London

The kids are on school holiday and we took the chance to go to London to visit Graham (Jason's brother), Beth, Alex, Justin, and Keira.  We have never been to London except to fly through Heathrow so we were excited to go.  We also hadn't seen our family in a year and we were excited to catch up with them.  The kids had a blast playing with their cousins.  It didn't really matter what we were doing as long as the cousins were along our girls were happy. 

One day Jason and I headed into London without the kids.  There was no sadness though since it meant the girls got to stay home with their cousins.  They had a very full day which included a four mile walk and a trip to a pool.  When I ask Ali what her favorite thing in London was she will say, "the Pool".  Now this is not some fancy indoor ppol with slides etc but a pool at a local club.  She had such a good time though that it was definitely her favorite.  She was so tired by the time they got home that she went to bed without pajamas or dinner and was asleep by 5:30 and slept through until 7am.  We were so grateful to Graham and Beth for watching the kids for the day because it gave Jason and I a chance to walk all around London seeing and doing what we wanted without dragging the children with us.  We were able to see the big sites like Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abby (although only outside as it was closed for Easter services), and Buckingham Palace (again only outside as it is closed since the Queen is in residence).  We were also able to see my smaller sites.  These smaller sites won't mean much to a lot of people but as I am a big reader of books that are written based on Regency Era (early 1800) England I had a number of things I wanted to see so that I could have a better image while reading.  Sites such as The Serpentine (a pond in Hyde Park), Rotten Row (a horse track in Hyde Park), White's Gentleman's Club, Hatchard's bookshop (a bookstore near Picadilly, which is still there with the same name even though it is now owned by Waterstones) and then the big shopping streets of Bond, Oxford and Regent.  It was fun to see them all.  The shops on Bond Street were fun to go in as they were shops such as Prada and Burberry etc.  We made the turn onto Oxford Street and I couldn't believe the mayhem.  This shopping street is so busy I was shocked.  It felt like I had been plunged into the mall at Christmas time.  I was defintely not prepared for the number of people and it was a bit overwhelming.  I did, however, managed to buy a few items as did Jason. 

We didn't always leave the kids behind though when we headed into the city.  We took the kids into the city twice while we were there.  Our first stop in London with the kids was the London Eye.  The girls always ask to go on ferris wheels when we happen upon them at fairs and we always say, "No!".  I just do not have enough faith in carnival rides to put my children on one that goes so high.  I also do not have faith in my children to sit still and not slip out of the seat.  I figured the London Eye was a great chance to see the city as well as quench our children's thrist for a ferris wheel while keeping them safely enclosed in a bubble that they couldn't fall out of.  They loved it!  We also enjoyed it since it did have amazing views.  I gave an excellent view of Parliament and Big Ben.  I am now curious, however, to see the movie European Vacation again because I cannot figure out how they were going around a rotary and seeing Big Ben and Parliament as there is no nearby rotary. (I just checked and the traffic circle is down at the next bridge so I guess it was accurate although I feel like they made it seem much closer.) After the London Eye we headed over to the Tower of London.  We joined a tour which was interesting but in hindsight we probably should have skipped it so the kids could have seen more parts of the castle.  After the tour though we did go in to see the Crown Jewels which were amazing.  Our second trip into the city with the kids brought us to Harrod's and the Natural History Museum.  Harrod's was obviously not for the children but we both wanted to see it so we dragged them along with the rest of the family as well.  Once in Harrods we all went through the food halls together which were amazing.  I wanted to buy all the food but held back and just bought some tea biscuits and strawberry jam.  After the food halls I separated off from the group so that I could spend the next 45 minutes shopping.  The store is so massive though and I kept getting lost even with a map of the store.  The store is very expensive and has a lot of designer clothing.  I was in awe when I found myself in the "shoe boudoir" where each shoe had its own pedestal and the first pair I picked up costs 1000 Euros!  Anyway, the 45 minutes wizzed by and I met back up with the family for lunch and then off to the museum.  The Museum was packed as it was the beginning of school holidays in the UK and it was also a bank holiday so I guess a lot of parents were looking for things to do with their kids.  Our intention was to viist the dinosaur exhibits but once inside the museum and weaving our way through the musuem to the dinasour exhibits we found a line that was an hour long.  We decided to skip the dinosaurs and checked out some other areas of the museum instead.  The kids really enjoyed it and our girls wanted to stay and see more but the rest of us were exhausted from making our way through the crowds so we headed home.

The rest of the time in England we stayed close to home. We took the train to Windsor with the kids and Jason's parents on our first day but didn't get there early enough to go into the castle so I took the opportunity to peek in a few shops and then we went to the Crooked House of Windsor for Tea.  We had scones and hot chocolate for the kids and tea for the adults and then headed home.  We made it back to Winsdor without the kids (becuase cousins win out over castle viewing) another day and actually went into the castle.  The castle is huge and you only see a small section of it but it was interesting to see.  It is strange to think that the Queen still lives there part of the year.  I just kept thinking it would be a pain to get the kids from the playroom if it was on the other side of the castle! What if you had left your room to go to the other end of the castle and then as you reached the other end you realized you forgot something.  I guess that is what servants are for becuase with the size of Windsor castle I have to imagine if you got to the other side and forgot something you would just say forget it!  

Graham and Beth live close to the Windsor Great Park so we spent a lot of time walking around the park.  One day we walked to the top of the Long Walk (but didn't walk the remaining 2.65 miles to the castle).  It was an amazing view to see this straight long path leading directly to the castle.  The kids enjoyed seeing all the horses being ridden in the park and have since been running around like horses. 

There are huge shrubs in the park that the kids loved to climb.  They were pretty cool since they seemed to be their own fort behind the leaves.  I managed to snap a quick pic of the kids before they continued running through the shrubs. 

The park itself is beautiful and at 1,000 acres it has a lot of areas we didn't even see.  We enjoyed a picnic in the park on our last day as the weather was perfect.  After our picnic we walked through the park and I couldn't believe the number of daffodils.  Ali was in heaven with so many flowers around and given the number available I did let her pick a couple.  I will definitely bring my running clothes for our next visit so that I can enjoy more of the park.