Never mind the Bollocks

Yes more London for your viewing pleasure, and Jason's got the helm. Here is the view from outside of our hotel! I snapped this pic of Cyd and Jo looking at the Thames... First more talk about the science and Natural History Museum. Definately good times for the boys. They're always happy when they've got entertainment and things that are hands on. I wish they were just a little bit older so we could do more historic stuff, but you've got to do what you can, right? Here's a picture of us at the entrance of the Science museum. It's a great entryway, we're all looking pretty happy here.
The kids got to play with all sorts of hands on exhibits, very entertaining and accessable. And it was all for free! Which is a good thing because London is very expensive. Even with the pound coming down a little in value, it's still hard to swallow that one pound was worth 1.45 dollars. So for example, a lunch at 7 pounds sounds great until you figure in the conversion. Still, an english speaking country to tour around in was wonderful. We understood all the signs, language, and there's lots of American culture infused (think american fast food that is very kid friendly) to dive into

Here's a picture of us in an exhibit that re-created the earthquake in Kobe, Japan. The room was set up like a mini-mart in Kobe and there was a video showing CCTV of a market in Kobe during their earthquake. The boys loved standing on the platform as it shook back and forth. Hey, anything for a thrill right?

More hands on stuff. Jo and Colby loved it, and James loved the opportunity to talk to people, in English, and make friends. Watertables, toys, games...oh the Joy!Finally, we decided to break the group up. Cyd, ever the Masochist, stayed with James and Colby to watch an Imax version of some silly cartoon called *Fly Me to the Moon* at the Science museum while Granpa, Nana, and I went to the Westminster area to explore the war cabinet. During WWII this particular bunker was used by Churchill and his crew to run the war and the resistance. It was definately an interesting historic side bar and I really appreciate Cyd for taking one for the team and watching the older boys while we went to the museum. A long day, lots of things that were seen. By this point the boys were still game, but there were definately fraying at the edges of their behavior.

we broke off from the parents for an hour and jotted over to Westminster Abby, but the line was emense, so here Cyd snapped a pic.

then we went to *The Tower of London* it was good for about 2 hours...then the boys started to melt down , it was late and they were tired...to much walking.
this is a cool pic of the king, it's in his room....a ghostly image...ooohh

on our last day in London we rented a car and drove 2 and a half hours to Drayton Manor !!! 'it was soo worth it! to see little Jonah's face when we walked in and he saw Thomasland!!! the other boys had a blast too! James got to ride the big boy rides!! he went off with Grumps and Colby and Jonah stayed in Thomasland! Jo rode everything and was so overwhelmed that he passed out in my arms on the Balstrode tugboat ride. what a sweetie.

thanks for letting me fill in. Cyd should be back soon!

-j