Mr. Smith's 32nd Birthday

Just a few pictures from Jake's 32nd Birthday!   I'm a month late posting this.  It fell on Mother's Day this year, so he was nice and shared his day with me.  Even remembered to get me a little something.  What a guy.  I guess twins are pretty used to sharing the attention though.  We went to church and then we relaxed at home that afternoon.  Jake requested pistachio pudding cake again.  He says it brings back good childhood memories.  It is quite tasty :)  Happy 32 Jake!  I love you.

 

Audley End

On the way home from dropping Abby off at the airport, we stopped at Audley End.  We drive by the exit for it all the time, but had never taken a day to see it.  Since it's another English Heritage site, we got to use our memberships again.  Got to get our moneys worth out of that!  It's an early 17th century mansion on a huge plot of land.  We'll have to go back sometime to see the inside since we were just in the mood to play on the grounds and explore outside.  Cool place. 
Here it is from the front.  A lot of these were pics Jake took with his phone.

Cool bridge in front of the house.  Luke and Ella had a good time watching ducks and swans.

 From the back of the house..

 English gardens are so pretty.  Now that the summer flowers are out, I want to go back. 

 Exploring the grounds behind the house..

 and more of the gardens

 We liked these crazy bushes.  Edward Scissorhands style!

One more day in London with my sis! And Queen E's Diamond Jubilee!

Looking through pictures and thinking about blogging just makes me want to go to sleep lately!  Maybe it's because I have so many pictures to look through.  I don't know.  I'll blame it on being pregnant.  This is the only place I document this stuff though so I know I need to suck it up and get going!  I'm getting behind.  Another excuse for slacking is that our desktop that I usually use for pictures and blogging seems to have bit the dust.  It won't even turn on anymore.  Super annoying!  I'm glad pictures have been backed up for the most part.  I'm hoping there isn't much that I hadn't transfered onto the external hard drive. Pictures look a little funky after editing them on this laptop, but I guess it will have to do for now.
Anyhow, to finish up with fun things we did with Abby in April... this was our last full day together before she headed back to Arizona.  We started the day at the Royal Mews.  It was fun seeing the carriages and horses.  Speaking of carriages, today is the last day of the official Jubilee celebrations throughout the UK, so we got to see them put one of these carriages to use again.  Well, I saw on TV.  Not about to go down to London without Jake (he had to work) to fight the crazies for a glimpse of the Queen going by.  Everyone has been off work since last Friday and British kids are out of school all week this week.  I really feel lucky that we have been in England for so many big events.  Last year was a national party with William and Kate getting married, and this year there is a lot going on with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.  It's a good place to be!  Back to playing with Abs though, here are some pics from the mews...

The Gold State Coach.  Fancy shmancy.

The Glass Coach...  Royal brides have ridden in here to the church to be married.

One of the royal cars...

Horse stuff...

 Gifts for the horses to Prince Philip from the Obamas...

The horse stables ...

Royal Riding School...

  And some carriage action from today!  I found these online.  Happy 60 years, Queen Elizabeth.

 This is the same open top carriage that William and Kate used after they got married :)  Charles and Camilla rode with her since Prince Philip is in the hospital today.

 The crazy crowds!  The whole city is like this for blocks with these kinds of events.

 People have been decorating their houses, cars, and restaurants with flags.  Neighborhoods are having block parties and other celebrations, and wearing crazy clothes to celebrate, too.  :)

She's so cute. 

 RAF Red Arrow fly over

So, there's a little of the Mews in action today!  Kind of a big deal around here.  :)  Now, back to London with Abby.  After visiting the Royal Mews, we walked up to Buckingham Palace and then over to the National Gallery, ate some dinner and then browsed stores until time to catch our show. I love West End Theatre! Matilda was a great show and we lucked out with literally the last two (awesome) seats. I wish Abs was closer so we could play more often! Guess she just needs to come back to visit.

 Buckingham Palace Gates...

 Cambridge Theatre..

 Before the show started.  Don't know if pictures were allowed or not, but it was such a cute set!  I loved Matilda!

Love my sister!  Thanks for making the trip, Abby!  We loved having you here!