European Adventure, Part 2: Staying Awake in London!

When we landed in London, we waited to be the last to "deplane", as they say, due to having one tired bozo and one passed-out bozo with us, as well as three bags worth of stuff sort of exploded across our row of seats.  We thought letting people out first was the only sensible thing to do.  Haha.  So we headed in, took our place at the very end of the customs line, finally wound our way through the airport process, and hopped on our train to Paddington Station.  From there, we took a cab to the nicest hotel of our whole journey (and the nicest hotel I've ever been to), dropped our bags, and headed out to Buckingham Palace to catch the changing of the guard.  We also turned the wrong way walking there about 6 times before we really got started.  This all added up to our not getting the best view. 

So. Many. People.
And, in words I did not expect to say about the London leg of our trip: SO HOT!

Donald elbowed his way up by the end so that William could actually see some of what was going on. Look! Guards!

We met up with Caroline and Tyler as things wrapped up, and so Caroline started in her role as family photographer once the crowds started to clear out enough to take our picture!

Family pic in front of Buckingham Palace! William thought he might get to see the Queen the way Paddington does when he goes to see the changing of the guard.  No dice, unfortunately. My feet were also swelled up to twice their usual size after the flight, a whole bunch of walking, and then the sun beating down in front of the palace.  I don't think you can really tell in this picture, but looking at it makes my feet hurt just thinking about it.  Haha.

Nice digs.

So, we walked around and took in some of the sights--and took a long breather at a playground where Caroline indulged William and ran all over creation with him while I sat down to rest my feet.  Poor Caroline and Tyler--Donald and I were both really struggling to form coherent sentences.  I could hear myself just...pausing...and then saying words in a kind of jumbled, rambling way that didn't really address the topic at hand.  But my brain was too foggy to fix it! 

Look, kids! Big Ben! Parliament!

We had originally thought we'd do the London Eye on Sunday, but when we thought we had enough time before our 5:30 dinner reservation, we decided to take the plunge.  So glad we did, given the developments of the following day (spoiler alert: William got sick!) and given how much both the boys LOVED it.  It would've been a real shame to miss this!

Robert thought this was the coolest thing he'd ever been on.

Classic Caroline and Robert selfie

"But guys, I don't think you understand.  Look at all that water down there!"
(This was before he'd even discovered there were boats.)

Whoa.  A crane in the water!

Other side! Checking out Big Ben, etc.

Boats!

Hanging out with our intrepid tour guides and conversation carriers.

Best buddies. (Robert couldn't be ripped away from the windows to be in this picture.)

Manly discussion of the skyline.

Attempted family picture.  Again, Robert can't be ripped away from the window.  Who can blame him, though? Look at that view of Big Ben!

Cab ride to dinner! Who thought dinner at a restaurant with white tablecloths was a good idea on the evening of our arrival? (But it was really delicious Indian food, even if Donald and I did have to take shifts walking Robert down the sidewalk! William wasn't his best restaurant self, either, but we had so much bigger fish to fry with the little one...)

Back at the hotel and wearing jammies, acting like an executive at the desk in our room!

This hotel was ridiculous.  They had left appropriately sized robes and slippers for all of us! (This will come up later, once William pukes all over himself a few times.)