For our anniversary, we snuck away to London for a quick little getaway, and it was the best time!
We left early Friday morning and took the one-hour flight to London, where we spent basically two days soaking up this beloved city. We got to see some of our besties, Riley saw a musical, Lily got her ears pierced, and we pretty much ate our way through London. It was such a fun trip and exactly what we needed.
We're so grateful to Mimi and Grandpa Stevenson for watching our big kids and making it possible for us to get away for a couple of days. It was so nice to spend some time together without a zoo of kids,
A huge thank you to Scott and Florence Thatcher for hosting us and spending the weekend with us. We loved every minute of it! One random highlight for me was getting to walk and meet their dog for the first time ever "Percy," which was a bucketlist item I didn’t even know I had I got to check off :)
Such a fun little trip, and we're feeling really grateful for the time together and the sweet friends and grandparents who made it happen
Lily blew out during Landing, poop all over my pants. . .
We stayed at there perfect little apartment in west hampstead and LOVED it. It was such a charming little area, if we ever ended up on London I would love to live there. The street they lived on was nice and quite but lived right off a fun shopping road that had all the essentials (including chipotle on the corner) and easy access to the metro. It reminded us a lot of our tokyo home, in the sense of it being a charming little street with easy access to a bustling urban city and everything you need a stones throw away.
First stop of the trip was meeting Percy! Lily was even a big fan.
Out next stop, per Riley's request was amazing indian food.
We ate at Tamil Prince it was too good. Sharing plates and trying it all.
After indian we explored more walked and ate it all.
I made Riley stand with a telephone booth because I thought Lily needed a picture with one! . . . If you zoom in you can see her already see Lily rolling her eyes at me for making her take the picture and smile ;)
Riley saw Mincemeat and LOVED it.
another lily and percy one before bedtimes. . .
and in the morning saying farewell.
The next morning we took a morning walk to the tube station from about time.
Then ate such a unique good breakfast at the Disroom: naan breakfast sandwiches!
The restaurant was a 10/10 for me. The food and atmosphere was so unique and fun.
Other Saturday highlights:
basque cheesecake
underwhelming rooftop garden that was not worth the trek to see but makes for a great laugh and memory now. . .
Old Spitalfields market was a new one for us! Really liked it. We all tried different things for lunch and was a good stop.
Because of our return plane time getting a matinee show that I wanted to see was cutting it too close, so opted for the next best thing... getting Lily's ear's pierced! In LONDON. She fancy. We might of had to exaggerate her age to do it, she looks 6 months though...
The video is the best, you would think Riley is the one getting a piercing.
Thanks again for watching these crazies and letting us get away!
For our 11th anniversary in London, we made a stop at the small station where one of our favorite scenes from About Time was filmed. We stood outside watching the scene again, listening to "How Long Will I Love You."
It was one of the highlights of the trip for me, that simple Saturday morning walk together to the tube. A regular train station, but with the anniversary and the message of the film, it felt so much more.
About Time has always been a favorite movie for us, one we rewatch every year. I love it's message about making the most of our days and living and being present. We have a quote on a frame in our house that says it all: “I just try to live every day as if it were the final day of my extraordinary, ordinary life.”
After 11 years together, we've had our share of ups and downs, big milestones and quiet days, unexpected turns and routines that somehow became our life. We've had babies and spent so many years together now and away from home, but have made our own home in the places we've been. It's cool to reflect back.
Standing in that little station, I found myself thinking less about the movie and more about us, about our anniversary and how lucky I am to have this life partner to spend this life together, one ordinary, extraordinary day at a time.
Lily Diana Stevenson was born the morning of January 2, 2026. She was due before Christmas but took her sweet time baking and came out fully cooked and weighing nearly 10 pounds. We decided she just wanted her own special day, and what a really really special day it was! Looking back now nearly 5 months later, and reflecting on this day just fills me with tears, happy ones.
As anyone who has ever delivered past their due date can confirm, there is so much waiting and anticipation once you past the due date. . . for nearly two weeks we waited and waited and hoped she would make her grand debut that day! Christmas came and went and then New Years came and went and then things finally started happening the wee morning of the 2nd on January!
At about 3am in the morning I woke up with contractions and just laid in bed, excited but also just hoping I could just sleep and that they would return in the morning. They didn't stop and just slowly grew closer as I laid in bed. I woke Riley up at 3:45 and called the midwife at 4. I wanted a home birth this time, but really wanted the midwife there and was worried about baby comes too fast and not having her with us. At about 5am in the morning the midwife came over and felt my body shift. Relaxing as Sophie (the midwife) was here and we weren't along but also not relaxing at all.. because hello i'm in labor! :)
The next two hours things became more and more intense, closer and closer the contractions became and more painful. At around 6:50am Sophie broke my water and there was meconium in the water. When this happens they like to have us in the hospital as there can be complications but she wanted to stay and see as she knew things would progress so fast but to be prepared so we called Riley’s parents to come just in case a hospital trip is needed I’d go out the window (yes, out the window the dutch way) to hospital or if things are okay and conditions stable stay and baby is okay.
As predicted, as soon as the water broke things became real and was pushing right away. It was painful, but i remember feeling very aware of what was going on the waves of the contractions the pain the pressure and feeling Lily's head with my hand as she made her way out. It is so raw and real and powerful. My alarm went off on my wrist watch at 7, as I was pushing and knew the kids would be waking up and sure enough little footsteps came and Riley shuffling them around. I really wanted them there, and nearby to see there mom do something hard and the magic of childbirth. I got my wish, the timing was perfect.
Within minutes, Lily was here born at 7:07 and the kids came in in their pajamas and sleepy faces and it was such a special sacred time to have all the kids in the room so soon after something so special. We didn't know the gender leading up so it made for an extra special morning to find out we had our baby girl.
She was super covered in the white vernix, which was surprising because she was so late but she was so dirty and beautiful and was a GIRL and just heaven was close.
Other things we'll remember- Luke cutting the cord was pretty cool to see, also cute that unprompted Luke took his shirt off to first hold the baby to get that skin to skin :) Our midwife Sophie was a gem (perfect combo of being chill, yet also totally in control and fun all at the same time. Her holding up the amniotic sac for all the kids to see its all its glory was a fun memory. Lucy helping Sophie weigh Lily for the first time and giving her a doll blanket. The timing of Grandpa and Mimi and Nicole showing up was pretty special. They were there less than 20 minutes after Lily was born, so was pretty neat having them in the room with everything so fresh. Riley remembers the look of pure happiness on his mom's face telling her that it was a baby girl :)
We are the Stevenson family! Our story began in Hawaii where we met and fell in love. After we finished school there, we moved to Tokyo, Japan and spent five years there and had two boys. In 2021, we moved to Amsterdam and currently living there and traveling Europe. This is our space to journal and document our adventures.
