Day 43: Home again!

Today we woke up around 4:15 am. I made wraps for our flight and we all finished packing up our bags. My cousin and his wife woke up around 4:45 am and got ready to take us to the airport.
A train runs from their house to Gatwick Airport (south of London), but the early morning train cost over $100 per person! Some trains in the evening cost less than $20, however that didn't help us out much. My cousin and his wife very kindly agreed to drive us 3 hours to the airport even though we had to leave super early in the morning.
We left around 5:4 0am and got to the airport about 3 hours later. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 10:10 am, so we had time only for a very quick picture and goodbye. We got our boarding passes and went quickly through security. Although it was only 9:05 am, we rushed to our gate because boarding began at 8:50 am. We didn't stop to drop off our VAT reimbursement paperwork because we didn't want to miss the flight. Luckily we didn't buy much, so there was no real loss skipping this. The boys joined the queue for boarding and I went stood in another line for bottled water.
I don't know why they started boarding so early, but there were definitely people arriving in the line after us. We all made it through and onto the plane. We departed on time and began the flight home. I did my best to sleep for the first few hours to try and sync to Florida time. The boys watched movies on the in-flight entertainment system or on their iPods. I woke up and watched The Orient Express, which I had been wanting to watch. It was very good. I listened to an audiobook the rest of the way and dozed sporadically. The flight went well and we were quite comfortable on the Dreamliner.
We used the customs and border patrol app to breeze through the first set of customs desks at Ft. Lauderdale Airport. Since we had no checked bags to pick up, we were the first ones through the second set of customs desks. John picked us up and we headed to get falafel because John hadn't eaten.
We had a four-hour drive home. We saw rain over the Everglades. The boys told John lots of things about our trip. One thing we all found hilarious was recounting how the knife store in Mora, Sweden didn't have signs or age limits about touching the knives in the store, just lots and lots of bandaids attached to all of the price signs.
We were very grateful to get home and way too tired to unpack our bags. We had been traveling for about 20 hours and were ready for bed.
This trip has been amazing. We are glad to be home, but I think we could have kept on traveling if we had the option :)
Thanks to everyone for hosting us, hanging out with us, and reading and commenting on the blog and armchair traveling with us!!

Day 42: Stroud, England

We spent time this morning trying to think of something special to do with the  boys for our last day in England. Since we have to leave tomorrow around 5:30 am for a 3-hour drive to the airport,  we decided to do something close to the house. 
We caught the bus up to Beacon Hill where the boys had flown the Mavic a few days ago. This time we looked for some rocks that  are well known to be good for climbing. We found the rocks and had them to ourselves for the next couple of hours. We left exhausted and sore, but really pleased with the awesome and free climbing experience. The kids were amazing as usual. 
On the way home I took pictures of the names of the houses on my cousin’s street. I knew historically English houses had names, but I didn’t realize how prevalent the practice was and that people still did it. 
We took the bus back to the house and rested for a while. We also packed our bags. Then, we helped my cousin make Tex Mex for dinner. It was so delicious. We went to bed relatively early.

Day 41: Stroud and Bristol, England

Today we drove to Bristol. On the way we stopped by a local tump. This tump is over 5500 years old and was built by Neolithic people as a burial place. Unlike Knowth and Newgrange it did not seem to have any carvings or art from that period carved into the rocks. It also had no barriers or visitation fees. You can just drive up, walk a bit, and crawl right inside. It had a few open chambers and two that were closed off. It was so neat. When we first arrived we saw a biplane pulling a glider up into the air. It was released and eventually soared overhead.
From there we continued our journey to Bristol. We walked over the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Then we walked a little less than a mile to viewpoint for the gorge. On the way we saw some goats that had been introduced to eat vegetation in the gulley of the gorge. After the goats clear out the unwanted vegetation the native plants should regrow. At the viewpoint the boys sent up the drone. We are pretty sure we saw a peregrine falcon and a kestrel while we were there.
On the way home we stopped by Hawkwood Farm again so my cousin could pick up their CSA farm share. We picked a bouquet of flowers, which comes as part of the share. We then headed to a fish and chip shop in Stroud. The servings were the largest I have ever seen at a restaurant. We had vegan fish and chips and fried pickles.
Once we got home we played Articulate! and Farkle. Another great day. Tomorrow is our last full day. Then we have to get up super early the next day to fly home!