Holiday Adventures

Since we spent a week in Switzerland before the holidays we decided not to go anywhere between Christmas and New Years.  Our plan was to just spend time at home and check out some of the sights around London.  It was a ton of fun and some really good family bonding time.  I've never seen the kids get along so well.

On home days, we watched a lot of American Football in the morning - most of the bowl games were shown although we had to watch them a day late- and then in the afternoon played baseball at our local park.  Yes, near freezing weather and we were out playing baseball.  The Brits were probably thinking, "those crazy Americans!"


On other days we had fun exploring new parts of London including....

A trip to the Natural History Museum, specifically to see the Dinosaur exhibit which had been just recently reopened with a new stegosaurus.  We visited last year but this time the kids seemed to be much more interested in the exhibits.  K wanted to see everything so when the museum was closing and we didn't get to all the rooms he insisted we come back the following day (which we didn't much to his disappointment).  Afterwards the kids took a ride on the carousel outside.




Our friends Kathy & Melanie who live in SF were visiting London so we met them early one morning at the Tower of London. Once inside we headed straight to the Jewel House before the lines built up.  Some of the scepters and crowns were just dazzling.  We strolled around the grounds for a bit and toured the famous White Tower.


We ate lunch at a nearby pub and then strolled through Leadenhall Market, the film location for some of the Harry Potter Diagon Alley scenes.  We even found the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron, currently an eyeglass shop.



A couple of days later, we met our friends Judy and John and their kids Malika & George for Afternoon Tea.  Judy and I worked together at a startup nearly 15 yrs. ago and one of J & my first dates was a hike on the peninsula that Judy & John organized for some of their friends.  Sadly we had not really been in touch since our wedding (a travesty!!) and it felt so good to reconnect.  Even though they had just met, the kids got along quite well, playing uno and chatting up a storm.






Before we met for tea we took the kids ice skating at a local mall.  What I hadn't planned for was how wet the kids would get falling all over the ice.  Luckily we were at at mall so I made a quick trip to H&M to get them something dry to wear.

We also went to the movies - our first ever family movie outing - and saw "Night at the Museum" which was set in London.  Cute movie.  And the last day before returning to school, J took the kids to the Aquarium.  All and all, an enjoyable way to spend our holidays - exploring London, reconnecting with friends and making family memories.