Band camp!

Olivier has been enjoying band camp this week!  A sign that the new school year it right around the corner!  

Fun ride on Presto!

Today Anna rode a horse she has never ridden before - Presto!  He is very tall and Anna had a great ride and had fun jumping with such a tall horse!  

Summer routine!

This week we resumed summer activities and schedules.  On Friday Olivier got his wisdom teeth out.  He is doing well and taking it easy to make sure it stays that way!  Anna went to the fair on Friday with friends.  On my walk Friday night I saw cows very close and I had to take some photos because they were being silly.  This one was using its giant tongue to get at some oak leaves.  

This one didn't want people to hike the trail!

And I couldn't help but laugh at the color of this cow and how it made the head look like a brick!  

On Saturday Mason went to the beach to play volleyball with friends.  And Anna had a great ride at the barn!  

Cheese!

Today Olivier got a dwarf hamster and named him Cheese!  

 

Last day! Book of Mormon!

Since today is our last day we didn’t want to go crazy with activities so we headed to the West End and walked around a bit. We saw the Actors Church, including their black cat!  We had lunch in the park before heading to see a musical - Book of Mormon!  We had a fantastic time and we all were happy that there was AC!  Whew, another hot day!  The musical was fantastic!  So much fun but you need to go into it knowing what you are getting into. We took our last underground trip to the hotel and it reminded me of some of the sayings we keep getting reminded of, including: Mind the gap; and See it, say it, sorted! For dinner we headed to the chicken restaurant we liked, in part because they have all you want ice and water. So many places (basically everywhere) they give a carafe of water and cups. Very rare to get ice and with the heat the ice is nice.

We visiting the Lego store near the theater and they had some really cool stuff!

The theater!

A view of part of China town.  So many restuarants!  

Ready for the musical to begin!

At dinner Olivier gathered the stickers that they used to label the meals.  Makes for an interesting name tag!

Heading home tomorrow!

Monument!

We headed to Monument to start our day. Not super helpful with that description but it is a monument to acknowledge the fire that devastated London in 1666. Matt, Anna, Olivier, Mason and my dad climbed the 311 steps to the platform. They had a great view and got a certificate once they made it down. We went souvenir shopping, then had lunch close to the hotel. My parents and Matt and I went to Paddington to do laundry so we had clean stuff to wear on the plane (you are welcome fellow passengers). Turns out we found where it is “bloody hot” in London per the owner of the laundromat and we agree!  We want to a local Italian restaurant for dinner and chuckled when they said they had a table available but only for 1 hour and 40 minutes and would that be enough time. We said yes and were done in just over an hour. They are much more relaxed in their timelines!  Matt and Anna had strawberry margaritas! 

This is the view inside of the staircase down!  

Changing of the Guards! Whitehall horses! Tower of London!

We made it out of the hotel a bit earlier in order to get to Buckingham Palace with plenty of time to spare before the changing of the guards and it is a good thing we did!  When we arrived there was almost 90 minutes until the start and there was a lot of people. We stood close to the fence not really knowing where to stand. We got sunscreen on and waited. Anna and Mason got good news abut their AP tests while we waited which was exciting!  When the event started we were sad/mad at how rude some people are and even standing right by the fence with no barrier there was a group that took a long time to step down onto the pavement so more could see. We enjoyed the event and hearing the bands first song was Sweet Caroline - one Anna and Olivier have played many times!  After letting some of the crushing crowd leave, we headed toward Whitehall. We took Anna’s photo with the horse and guard. Surprising to not see anyone step too close, I think it seemed especially surprising after the group at the Palace. We took the underground toward the Tower of London and had lunch before visiting the Tower of London. We started by seeing the Crown Jewels (sorry, no photos allowed). We then visited the various areas and I didn’t take many photos there because there was a lot of sad/upsetting parts. I did take one in the chapel and one of a dragon made of their supplies. As we were getting ready to go we stopped by the area for the Ravens to try and learn more, but it turns out there isn’t a who lot to learn! I was able to take Olivier’s photo in a stands the guards use and I took one of the white tower. We headed back to the hotel before dinner. We went to a pub for dinner and played a card game while waiting for dinner. That was a lot of fun (Olivier’s idea!). We picked up some desert before relaxing for the night. Some watching a soccer game!

This is the chapel at the Tower of London.

And a dragon made of different weapons!

The white tower.