Wow. What a crazy day. But we are here! Yay!!
We all woke up excited for today. The boys were very excited that Grandpa was here! I was excited to be going on our big anniversary trip that we have been seriously planning for almost 2 years! Todd woke up excited to be in vacation mode and to have one last day of work before leaving.
We got the morning rolling with breakfast, getting dressed for school, and showing Grandpa what a typical day looks like around these parts. Just before walking the boys to school Todd called me with some awesome news! He received notice that he had been promoted to a Principal at BCG! Yay! I couldn't be more proud of him! These past few years with Todd working for BCG and being a consultant haven't always been easy, and we have had to adjust and readjust many, many times with the traveling and work hours, etc. Todd is such a hard worker, and yet somehow can push the limits of his sleepiness and schedule to fit quality time in with me and the boys. It is super hard to reach promotions in consulting careers, and so this is a great accomplishment and blessing for Todd and us. We feel very blessed that we have had the opportunities we have had while Todd has been working for BCG! It made our day even better getting this news and a great way to celebrate by taking off to Italy for a vacation!
We walked to school, in the rain, and then I showed my Dad where to go for fresh bread, great gelato, and pain au chocolat's, ya know, all the important stuff! It was kinda crazy trying to show him and tell him everything there is to know about living here, and our routine in just a few hours, since it is obviously very different than living in the states.
We did the school pick up and when we got home I realized that I needed to do a quick load of whites before I packed. Laundry here in London is a PROCESS. Truth be told, I only do whites and towels here in the flat. Everything else I send out on Tuesday and it comes back clean and folded nicely on Thursday. Yes it is nice, but also a little annoying. Our washer is small, and it supposedly washes and dries at the same time. Well to do that it takes 3.5 hours for one load to get done. And it isn't a tumble dryer, it basically rotates it around and cooks the clothes. It's so ideal! The clothes come out nice and baked and wrinkled! So yeah...I only do whites and towels, unless we really need to do something else in a pinch.
Okay so back to me putting in a load of whites. After I put them in I realized that I didn't have 3.5 hours for them to be completely done. No worries, I thought, I'll just stop it a little early and pack slightly damp if needs be. So I go to do just that about 20 minutes before we have to go and...the door locks and will NOT open. I was like, uhhhhh what?! I tried and tried and tried to get that dang door open and it wouldn't budge. It was completely locked. I guess it won't let you open it if the clothes have been drying since it's so dang hot. Todd and my Dad also tried to get it open, all the while all the kids are going crazy...Thatcher is crying cause we are leaving, Tagg is screaming about something in the other room, and Tate is getting hungry and tired. Lovely! So I suck it up and realize that I am going to be without under clothing for one week! That's right. I will be hand washing every night. Aghhhh. It was so ridiculous and stressful! #londonproblems
We said goodbye to the kids, and my dad and rushed downstairs to our car that was waiting. We had more craziness on our way to the airport as we were of course stuck in traffic forever and realized that we were cutting it too close to missing our flight. Nice! Perfect! Todd told the driver to pull over and we jumped out and caught the nearest Tube and took it to Heathrow. Good news is that we made it! We rushed through security and called the boys to say goodnight and then got on the plane!
Here we are ready to get this party started!
The guy sitting directly in front of me on the plane was WACKO. Seriously. He actually was freaking me out half of the time. But I realized he probably was drunk. He kept ringing his call button and the flight attendants were getting TICKED. It was actually kinda comical. Then he went to the bathroom and when he got back he couldn't remember what seat he was in, Todd had to show him. It was NUTS.
We finally landed in Rome at about 12:00am Rome time. Stepping off the plane and smelling that smell! I know it sounds weird, but it smelled so good, so familiar. We got our bags and got a taxi and Todd was speaking to him in Italian and as we drove I saw the buildings and the plants and trees, and all the sights so typical of Italy. I may or may not have gotten a little misty eyed. I am a sap, but boy do I love this country.
We got to our hotel, the Westin, and checked in and found that we had been upgraded to a suite. Finally some good news! This room is the nicest room I think I have ever stayed in and it is SO fun to be here just the two of us!
Now we are exhausted and will be sleeping oh so well tonight. So weird not to have the kids here with us! Can't wait for tomorrow and seeing one of my favorite cities on earth...Roma!
