after our epic roadtrip around france and into italy, we enjoyed being back in london (with low covid case counts) and tried to tick off a few more summer adventures before my twin pregnancy became really advanced and school started up again for moses. in the middle of august, we welcomed a new temporary family member to our tiny home – our friend lizzy came to london from utah to live with us for a few months and help us with childcare. we were sooo excited and grateful to have her come!! she had to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival so we took off for seven of those fourteen days to give her a bit more space. after an overnight jaunt to see sandringham, the holiday home of the queen, we drove just over the border into scotland and stayed for a few nights in the converted servants quarters at a gorgeous old manor house. pictures from that trip coming in the next post 🙂

in august we filled up another craft wall (^^) and enjoyed london’s spectacular flower boxes while my belly grew and grew. when i hit 28 weeks i felt pretty much like i did at 38 weeks with my singleton pregnancies. soooo, i felt pretty curious about how the next 10+ weeks would go 😉 every day got a little more strenuous, growing two humans.

a perk of being pregnant with twins is that you get to have ultrasounds so often as you near the end! in the summer i started being able to bring ian with me to ultrasounds, as covid restrictions had eased. it was so fun to have him there to get a peek at our baby boy and baby girl!

standard cereal mornings and waves goodbye and hello from our big front window:

one (really hot) night, ian took the boys camping in our garden square! it was quite the adventure.

ian and i decided that we’d each take a weekend to ourselves. i chose to spend my weekend at a hotel in london: reading, swimming, sleeping, getting a massage, and just relishing alone time. on the flip side, ian chose to spend his weekend hiking the entire width of england from coast to coast along hadrian’s wall. it’s recommended that a fit hiker do this 84 mile trek in seven to ten days; ian did it (and tacked on a few more miles to hit 100 in order to actually see the ocean on both sides rather than just follow the wall line) in three and a half. he actually ran the last five miles so he could make to the train on time to be home by the time he told me he would be home. he’s incredible. and i love that our weekend choices were so wildly different, haha!

ian walked hadrian’s wall with his friend matt. the had quite the adventure. i loved seeing their photos when ian returned home!

he was still a bit sore when i took my weekend away at the st pancras renaissance hotel. it was pretty heavenly to be alone and do whatever i wanted for a couple of days. and to sleep in!!!

isn’t this staircase inside the hotel so spectacular??

i did a lot of baby prep during my hotel weekend: finalized our birth plan, ordered some items we needed for the twins, read my birth books, etc. i absolutely loved this insight that came through on the daily meditation emails i get from franciscan monk father richard rohr. i started to get really excited about experiencing childbirth again! after my dreamy weekend away, i rode a bike home. riding bikes around london will always be one of my most treasured memories from this wild, pandemic-happening chapter of life.

in august there was also lots of summer scooter rides, and a sunday spent at chiswick house:

and some playdates at playgrounds with dear friends! after months of not being able to get together because of the pandemic, this was sooo good for my soul. and watching my kiddos have a blast with their pals made my heart sing! (moses’s sour face in this picture is hilarious. he really was sooo happy any time we got to play with friends – he just insists he hates it when anyone except mom takes his picture, ha!)

there was also a zoo day with friends…

and more really inspiring richard rohr daily meditations:

on our way home from our time in scotland, we met four other families at a national trust site just outside london called wrest park. it was such a fun day out with our best friends.

wrest park had the most beautiful flower gardens … and an awesome playground!

i love this photo (below). this is so ian. he is so often found playing with the kids while the other adults are enjoying a break from the kids, haha. he’s a kid magnet and always makes all the littles laugh so much.

it was so exciting to finally hang out with lizzy when she completed her quarantine! we will forever, forever be grateful to this angel of a human whose help with our kids was such an incredible blessing at the end of my pregnancy and for the first couple of months of our twins’ lives. she was a delight to have around and is such a dear friend to all of us.

the first saturday after her completed quarantine, we all went together to longleat. this place is so cool! it’s a gorgeous english stately home set in 1000 acres of gorgeous countryside and its grounds include an incredible safari park! we all had such a great time playing at the epic playground, exploring the formal gardens, riding the river cruise to see hippos and gorillas and sea lions, wandering the zoo area with koalas and anteaters and parrots, and driving through the safari drive where monkeys climbed on our rental car and lions grazed in the grass outside our doors. it was basically heaven for our animal-adoring moses and gabriel! and it was the perfect outing with our lizzy to kick off her time in england and with our family.

we passed stonehenge on the drive there – always a bit of a thrill! (we’ve driven past it half a dozen times now!)

thus began a deep friendship between lizzy and our boys! she’ll be beloved to them forever ❤

and that’s a wrap on august 2020 back in england. a post on sandringham, a dip into scotland and a day at the lake district coming next!