Saturday June 15 we took off out off Houston at 9:00 at night.

Sunday June 16 we landed at Heathrow at 12:00 and got to our hotel Estelle Manor at 2:00.

Hadleigh: Giving Dad his Father’s Day gift and Benton and Hadleigh giving dad a dog pile hug on the bed.

Benton: Watching how to train your dragon in an attempt to stay awake until 8:00 at night.

Doug: Taking a quick nap on the rocking chair on the front porch.

Kara: Seeing the english style manor were with the outdoor gardens. This is a beautifull place to spend a few days.

Unpleasant Surprise: The entire family was awake at 2am until about 4am. Then did not wake up until 10:30am.

Doug: Hawk swooping down from the tree and landing on the glove on my hand. As you watched the bird swooping down it appeared as it was headed right towards your head.

Benton: Hawk swooping down and landed on Benton glove, eating the food, and then taking off from his hand and bringing the glove with him.

Kara: When at the wildlife park the ostrich peaked at the kids shoes as they placed them between the fence. They even untied the kids shoes. The kids thought this was so funny.

Hadleigh: Seeing the pigs at the wildlife park. We also saw a very active red panda.

Unpleasant Surprise: As the kids were running up to the gift shop at the zoo the doors closed in their face. We walked up at 5:01 and the shopped closed at 5:00.

Unpleasant Surprise: As the kids were going to sleep last night Benton decided to walk on top of \240his bed to Hadleigh’s. He tripped coming back and hit right above his left eye. He let out a huge scream and we found him in bed with blood everywhere. Dad and Benton spent the next five hours at the Oxford A&E (Accidents and Emergencies). We got home at 4am with the cut glued back together and exhausted. We made the best of it eating candy bars & chips and playing games on the pad and listening to Aggie baseball game. A night we will soon not forget.

Doug: Once I got over the initial shock of the experience I enjoyed my time with Benton at the A&E in Oxford. It is one of those moments that will not be forgotten. Also, made me grateful looking around the hospital and seeing so much need. It could always be much worse, and at some point I decided to make the best of it. \240Listening to the biggest win in Aggie Baseball history through one ear bud was not bad either.

Benton: He loved making friends around the manor and playing soccer with his new mates.

Hadleigh: She could not decide between the maze we found on the palace grounds or the dessert served for dinner at The Glass House. So, I chose for her and the smoores beat out the maze.

Kara: Visiting Blenheim Palace. The architecture and scale of the palace, gardens, and out buildings were impressive. Was an added bonus that this is where Winston Churchill was born.

We left Estelle Manor today and checked into the Stafford hotel in London. Our driver Arge also acted as a tour guide and showed us around Oxford.

Doug: I got my first workout of the vacation in. I woke up early and got back before Kara and kids woke up. I also caught a nice nap on the drive between Oxford and London.

Hadleigh: She bought a stuffie owl that she named Hoot in the Harry Potter store.

Kara: She loved the history and architecture found in Oxford.

Benton: The Chapel at Oxford University with the pretty stained glass windows.

Pleasant Surprise: We caught a taxi back from Harrods department store to our hotel. As we all got up to exit the taxi Benton went up to the drivers window, and in his best British accent said, “nice job driving!” The taxi driver got such a laugh from the exchange he got out of the cab and let Benton and Hadleigh sit in the drivers seat. We all got a good laugh.

Kara: Seeing the Crown Jewels at London Tower. We were all so enthrawed we went to the back of the line three times to see them again.

Doug: Visiting the British Muesuem with our tour guide Alex. I really enjoyed seeing the Greek and Roman \240statues and carvings. I could have stayed here all day.

Hadleigh: Getting her new favorite bear stuffie “Winnie Pooh Bear London Harrods” or WPBLH for short.

Benton: Seeing the animals at London tower including tigers, baboons, elephants, polar bears, and ravens.

Unpleasant Surprise: Our allergies are worse in London than they are in Texas. Achooo!

Doug: Our tour guide, Paula, took us on a tour of Westminster Abbey. I enjoyed learning about the events held in the chapel and the famous men and women who are buried in its floors.

Kara: \240I loved being able to see some of the city on foot (even though it was a challenge walking so much with two tired kiddos). Walking through St. James Park was gorgeous and had some scenic views and Westminster was breathtaking both inside and out. We got to check off a trip bucket list item as well- taking Benton’s pic with Big Ben, or “Big Benton” as the kids are calling it!

Benton: He enjoyed eating his desert with dad after dinner and the girls had left. He ordered a rasberry macaroon dipped in chocolate.

Hadleigh: She enjoyed playing at the park with Benton. They climbed, swung, and rocked on the wooden play structure and also got to enjoy some ice cream.

Other: Riding the London Eye and see all the sights from up above: Big Ben, The Shard, & Buckingham Palace.

*Today’s favorites were all decided upon by Dad…. Until Mom heard she was given the London Eye and went back and changed hers 😉

Benton: He found a Dragon Egg that he could not live without at a store. Dad agreed to buy it for him but only if he was responsible for it. He carried it around all day in a sack from the store and had to navigate getting it into the plane back home to Texas.

Hadleigh: She got cheese pizza!

Kara: She loved the convenience and fun of being able to tour the city with Mini Coopers! The contrast of seeing Big Ben and Parliament from a quiet, secluded spot to getting to add our own graffiti to the underground walls of The Vaults.

Doug: I enjoyed seeing the Lion King. It was fun to watch how the actors made the animals come to life. The kids also enjoyed. Hadleigh got upset and started to cry when the Dad lion died. It was a fun and entertaining show.

Unpleasant Surprise: We had to store one of our oversized bags in a rack above a gentlemen sitting next to us. Half the suitcase was hanging over rack making us all nervous the suitcase would fall on the passenger sitted below.

Doug: The train ride is over. We took a 5 hour and 47 minute train ride from London to Glen Eagles in Scotland.

Kara: The bagpipes that welcomed us to Glen Eagles.

Benton: He got to play on his tablet for four hours of the 5 hour and 47 minute train ride.

Hadleigh: Watching the Aggie Baseball game with Dad. Even though we lost.

Unexpected Surprise: This was a simple day with zero planned activities, but one of our favorites days. Simple is most often best.

Doug: I woke up early got my workout in, walked around the property, did my meditation, and ate breakfast all before Kara and kids left the room. Great time for me to recharge. English tea for breakfast is somthing I may have to bring back to Texas with me.

Kara: Mom loved playing foosball with the entire family in the kids play area at the hotel. Dad dominated as usual.

Hadleigh: She met a new friend from India. New Friend, Benton, and Hadleigh played tag in the front lawn after dinner.

Benton: He loved the ropes course that he and Hadleigh completed.

Unpleasant Surprise: As we ordered our food for dinner a fire alarm sounded and we had to evacuate the building. The pleasant surprise is our waitress brought the kids blankets to keep warm.

Doug: I loved seeing how excited Benton got around the birds. I often wonder if he is going to grow out of his love of animals. His other interest have come and gone quickly. With animals it seems to have stuck. It was fun to watch his eyes light up and his excitement around the birds.

Kara: There was a bridge she found a picture of online and was hoping to find something similar.

Our driver wasn’t sure about the specific bridge, but we ended up finding the exact one and got to take some pictures, so Mama was happy!

Benton: He got an impromptu “behind the scenes” demonstration of the birds on property. His favorite that he got to hold was a Peregrine Falcon. He also held up a huge Golden Eagle and we saw a beautiful Barn Owl and falcon eat. Benton was so excited he was bouncing. He got this behind the scenes demonstration by engaging with the staff and being his usual charming self. The bird keeper asked us to not tell anyone about this demonstration (so please keep between us).

Hadleigh: She got to do the zip line course on property. Hadleigh has been talking about zip lining ever since we saw one in Costa Rica. In typical Hadleigh fashion once her mind is made up she can “will” anything into exsistence. She loved scaling a pole 35 feet into the air and zipping around in the trees.

Doug: I enjoyed listening to Benton planning how we were going to have a Lego battle. Dad and son versus mom and daughter. He described to me the castle we were going to build and the weapons it would contain.

Benton: He loved building his own unique Lego man at the Lego store across the street from our hotel.

Hadleigh:

Kara:

Unpleasant Surprise: We all went on a tour of Mary King’s Close. It was a tour that took place below the city streets and buildings in what was once over crowded residential homes for the working poor. The tour was very graphic and we should have known it was not for the kids when the guide started to describe the messy beheading of a queen years ago. The story went that the man who was assigned to behead the queen got so drunk before it took him three swings to server the head (after missing the neck badly with the first two chops). We finally admitted it was too much for the kids when they had a real life scene of a family stricken with the plague.

Mary King’s Close plague and beheafing (guy got drunk and took 3 tries),

Pleasant Surprise: Dad looked at Benton and realized he no longer had his glasses on. Benton knew exactly where he had taken them off, at Dad’s lunch spot, and marched right back and grabbed them off the shelf next to our table. Crisis adverted.

Doug: We had a very bad experience with our tour guide. All we could do is laugh about it by the end of the tour. His name was Paul and he gave it his best effort, but we do not think being a tour guide matches well with his natural abilities. 1) He kept asking us questions that we obviously did not know the answer to. 2) You could only understand every 2-3 words he said (he was English but talked 100 mph). 3) After we told him we did not want to walk and preferred to stay out of the cold he led us to the coldest and rainiest spot in the city. 4) He would stop walking in the middle of the sidewalk and drone on and on about weird Scottish history we care nothing about. Kara and Doug would try to give a hint by starting to walk away and then he’d just start telling his stories to the kids. 😵‍💫 🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️👧🏼👦🏼😞

Kara: We visited a local bookstore and the kids each got to pick out a book. We also had to by a copy of the first book of the Harry Potter series since J K Rowling wrote the \240books here and drew her inspiration from the city and many of the areas we’ve seen!

Hadleigh: As a family we started reading Harry Potter as a bedtime story. The book included illustrations of Edinburgh and Dad started to point out all the cigarette butts on the sidewalks as a joke. Mom finally got us to settle down and focus on the story and the hotel staff knocked on the kids door to offer turn down service. Hadleigh jumped up and got the door after we asked her to ignore the knocks. Once she finally got back in bed the hotel staff was then knocking on the parents room and Hadleigh jumped up to get the door again as we all moaned “Hadleigh!”

Benton: He loved playing a game where you design your own fish that has to camouflage into the environment or risk being eaten by a shark. This was a digital game in the National Museum of Scotland.

Doug: Dinner. B ate half. Ceiling was beautiful.

Benton: Zoo. Sun Bear Koala 🐨

Kara: Shopping

Hadleigh: The penguins