London
The week before last we planned a little family holiday for a few days in London. We have quite a few friends that live there so we decided to house-swap with another family. However, they ended up getting really cheap flights to Ireland, so instead of them staying in our house in Wales, they went to Ireland...and I mean really, who can blame them? Ireland is gorgeous! So, our friends still offered for us to use their house while they were gone. We drove over to London and spent a few days with them before they flew off and then we spent the remainder of the time just sight- seeing again and doing some fun stuff with the girls. However, it was London and it was summer holidays which means it was a tad stressful and over populated! If you would like a crash course in navigating the Tube with three small kids plus a pushchair, just ask!
Our friends live on the outskirts of London, about a 45 minute tube ride into the city. It wasn't bad at all because the girls (and their Daddy!) love the Tube. I like the idea of the Tube, but I just can't think about being that far underground or I will go insane. Our first day into the city, we had planned on going to the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum since they are right across the street from each other. Both were so jam packed with people that it was kind of pointless, girls couldn't see or do much and that was a real shame. Good thing they are free entry!
This room in the Natural History Museum was pretty cool. That's a lifesize blue whale. Can you imagine?
We also made a stop at the new M&M London store one day. My mom collects M&M things so we took some pictures for her and bought her a surprise. This store was massive, smelled like chocolate and again, jam packed with people!
I thought this sign was really cool-
There was so much to buy at the M&M London store, it was just ridiculous. Anything and everything you could think of, they sold it with an M&M on it. One huge wall was just dispenser after dispenser of every colour of M&M, so we let the girls choose a small bag. They all wanted the hot pink M&M's and then Cerys says, "I can't wait to taste this hot pink one!" Ha. She comes by that honestly I must say.
The next few pictures are out or order, but that's okay.
It was pouring down rain of course that first day- but we braved it anyway like good Brits. I took this picture about 4pm after we came out of the London Aquarium.
There is a Krispy Kreme store not too far from our friend's house and you can watch them make the donuts, so that was a huge hit for everyone. This was in an area of town that was rioted, so most of the windows were boarded up, but they were still in business. I was joking about it, saying if I was a looter, that is one place I'd loot!
Riding the Tube with friends!
The one day we planned to go to this park it was a beautiful sunny day! Thank you God! This is Princess Diana's Memorial Playground. It's all sand and there's tons to explore. Cerys made a new friend from Belguim and they had fun "jumping ship!"
We had a cookout with about five families on Friday night and by Sunday I think about 20 of us were sick with a stomach bug! We were fine on Saturday, but on Sunday a friend sent me a text saying that they were sick about the same time that Cerys and Marc started saying they weren't feeling well. Well, let me tell you. We cleaned house and packed up so fast- I had to get out someone else's house before we all got sick. I would've felt really awful it we messed something up...so we stopped at ASDA (think Wal-mart) and I bought three plastic bowls, one for each girl. I was paranoid all the way home and kept saying "HOLD YOUR BOWL" constantly. About an hour away from home Bailey started puking, then about an hour after we were home Addison started puking. Then about 9pm that night Marc got it! Somehow Cerys and I escaped and one other friend that was at the party. The drive home wasn't fun, but it's easier to be sick in your own home, so I'm glad we left when we did.
So, I think I need a holiday from our holiday, but I think the girls had fun in what we did get to see and do in the few short days we were there.