London

Today we made our way down to London to enjoy some of the sights. We were sad that Josh had to go home later because he had a school event the next night, but we were glad that he was able to be there for some of it (and help us navigate the tube!). We checked into the hotel and then made our way into the city.

Waiting at the tube station

The kids had a fun time riding the underground

(not that you would know from the look on Olivia's face)

Our first planned stop for the day was going to be the Princess Diana Memorial Playground which was built in the gardens of Kensington Palace where she lived. I thought that the kids would have fun there, but when we arrived we found this sign. 

Which made our faces look like this...

As we left we saw a couple of the workers and Josh asked if the kids could just come in for a couple of minutes since they had come so far and been so disappointed. He offered them 5 pounds if they would let him. I think they thought that was funny since they just laughed at us! We had a fun walk up there anyway and got to see the beautiful park. It was just a shame that we didn't get to play on the pirate ship. 

The wonder of the red British postbox

We then made our way out to Westminster and the Houses of Parliament to visit the London Eye. We were fortunate to walk by Parliament as it turned 5:00 pm and so we got to hear Big Ben ring five times which Thomas thought was pretty cool. 

The eye was finished in 2000 and was known at the time as the Millennium Wheel. The wheel design was used to symbolize time turning into a new millennium. Mum was a little nervous about the whole thing so she spent her time sitting on the bench in the middle of the capsule. 

Staying in the middle!

Looking to the top

The kids loved it

Hanging on the eye

Mum, Dad, Josh, and Hayley

Grandma and her special friend

The kids loved being right up close

A couple of times I reached for him because I thought he was 

going to go over the side ( I forgot about the glass!)

View of the East Side down the Thames

The West Side with the Houses of Parliament

and Westminster Abbey

A blustery group photo

We then made our way across the Golden Jubilee Bridge to have dinner.

We were so lucky to have Philip (one of my best friend's growing up) meet us for something to eat. I haven't seen him in the 10 years since I came out to the US.  We were so glad that he was so accommodating when we had to change our plans and have him come to us, rather than go over to Canary Wharf to see him. Spense managed to start things off on the right foot when within a couple of minutes of being seated he managed to set alight his menu with one of the candles on the table. After that we decided that we should probably blow them out!

Me and Philip

Olivia decided to sleep through the whole meal so we had to

head into a convenience store on the way to the tube station

Philip and the Rasmussen girls

We chatted and giggled for a good while about all the foolish things we used to get up to. It was just like old times. When you look back it is sometimes a shame that we have to grow up! It was getting fairly late when we left the restaurant, but there was one more thing that we had to do. Sweet Thomas had worn his Harry Potter shirt in the hope that we would be able to make it to King's Cross station to visit Platform 9 3/4. He has read a couple of the Harry Potter books with Spense recently and so this was something that he was really excited about.

We had a few problems finding it at first because due to some renovations they had had to move the platform, but even us 'muggles' managed to figure it out! It wasn't much, but I know that it meant a lot to Thomas and it was a promise that we had made to him.

Running through the wall to catch the Hogwart Express

We all headed back to the Marriott with heavy eyes and tired feet from a busy afternoon and evening, hoping that the weather would be just as good tomorrow so that we could enjoy the bus tour we had planned.