We had a wonderful lazy day today. And by lazy I mean I didn't get into the shower until 2:00pm. It was nice to take it easy after such a busy last few days. We slept in, boys played all morning, Tate took a good long nap. After resting and relaxing all morning we decided to head out to go to London's famous toy store and maybe get a few things for Thatcher's birthday this Sunday.
The weather since we have been here has been unbelievable. Pretty perfect, no rain, just a little drizzle at night. High 50's, low 60's. It has been great. Every day I seriously have a private celebration with myself that we will be here with mild temps this summer. I know that sounds pathetic, but I loath Texas summers. Ha!
Here are some pictures I took of the boys schools, this is Tagg's school, Robinsfield Infant School. Until the end of this school year, the boys will go to different schools. Not my fav, but that's where the age splits. Tagg will be in Year 2, in the states 1st grade, but here they start earlier.
You buzz in at an outer gate, and then you walk into this courtyard.
Tagg already can't wait to play in the playground.
A little place where all the kids park their bikes and scooters. It seems like every little kid rides a scooter here. Easier than walking everywhere for little feet and legs. We are thinking about getting the boys each a scooter. We will see...
Thatcher's school is just down the street from Tagg's, Barrow Hill Junior School is it's name. When we went around the corner the first time to show Thatch, he said, "Oh my gosh, it looks like Hogwarts!"
We took the Tube down two stops from us to Bond street, got out and walked to Hamley's.
It is SUCH a cool toy store, Todd and I kept saying the coolest one we've ever been to. It is like a FAO Schwarz in New York, but british. When we walked in there were these girls dressed in what looked to me like Pippy Longstocking clothes blowing bubbles and dancing around like crazy...
This little boy starting is so hilarious...
It's a 5 floor gigantic store filled with every toy you could ever want or imagine. We went to every floor but the 2nd because that is the girl floor. I did peak though, because I am a girl and secretly would play dolls and barbies still if I could.
Tagg playing on the giant piano.
A whole floor dedicated to Legos. Thatcher was in lego heaven. These guys great you as you're going up the stairs, all made of Lego's. I knew I'd run into Kate sooner than later!
The Queen all made of Lego's as well...had to get a pic of the boys with her majesty!
Thatcher and Tagg checking out all the Lego creations.
As you walk around the store they have all these presentations of various toys going on. We stopped a lot and watched them demonstrate various toys and of course after each one was done, the boys wanted that toy. Here is a really cool flying saucer toy that even Todd and I wanted!
Tate had a great time looking around and playing. Sensory overload for this kiddo.
On our way home we stopped by John Lewis, a big department store on Oxford Circus. We needed to get a hand mixer for our kitchen, and a printer and heard it was a good place for housewares. It is ginormous and I am pretty sure I could spend a whole day in there looking at all the fun things.
We ate dinner at a little place there called, "the place to eat", self explanatory, I like it.
We spent way too long in John Lewis and on our way home Tate had a meltdown and it started to rain, but just a little. So grateful to get out of the tube stop and our flat is literally right across the street. The location couldn't be more perfect.
Something funny I found out today was after searching on Waitrose.com for saran wrap or plastic wrap for what seemed like forever, I finally gave up and googled "what do they call saran wrap in the UK?' Cling Wrap. Nice one. Wouldn't have ever guessed that. I do love finding out the british names for things. Even though we speak the same language, it is funny to see how we have many different names for things.
Over all I have completely fallen head over heels in love for London. It is such a great city, with so much history and beautiful architecture. The green spaces are amazing. The people are over all hilarious and very sweet and nice. There are so many things that are so fascinating and exciting here.
Somethings I really miss about home: Big drinks. Hate the small glasses of drink they give you here. Girl needs her route 44 sometimes! My garbage disposal. I miss it all the live long day. Trying to teach two little boys to dump food in the trash before putting stuff in the sink is near impossible I've decided.
Somethings I really love about London: we have a little door in our kitchen that leads to the fire escape and also a big trash can. We dump all the trashes from our flat into this big trash can and magically it disappears every day. So efficient! Ordering groceries online. It is the greatest thing ever.
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