The London Times IV

First a word on Mark. I miss him. We all do but I think I do especially because I'm his mom and he's my baby. I know he's having a wonderful time with his grandparents...and talking their ears off in the process. I also know that I would be a nervous wreck here with him...trying to keep him from climbing on everything and holding my hand...I'm having enough trouble keeping track of his siblings. I miss him though. I do.

We've had an interesting day and are glad to be "home" at our hotel. We woke up very early because we're all in one small room and Emma woke up at 5:00. We had breakfast and were all snapping at each other because we were tired. Adam said we should lay down and rest. I didn't think we'd fall asleep. At noon, Adam shook me awake and had an equally hard time getting Braeden and Emma awake. The sun was streaming in a crack in the curtains and Adam had been up making noise but we were out cold.

On our way off for our adventures we unhappily were on the bus next to some young teenagers. They were using really terrible language. If you're younger than 15 here you can ride the bus for free and a lot of unaccompanied kids do. These three were really foul. One boy stood up right behind us and a long and steady stream of curses came out of his mouth. Adam used (an admittedly toned down version of) The Dad Voice and asked him to be more polite. The kid said, continuing to insert swear words between every other word, said "What are you going to do about it?" and kept threatening Adam to try something. Adam just stood very close to the kid, blocking him from us and he got off at the next stop. I'm amazed that all of the other adults on the bus stood for it. Adam said it's a Lord of the Flies society. All the kids are in schools and childcare and then left to their own devices the rest of the time. It's very true. I've seen parents with very young children but no families together. All the kids seem to be in large groups with caregivers.

Adam has been to Camden Locks and the market there and thought it would be a good place to walk around and eat lunch. We HATED it. How to describe it? Sodom and Gomorrah, Babylon and the Las Vegas strip all come to mind. It was beyond crowded and everyone was smoking and/or scary looking. Not a great place. We ate lunch and beat a hasty retreat.

We were happy to see the comparably genteel and calm National Gallery and Trafalgar Square. Braeden and Emma had a great time running and playing and being kids in the Square. I think they get tired of being shushed all the time.

Emma taking it all in

Climbing on the lion

Beautiful Trafalgar Square

I had a list of paintings I didn't want to miss in the National Gallery and we saw the originals of several paintings we've studied in school which was thrilling. From there we went to Evensong at St. Martin's in the Fields. Nothing like capping off your Sunday with a little Anglican church service. It was interesting...not as impressive as Evensong at Westminster Abbey but it was a good look into how others live and worship.

After a few tries we finally found a pub that would serve kids on our way home. There aren't many kid friendly places around. I guess because there aren't a lot of families hanging out together. We had a good dinner and made it back to the executive lounge for lemon custard.

The love of my life...looking tired

Riding the Tube home