The London Times

We made it!

I am currently sitting in a dark hotel room, trying to let Adam sleep and keep Braeden and Emma to a whisper. We are messed up as far as sleep goes. If there's a trick to jet lag, we don't know it.

Yesterday...which was really two days...or one and a half (It's way too much math to consider the 8 hour time difference.) was full of adventure. Braeden and Emma don't remember flying so that was a new experience for them. When we were at Disneyland and riding on a Ferris wheel in California Adventure, Emma cried and wanted off and I let her. It didn't work on the tarmac in Seattle though. I wouldn't let her off. She was in panic mode because of the angle that she saw planes taking off. I assured her it wouldn't be THAT bad. She squeezed the life out of my hand at take-off then said, "Oh, that was fine." She spoke in stressed out clipped tones for the entire flight to Vancouver though. When I finally thought she'd recovered, she asked, "Is this plane out of control?" No, I think it's in control.

Take-off from Vancouver was nowhere near as intense. She was a pro by then. Neither Emma or I slept on the flight but Braeden did for about three hours. Emma was sitting by the window and every few minutes slid the window shade up and down to check out the view...or non view since we were above the clouds and it was dark most of the time. She discovered the Northern Lights in one of her window checks though. Everyone around us was asleep and it seemed like the show was just for Emma and me. The entire horizon was lit up with greenish blue light. I told Emma, "This is magical." She smiled at me and I was very happy to not be sleeping.

Braeden woke up very grumpy but by the time we'd landed he'd cheered up. We made our way through customs (thank you bright pink fast lane card!) and to Adam. We were a disheveled, bleary eyed, tangled hair mess but he was nice enough not to mind. The Heathrow Express train had some closed tracks so we had to take the Tube which took LONG and didn't afford any impressive views. At Paddington station switched to a taxi but not before we smelled french fries and followed our noses to McDonald's. A little bit of Americana. Adam groaned, "No, not McDonald's." I didn't know if I was hungry or not or what meal I should even be hungry for but Adam relented to the kids' pleas and bought lunch.

We finally got to our hotel, Adam went back to work and we napped. Braeden woke up happy this time and Emma was a snarling mean bear. I'm glad that they take turns not handling the sleep thing so far.

With Adam we went in search of some food...this time I was hungry...and went on the Tube to Westminster. We were still groggy and not completely convinced of the merits of our journey I think until we climbed the stairs out of the Tube station and were met with an eye full of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament all lit up against the night sky. Wow. We walked around and looked at the buildings and rode a double decker bus (front row...top deck) back to our hotel.

On the bus

The London Eye is in the background.

Big Ben

After a fitful night I'm ready(?) to hit the city streets. Our plan is Kensington Gardens, Victoria and Albert Museum and The Natural History Museum. Wish us luck.