Beautiful Monday

I have to say, the weather has been much nicer than I expected. It was so beautiful on Monday. We spent most of the day in Regent's Park and on Primrose Hill.

This squirrel ate right out of Thomas's hand.

If I haven't mentioned yet, Luc loves Thomas. Obviously, you can see why.

 Brian was happier than he looks.

 More squirrels

 Brian begged all day to find a playground for him to play on.

 Here is London from Primrose Hill.

London At Night

We never go anywhere at nighttime. We usually just eat dinner then put the kids to bed. Brian's friend, Thomas, was visiting from Germany, so we ventured out one evening. Actually, we were already out that day. We just stayed out. It was really nice to see London's light. We don't get many pictures of all of us either. 

 Luc spotted a carousal from a far distance. He had been asking to ride one since we left Paris, so we did.

The London Aquarium

We have mostly been doing free outtings since we've been traveling...like museums and parks. Well Brian's friend Thomas came over from Germany for a couple of days. He treated us to a day out at the Aquarium. It was great. We all, even Evan, enjoyed seeing all the fish and sea creatures. Thank you Thomas! 

Pretty sure you were not supposed to be in or on this but it made for a really funny picture.

Typical Day In London with Noelle

 I realized that I haven't really talked about what our typical days are like. So for all of my friends who are so jealous of my trip, you may not be as jealous after you read this.

If the boys wake up before 8am, Brian usually gets up with them so that I can sleep until 8-8:30. This really makes a huge difference in our day. If I have to get up before 8, I am really grumpy all day. When I'm tired, I always have very little patience with Luc too. Once I'm up, Brian leaves and we have breakfast. Luc watches a movie and Evan naps while I get ready...or I just skip a shower and we head out the door. We are usually out the door between 10-11am.

We go to a different place every day depending on the weather. If it's nice out, we go to parks. If it's nasty or really cold, we go to a museum. We usually have a picnic in- or outdoors. Whenever we are finished with the place we are at, we start walking. Sometimes we go to another park or museum and sometimes we just walk around London. I have calculated that I walk 3-5 miles a day which is probably why I am always hungry but I've lost weight. Evan usually naps in the stroller off and on all day. Luc will go to sleep on our walk. He usually only sleeps about 30 min-1 hour though.

We come home around 4-5pm. We wash hands, unpack, feed Evan then I start cooking dinner. By the time Brian gets home and we eat, Luc is usually either whining about everything or disagreeing with everything and being mean to Evan. Evan is usually screaming his head off the entire time I cook and while we eat. The second we finish eating it's off to the bath and into bed.

After bedtime, I clean up the house, try to update the blog, then go to bed myself. Then start over the next morning.

I do realize that my life could be MUCH easier and I would probably be a lot less tired and stressed out at the end of the day if I would just stick around the house most days. I think I will be glad I was always on the go when I look back at this trip though. When's the next time I will have a chance to come to Europe?

Little Man

We had the owner of the house, Brendan, over for dinner the other night. Evan really enjoyed Brendan and Brian's conversation. He seriously looked so interested in their conversation.

Another Day Out

I finally took Luc to Hamley's Toy Store the other day. It is supposedly the largest toy store in the world. It was huge but it's hard to believe that it is THE largest.

 The store is organized among 5 floors with girls toys, boys toys, baby toys, construction toys, and collectibles. On the construction floor there were awesome characters made of Lego's. This, of course, was Luc's favorite. He would not stop looking at him for a picture. Another awesome thing about this store is that there are toys out for kids to play with throughout the store. I think that is a great idea.

 This is for all my Texas friends. I saw this pub in Piccadilly Circus.

Day Trip to Oxford

Brian had to do some research in Oxford this past week. Kirsty and I went along with him on Tuesday to sight see while he was studying. Auburn has nothing compared to these beautiful buildings. You can actually take Harry Potter tours to see the buildings where Harry Potter was filmed. We didn't do any tours. We just saw the buildings from the outside.

We got to ride a double decker bus on the way. We had the best seat, right in the front. 

Here are the cars on the opposite side of the road. Luc even noticed that the driver is in the "wrong seat". 

I have been dying to see the countryside of England and France. Well here is some of England. 

This is Chirst Church in Oxford. 

These deer were running and playing in this field in the middle of the city. 

We were playing in this maze, which was in front of a college building. I turned around to see Luc peeing on the bush. I'm sure college kids were looking out the window laughing their butts off. Oh well! 



Greenwich Park and the National Maritime Museum

Luc and I went to this beautiful park in Southeast London, Greenwich Park. It is home to the Royal Observatory, the Queen's House, and the National Maritime Museum. We walked around the park, played at the playground, had a picnic, went to the Royal Observatory, saw a show at the planetarium, went to the Maritime Museum, then came home.

I really enjoyed the Royal Observatory. I would have loved to spend more time there. I have always loved stars and planets and such. The planetarium was there. Luc loved the show. It was geared for children under 6 years old. He learned about the sun, moon, stars, and the planets (evidently, Pluto is no longer a planet). It was really cute with sing alongs and rhymes.

The park had a great playground. There was also a garden with beautiful trees and flowers. The highlight of the park was probably the deer park. They were huge deer. In the middle of the park is a big hill...it was a real pain to push the double stroller up. It was worth the view though. You could see all of Canary Wharf, part of the city of London, and the museum buildings from the top of the hill.

The National Maritime Museum was nice too. There was a special "toy boat" exhibit. There were exhibits with things found on old ships and such but someone wouldn't behave long enough for me to enjoy that. We spent the majority of our time on the top floor where the kids area was. Luc got to pretend to steer a ship. There were other activities for kids as well.

Yanks and Brits

I think I've said before but my cousins cousins live here in London. I see them when they go to Alabama to visit. We have been hanging out with them some while we have been here. Kirsty tags along with me helping me with the boys and keeping me company. She is great help and the boys love her. It is also really nice to have another adult to talk to sometimes.

Last weekend, Glen and Ruth had a party at their house. I think it was a "show off the silly Americans party". We went over and stayed the night (thanks Kirsty for leaving town so that we could have your bed!).

Luc loved having other kids to chase around. This is Millie who is 7. Luc followed her around all night. Her little brother, Frank who is 6 was also there. Funny story: Shortly after they arrived, Frank asked his mom why we weren't red. She finally realized that he thought we were American Indians. haha so cute!

Brian is pretty brave when it comes to trying new things

It doesn't mean that he's going to enjoy it though.

Glen cooked us a wonderful traditional English breakfast the next morning..with blood pudding and all. It was really good. I did taste the blood pudding but I didn't eat it. It was okay. I just couldn't stomach the thought of eating congealed pig blood.

Help fellow bloggers

Well it looks as though I have reached my storage limit for photos on blogger. I can continue to post without pictures or I can pay for more space. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Has this happened to anyone else?

Random things

Some of the escalators in the subway stations are very steep. I almost had a huge accident when trying this by myself once. I've gotten pretty good at it now though.

 We invested in a raincover for the "pushchair" that I found on gumtree (London's craigslist). It has been a lifesaver. It rains too often to stay indoors on rainy days. I must say, it has been much nicer weather than I anticipated.