Around London

Sept. 4th -- We decided to head out this morning to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The "process" starts around 11am so we arrived at the Palace around 10:30. It was already very crowded next to the gates, but we had read the best viewing spot was on the steps of the Victoria Monument across the street. We headed over and found a spot where the kids could sit up on a ledge and see. After about 30 minutes a band came marching in and provided some "actions" that the kids had been wanting. It was a little hard to see the actual changing taking place. Another band came marching in a little later. The changing process then took place and the band set up to perform a little concert. By that point, it was almost noon and the kids had seen about all that they wanted to see. We decided to head to the nearby Texas Embassy Restaurant for another good Tex-Mex lunch. We had planned to go back to Buckingham Palace to tour the actual Palace, but the kids were looking for something a little more entertaining. We decided to go to Madame Tussaud's wax museum. While Amy and I were not initially excited about this, we decided it would be fun for the kids. However, I must say, it turned out to be much more fun than we expected. Of course there were all the wax figures, but they were stationed in themed rooms that created some fun picture opportunities. Abby enjoyed taking her picture with Troy from HSM and Hannah Montana. Austin enjoyed the sports room and getting to kick a football (soccer ball). There was also a ride that the kids enjoyed. Surprisingly we spent a couple of hours inside and everyone had a good time.

Windsor

September 3rd--We were going to wait until we woke up this morning to see how the weather was before officially making our plans for the day. It was partly cloudy and windy so we decided to go on to Windsor for the day. Mike took off before us to go mail a package and we were to meet him at the train station. After he left, I realized that he took the keys with him that we had to have to lock the apartment door. I knew we couldn't leave the door unlocked all day long so I contemplated what to do. I finally decided to send the kids down the stairs to the front lobby while I jumped off the balcony to the ground floor. Luckily, we were only on the 2nd floor so it really was no big deal and I met them in the lobby. Ok, so six months ago it would have probably been a big deal to send our kids out by themselves and lock the door behind them and then jump off a balcony, but at this point of traveling, its just how we roll. So, we caught the bus to meet Mike at the train station. We got on the 45 minute train to Windsor. When we arrived in Windsor, it was lunch time. We just started walking toward the Castle hoping to find a restaurant to it at. Well, we quickly spotted Nando's, the Portuguese restaurant we ate at the other night with Angel. We've gotten to a point where if we are really hungry, we want to eat somewhere that we know is good especially when London is a little pricey. So, after a wonderful lunch, we toured the Windsor Castle. We spent time touring the grounds, St. George's Chapel, Queen Mary's Dollhouse, and the staterooms. The Royal flag was not flying high which meant that the Queen was not at Windsor Castle. We found out in our tour that she usually spends her weekends there. After leaving the Castle, we went into some of the shops in Windsor before getting back on the train. It turned out to be a beautiful day so we were really glad we made the trip to Windsor.

High School Musical 2

September 2nd--After finishing up home school, we headed out the door to pick up our Chinese visas. By the time we had our visas in hand, it was lunch time. The kids really wanted McDonald's, so the golden arches it was. We were actually fine with something quick today because we were running out of time before our 2:00 show of High School Musical 2: Live on Stage. We ate quickly and then took the subway to Leceister Square. It was at this square we were looking for the TKTS booth to get 1/2 price tickets on future musicals. Unfortunately, we were having a hard time locating it and it was starting to rain. We canned the whole idea and got back on the subway heading toward the Wimbledon stop. It took us over 30 minutes to get to our stop, but arrived around 1:30 with plenty of time to walk to the New Wimbledon Theater. We entered the theater, got our tickets, found our seats, went to the bathroom and got popcorn all before the show started. The kids (and adults) loved the show. It was a really good production of it and I loved some of the stage props. The scene where Sharpay sings Fabulous at the pool was a great scene with a pool made out of the stage. It was very creative! The show was over about 4:30 and it was still raining. So, it turned out to be a really good day to be inside watching a show. We took a 10 minute train back to Clapham Junction and then a 5 minute bus to our apartment. So, we made it back right at dinner time. I cooked us all a "gourmet" dinner that was enjoyed by all. Actually it was just chicken and tortellini, but at this point, anything cooked is considered gourmet!

Mamma Mia

September 1st--After home school and lunch, we headed out today to the Science Museum. It's a free museum and a great place for kids. We first went to the Pattern Pod where the kids got to discover the patterns around them. This was their first steps into the science world. From here, we went up to the 3rd floor where they were able to experience Science with a lot of hands on activities. We spent hours in here and still didn't get to see everything, but everyone had a great time enjoying the world of Science. It was about 4:00 when we all left the museum. At the corner, I said goodbye to Mike and the kids. They took the bus back to the apartment to meet the babysitter while I went to Harrod's to do some alone time shopping. I pretty much spent my whole time in the Christmas World. It was so much fun and really put me in the Christmas mood. I met Mike a little after 5:30 at the Sea Grill Restaurant on the ground floor of the Food Hall. We had a nice seafood dinner before our show. After dinner, we took the bus to Piccadilly Circus where the Prince of Wales Theater is located. Our show for the evening was "Mamma Mia". We were so excited to see it and to have a night out without kids. The show definitely met our expectations. It was about 2 1/2 hours long with a 20 minute intermission. It lasted a little longer due to some technical difficulties with the microphone that only lasted about 10 minutes. The ending was probably the best part of the show though when all the performers came out and sang 3 Abba songs. Everyone in the audience was standing and singing and dancing. It definitely gets my BEST ENDING award!

Holiday Monday

August 31st--The last day of August...wow! I can't believe that we are almost to September. It's hard to believe that we are planning the last couple of months before heading back to the States. It's also hard to believe that Abby is almost 6. Today, was her "first day of Kindergarten"...home school style. My mom had sent over the A Beka materials and so we started working on the material. Much of what we are doing now is actually a recap of what she already learned and covered in her mothers-day-out program before we left. While Abby and I were "schooling", Mike spent the morning planning out our future travel agenda. Today was a holiday in London so we took it slow this morning. We weren't sure what would be open or better yet what would be so crowded due to the holiday. So, we decided to visit St. Paul's Cathedral today. After lunch we headed out to the church. The church was fairly empty which was nice. This is the church that Prince Charles and Lady Diana got married in. We walked around the Cathedral floor before climbing the stairs into the dome. We made it to the Whispering Gallery which is 30 meters from the ground and 257 steps up. At this point, Abby didn't want to climb any further so she and I headed back down while Mike and Austin climbed the rest of the way up totalling 528 steps up. By the time they made it back down, they were thirsty. So, we went down in the Crypt to the cafe for some water and then walked around the Crypt area before exiting the church. We left the church a little after 4:00 and walked across the river via the Millennium Bridge. We were walking to a Christmas Shop that was located close to the London Bridge. We arrived at the store a little after 5:00. After looking at all the Christmas stuff, we managed to figure out which bus would take us to Victoria Station. We were meeting Angel and her boyfriend, Karim, for dinner at Nando's which was close to Victoria Station. We arrived at the restaurant right at 6:30 to meet for dinner. Nando's is home of legendary, Portuguese flame-grilled, PERI-PERI chicken. The restaurant was family style and self service. We all enjoyed some wonderful food of chicken, spicy rice, corn on the cob, french fries and cole slaw. The food and company were wonderful!

Notting Hill Carnival

August 31st--Today was kids day at the opening day of the Notting Hill Carnival. This is considered Europe's largest carnival or street festival, celebrating the Caribbean culture. We quickly witnessed that. Luckily though, we arrived early before it got "really" crowded. We saw several different parades come through that included loud music and lots of children in colorful costumes. We wandered around for a while looking for the kids activities that we thought would be taken place, but couldn't find any. In fact at one point, Mike said "this is the biggest non-event". We finally enjoyed really good jerk chicken cooked street-side for lunch. After lunch, we walked around some more and finally started making our way out of the area. It was absolutely amazing the amount of people that were coming towards us to take part in this event. They estimate more than 1 million people. Once we got really close to getting out of the carnival area, we came across a bounce house. The kids jumped in it for awhile and then had their faces painted. After this, we decided it was best to leave the area due to the amount of people and headed to Kensington Gardens where we found the Princess Diana's Memorial Playground. It was an unbelievable playground. The kids enjoyed a couple of hours here. Unlike yesterday's beautiful London weather, today was just the opposite. It was really overcast and threatened rain most of the afternoon. But, we lucked out and missed any rain. After playing at the playground, we took the bus back to the Pizza Express close to our apartment for dinner. From here we walked back to the apartment for the end of a long day.

Natural History Museum

August 29th--We were slow moving this morning after our late night. Abby and I walked to the grocery store while Mike and Austin stayed back to prepare lunch. When we got back from the store, we all ate lunch before heading out to the Natural History Museum. We took the bus straight to the museum. We had been told that this museum was a great place for kids. Since it is a holiday weekend, we had to stand in the queue, but not too long. The museum immediately reminded us of the movie, "Night at the Museum". We were greeted by a huge dinosaur in the center of the lobby so our first stop was the dinosaurs exhibit. After the dinosaurs, we saw mammals, fish and played fun games that explored the human mind and body. They had so much to do in there. It was a great way to spend the afternoon...and it was all free! We stopped off for an afternoon snack at the end before deciding to head down the street to Harrod's. I had been wanting to go to Harrod's since we got to London, but Saturday was not the day to do it. We fought the crowd through the food hall and then up to the 2nd floor where they have their Christmas department already set up. Before leaving, we went to the Lower Ground Floor to see the Princess Diana Memorial. We decided it would be best to come back another day so we didn't stay long. As we were walking on the sidewalk in front of Harrod's, we noticed the same Memorial picture. It was there to remember the 12 year anniversary of the tragic accident in Paris.