a day out

On Sunday the weather was the best it has been so far so we headed into London for a look around.  First stop was the Egyptian room at the British Museum.  We couldn't believe how many mummy's were on show including mummified cats, food, birds and a crocodile - who knew!

Next stop Covent Garden which the kids loved for the hustle & bustle, street theatre, lots of shops, ice cream and generally buzzy London feel.

All in all a fun but rather exhausting day!  We caught up with Dino Stephanos later in the afternoon who had flown to London from San Francisco to watch a football match with a side trip to Paris for the French Open  ... as you do!

a school visit for Charlotte

Today Charlotte & I visited Ursuline Prep where Charli will start school on 3 June.  She will do 5 weeks in Grade 5 before the school year ends and she will start Grade 6 (gulp) in September this year.

We took a bus to the next Village to get the uniform, needless to say that was very exciting and Charlotte put her uniform on as soon as we walked in the door.  The school seems really lovely and is quite small in terms of student numbers so there will be plenty of one on one teacher time if necessary. There is a very sweet little fenced off natural habitat in the school yard complete with tadpoles & frogs and just to complete the scene, a little squirrel foraging for food. (We still think they are cute ... this may wear off!).

Settling in

We have been in London one week now which I can hardly belive.  There have been a few frustrating moments - the usual teething problems such as sporadic hot water, zero water pressure, no washing machine, faulty dryer, faulty dishwasher, eating off plastic plates, boiling the water for a cup of tea in a saucepan etc etc. But all first world problems really and they are being sorted out day by day.

After telling the kids that squirrels are everywhere in London, we have failed to see one despite looking in all the right places.  Above is Cannizaro Gardens in Wimbeldon, stunning but not a squirrel in site and yesterday we walked through Green Park near Buckingham Palace and nothing!

The kids were keen to hit the tourist spots yesterday which included M&M world, Picadilly Circus, Hamleys and Oxford St.  Back into the West End on Friday night to see the musical Matilda which is apparently fantastic.

Tomorrow we will visit Charlotte's school, Wimbledon Ursuline Preparatory School and find out about the uniform etc.  Charli will (most likely) start school on Monday 3rd June.  

to the Tower

Today we headed to the Tower of London for a bit of sight seeing and a tour of the crown jewels. I made the mistake of turning it into too much of an English history lesson at which point the kids eyes glazed over and they were resenting our little day trip. A quick side step into the torture chamber seemed to re-ignite some interest and the rest of the day there were threats of being beheaded, stretched, hung, drawn & quartered!!

London bound ...

Three very excited people going overseas for the first time!

Enjoying our time at the pointy end of the plane.  Ed slept for only 3 hours of the 24 hour flight.

We got through immigration & customs in record time - it all felt a little too easy actually.