War Museum - what vacation would ever be complete without seeing airplanes?! :) There were four hangars complete with British aircraft, and one hangar devoted to US airplanes. I won't even begin to include all the photos taken there; I wouldn't know which ones to include!





And of course the a big, long day devoted to London.

On the train for a 60 mile trip to London. For an all day pass you get transportation into London, and use of the underground train and buses throughout the city! This pregnant girl loved it!




Our first sight of London - Big Ben.



Big Ben again, but you can see the London Eye ferris wheel behind it, which has a great view!



Westminster Abbey.



The day was really perfect by accident. We just happened to arrive right at Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards. It was pretty neat to see a lot of the cliche things you hear about certain places.




At the gate.






"They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
Alice is marrying one of the guard.
'A soldier's life is terrible hard,'
Says Alice."


From "When We Were Very Young" by A.A. Milne




Tralfager Square - located outside Buckingham Palace.



"Whenever I walk in a London street,
I'm ever so careful to watch my feet;
And I keep in the squares,
And the masses of bears,
Who wait at the corners all ready to eat
The sillies who tread on the lines of the street,
Go back to their lairs,
And I say to them, 'Bears,
Just look how I'm walking in all of the squares!'"



These A.A. Milne (creator of Pooh bear) references were very important to the husband. Rob always grew up having the Classic Pooh books read to him, and he has carried this tradition on with Ben. Ben loves talking about the bears when we walk anywhere, and is ever so careful to not walk on any cracks or lines. I have to admit that it is sweet, and kind of a breath of fresh air from the old "break your mother's back" reference I always remembered hearing.




In the London Eye. The view was beautiful!




A couple views from the London Eye.






Having mentioned the Pooh books, there was no way (as I found out) that Rob was leaving without finding A.A. Milne's home in London. I thought it was quite a good fatherly thing to do. Even though I was not in the least bit thrilled to walk any more. We really did a lot of walking that day!


Don't you have to get one of these shots?


Tower Bridge behind us - taken on the London Bridge. The newer one, that is - seeing as though the London Bridge was purchased and relocated to Lake Havasu, AZ.


A.A. Milne's neighborhood.


If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed viewing the pictures. We really enjoyed our trip and while we missed Ben, we were so thankful to have this opportunity. We know Ben enjoyed his Gram and Grandpop in SC. We know this, because we could hardly ever get him to stay on the phone for more than 15 seconds. We also know that this trip would have been less enjoyable had he been with us. It was a tiring trip for an adult (I can vouch to this), much less a 3 year old. As you can see, we thought of him all the time!