London: Big Bus Day

Jeff and I have both been to London before, but never together, and never with the girls. We were sure it was a city they would love, and we were right.

We originally thought that we would be going back to the States after Malaysia, so I planned a big, blow-out trip back, starting with a direct flight from KL to London. Business class on Malaysian Airlines costs about the same as an economy ticket on a U.S. airline, so we left Malaysia in comfortable seats and had a civilized, 13 hour flight to London.

My parents met us in London, and even though we were all very jet lagged, we managed to walk down the street from our hotel and have dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe before collapsing. We stayed at the Sheraton Grand on Park Lane, and it was a very nice hotel. Thanks to all of Jeff's points and status, we were able to get two connecting rooms at almost no expense to us. We also got a lovely breakfast each morning, afternoon tea, and drinks and light food options in the evening. It turned out to be a great base for us.

On the first morning, the waitress asked if we would want milk in our tea. This is a thing I hadn't introduced the girls too, because I don't take milk in my tea, but I'm glad they got this opportunity, because it turns out that Elena really enjoys milk in her tea! That day she also fell in love with Big Bus Tours.

Since the girls had never been to London before, we figured the best starting activity was a bus tour to take them around the city. One of the lines started right near our hotel. My parents were also staying nearby, so we met up at the stop, and got the front row of the bus for me, Elena, and my parents.

Jeff, the photographer, wanted to sit in the open part farther back, and Vivi sat with him. 

The audioguide was predictably hokey, but my family loves audioguides, so they were happily plugged in as we took in the sights of London from our elevated vantage point.

Jeff did a great job getting pictures from the bus as we drove by things. We went back and forth across the Thames, and the bus driver was good about slowing down when there was something worth photographing. I felt a little bad for the people on the road actually trying to get somewhere, but for us it was great.

St. Paul's was particularly difficult to photograph, because it's quite big and also nestled in between a bunch of other buildings.

Jeff got a great shot though.

We got to see Tower Bridge from a distance,

and eventually, we went over it.

Jeff managed to get a shot of the Tower with the Shard in the background, London, old and new.

Finally, we looped back around to Parliament, where the audioguide reminded us that it's the bell that's called Big Ben, and the tower is actually the Queen Elizabeth tower.

We made the full loop back to our original stop, and then we got off to find a pub for lunch. We found a lovely one on one of the smaller streets near our hotel.

They had plenty of seating upstairs, good food, and lots of different beers on tap, so we enjoyed an excellent lunch with my parents before they packed up and headed to their next hotel in Oxford.

Our Big Bus ticket also included another line of the bus, and Elena was especially enthusiastic about continuing our big bus tour. She really wanted to go to Regent's Park because it's featured in one of her favorite movies, Cruella, so we looked at the route and figured out where we wanted to get off to get to the park.

Along the way, we drove by the Churchill Arms, which has a spectacular flower display all around the outside. We definitely marked that as one we needed to come back to.

Elena probably would have been happy to ride the bus around London all day.

But we got off at Regent's Park, which is lovely. Unfortunately, it was only at that point that I thought to look up where the fountain from the movie is. Turns out, they filmed it at a fountain in Greenwich, not in the actual Regent's Park. Elena was quite disappointed, but the park was so pretty and there were several nice fountains, so we managed to move her past it.

We also got back to the hotel in time for tea and scones, so overall, it was a great day.

Saying Goodbye to Kuala Lumpur

All good things must come to an end. This summer, our tour in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia reached its conclusion, but we always like to end on a high note, so we worked in lots of outings with friends and special moments in KL.

One of the hardest part of moving is always packing everything up. Elena divided her stuffies between suitcase, fast, and slow. These were the lucky winners for air freight. She took a group picture with them before they got packed up.

The packers were very efficient. They got everything packed up quickly and neatly.

We were most impressed with their creative packaging. This is Jeff's chair.

We were all a little sad after our things had been packed up. The solution? A staycation at the W! Jeff had promised Elena he would take her to play in the pool, so we obviously had to go.

On our second day, we down to discover that the hotel had placed giant floaties in the pool. Well, of course, the girls had to try them out. The problem was, they were a little tricky to get on and stay on, so Jeff provided support.

That weekend, Elena also had a laser tag birthday party at the mall with a roller coaster inside it.

While the roller coaster looked cool, you had to pay for a day pass to the whole area, so we didn't ride it. The rest of the mall was a repetition of a few souveneir and nail shops, so unfortunately there wasn't much to do, but that's okay, because we still had pool play time to look forward to.

Since Vivian's actual birthday is after we were leaving, her friends wanted to throw her an early party. To get ready for it, she decided to straighten her hair.

It looked great and went with her outfit. The party was a 20's themed murder mystery. They had a great time.

After the party, her core group of friends took her out for Mexican food. They are such a great group.

On the last day of school, Elena did the traditional pool jump with her uniform on. The pool was full of uniformed kids swimming around and celebrating being done with another year of school.

We had one week left in KL after school ended, so we used it going to our favorite places with some of our favorite people. 

Pincho y Tapas:

Brussels:

For our final weekend, we did a staycation at the newly renovated Renaissance hotel, which had a water park area, and a special deal on family rooms. The kids' room was super cute.

And the water slides were a hit.

For the hottest part of the day, we headed to the mall to watch the new Inside Out movie. It was fantastic!

Finally it was time to gather up all of our suitcases and head to the airport. Elena made sure we stopped off for one more Boost.

Goodbye KL. You were a wonderful home, and you will always have a place in our hearts.

Phuket for Spring Break

Jeff was in Bangkok for work in March, so we thought it would be fun to meet him in Phuket for the school spring break. I found a hotel with a fun pool and a bit of a beach. The family approved. 

Besides the pool and the beach, our favorite part was dining al fresco. We had a favorite table for breakfast. 

Elena particularly loved the noodle station.

For lunch, we usually ate at the restaurant with more of a water view.

There was also another bar near the water. Jeff and I ordered food from Grab, and then sat there with drinks to watch the sunset. One night, the hotel had a special event for Elite members with food, drink, and traditional Thai music and dancing. It was a lot of fun. 

We spent a lot of time playing at the pool. It was incredible to watch Elena frolicking with a pink sky behind her. 

One of the favorite play spots was the "grotto" between the two pools.

My favorite part though, was the reading and relaxing time, which was VERY needed.

We left for one outing. When we lived in Thailand before, Elena was too little to go to the elephant sanctuaries, so now that she was older we felt like we had to take our animal lover to visit the elephants. 

At first she was a little in awe of their size.

But it didn't take long for her to fall in love.

This sanctuary was much smaller than the ones we visited on the mainland of Thailand, but they were doing their best to rescue local elephants. We always love spending time with these special animals.

Of course, Elena had to bring one home with her.

It was good coloring company.

It was a wonderful week spent revisiting one of our favorite countries in the world.