Lost!

I headed out in the pouring rain for my adventures in being a tourist alone.  I got lost.  In the rain.  It was far less fun than my adventure the week prior.  But that's ok.  I had this guy keeping me company on the Tube.  I bet he was more lost than I was....

I did find a fabric shop and buy some fun fabrics, though.  Not the point of my trip (was to go see an exhibit that is apparently closed until March - oops), but it was something....

Snow!

Kind of.  Possibly the most snow we'll see this year.  Up there.  On that roof....

Another play place!

We love the play places over here.  This one was a definite hit!   The slide of death, especially.

Afterwards we decided to try the local Dominos Pizza for takeout (yes, it's very different).  I think something got lost in translation....

Birthday Box 2

Katy's birthday box from Mamoo came today.  No idea why I didn't snap more pictures, but it all was a hit!

Kensington Palace

I'm trying to make an effort to get out and do "tourist" things on my own every week or so.  This week I headed to Kensington Palace.  It was fun to essentially have the place to myself and have time to actually read the signs without being tugged onward.  Alas, no sign of Will, Kate or baby George.

Afterwards: the mounted police roving London's crazy busy streets.  Because why not??

As fun as it is, I do miss my little traveling companion, so homeward bound...

Why not?

Walking through the weekly market in town and I saw this.  This guy sells fish.  Out of the back of his car.  Living here amuses me so....

The Birthday Shopping!

As promised, Katy was allowed to take her birthday money to Hamley's toy store in London to shop for her own birthday gifts.  It was FAR less crowded than it had been when we were there over the holidays, which was a huge relief.

The Lego section was especially amusing.  Lego Royals, anyone?

Lego red phone booth...

I thought of David and our model train making days:

At last!  Something Katy wanted to do...  (Insert sigh of mock indignation here).  She'd received a gift card to Build a Bear from one of her friends.  Katy LOVES Build a Bear....

After a bit more shopping and looking it was time to head home.  One happy girl!

8 at Last!

Katy's birthday haul from us....  (The card included Pounds so she could be taken to Hamleys to shop for what SHE wanted - the day also began with the start of getting a weekly allowance....)

Luckily, she also had a box of presents from Grandpa and Granny waiting to be ripped into!

After breakfast we headed out to pick up two of Katy's new friends for a birthday play morning (let me tell you how nerve wracking *those* invitations were: "Hi, we're the new American family.  Can we whisk your child off for a morning so ours doesn't feel like she's missing out on a birthday celebration??").

We managed to achieve a carload of noisy, giggling girls and off we went to play!

We even managed to teach them air hockey!

Cake was consumed:

A good time was had by all; there were minimal tears and all girls were safely returned home.  A very happy birthday for Katy!

Dogs

Just because they were on my camera... And we do love these dogs...

Cookery Club!

Katy is enrolled in an after school "Cookery Club" that started this week.  She's loving it!

Wembley Play Place

Our next adventure was to find the kids play place in Wembley.  Because of the weekend rail line repairs this was no easy feat.  To Wembley it required a "replacement bus."  Katy was actually overjoyed.  It was her first double decker bus ride.  We let her ride up top AND the front seats were open...

The play structure was worth every bit of effort....

London Ice Sculpting Festival

We set off intending to go to the London Ice Carving Festival.  Unfortunately, our Metro line had major disruption (meaning, closed in parts!) due to planned track repairs.  The good news is: we learned that we can take the "big train" into town instead on our Oyster card.  Always learning here....

We did make it to the festival eventually....

It was crowded....

Unfortunately, there weren't any finished pieces on display yet, so we headed on in search of more adventures in the Canary Wharf area.

We found a huge shopping area.  Yes, that's a leg the butcher will carve meat off....

And a "Sugar Mouse Biscuit."  Because, why not?

Green chilli does not mean the same thing here....  (It was jalapeños, so I'll give them some credit....)

Our view at dinner:

After dinner Katy wanted to tip the musician in the courtyard "all by herself"

Our walk back to the a Tube station:

Apparently we were pretty silly on the train home....