Richele in heaven

Possibly my favorite day of the summer!

Strawberries and Kentish cream.  i.e. ABSOLUTE HEAVEN!

Serena is so powerful and amazing!  And icy to Maria on the court!

Serena wins the women's semifinals and goes on to win the finals.

Richele's visit, Wimbledon day!

Wimbledon has been on Richele's bucket list for years and years so we were planning on going to the grounds in the afternoon.  Tickets, even to get on the grounds, can be tricky at Wimbledon.  I had planned and planned and read the best ways and times to get in without having to wait in a huge line. I also read that you can get tickets from Ticketmaster, though the chances were slim, so I figured I would give that a shot as well.  For a couple of days

SOOOOOO excited to be there!!

Djokovic practicing

Richele taking gobs of pictures!

The Hill - which we didn't have to sit on because we had actual seats on Centre Court!

But, we still wanted to sit there for a bit and have our lunch.

Richele's visit, day 1

Richele arrived in Canary Wharf around 1.00pm.  The kids and I went to the tube station to meet her and magically, somehow, I missed her!!  Thankfully, Andy had put in his instructions to her that if she didn't see us she should go across the street to the JPMorgan building and ask to page him.  So, that's what she did.  I got a message from Andy that she was in his lobby so we raced over there and met her in the lobby.  I felt so bad that she didn't see us waiting for her after her long journey, but at least we met up quickly!  

We brought her back to the flat, got her some food and a shower and headed to Tower Bridge to walk around and take pictures.  Richele has been here before so she didn't need to go into the Tower of London, but we did walk around.  She is mildly obsessed with the British Monarchy and history so she was able to tell the kids and I all about the things she knows.  It was like having a personal tour guide!!  Unfortunately we had to get back to the flat in pretty quick order because the tube workers were going on strike and it would have been much harder to get home.  It was nice to have dinner and a quiet evening at home though, and to get Richele to bed at a good hour.  

Andy and I got into an argument in Scotland (Andy would love to point out that I was wrong), but we rarely argue and the kids HATE it when we do. Alex, being Alex, enjoys diffusing a heated situation and this time as we were fighting he pushed us apart and said, "Ladies, ladies, you're both beautiful!!". That kid cracks me up every day!

Bavaria

Neuschwanstein castle is so iconic and pretty....and this is as close as we got!  It didn't dawn on us until too late that we should have bought tickets months in advance and so they were sold out.  Oh well, it happens!

We drove up a little ways and had a picnic at the base of the German Alps.  The area reminded us a lot of Park City.  They also had an alpine slide and lots of people jumping off the top of the mountain and sailing down.  It was very fun to watch. 

Castle in the background.

Evening in Munich

We arrived in Munich after flying into Nuremberg and driving down to our hotel in Munich.  After checking in we wandered to the main square in town to eat dinner, wander, and check out the shops.  I was very excited for the Germany food and it did not disappoint!  Schnitzel and spaetzle and wurst!

And, of course, top the night off with ice cream!!

We went past Buckingham Palace today on our way to meet our new friends in Green Park. We had a great time talking and playing and it was funny how much I had in common with the mom, Caitlin. We have plans to go to the science museum with them on Monday. Yippee for new friends!

Hottest day in July in London, EVER

Since our flat doesn't have AC we knew we would have to find a way to stay cool today.  So, the kids and I headed to Hyde Park to the Serpentine Lido to swim in the lake.  Turns out the water was nastier than I thought and Alex and I only spent a few minutes in there cooling off.  Samantha went straight to the kiddy pool which, while only a few inches, was still a welcome cool down.  I found some shade and camped out and ate lunch.  After we were bored at the Lido the kids were begging for ice cream and paddle boats.  So we did both!  The paddle boats were very fun and we enjoyed a half hour on the lake.  After the boats we headed to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain where half of London was playing in the water.  We found a shady spot and I sat there with my feet dipped in the river-like fountain and the kids ran up and down and around it with all of the other kids.  Samantha, not surprisingly, found a few friends so we stayed longer than I planned while she played.  Turns out the 2 new friends are also here for the summer from Boston so the mom and I swapped numbers and email and hopefully we can get the girls together.  It would be a welcome break for everyone!!!  Too bad they didn't have son for Alex to play with!

Weekend in Southern Wales

We had a fantastic weekend in Wales.  We were able to stay in a beautiful Marriott that looked like a castle, see a lot of castles, find towns where my Loveridge ancestors were from, and drive on incredibly beautiful and tiny roads.  We also hiked to two waterfalls and scared a lot of sheep.