Matilda!

Joey and Allie spent the day in London and then we all met at the theater to see Matilda. The show is based on the Roald Dahl book and really, you can't go wrong with Roald, can you??   That's the set covered in colored squares with letters on them.  

Joey and Bill wore their special theater-going outfits.  The MacKay men are like peacocks, never missing an opportunity to display those colorful tail feathers.  

 Can you drink alcohol during the theater in the US?  I can't remember...at Matilda there was lots of candy for the audience of kiddies (who were all very well behaved despite being loaded up on sugar and up way past their bedtimes) and beer on tap for the adults.  Speaking of up past their bedtimes, the kids on stage were great but looked pretty young.  How do they go to school and then perform in a show at night until after 10pm? We were all ready to pass out on the train ride home and we just sat on our asses for 2.5 hours.

 It's cold here - we are all bundled up for the walk back to the train. But we do love being in the city at night.  Check out that city strut!

Bret-man's Birthday

Today is Bret's 23rd birthday.  Nothing ages you like watching your kids become adults.

Here's to our oldest son.  May your best birthdays be the ones in your future.

Love you, Tiger.

FItbit Friends 4-Eva!!

I had a wonderful treat Tuesday morning - a walk in Kew Gardens with Fitbit and Booktopia friend Lisa!!  

Lisa lives in New Mexico but she and her family are in London staying with her cousin near Richmond, making Kew Garden the perfect meet up spot for a walk.  

 Kew Gardens was strangely empty - I think we were the first people in as soon as the gate opened at 9:30 and we didn't see another person for about an hour.  It was a little chilly and overcast but the flowers looked great - - including this yellow wisteria arbor.

 When we did finally see someone we asked them to take our picture.  

Sadly the morning flew by and before I knew it, Lisa needed to go meet her family at The Tower of London and I needed to go back to Eton to start my work day.  I loved catching up her, chatting about books, fitbits etc.  Of course we had to take our last picture in front of the bookshop near the tube station.

Getting Artsy with Joey and Allie

Two of our stops on Saturday were the National Gallery and the Portrait in Trafalger Square.  

Bill was ready to race them in and out, worrying that he was torturing them with culture but they were totally into it.  They may not have wanted to spend hours at it, but they seemed to really like the impressionist rooms and the more iconic portraits.   We learned something about Joey this weekend - he doesn't really like artwork of people, preferring landscapes and still lives.  Who knew?  

 Joey and Allie got right into the swing of things by mimicking the artwork along with me.  Why just look at art when you can BE art??

We Love Harry!!

Harry Potter Studio Tour!

The movies were filmed in a studio just north of London which now is a money making machine.  

The lobby:

They run this place like a well oiled machine - they line up up to go into the holding room where they talk to you for a bit about the studio and how everything we are about to see are the actual sets and props used in the films.  Then they open the doors to a screening room for a short film with Ron, Harry and Hermione telling you about their "home away from home" on the set.  Then the screen raises and everyone gets up to walk through the doors into the Great Hall.

Do you recognize those sets?   The Gryffindor Common Room, Dumbledore's Office, and the Posions Room.

 The outdoor props included the Knight Bus and Hagrid's motorcycle with sidecar.

 I may never get over Dobby's death.  (spoiler alert?  If you don't know that already you really should not be reading this blog...you should be reading Harry Potter!!)

One of the last stops on the tour was the model of the castle that is used in all the movies with lots of CGI.  When we walked into this room Allie said, "Just when you think it can't get any better, it does!"  It just goes to show you that you never outgrow the magic of Harry Potter.

Be careful about what you say to Bill....

Orange was the color of the day.  Bill made friends on the train to London with some fashionable like-minded ladies.  We started the day at Portobello Road Market - a great place for pictures since there are colorful food stalls and lots of funky people.

When we walked by this guy Allie said, "I'd like to know that guy."  I replied, "I"m married to that guy!!"  The kids seemed to really enjoy it - the people watching, the musicians on the corner, the stalls of vintage clothes and antique doo dads.  Allie made the mistake of saying she wanted to eat something "really different".  More on that later....

We found an Italian Restaurant that Joey was drawn to because the name sounded like his favorite pizza place in Ipswich.  We are always looking for a decent pizza and this place was pretty good as far as British pizza goes.  But the real excitement was around the napkins.  They were fabulous!!  Thick and soft - - I want to sew them together and make a set of pajamas out of them.  But in the restaurant we settled for wearing them as hats.  Bill and I were able to snag some extras on our way out the door.  Hopefully Joey and Allie are both too old to be influenced by our bad examples.

On to Trafalgar Square....

 Bill has a special talent for making friends where ever he goes...like this homeless man who asked Bill for one of his cigars.   Of course, he was willing to let Bill drink out of his whiskey bottle in return (which Bill actually considered until he saw the look on my face).  What does Bill do when I'm not around??  This is how he ended up paying for that hooker's dinner in Belgium....

Ok, back to Allie's food comment.  We wandered into China town and while Joey, Allie and I were in the Chinese market buying funny snack foods (Joey bough some Ball Cakes for his friends) Bill ordered some take away for Allie...chicken feet and pig ears!!!   

(On a side note - Bill ordered "Pigs Ear" and said the woman had no idea what he was saying.  When he pointed to it on the menu she said, "Oh!  Pig Ears!"  Somehow make the pig plural vs the ears made all the difference??)

Allie handled it like a trooper  - - eating enough of both to say she has truly eaten chicken feet and pig ears.  Joey and I had a tiny terrified nibble.  Both were disgusting but at least the pig ears were in a sauce that helped to mask the taste.  The consistency was foul enough, I wouldn't want to know what it really tasted like.

 We ended the day with a long walk across the Waterlook bridge to South Bank.  You can see a tiny little Big Ben and the London Eye behind us.  It was just warm enough for dinner outside (no ears, no feet) with plenty more people watching.  We covered a lot of territory today (which also means lots of steps on my Fitbit!!)   I think Joey and Allie have the lay of the land and will be ready for their own adventures in  London this week.

Allie and Joey adjust to the time difference

 I'm sure none of you want to hear about my day at work, where I had a luncheon meeting in London on Regency Ave at an upscale restaurant being treated to lobster mac and cheese and a fabulous cut of beef.
And you don't want to hear about Jen's day in which she walked 18,000 steps but according to her FitBit only burned off the equivalent of a good burp.

You want to hear about Allie and Joey's big adventure in England.  Really though, yesterday was assimilation day.  They fought to stay awake while touring around Windsor.  We had dinner in one of our favourite pubs and by 9:00 they were fast asleep.

I have to get home soon.  Seeing Joey reminds me how much I miss the family.  I am scheduled to go at the end of July.  That seems like forever away.

In the meantime, I'm going to love having my baby boy with me for a week.

Joey and Allie Have Arrived!

The kids are here, hungry and tired.  We fed them (or rather, we walked down to Costa Coffee to get food for them) and now they are going to try a nap.  I'm only giving them a couple hours before I'll start banging pots and pans to get them up and on to UK time.  Watch for more Joey and Allie over the next week!

Bucolic Bath

Hopefully you aren't tired of Bath, dear reader, because the week has been fairly dull - drizzly rain, grey skies and work.  I'd rather be in Bath, walking across the hillside behind the B&B, saying hello to the cows and looking out over the green fields and the beautiful cityscape.  Bill and I took a nice little walk through the fields on Sunday (which registered as lots of flights of stairs on my fitbit, but I suppose that's fair since the hills were very steep).  We felt very British - Bill even dressed in more subdued British colors to blend with the landscape. Sadly we saw evidence of crime even in this paradise - -there was a cut fence and a man asking if we'd seen anyone (we hadn't) and signs up about a man who has been stealing dogs by luring them away with them treats!! Is nothing sacred? Even the hills of Bath are NSFC (Not Safe For Christin).

I need to do a little sprucing up at #8 today since 24 hours from now, Joey and Allie arrive!