This is what I have to lug around every time I want to vacuum talk about getting a workout and I majored pain in the butt...
So that's basically all that we did today we went to get daddy after work, had dinner, put the boys in the bath and in the bed for an early bedtime. We were going to catch up on some shows that we had recorded from the month but the Slingbox or the Internet wasn't working which ever one so we ended up watching a movie from the computer which was nice and relaxing... so we had a nice Tuesday night.
Wednesday Lino was back to school and I was back to cleaning again it's amazing how much cleaning I have to do even though I just got back I guess i'm just not happy unless the house is clean to my specifications... even tho Mike did clean a little before we got back I'm a little OCD about cleaning sometimes so it wasn't good enough until I cleaned it the "Renee" way. So today's project for cleaning was to mop the floors in the kitchen. Lino and Shaun were both attached to my leg so I put them in the playroom and gave Lino a sucker because he was begging me for it and I thought maybe I'd have 20 minutes to get the floors cleaned before they had enough playing by themselves. And I did have 20 minutes to get the floors cleaned but once I was done Lino comes in there to me wanting me to do something with Shaun because Shaun was fussing so I had to go see what was wrong with him. When I go in there and pick him up he stops crying so of course I don't know exactly what was wrong, then I turn him around and I find something sticking out of his hair... I was like "What the heck is this???" Then I remembered I gave Lino a sucker so this is what he's done with it even though he told me he would be careful with it. I guess this is what he thought being careful meant. I'm not sure if he actually gave Shaun the sucker or if he left the sucker on the table or what... All I know is that it ended up in the wrong place in the end... poor Shaun. I know for sure I'm going to the bad mom club now...how horrible is that for me to trust a three-year-old with a sucker???? shame on me!
Thankfully I was able to get remnants of the sucker out with just a little bit warm water, so no major hair was lost in the process. After that I decided to take a break from cleaning since it was causing my kids to endure crazy tortures. Then later that afternoon we met up with Martha and the boys at Monkey Maze for a little afternoon of fun...really it was more like a quick trip to the play area because I couldn't stay long...had to get the hubby from work. We made plans to meet up next Wednesday and do something as well, hopefully this time will have more time to spend hanging out. Even tho it was quick was a nice little reunion for the boys. Lino and Patrick really missed each other and had a ball playing together. Best buds they are. Then we went to get Mike, went home for dinner, that I still needed to cook so the boys had a late bedtime but I guess it was worth it since they got to see their friends.
Thursday morning was the normal morning routine. Dropped Mike off at work then dropped Lino off at school then Shaun and I went to Mohon Pt for the farmers market. I didn't really need anything from the farmers market but I just like to walk around there, plus I wanted to try the Indian food this time. And since I was there of course I had to pick up some sweets because we love the sweets there, it's nothing but junk but it's good. I ended up seeing one of my friends there so we had a quick chat before I had to leave to pick up Lino. I needed to get Lino's haircut and I wanted to try a new place closer to the house but Lino was actually hungry after school so we went home and have lunch first. So once we go home usually it takes forever for us to get back out of the house so it was well after two before we actually left to get a haircut. So we stopped by a place close to monkey maze and Lino got a nice little mini mohawk it's kind of cool. I thought I would never give my kids a mohawk but it actually looks nice on him. My excuse is that it's so cold here he needs to have a little hair on his head to keep in some of the heat... A lame excuse I know but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Since we were so close to Nicole's after the haircut we decided to stop by there and see her and the boys for a little while. Plus I have picked up some stuff for her from the states so I needed to pass it on to her before Mike or I used it. We ended up staying at her house for couple hours and we had a good time. It's nice to talk to another American about some of that American conveniences. I was telling her all about some of the new shows on TV and she told me she's going to get a Slingbox so that she can watch her shows like we do...that was very exciting for her and me too. I suggested that she pick up Scandal and watch that series because it's pretty amazing so in the next few weeks I'll have to check back to see if she likes it or not... I'm pretty sure she's going to like it but I guess I'll have to wait and see. So after my boys completely destroyed her play area we headed on out to pick up Mike from work. So once we got home we had dinner and I finish packing how might put the boys in the bath. Tomorrow we leave for London but I feel like I just got back ... it's crazy how busy we are.
It's Friday!!!!!! Mike went into work early so that he could get off early enough for us to get to the airport. So we just put the boys in the car in order to drop him off at work and I took them back to the house to get them all dressed and ready for the day. Since it's Friday I decided just to relax, I've done enough cleaning and packing for the week so me and Shaun sat down and watched a few reality TV shows. Nini got me hooked on one of these crazy shows on Bravo so I ended up watching that and then a couple of my own shows, it was nice and relaxing. We picked Lino up from school and he told us all about the alphabets that he made into sugar cookies at school...that was really cool. So before he devoured his little cookie he would have to tell me what alphabet it was and then I would tell him what word starts with that alphabet. It's a cool way for them to learn their alphabets, maybe we will have to do that at home sometime as well. Once we got home we just hung around the house a little bit until it was time to pick up Mike. We knew we were going to have to repack the suitcase or at least we thought we were because we were flying on Ryanair and the suitcase requirements are very strict and I wasn't sure if the bag that I packed was too big or not. So before we went to pick up Mike we stop by Fitzpatrick shop in order to get some sandwiches so that Mike would have something to eat before we got onto the plane. Mike got off of work a little bit later than expected but once he get home and check the bag he said it should work so we just went with that. We got to the airport got all checked in and then set at the gate waiting for the plane so we could board. Ryanair is very similar to Southwest airlines in the US where you don't get the seat assignment. You basically have to race into the plane in order to find your self a seat. Actually it may be more light Spirit Airlines in the US because you have to pay extra for everything. If you want to book your seat in advance that's an extra €10 if you want to check a bag that's an extra €60 if you want to drink water that cost as well ...it's crazy. But the flights are really cheap so I guess you pay for what you get. We didn't mind not having some of those conveniences since it was just a quick trip to London the flight was only going to be about an hour so it wasn't a big deal for us. While we were rating at the gate Lino decided to make a phone call to his best but Derek but of course no one answered... He loves him some Derek I know he misses him a lot because he always names his toys Derek...so cute.
So once we actually got onto the plane we find out that the seats don't even recline so that made for a slightly uncomfortable plane ride but like I said since it was only an hour flight it really wasn't that bad. We made it to England and then we had to find bus station because we are taking a bus to London. Originaly Mike thought it would only take us about an hour or so after we got off of the plane before we would get to our hotel but the reality is it took more like 2 1/2 hours because it was so busy at the bus station that we had to wait for the 3rd bus before we could get on. The bus ride was not bad at all. It was a quick trip into London with a few stops along the way. Once we got to our stop then it got interesting because we had to navigate ourselves to the hotel. Mike spent a hr or so today looking up a map for us to use so that we wouldn't be totally loss so that was nice. But the issue is reading the darn map and knowing which way to turn when you get to the street you're looking for. So Mike was in charge of that but when he kept looking at the map and the street name then turned the map and used two fingers to mimic walking on the map like we walked on the street...I knew he was messed up. Now we have a long standing understanding that he is horrible at directions even tho he use to swear up and down to me that he had a great sense of direction. But after being together for over 9yrs that fairy tale has long died so of course I took over. Now I'm not the best at maps by any means but I can get to where I'm going. So we thought we might find something to eat on our walk to the hotel but by the time we got cash and turn the corner we must've left the busy area because there was no restaurants or shops open at all. So we make it to the hotel and think we're going to order some food but the only place to order from his Domino's Pizza and there was no way we were going to order Domino's while we were in London so we decided to starve ourselves... oh well, at least we had a sandwich earlier. Oh and the hotel room was just one queen size bed my thought he had ordered two double beds but that's all that they had so we ended up sleeping all together in the bed and actually wasn't too bad but it was funny when we first saw the room.
We kind of slept in on Saturday because we got in so late last night everyone was tired. Once we finally got moving we decided we better find a place to have breakfast. So Mike looked for that while we got ready. We talked about prebooking our bus tour and maybe tickets to the aquarium but Mike really didn't like that idea and instead of him telling me that everytime I talked about booking he would kind of blow me or or go to another topic. I had been asking him about prebooking since Wed and he wasn't giving me any indication one way or the other...which means he really wasn't interested. So finally after we all were ready to go I asked one last time and he was like "I don't want to be bother wit prebooking". Thanks Hun for letting me know, I could have saved my breath asking you 5x today about it...geeze. So we head off to breakfast but by this time it's almost 11 so it's more like brunch. Mike found a cool place that had good reviews so we wanted to check it out. On the way there we joked about needing to make a booking because in Ireland it seems like you have to make a booking for all the sit down restaurants no matter what. But we didn't think the same would be true in England. So we head to the train station, but our day passes because we knew we would be on and off the train, or Tube as they call it there, all day. The trauma were actually pretty easy to navigate, Mike was in charge of that, but the thing that sucked was that most of the stations didn't have elevators, lifts, so we ended up carrying the boys in the stroller up and down the stairs all over the freaking city...talk about a Royal pain in the ass. Otherwise it was a pretty easy train ride there, then we had to do a little navigating on the street to get there but that was actually easy too so no issues. Once we got there we started lugging all our stuff into this small café/restaurant and when we were all in there the guy asked if we had a booking, we said no of course, and he said they didn't have any openings...of course. We were pretty bummed out because there were a ton of stickers on the door showing all the awards they had got in the last few yrs so we knew it was going to be good...and even Lino was bummed out and stated crying because we weren't going in there to eat. I think he was just hungry but it was funny that he was crying. So thankfully there was a hotel restaurant right at the corner so we went there for breakfast. And we had to laugh at ourselves because we ended up eating at a hotel anyway so we could have just ate at our hotel. But our bestie Alicia knows all to well they we don't like I eat at chain restaurants when we go on a trip, and eating at the hotel is only allowed in special circumstances, this would not normally be acceptable. And there are only a few places that are exceptions...IHOP for sure and maybe Starbucks...just depends. If we are in Washington it's not acceptable to have Starbucks and maybe if we go to a coffee country like Costa Rica or Africa or something like that. Anyway, hotel brunch it is. The food there was actually good but it's crazy how much weight the pound has over the dollar. Our meal was like £30, which is crazy for what we had, I had one piece of bread that was called French toast, Lino had 2 very dense & small pancakes but both of our plate had like a slap of real bacon and a half a pound of syrup already poured on it and Mike had eggs Benedict...and water!!! So £30 is like almost $50...for breakfast, for that breakfast, and we are still hungry???? Insane!!!! On the plus side we did decide what we where having for dinner and Mike called to make a booking while we were eating. And he even walked over to the restaurant we wanted to go to and made a booking for brunch for Sunday...so we are all set!
We left there and headed back to the train station because the bus tour has a stop by our hotel so we wanted to catch it there. But before we got to the train we had to detour because there was a Starbucks right there and Mike had to have a coffee...especially since he didn't have coffee at breakfast. I was surprised that they had the American Christmas flavors there like Egg oNg Latte so I had to get one too...so we ended up spending $15 on 2 coffees but Mike didn't complain about that...I guess we have our priorities straight...not!!! The only issue with us getting coffee was that we didn't take into account the fact that we had to drag the stroller with two boys in it up and down the subway since there were no elevators and since the Starbucks in England don't believe in the little green spill sticks, our coffees spilled all over the place on the journey back. We kept yelling at each other to drink more of our coffee so it would't spill but by the time we drank enough to minimize the spillage we were basically back...what a mess. So the hop on hop off tour was right across from the station we got off at so that was nice. We headed over there and got tickets. Apparently the guy was giving us a discount because it was a slow day...not sure I believe that but it was nice to save a few extra £ anyway...and it was actually more of a savings than we would have got if we would have prebooked online so it all worked out. While we were waiting on the bus Mike got him some freshly roasted nuts, they were ok, not as good as NY and we got on the bus. Mike and Lino went to the top if the bus and Shaun and I stayed down below...it was too cold up there for me. We road around for a little while then decided to get off at the Eye of London...a huge ferris wheel. We bought our tickets from the bus company because they were cheaper and they said we wouldn't have to wait in the ticket line but once we got into the line or the ride they told us we had to get our tickets from the other booth. So we did have to wait in a ticket line just not the major line. But by the time we got back to the line for the ferris wheel the line had doubled in size. Thankfully the line moved really quickly so that helped. Each of the carriers can hold like 25 people so that helps I move the line along very quickly. Even tho they don't fill up the carriers completely they pack enough people in there to put a huge dent in the line and keep the line manageable. While we waited in line Lino found himself a girl friend, a lady in her 20s or 30s and he kept trying to get close to her but of course she was walking in the line so she kept moving. She thought it was cute and so did we until he decided to kiss her butt!!!!! I was like LINO!!!!! Don't do that!!!!! He just laughed and didn't think anything of it. It was funny...I have no idea what this kid was thinking or his attraction to kissing & sniffing butts...it's just not a good habit to have. Anyway it was funny. So there was also a little stand with snacks and Lino had to have a sucker so we got him one but old him it was for after the ride. He said ok then we bought it and he changed his tune very quickly, as he always does. Now he wanted it now and I didn't want him I have it on the ride so I said no and all he'll broke loose. He was having an out right fit, falling out all over the line, kicking & screaming and just making a big production. We just ignored him but the other people in the line didn't think to fondly of it. It was funny because we got to the picture taking station and the lady didn't even try to take our picture because he was having such a fit. It was actually a good thing because we didn't want to take a picture and if we did take a pic we would have probably bought the pic even if it didn't look the greatest...we are a sucker for those photos so that saved us a lot of money!!! At that point we were really close to getting on one of the carriers so Lino finally decided to straighten up because he saw we were about to ride the ride. The ride takes about 30 minutes or so to make the full revolution so it was a nice ride for the money with beautiful views as well. I was really excited that the weather was nice like I said it was just a little cold but clear skies got to see lots of London up the top of the Ferris wheel it was really cool!! After that, we decided to get back on the bus and ride around for a little while... we weren't sure if we were going to get out somewhere else so we just said we would get on and see what happened. We actually did not get off the bus again, we decided to take the bus back to the hotel so that we could get ready for dinner. Get ready for dinner I mean put on more layers of clothes because it was getting cold outside and with the sun going down it seemed like the temperature dropped about 10 or 15° at least. So we got everybody all suited up and then we decided to take the train over to the London Bridge since we had a few extra minutes before dinner. Mike was like I want to see London Bridge again and take some pictures because it was so beautiful from the bus but I told him that the bridge that we were looking at from the bus that was pretty wasn't London Bridge but he didn't believe me. So once we actually got to the bridge he was like "is that it?" and I was like "yeah I told you!" Hahahaha but the bridge across the way was all lit up and pretty so we got a picture of that and we got a picture of the sign this said London Bridge. So after uneventful trip to London bridge we headed on to dinner. We had decided to get Indian food since we had heard such good things about the Indian/curry food in London. The place that we went to wasn't super fancy but it was nice and the food was actually pretty good and the price wasn't too bad as well. Lino didn't really eat his dinner but that was okay because he had been snacking all day Shaun did enjoy his curry tho. Since we had dinner so early we decided to do some more strolling around the town just to get a look at London at night. So we took the subway back over to Liverpool Street and we decided to walk around there for little while. By this point both of the boys were passed out so Mike and I were able to have a nice walk and talk together uninterrupted. Right outside of the train station there was a little sushi shop that we had saw when we first got into town on Friday so we decided to try it out. It was weird because it's like a little stand that has fresh sushi but there's a real shop across the street so I'm sure they just get their sushi from there. So the nice part was that you can get individually wrapped sushi so we were to try one piece each without having to commit to a full meal... Especially since we did just eat dinner. They actually tasted pretty good just needed a little wasabi and a little soy sauce to round it all but otherwise tasty for street food.
So we walked around a little bit more but there really wasn't anything to do with found ourself on a weird corner that seemed like it was going to nowhere so we turned back around and headed back to the subway. Before we got to the train station we saw a pub and decided to sit and have a pint and enjoy London while the boy slept. It was kind of weird because I wasn't prepared for the warm beer but after a few sips I remembered that's how it is in Europe, although it's not like that in Ireland. While we were enjoying our beers and then came up to talk to us about our boys, he was pretty nice but weird. It's always funny to have conversations with drunk people on the streets no mater where you are in the world. Since the night was still early, we decided just to walk back to the hotel instead of taking the train especially because we didn't want to carry the strollers up and down the stairs again. As we got close to the hotel we saw a he/she on the corner "working" and it was funny because we both were trying to figure out if it was a he or she. Once we got closer and she turned around there was no question at all, it was a man...scary! What a way to end our Saturday in London.
So this is the last day in London...time to pack up and leave. But our flight doesn't leave until later on in the evening so we just packed our bags, checked out and decided to do a little more exploring before we had to leave for the bus. Even though Mike had made reservations for the place we went to yesterday to have brunch we decided just to get something on the street so that we can use our time sight seeing instead of eating. But that proved to be more difficult than it should have been... Absolutely nothing was open and I mean nothing. We had saw a little restaurant on the way back to the hotel last night and it looked like it had a decent breakfast menu so we thought we would go there but they were closed. I guess he left out a little detail but we looked at the menu should've checked to see if they were open on Sunday oh well. So we decided just to walk around the corner and thought maybe we would find another place to go to like a Café or something that we could just get a sandwich and run but there was really nothing open around our hotel it was very depressing. It seems like we walked around for about 20 minutes before we actually found a place to go to. It was a little Italian shop that nobody was in so we went in and basically rated the place but the guys are really nice. The guys let us pretty much make whatever we wanted, it did matter if it was on the menu or not so we had them make us a couple breakfast sandwiches. We ordered Lino bacon and a croissant and again they gave us what seemed like a half of a slab of bacon. It's crazy how much bacon they give you. Across the street from the Italian shop with a Starbucks so of course we had to stop by there and get a coffee before we contunued on. Then off to the bus to take the hop on hop off tour to our next destination which we weren't exactly sure what it was going to be. We were walking up to the bus stop when our bus was leaving so we were pretty bummed out about it but we figure the next bus would be there in the next 10 minutes or so ,so it would give us enough time to figure out what we were going to do next. But it seems like it took more like 30 minutes for the next bus to come and in the meantime Lino was running around chasing birds and almost running into the busy streets of London... He was about to give me a heart attack and he was making Mike run around the place like a mad man it was horrible. The same guys that were at the bus stop yesterday selling tickets to the bus with her today and it was funny to watch them try and hustle people and take customers from the other bus companies. One guy was a little ruthless and seemed like he wasn't following the rules of the street because everybody kept yelling at him about how dirty he was taking customers that other people had already started to sell tickets to. In the meantime we saw at least three buses from one bus company go by and two buses from the other bus company before our bus finally showed up. So we were thinking we must have booked the wrong bus company but oh well we got the second day free so we couldn't complain too much. So we had decided that we were going to take the bus over to Buckingham palace and Big Ben so we could take some close up pictures there. We got to Big Ben first and I saw a guy taking pictures with a nice camera so I asked him if he would take a family photo of us and I would take a picture of him and his girlfriend and he did. He took a really nice picture too, too bad I don't have it on my phone but at least now we have one picture of us in London as a family. Then we just decided to walk to Buckingham palace because it was right down the road and we weren't sure how long it was going to take the bus to come back around to pick us up so we walk there. We got a little turned around but it didn't take a step to get there. On the way there Lino had to go pee and I was so afraid that he was going to pee on some Royal Grounds but he had to go and there was no toilet available so he had to pee on a building... thankfully we didn't get pulled over by the cops so I guess we were safe. So we made it to Buckingham palace and took a bunch of pictures there... Mike thought it was amusing to see the standing guard because they're standing there basically as part of a show and then there's the real cops around the corner with the guns protecting the building. Next it was on to Speakers Corner. I had heard about this on the bus tour yesterday and wanted to actually check it out. So apparently every Sunday in the park there's a corner where people can go and have freedom of speech... I think there's a certain time limit like from 9 AM until 2 PM that they are allowed to do this. During the Sunday time window they can go to this corner and say whatever they want to say as long as they're not talking about the royal family I think and as long as they are not using obsessive foul language other than that there's no rules at all... Oh and they have to be 6 inches off of the ground... I think this is where that soapbox saying comes from. So most people are on box or ladder so that they aren't talking bad on the nations soil at least that's my interpretation. So based on the map we thought that this would be a short walk as well... Well not a short walk, a medium walk, but it seem like it took forever to get there. I told Mike we should've just took the bus since we have to bus pass but he said it would be quicker just to walk... We will never know if he was right or not but all I know is my legs were super sore by the time we got there and I was in a sweat. So we got there and there is only a few people out taking advantage of their freedom of speech time. Mostly they were talking about religious things so it wasn't very interesting but when we were leaving there was a guy talking about Christianity and there were some Muslims around him yelling at them and I thought it was getting a little scary... But then the Muslim started laughing so I think they were just trying to taunt the guy so I guess it was all part of their plan. I had to take a picture of them yelling at each other but I have to do a quick because like I said I was a little scared... I wasn't sure when the friendly taunting was going to turn into a real out right anger. So I got my quick snap and ran back to Mike and the boys. Then we decided to go down Piccadilly Street which is like Michigan Avenue or the magnificent mile in Chicago where all the fancy shops are at. Again we decided just to walk there instead of taking the bus because the bus route was going to take us all around town before it would take us to Piccadilly Street so we trekked it, basically all the way back to Buckingham palace... this was a really long walk. Once we got there we just walked on the street until Mike found a chocolate shop that he wanted to go into. This place had some pretty amazing chocolates that they would let you sample but it was super expensive but Mike wanted to have some so we got a small box. We got to customize it so we got to put whatever chocolates we wanted to have in there but the problem was that we only liked a few of the chocolates so it seemed like we kept putting more of the same chocolates in the box... it was kind of funny but I guess it doesn't really matter if we got a box of all the same kind of chocolates as long as we like it. The lady helping us was really nice though she seem to stuff a lot of chocolate in that one little box so at least we got our moneys worth. Well actually not sure we got our moneys worth, the one little box with about 28 pieces of small chocolate which couldn't weigh more than half a pound cost us about £28 which is close to $40... I'm Not sure I can call that value. Anyway it's a splurge that Mike likes to do because he really likes good chocolate so I wasn't mad... really that was the most expensive splurge that we had the whole trip. Next it's time to find the bus because we've seen the last few sites we wanted to see before we leave and it was getting close to time to make it back to the charter bus to head to the airport. Of course we get turned around a little bit and an old lady sees us looking at a map and looking around and she decides to help us and she points us in the right direction to catch the bus... I'm very grateful for that lady. It's on the bus and back to our hotel to pick up our luggage, had to change Lino because he fell asleep on Mike on the bus and peed on him. We changed his clothes on the bus but the pants he changed into were not the warmest so I wanted to put something warmer on him before we left. Then we walked to where the coach bus station was at. The bus stop was actually close to where the train station stops on Liverpool Street so we were able to get something to eat there. We had minced meat pastry that was pretty good and then we got some noodles to share and we still have a few minutes left before the bus arrived. By this point it seems like we have walked about 10 miles and the boys seem to be pooped from all the walking is well they were both crashed in the stroller it was hilarious...
So we are waiting for the bus and there was a ton of people in line waiting as well. I wasn't sure if they were all planning to get on the same bus we were getting on or if there was another one. Come to find out there was another bus so some of the people got onto that bus but there was still a ton of people left for our bus. And when our bus actually got there it was like roaches scrambling to pick up a crumb of food... all the people just flew to the door of the bus and it was a complete mess. I was trying to make my way to the door but I had the stroller with the boys so Mike pushed his way closer so that we could actually get onto the bus. Like I said it was a complete mess and I wasn't sure how we were actually going to get onto the bus but the lady started calling out different things apparently asking for those people who have pre-booked to come forward because she was going to take them first. Thankfully we pre-booked so we were able to just get onto the bus without much trouble at al...l well other than me having to yell at about three people to move out of my way so that I could push the stroller through in order to get to the door. After fighting through that massive crowd really there was only about 8 or 12 people that got on the bus and there was at least 30 more still waiting outside. I'm not sure what the processes is but I guess the people who did not pre-book have to wait for the next bus to come around and if there's room they will put them on the bus. Maybe it's cheaper just to book a ticket and not pre-book a time ...I don't know but it's a pain if you don't have the pre-book time. Thankfully Mike booked our time...good job hunny!!! So off we go we set the back of the best because that's the only place for three but unfortunately that was by toilet. Lino had to go potty so we actually had to use it this time... And it was not fun. We had to use it while the bus was moving and when I closed the door there was water all over the floor. I wasn't sure if it was pee if it was cleaning solution but after a few seconds I could smell that it was wasn't pee pee...thank God. But the problem was that whenever the bus with move more of this cleaning solution with slosh out of the toilet so it was a little bit of a challenge to trying keep Lino from getting wet and me as well. Somehow we made it out of the toilet with only getting the bottom of our shoes little wet but I was just disgusted afterwards. Then the whole bus ride we had to keep hearing this noise that Mike said was the brakes but I think it was some sort of suction in the toilet to try and take the water out of the floor. Whatever it was it was bothering me know and made him scared so we had to deal with him screaming for the first 15 minutes or so because he thought the noise was a monster... The poor kid is tired because he got his nap interrupted twice so there really wasn't much reasoning with him we just had to let him get over it. Eventually he did and the rest of the bus ride was pretty easy. We got to the airport in plenty of time so we were able to get checked in and go to the waiting area. Now this is the craziest thing I've ever heard for some reason they don't give the gates to the plane until a few minutes before boarding time. So even though we were at the airport about an hour before our flight was going to board we had to sit in this waiting area for that hour watching a board waiting for our gate to pop up. And this wouldn't be so bad if we had seat assignments but since we didn't we were worried that if we didn't move fast after the gate was signed we might get too far back in the line to board the plane and not get seats together. So this means that Mike was staring at the board intensely for the whole hour... That's not exactly true he was staring at the board for the first 30 minutes but then I told him to watch Lino because he was running off all over the place and I told him to run with him instead. He was worried that I wouldn't be diligent enough to watch the board but I told him Lino needed to run around so it was more important for him to let Lino burn up some energy so that he wouldn't be a nightmare on the plane than to be the first ones in the line to board. Finally our gate popped up and it was about one minute before boarding time, how ridiculous is that??? At the same time another flights gate number popped up so there was two flights worth of people making a mad dash to about the same area in the airport and I mean a mad dash!!!! It was absolute insanity, I really did not like that at all but what can you do for cheap flights. Luckily we made it to the gate and we were not too far back in the line so we should be good to have decent seats on the plane. Then we ended up standing in that line for another 15 or 20 minutes before we were able to board what a mess!!! The flight back to Cork was pretty uneventful actually got to close my eyes for a few minutes and take a nap while Lino watched his movie and Mike read a book. By the time we got back to Cork, got to our car and drove home it was almost 10 o'clock so we were all pretty pooped. We had a pretty good weekend but it was so fast I hope might can get some rest tonight so he's ready for work in the morning. I really enjoyed our quick we can I know it was quick and we didn't get to do much but at least we got to visit London as a family. I'm so excited to take our next trip now even if it's only a three day trip it's going to be lots of fun to travel with the family around Europe and make all those memories...I can't wait!
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