The Buckingham Blog

Last Thursday (10th) was a busy old day.  After school, I picked Kory up, got him changed and then headed to picked up James from work.  We went for some dinner and then to Aberdeen airport for an evening flight to London to visit Coral and Chad (James' parents). 

Before I ramble on about the whole trip, I know it'll be long, with loads of photos, but given I'm no longer sure anyone else looks at the blog but them, this is for our own records and for them! 

So anyway, we arrived at Heathrow about 10pm, got our luggage and the kids ran to get their grandparents!  On to the underground and across London arriving in the flat about 11pm.  After a quick bit of toast (yes they were hungry so late!) the kids went to bed. 

On Friday morning we had a chilled morning to recover them a bit, a wonder around Harrods toy department and strangely the pet bit.  I seriously now have seen *everything*!!  After some lunch and an attempt to get a grouchy Kory to have a nap, we headed to the London Eye or whatever it's called now. 

Kory wasn't so sure about going up in it as it's so high, and it does look daunting from down below, but was fine once we were on and he realised how slowly it moved.   It was a bit of a dreich day, especially for decent photos, but we all enjoyed it. 

Of course from the top Krystal had spotted a swingpark, so we had to go there when we came off the Eye! 

 

And then it was time to head for a treat for dinner via Big Ben.

We went to the Rainforest Cafe.  The kids' mouths were hanging open walking in, seeing the animals and a thunderstorm happening as we were eating.  They (as was the theme of the weekend) ate lots and got their pictures taken with the frog mascot.

On Saturday morning we made our way to Hyde Park to feed the squirrels some nuts.  Getting photos of this in action was easier said than done, I have many photos of squirrel bums!   But I do like this few.

On through the park, we went to M&S to grab a quick sandwich before heading to the Natural History Museum.  It was an impressive building from both the outside and the inside.  

The first thing we saw was a skeleton of a Diplodocus which amazed Kory.  Then we queued for a while to get on to a walkway to see other dinosaurs. 

It was actually too busy to move let alone see anything right until the end which was an animatronic T-Rex.   

We saw loads of stuffed animals, replicas of animals and I couldn't resist a photo of Krystal next to the other crystals! 

Off out for a meal to ASK! afterwords as Coral had some vouchers.  It was very yummy, the diet kind of went by the wayside at this point with wine and pudding!  Ooops! 

On Sunday morning we headed back towards the London Eye, but this time got on a boat on the Thames instead.   We were on for about 45 minutes and headed towards the O2, seeing Tower Bridge, Tower of London and other things on the way. 

We got off, went inside the dome and had a wonder about before settling on a mexican/brazillian place for lunch.  More yumminess, more diet breaking, more oops (though one return I discovered I'd not gained anything!)

After food we headed back to the flat to chill for a bit.  The kids recovered well and got to stay up to watch the whole of Dancing on Ice which they don't get to do at home! 

Our last morning in London was spent nipping back to Harrods and then heading over to Buckingham Palace to show Krystal where a real Queen and Princesses live.  Also of course our name is in there which they liked. 

We walked around to Downing Street, past Big Ben, along to the Household Cavalry Guards before a quick cafe stop for a sandwich then on through Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and into Chinatown which was quite something to see the week after Chinese New Year.   

By this time Kory had announced he wanted to take in to school photos of him at everything in London, so on the way back to the flat, we got one at the underground station and stopped by Harrods to get one with the doorman! 

A quick dinner at the flat, then off we set to the airport to fly back home.  The kids were really good considering they had done so much walking all weekend, and were even sitting at 11:20pm eating toast before bed when we arrived home!  This is Battersea Power Station from the top of the flat they live in. 

It took me all of Tuesday to sort through the photos, and all night last night to rename them, hence the delay in the blog post!  This last one is the Harrods bear at Heathrow. 

An enjoyable trip was had by all of us, but I think it's fair to say the kids and grandparents are exhausted!!

Julie.xx