Thanks for following our blog! We had a blast and we hope you enjoyed reading all about it.

-Amanda and Zach

We slept in this morning after our long day yesterday then ate breakfast at the hotel. We packed up and headed to the JFK airport where we waited for our 12:50 flight to Salt Lake City. It was a five hour flight, but it felt longer than the eight hour flight we took yesterday! I think it's just because we're ready to get home! Our landing was delayed because there was a storm so the plane was put into a holding pattern. So we kept circling the airport until the storm stopped! While we circled we had a great view of the Salt lake valley and I realized how much I had missed the mountains! In England they have rolling hillsides which are beautiful, but just don't compare!

When we finally landed Grandma picked us up! We came home to a nice homemade dinner which was great after traveling all day! Thanks Grandma!

We've absolutely loved traveling from the US to the UK and back, but there are definitely some things we are happy to come home to!

We spent the morning cleaning and packing up. We ate lunch at a pizza place down the street then took the Tube for the final time! We got to the airport, made our way through customs, and boarded just in time for our 5:30 pm flight to New York! The eight hour flight went by quickly since we were able to watch movies and they served icecream! We made it safely to New York at 2:30 am London time and 8:30 pm New York time. We were all pretty tired so we checked into our hotel and went to bed!

Today we took a double decker bus into Richmond to enjoy a full English breakfast! I was finally able to try porridge which was delicious! We window shopped around Richmond for a while and walked along the Richmond Riverside overlooking the Thames. It was beautiful and we all had a good time.

In the afternoon we headed into London for the last time! We walked by the Somerset house and ate dinner at an Italian restaurant called Zizzi. 

After dinner we walked through Trafalgar Square and hung out there taking pictures and climbing on the huge lion statues. Next we walked over to Big Ben and took tons of pictures! We crossed the Westminster Bridge to the London Eye for a final ride as it was getting dark! The view was incredible and the city looked magnificent! Such a perfect way to spend our last night in London!

Today was all about Dan! We spent the day at Legoland Windsor, every little boy's dream! We had fun looking at the extensive Lego mini city and going on a bunch of rides! We especially loved the water rides. Dan and Trev had a blast at the driving school and even remembered to drive on the left side of the road!


We all stood in line for boat school, but it started pouring while we were in the boats! We couldn't use umbrellas while on the ride so we got soaked! After that the rain didn't let up! We were lucky it didn't start until after lunch. I accidentally forgot my rain jacket so I was drenched!  

We ate dinner at a little cafe in Legoland and got hot chocolates and sandwiches. The hot chocolate was amazing! It had a big whipped cream top, a chocolate stirrer, and real mini marshmallows. It really hit the spot after being out in the rain! Dan had been saving his money so he could get a Lego set and was happy to shop in the big Lego store! After shopping we headed home, changed into dry clothes and went to sleep.

After coming home late last night no one really wanted to wake up early for church so we decided to go to a later meeting. Instead of going to the Hyde Park Ward in London we went to the Wandsworth Ward in Richmond! We enjoyed a really nice fast and testimony meeting and took pictures outside afterwards. I met the cutest British boy at church and took a pcture with him! His name is Seth. He's 6-years-old(:

We took the Tube to King's Cross station where we took pictures at Harry Potter's famous platform 9 3/4! Then we walked over to the British library to have a look around. They had hand written Beatles lyrics, a copy of the Magna Carta, hand written sheet music from Beethoven, Handel, and Mozart, hand written letters from Napoleon, Charles Darwin, and Charles Dickens, a Tyndale bible, a Gutenberg bible, Jane Austen's desktop, spectacles and journal, DaVinci's notebook and even Michelangelo's journal and a letter he wrote to his father about how he finished painting the Sistine chapel and the Pope was satisfied with his work! So cool!

We left the library and headed back home. We made a nice Sunday dinner and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Today we took the tube into London to visit St. Paul's Cathedral! Lots of the roads in London were closed for the Ride London bike marathon that's going on today and tomorrow, but we had fun watching the bikers ride by. They even had an area roped off for bike polo! It was pretty neat to watch.

We had a great time touring the beautiful Cathedral, but unfortunately pictures weren't allowed inside. It's hard to believe that Christopher Wren designed such an intricate building in the late 1600's! The detail and ornate paintings are breathtaking. We climbed the 528 stairs to the top of the dome and enjoyed the view of the surrounding city. We also toured the crypt where we saw the burial places of the Duke of Wellington and Lord Admiral Nelson, British generals who helped turn the tide against Napoleon.

We walked across the street to eat lunch at a chain restaurant here called Yo! Sushi. The whole experience was so fun! Everyone sits at bar stools around the restaurant and a little conveyer belt brings food by! If you see something you like you grab it and keep the multi-colored plate which they use to charge you at the end. We had a blast trying different dishes!

After lunch we went to Covent Gardens which is like a giant market with street performers and everything! The street performers have to audition to preform there so they were all pretty good! We saw a young boy playing his violin, a guy opera singing and making balloon swords at the same time, a guy juggling apples and knives while riding a unicycle... All kinds of neat stuff!

We had a good time looking around at all the homemade crafts varying from water color paintings to hand carved wooden pens. Just outside the market part of Covent Gardens we stopped at a souvenir shop where Zach got a cool T-shirt. Mom and I went shopping in the stores surrounding the market and found a way cute British boutique called Oasis! I ended up buying a cute brown leather jacket and high waisted teal skinny jeans!

We were all pretty hungry after shopping so we went to a place called Byron's, where they serve "Proper Burgers." Basically it was just a fancy burger joint. Zach loved his hamburger and everybody had a great time.

After dinner we walked over to the theatre where we saw the musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! We all loved it! The costumes and sets were all really well done. It was super funny and we all had a blast.

When the show ended we made our way to the Tube station pushing through the crowded London streets. We haven't been in the city at night much so it was fun to see everything lit up! We got home really late and headed straight to bed.

Today we drove to the Harry Potter Warner Brother's Studio Tour! We had such a fun day! We explored the huge building and got to see all of the actual props, costumes, creatures, animatronics, and sets they used in the Harry Potter movies! There isn't really a way to describe everything, but we took loads of pictures so hopefully that will help!

The studio was FULL of everything and anything Harry Potter. We saw lots of the actual sets they used to film various parts of the movies. It was amazing to see the Great Hall and Diagon Alley sets. The giant Hogwarts castle model that they filmed is incredible. We saw the Knight Bus,  Death Eater masks, Ministry Building props, Potter house in Godric's Hollow, potions room, Weasley Borough, and the cupboard under the stairs where the then 11-year-old Daniel Radcliffe sat! We saw all the wands that were actually used in the films, plus all of the costumes that were worn by the actors. Everything we saw was the real thing used in the movies.

Zach loved the graphic design section. There were boxes and boxes of Weasley products and newspapers that had been specially graphically designed just for the movie! I loved seeing how they filmed Quidditch and we even got to ride brooms in front of a green screen! We saw how they brought the creatures to life and how Hagrid's actor was made to look bigger. It is crazy how many special effects are used in the movies, but also how much of it isn't animatronic or animated. The actors are really only one small part of the movie. There is so much behind the scenes stuff that goes in to making a movie possible!

Another highlight was when we got to try non-alcoholic butter beer!

After a fun filled day we went back home and ate at a place called Wagamama. It was super good Asian food!

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We had to wake up super early this morning to make it to our special Stonehenge tour. Dad purchased tickets in advance for us to go into the actual stone circle rather than just walk around the path outside of it. It was amazing to get up close to the old stones! Since our tour was early in the morning the sun came up through the fog which made it feel eerie and mysterious. Of all the things we've seen on our trip Stonehenge is the oldest by far! It was built around 3,000 BC and still stands today! We took loads of pictures and had an awesome morning. After our tour ended we headed back to our Bed and Breakfast to eat.

We packed up and began the drive home, but we stopped to see the Salisbury Cathedral on the way. the old Cathedral is beautiful! The gothic architecture is incredible and the spire is the tallest in England! We had fun walking around, taking pictures, and stopping for lunch.

Next we drove to Highclere Castle where BBC's series Downton Abbey is filmed. We were able to tour the inside of the castle where we saw a painting of Charles I done by Van Dyke! Afterwards we walked through the gardens and took pictures on the green.

On the way home we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some food to make dinner. We arrived home safe and sound after a fun mini trip into the countryside!

We woke up this morning and ate breakfast at the hotel before heading to Warwick castle, a medieval castle fun park! Our day started off a bit rough because everyone was tired and it was rainy and cold, but we ended up having a lot of fun! 

Some of the highlights were the castle shows. We watched jousting, Warwick Warriors, and birds of prey. The jousting was awesome because it was real! The knights were dressed up and competed in a big tournament. It was Lancasters against Yorks just like the War of the Roses so we had a good time learning about the history too! The Warwick Warriors show taught us about how REAL knights would have actually fought and not just how Hollywood depicts it. The birds of prey show was fun, especially for Dan. We were able to see a 6 month old owl and an old bald eagle. The owl came and landed right in front of us!

We had a blast exploring the inside of the castle, seeing how a portcullis works, and practicing our archery! We climbed over 500 steps to the top of one of the towers and were able to see for miles! Another highlight of the day was when we got to watch a 20 meter tall trebuchet launch a huge flaming stone. It was awesome! 

After looking in some shops and getting ice cream we left. We drove for two hours to a nice little bed and breakfast place about 5 minutes away from Stonehenge! We all love the cute little bed and breakfast, especially the fancy folded towels and little chocolates! We walked to a Chinese restaurant nearby for dinner and loved eating our family style meal with chopsticks!