London Day Out

By Tuesday evening, our time in Somerset was drawing to a close. We packed our bags and said good-bye to Jenny, Euan and Olivia.

On Wednesday morning, we kissed Sue and Gord farewell, and Dean drove us up to London, to our hotel near Heathrow. We had a morning flight on Thursday, so it was going to be better to wake up nearby.

But, since we were all checked in by 1 p.m., and our girls are no longer toddlers, why not take them into the Big City and show them a few highlights?

First stop: the Hounslow West Underground Station. The girls were just a little bit excited for their first experience on the Tube. (Well, their first in their memory. Cora has, for the record, been to London once before, but she was a babe in arms.)

Thanks, Violet, for stealing yet another photo. It took about 40 minutes to get to our stop at Piccadilly Circus. Cora kept track of which stop we'd reached, and how many more we had to go, with the maps printed above the train car window.

And, we made it to London!

While I pose in Piccadilly Circus, Violet chases around the pigeons.

We got a bite to eat at a Tesco Express, a coffee for Mum, and walked down to Buckingham Palace. Cora, and Violet too, were very interested in seeing where the Queen lives.

On our walk, Cora wanted to know all about the statues honoring famous Brits that line part of the walk.

Since it was a Wednesday afternoon, it wasn't overly crowded.

 Nearby, we watched the soldiers drilling in front of Wellington Barracks while eating our lunch.

(Fellow fans of the BBC series Sherlock will recognize the bench we're on from Season Three, when Sherlock and Watson also watched the soldiers in the wedding episode.)

In nearby St. James Park, the girls ran around in a little playground. Buckingham Palace was just behind the girls' heads.

I found it all a bit surreal - my babies are old enough to "get" the excitement and importance of these historic sites, but still young enough to play. Magical.

A friendly constable on horseback stopped to chat with us, and let us pet her horse. She mentioned that the heavy police presence we'd noticed was because of a terror attack in Paris that day.

We fed our crumbs to the various waterfowl.

We continued around the corner and came upon Westminster Abbey.

And just beyond was the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Both girls were happy to see the famed clocktower and hear its bell.

Back on the Tube, we headed toward another must-see on our London list.

Of course, we're talking about the Tower of London, which has stood guard on the River Thames for over a thousand years.

Nice photo, Cora!

And, a bit more ooohing and aahhing as we saw Tower Bridge, sparkling against the dark cloudy evening.

We ate dinner at a new Japanese restaurant across the street from the Tower, and then, in a steady drizzle, caught the Tube back to the hotel.

A bus picked us up outside the Tube station and dropped us off right outside the hotel - it couldn't have been easier.

Thanks, London, for an amazing day! We all look forward to visiting again soon.

Bristol Science Centre

While investigating the benefits of our family's membership to the new science museum in Los Angeles, I found that we can get free admission to partnering science museums all over the world.

Of course, I checked to see if any were in the UK, and lo and behold, a fabulous children's science museum in Bristol was on the list!

On Monday, with Gord back at work after his Christmas break, Stace drove us and Sue to Bristol so we could check out the @Bristol Science Centre, for free.

It was well worth the drive, as we all enjoyed the many exhibits. Here, the girls are in front of an aircraft's landing gear - so interesting for them, since we fly in these size planes but never see how big their wheels are up close. Stace pointed out that part of the gear was made by his company. Small world!

 In this area, the girls are picking up "pollen" and "nectar" balls in their honeybee suits, and taking them back to the hive as they learn about how honey is made. The balls would then fly back out of the flowers through air-powered hoses.

Violet wouldn't wear the bee suit, but loved this activity the best of all. I had to pull her away to see the second floor of the museum.

 Upstairs, the people behind Wallace and Gromit have sponsored an animation exhibit.

 Violet drew on the little boxes on her strip of paper, so she could see it come to life when we looked through the slit cut out of a spinning cylindrical machine.

 A play area with giant lego-like bricks kept Cora happy for a half hour.

 The girls also took part in making giant bubbles, and learning about the human body, motion, ice-making, and more.

 It was a very fun day out! Now, I just hope the museum in L.A. can live up to Bristol in the eyes of our girls.

Family Day

We spent Sunday with the whole family, including Stace's cousins and aunt and uncle.

We met at the George pub in Donyatt, a village about 20 minutes from Martock.

Here, Cora is hanging out with Ben, and showing off the sequin art picture she and Nanny made. It was a Christmas gift from Ben's nan, Stace's Auntie Doreen. Cora had a lot of fun putting it together, pushing in the pins into the sequin centers.

 After our roast dinner, we brought the children together for a photo - here are Euan, Olivia, Cora, Ben, baby Bethany, Chloe and Violet.

Later, we went to Doreen and Pete's home, where the children enjoyed playing together for a couple of hours. Ben's mum, Karen, and I always find a lot to talk about.

 Euan and Violet play well together, being of the same age and silliness level.

Cora and Ben had fun helping Chloe color in the Hello Kitty handbag we'd brought for her. All the while, the two older ones enthusiastically asked Chloe's opinion and buy-in on their color choices, since they knew it was her purse.

A Birthday Ramble

On Saturday, I woke up to a nice birthday breakfast, gifts and cards.

Midday, we got dressed in layers and our wellies, braved the drizzly weather and headed up to Ham Hill.

 

Stace had bought lunch at the Martock bakery, so we had a picnic of pasties, with a boulder for a bench.

 In a nearby field, we checked out a replica of an Iron Age round house. Ham Hill was home to a community of people in 750 B.C.

Trudging through mud is fun when you have your wellies on. Stace, Cora and I all bought wellies while we've been over.

 Stace is pointing out the Iron Age earthworks, a simple fortification still visible today.

Violet loved seeing the sheep grazing near us.

We walked way around to the girls' favorite part of the park, where we played a family of hide and seek through the huge stones.

Later in the evening, Sue and Gord had all the children, and Stace and I went to the Lime Kiln for dinner with Dean and Jenny.

It was a very relaxed, enjoyable night for us all.

Fun with Friends

On Friday, Cora and Violet woke up at Dean and Jenny's house, after staying overnight after we spent the day together on New Year's Day.

Before picking the girls up, Stace and I did a bit of shopping; we both bought boots - wellies and a pair of black leather Clarks for me, for my birthday.

After getting the girls, we met up with Dunc, Lindsey and their girls for a bite to eat.

The big girls chatted on and on, much of it about Minecraft, while the little girls listened in.

When we were ready for playtime, we went to Mudford Rec, which has a couple of great playgrounds.

It was chilly, but not too cold to run around. Since it was during the schools' Christmas break, there were lots of kids out playing.

After a fun afternoon of playing, the girls enjoyed their Christmas gifts from Chelsea and Charlie, including these big chocolate shoes!

New Year's Eve, New Year's Day

On Wednesday, Stace and I left the girls with Nanny, and took a trip to Chard to visit our friends Andy and Jenny. Though they would have enjoyed seeing the girls, Cora and Violet were still in their jammies when we left, and it was nice to have a bit of a "date day" together.

Andy and Jenny treated us to a nice lunch. Because we joked that we often forget to take photos together for the blog, we set up some silly ones. 

Stace and I stopped at Chard's cemetery on our way back to Martock, to put some flowers on the grave of his Nan and Pop. 

Wednesday was New Year's Eve, and this year we stayed in together. We bought some fun nibbles and competed against each other with bowling on the Wii.

When the clock struck midnight, we toasted each other and watched on the television as fireworks lit up the London skyline.

On New Year's Day, after sleeping in sufficiently, we went to Dean and Jenny's house for a lovely roast dinner. We have eaten like royalty the past week!

That evening, poor Stace ended up at the bottom of a big pile-up. Ooof!

Happy New Year, to all our friends and family!