Phase one: Get to London

On Sunday, January 8th, we loaded 16 bags and two babies onto a plane headed to London. The entire SFO experience was a good one. The porter was super helpful and we were able to make it to the gate with no unexpected hiccups.

Boarding the plane was a different story.

Lincoln and I both had about 3 bags each and a baby. We tried not to hit as many unsuspecting elbows as we could as we scooted down the aisle and made it to 37 e-h. Seeing the large load we were carrying the kind (and insanely thick-accented) British Airways steward offered to hold my "little puppet" Jude while I got situated.

Enter blood curdling-stranger-danger scream.

Now, I'm trying to comfort screaming Jude, while grabbing at Livvy to please come sit down and NOT climb into the row with a very welcoming smiling old lady and there are about 12309123 people behind us waiting to board the plane.

Lincoln in the meantime is SHOVING our overly packed carry-ons up above our seats.

Thankfully 2 stewards and some Tetris-like maneuvers later our bags were in place and so were the kids.

The flight went surprisingly well, with both kids enjoying the BA kid's channel and the comfort of an entire row to ourselves.

Livvy and Jude slept about 1/2 of the 9 hour flight, sadly both Linc and I only slept about 20 minutes.

After an hour long drive through downtown London in rush hour traffic with a screaming, hungry baby, we arrived to our temporary housing and got settled in.

I kept thinking on the hour-long drive from the airport to the housing...HOLY CRAP I don't have a return ticket!

...

This American mom is glad that the first Brit to speak to me smiled and called my kids "lovies".