Our first night out

Whilst my Mum and Sister were here visiting us we celebrated a lot. It was Paul's birthday, my Mum's birthday and also our 3 year Anniversary. As a present to us, my Mum and Sister said they would look after Calleigh for the night so we could have some time to ourselves (it has been such a long time since we have been out just the two of us). 

As my gift to Paul (and a little for myself) I booked us a Deluxe King Bedroom Suite at the Ameristar Hotel and Casino in St Charles. 

The room was beautiful, it was the fist hotel room I have stayed in that had steps in the room that led from the bedroom to the seating area. It was a lovely place too, everything was attached the the hotel in a lovely courtyard type thing that made you feel you were outside. All the restaurants, bars and the casino were literally right next to us so there was no need to leave the hotel at all.

We got dressed up to have a nice meal together, I felt a bit out of place as we seemed to be the only ones in formal attire but I didn't care, I had a pretty dress on and we were finally having some alone time together.

After dinner we went to the Casino. It was ah-may-zing.
There were so many machine's in there and it was lit up like a Christmas tree. This being our first time in a proper Casino we were pretty dumb struck at how amazing it was. Unfortunately, the good feeling didn't last long. After a really good win on the first machine I sat down at it all went terribly downhill from there and we ended up back in the hotel room after half an hour without a dime to our name. This is defiantly a sign that we wont be taking a trip to Vegas anytime soon.

Nevertheless we had a really great night and it was great to feel like husband and wife for a night, not mummy and daddy.

London- Day Two

After the early finish at the Embassy we had the whole day left to explore more of London. 

We decided to start our day at Buckingham Palace. The flag was flying which meant the Queen was at home, I was hoping she may come to the window and give us a little wave, but no such luck. 

Looking at the massive building I found myself thinking about how hard it would be to clean and how many staff work there. I find it hard enough to keep on top of my house and my house would probably fit in her bathroom. 

Next we took a walk through St James Park on our way to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. That's when the most amazing thing happened. Walking past a few seagulls, the biggest one there suddenly opened it beak and meowed at us, yes, meowed. I instantly though I need to take this home to Calleigh, but instead decided on a video. Unfortunately the seagull was a bit shy and as soon as I got my camera out it turned away. 

We walked a bit further and finally Big Ben came into view. Around the same square was Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. All the buildings were so beautiful. We wanted to go inside the Abbey but decided against it as time was short and we still had so much to see. 

I managed to convince Paul that it was important to go and see the Twinings Tea Shop. So we headed off to  the Strand. On the way there we walked through Trafalgar Square. It all felt very much like I was in a game of Monopoly, apart from I wasn't cheating (Paul wont play Monopoly with me anymore because I cheated, in my defence I don't  like losing).

After buying lots of Tea we headed back to the hotel via the tube. Our little feet were too tired for the 45 minute walk back. We packed up our stuff, checked out and headed for the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Our last stop before going home.

We then picked up some gifts from the gift shop for family and stopped for a cup of tea before heading back to the car.

Our journey home was not the greatest. After taking a wrong turn the Sat Nav redirected us through the centre of London so it took us an hour before we even got onto the M1.
When we finally did we saw warnings of slow traffic a couple of Junctions up but decided if we have a stop for something to eat it should have cleared up by the time we reach it.
Oh how we were so wrong.

4 hours later we finally made it home. 

London- Day One

We arrived at our hotel, Doubletree by Hilton Marble Arch, at around 3:30pm. At check in we received a free cookie each and then quickly got to our room to dump our bags. 

First thing we needed to do was a test walk up to the Embassy (so we didn't get lost on the day). Surprisingly it was very easy and only took about 5 minutes, which means we have more time for breakfast before we have to leave tomorrow morning. 

Next I wanted to go to Harrods so I got my phone out and used my handy City Guide app I downloaded to point us in the right direction. It didn't do us much good as we most definitely went the long way. It wasn't so bad though as I got to stand next to an Aston Martin Vanquish in a showroom and walk through Hyde Park (obviously avoiding the swarms of crazy people on bikes determined to run me over!). 

We finally made it to Harrods and then proceeded to get lost between the rooms of expensive handbags and even more expensive bling before finding ourselves in the sanctuary that was the room with chocolate and tea. I brought some overpriced chocolate and then headed to the toy department to find something for Calleigh. After looking for far too long at a pair of glittery Cinderella shoes (that also came in my size) and being told by Paul that we would both look silly in them, I decided on a Harrods bear dressed as the Queen. 

Our next stop was the Hard Rock Cafe shop to pick up a T-Shirt from the London store. 

I now own St Louis, Copenhagen and London Hard Rock T-Shirts. 

As it was getting later and was already dark we quickly moved on to the Ice Bar, which I have wanted to do for ages. There was one in Copenhagen when we went but we couldn't go in as it would have been far too cold for little Calleigh. 

It was a bit expensive (£14 per person) and Paul had a little grumble but we did get a free cocktail once inside and it was super cool. We were dressed in silly snow coats with gloves attached. The gloves were a must as the glass was made of ice and would of been impossible to hold otherwise. It was really good, I though it would of had a bit more seating but I suppose you can only have so many ice chairs. 

Starving and knackered we headed back to the hotel for some hot food, a nice shower and a warm bed.