London

After a fantastic cruise, we were off for more land-based adventures.  We took the train through the English Channel and made our way to London.  One fun part of travel is realizing how connected we are in the world, so it was lots of fun to meet up with friends and family while touring around.

Parliament and Big Ben in the background.  We feel lucky that we were in London when we were as there's going to be some major construction on the Parliament building and Big Ben is going to be silent for the next 4 years!

10 Downing St - that's where the Prime Minister, Theresa May lives.  We didn't see her, but the police officer guarding the area was very friendly.

Teatime at Harrods

Fun bears to pose with inside Harrods

Wherever she is - Julia loves a mirror.  She often gets to engrossed in looking at herself, that she doesn't even realize you're watching her.  It's still cute now, but I wonder how it'll be in 10 years time.

Horseguard

All the museums in London are free, so we went to the science museum.  We went to science class while we were there about fire and explosions.  Not only did we get to observe the class, but Jonah got to be a volunteer.

The tricks in the fire and explosion class where so cool that we stayed after for some private tutoring and got to do this!

Waiting for daddy to sort the tickets for London Dungeon.  Here is a tip for all of you traveling to London - the London Dungeon is probably not appropriate for children much younger than Noah & Anna.  We didn't know this bit of key information until after we had started the tour, so we're paying it forward now.

The London Eye

After the terror of London Dungeon, we were happy to participate in the more universally age appropriate Sherk adventure.

In the London Eye

One of our London highlights was our visit to Madame Tussauds.  There were lots of cool people to pose with.  Here, Anna is doing a little Usain Bolt.

The Royal Family.  George and Charlotte were napping, otherwise they would have been there too.  During this trip, Anna developed a little Will & Kate fascination because, it seems that every little girl is fascinated by princesses to some degree.

One Direction - swoon!

How fun that we got to meet up with cousin Lorna and Matthew for dinner one night?  This was our first time meeting Matthew, but the kids took to him like long lost family.

Windsor Castle - we were there a few hours too early, but apparently the Queen was going to there for the weekend.

Serious guards, even at Windsor Castle when the Queen isn't there.

When you get a bad spot to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, you upgrade your seats.

In the background is Tower Bridge - this is often the bridge in people's minds when they talk about the London Bridge.  Don't make that tourist cliche mistake and ask for directions to Tower Bridge instead.

Cousin Anne came to London for the weekend and took a tour of Parliament with us.

One evening, we London Black Cabbed it over to Nottinghill to have dinner with Julie & Todd and their family.  These are friends we've known for years who are on ex-pat assignment in London now.  This was a great chance to catch up and just be "normal" in London.

Before we left, Anne, Lorna & Matthew all came to our hotel for breakfast.  We then tricked them to come up to our room and entertain the children while we packed.  As their reward?  Everyone on the bed for a group photo of course!