Day 2,3, and 4

Arrive in London
Day 2

The plane ride to London was about 8.5 hours. Nobody sat in front of us, so my moved up there and that meant jayden had her own seat. This was a miracle! My mom was also now sitting in the bulkhead so jayden had lots of room to sleep. Jayden did well, but had a little bit of a hard time falling asleep. Once she did we made her a bed on the floor by my mom and she slept for 3 hours or so. My mom is such a worry wart that she didn't sleep though. Apparently, some lady tried to sit in the empty seat next to my mom and moved our bag....... She put it right on top of the sleeping child, REALLY. I get you want more space, but who touches someone else's bag without asking.

We arrived tired, but we're happy to see the welcome party. They even made a sign so we would know they were waiting for us..... It said YOUR MOM! Now if that isn't the warmest welcome I don't know what is.

Josh rented a van so that all our luggage would fit. Now when I think of a van it's big, right? No, this van was like a hatchback Subaru.  We were cramped in pretty tight. 

Our flat is nice. It has one room and a living area. Mom is sleeping on the fold out couch, JJ has the single fold out chair, we have the bed with the wiggler. 

We took a 2 hour nap, got ready and took the tube to meet up with josh and the fam for dinner at 8. This was probably a little late since the next day we were heading to Paris at 5am. Dinner took like 4 hours. There is no rush in the UK. It took  like 40 minutes for them to even take a drink order. My mom was getting a little annoyed because she was tired and knew she had to get up, but was still a trooper. Jayden was so good again. She sat on the table with nay, al, and Jenny and ate an entire dessert. It took her awhile to fall asleep. So,  After dinner instead of heading home we went to josh's flat and had some more wine. We didn't get in until after 12. The alarm was going off at 5am.

Paris 
Day 3
Another sleepless night........... I think I looked at the clock every 30 minutes. The train ride was nice, but we alll just tried to sleep including Jayden. 

Jayden had her own seat again, so this was comfortable. When we arrived in Paris we still hadn't confirmed a meeting place with JJ, so we headed to Notre Dame with hopes to meet up with him. It did take us awhile to get there because NO body wants to speak English in Paris. This made it a little difficult to buy tickets to the metro and navigate a map in French. But we succeed! It's a good thing mike can read a map. 

Notre Dame is amazing. The structure and windows are beautiful. We wandered around marveling at her beauty. Unfortunately we didn't find JJ waiting for us there. In  the back of our minds that is all we could think about. Finding JJ was our priority. We were running behind time to meet the Avalo clan so we  hurried to the Eiffel Tower. When we spoke to Josh who was already there  he hadn't heard from JJ. We had posted on his Facebook, but he hadn't replied and Josh couldn't find him at the tower either. 

Stress level running a little high........

Mom had to go to the bathroom so bad, but didn't want to stop to go. I could tell all she wanted to do was get to the tower and find JJ. 

When we got to the Eiffel Tower he was found laying on the ground tired and a little stressed. He had been waiting there since 7am. I felt so bad for him. I had told him several days before leaving we would start there, but the plan changed and we assumed he would check  the Internet for an updated agenda. This didn't happen.  JJ never hugged me so hard in his life. He knew we would be there but you never know I guess. 

Well at least he will never forget Paris or the Eiffel tower at sunrise. 

I was a little happy we were late because they had already waited in line for an hour to get tickets and we hopped right in line when they approached the actual gate. However, mom had finally made it to a bathroom but she had to wait in line at the one person public bathrooms (like fancy portapotty that cleans it self) this would we a great thing if it didn't take each person 10 minutes. So, JJ and I had to wait for mom in the line. We were letting people pass us  trying To explain that our mom was in the toilet. But, nobody speaks English to even understand. 

We headed up the tower jammed packed into an elevator. 1st floor was crowded, but the view was amazing! We went to get in line for the next lift, but they directed us to buy tickets.   WHAT! Oh ya..... The ticket office was closed for 30 minutes.  Then we we're told that it was a two hour wait to the top. Josh was screaming at the lady who told us this. He was so mad, but the lady didn't understand him. In the end we didn't make it to the top, but Eiffel Tower didn't disappoint. 

After that we had French baguettes and headed to the boat. We took a boat ride around Paris and learned about the famous architecture. This was nice, but we were so tired that half of us were nodding off. 

We ended our journey at a French cafe drinking vino and eating crepes! 

But it wouldn't be a journey  if we weren't running for the gate because we were a least 5 minutes late to check in. They have a strict policy about checking in 30 minutes ahead of time. We made though. 

On the way home jayden didn't have an extra seat, so she was busy  as a bee on our laps and the table and all we wanted to do was sleep. We took turns watching her.

After we reached Covent Gardens Mike and JJ stopped and got us beer and wine. JJ unpacked and we stayed up and chatted until 12. 12 hours later we all woke up. 

Day 4
London

We woke up at 12 and I am still in my Pjs at 3:30. It's raining here, so the London Eye is not happening. Our morning has been a little somber. A childhood friend who is still JJ's good one today, father passed away. We sat here and cried and reminisced a little. 

We are finally on the move..... Headed for fish n chips, drinks for marks birthday and then a late dinner.