Arrival into London

Our flight to London Sunday night-into-Monday was as easy as it could be. The only thing that could have made it better would have been upper-class reclining seats to make sleeping easier, but we'll content ourselves with quiet, happy children who slept half the flight without any persuasion.

I will always appreciate my brilliant little travelers, as the memories of those difficult flights with toddlers remain crystal clear.

We met up with Nan and Pop in the terminal and loaded the girls and luggage in their car. One piece of luggage we didn't bring - a stroller! For the first time in over nine years, we had no need of a stroller, not even at the airport, as Violet was plenty awake to run ahead with her carry-on case.

Stace and I took the Tube into Covent Garden, where we found a coffee and cake at a fancy, old-fashioned French bakery.

We sat a few minutes to listen to a street performer playing his tunes. The coffee hit the spot, as of course we were tired after spending the night in an airline seat.

From Covent Garden, we took the Tube to Waterloo Station to sort out our tickets for the Southwest Train to Yeovil.

With a half-hour to kill, we went out to take in the London skyline - the Eye, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben were in view from the bridge over the Thames.

Our train journey home to Somerset was great, and the girls were tucked into their new bunk beds when we arrived to kiss them goodnight.