Bye Bye London

So it's hard to believe, but we've left.

goodbye, big red door

Now on to vacation in Copenhagen and Sweden to visit Auntie D, I'll post about all that stuff once we get back.  

We had a great time in London, it was just wonderful to get to experience the city for the summer.  Some thoughts about our favorite things: 

Eva: seeing Matilda, playing in the playhouse, splash park & sand playgrounds

Noah: London Transport Museum, pirate ship playground, the tube & double-decker busses, Matilda

Rachel: riding around the city in double-decker busses, Tate Modern, soya flat whites, the pubs

Chad: Scotland and the seabird center, pubs, visiting castles & generally exploring the city

It was a great family adventure!  Now vacation, putting off regular real life for another week!!

Swans

Sue and the kids saw some swans on the canal today

Apparently Eva used sign language to get them to come closer

and have a little chat... 

London Transport Museum

In our continued love of trains and busses the grammies and the kids went to the London Transport Museum 

The kids got to do some driving... 

Check out some old-fashioned trains... 

I am not sure who those characters in the back are... 

hey Noah, how much longer do you think it will be before we get to Hogwart's?

And even ride the bus with the Mr Men (this is especially funny because there are a TON of the Mr Men books at our rental house so we have been reading them all summer)

uh oh, watch out Mr. Bump!

Sunroom

The playroom at the back of our London house has a glass roof, which is great to get natural light but sometimes there is a bit of a glare... 

Serious Theater

When Chad was traveling for work I took the kids to a play.

It was a very serious affair, we wore sort of fancy clothes and went to a real theater downtown.

And there we saw a play about underpants. 

It was great!

Geffrye Museum Garden

Going through the pictures Mom and Sue have been taking for me I found one more of Eva in the garden...

King's Garden Park

There is a great park about a 10 minute walk from our house with a big sand area, a small structure, and a great splash pad.  Noah's favorite part is the bucket that fills up and dumps on his head... 

Life on the Tube

I think the kids are getting a pretty used to life in London...

Tate Modern

I've spent some time this week at Tate Modern, which is actually fantastic to visit right when it opens.  It's pretty quiet, there is lots of cool stuff to see, and then when I get tired I can get a coffee and work on my laptop in the cafe and before I know it the place is full and I am ready to go home.

At any rate, mom and Sue took the kids to visit and apparently Eva refused to spend any time looking at art.  They still had a great time, though.  They got to pet some police horses... 

And play with the museum's electronic drawing pads

Look!  Noah's artwork is displayed in the Tate!!

Eva too!! I'm so proud.

And then, the big highlight for the kids, getting to have their picture taken with a floating Yoda.

(seriously, this was their favorite part, they are still talking about it)

London Eye

So as part of our duty as London tourists we took the kids on the London Eye.  It's big.

Super Big.

You get loaded into one of these little carriages

And away we go!

It was a beautiful day so we were treated to some amazing views of the city.

The River Thames & Waterloo Bridge

The boy

Palace of Westminster and Big Ben

Terrible family picture

One more city view for the road.  The big one on the right is "the shard"

Hampton Court

Serious king is serious.... 

We took the kids to check out Hampton Court Palace, which apparently was Henry VIII's answer to Versailles.   There was lots of space to attend to the king, some amazing gardens and also a hedge maze!

we found the center!

It was cool because half of the palace was built by the Tudors, and then another half was renovated in a totally different style by the Hanoverians.  So it was half brick and half baroque.

Today, they make it fun for kids by having carriages outside for them to play in

They also offer the kids costumes to wear about the palace and there are lots of exhibits about what life was like that you can touch.

And did I mention the gardens?

Dinner!

We have been enjoying the pub culture, the english beer, and the kids have been trying lots of new foods... 

(actually the kids LOVED this Mackerel, and not just because it came with the eyeballs still in it)

(nobody ate the eyeballs)

Oxford Museum of Natural History

While in Oxford, we checked out the Museum of Natural History.  The main gallery was one of the coolest museum spaces I have ever seen.

Oh, what that back there?  Oh, a full T-rex skeleton.  Of course.

aaah!

There was a lot of stuff the kids could touch

And a lot of other skeletons

Including several whales suspended from the ceiling... 

This museum was really amazing, the combination of the stuff and the space just blew me away.  Worth the trip to Oxford just to see this.