I can't say enough about how much I love it here. It's fabulous. The change of scenery and the new adventures are a welcome change. We miss our Cornell friends but it feels good to be out of student housing and the freezing cold Northeast winter. As wonderful as things are, life happens. Last week took a lot out of me. The kids were in interesting moods off and on all week. Typical toddler and preschooler behavior but it was nonstop. No one listened to me. I grew tired of repeating the same clichéd mom-isms. The kids weren't sleeping well. It was fairly dreadful outside. Little things piled on top of each other until I succumbed to the overwhelming sense of defeat. Fine. The week sucked. Hard.

This week will be better.

Thankfully my sister was in town for a visit and to lend a helping hand while my husband was out of town. I can't imagine how much worse it would've been if she wasn't here. She was a huge help and we had many fun moments despite my parenting struggles. The kids would wake up every morning and creep around looking for their Titi Vanessa. She'd feed them and get them ready for the day while I slept in. It was much needed and so appreciated.

We were both pretty exhausted and not in the mood to haul two semi cranky kids up escalators and staircases at the tube. We decided to stay in the neighborhood (Holland Park and Notting Hill) and see local landmarks. I took Vanessa to my favorite spots and we spent an embarrassing amount of time at the Westfield Mall since it was pretty cold during most of her stay. We had a wonderful time but there is so much more we want to see and do here so we've already begun planning our next trip to London.

The days fly by and our time here is drawing to a close. We have less than a month left in Europe and I'd be lying if I didn't say I am a bit bummed. I am going to miss it. We have a lot to look forward to thankfully. After we land in Boston we are headed to Disney World with the kids' Great Grandparents. We still aren't sure what we are doing after that. We're still tossing around the idea of spending a month in the Dominican Republic but our minds aren't made up yet. We'll need to make a decision soon but for now I want to enjoy the time we have left here.

Next stop is Windsor Castle. I can't wait.