London Day 4

Finally - the end of the week! This morning the children were asked to pack their own suitcases. You'd think some of them had been asked to fly to the moon. They had no idea. Fortunately Ellie did hers no problem at all. Once we'd got them all out of the hotel we walked across the road to the Natural History Museum. They spent an hour in the Investigate Centre. Above is Ellie looking scientific.

Then after a few galleries, the shop and lunch it was back on the coach and home. Hooray! All over for Ellie, and all over for me until next year (maybe).

London Day 3

Yesterday I didn't get to bed until gone midnight so no time for blogging. So here is my report on London, Day 3. It rained pretty much all day. That thin drizzly sort of rain that gets you wet before you even realise. Fortunately we were indoors most of the day. We started with a visit to the Imperial War Museum. Their schools entrance was tiny and they were trying to get about four schools in and out at any one time so it was chaotic and stressful. There were so many schools there it was heaving everywhere you went. The Blitz Experience was good but other than that I couldn't wait to get out of there.

After lunch it was off to the Science Museum. Much calmer. The children had time to look properly and to sketch and find out things. Ellie is above, sketching some form of 20th century transport. Can't remember what. I've barely had time to talk to her all week.


In the evening we all went to see 'Wicked'. This is Ellie all dressed up in her posh clothes with her room mates. We like to make them dress up. It's a proper occassion going to see a West End show. They looked lovely. The loved the show. I did too and I've seen it four times now!

London Day 2

Today was completely knackering. We have walked for miles. We started the day with a tour of the Houses of Parliament. My group lucked out and got the boring guided, but Ellie's group had a good one by all accounts. Then it was off to St Pauls. Four hundred odd steps to the Whispering Gallery and Stone Gallery. Ellie and her friends are on the Stone Gallery in the photo above.

Then the BIG WALK. Across the Millenium bridge, all the way down the Southbank to the Eye. There were road works so we had to take a long detour. After the flight on the Eye we walked across Westminster Bridge, up past Downing Street and into Trafalgar Square. Once there we all collapsed onto the bus.

After tea it was back out again. A tour of London by night, with a few quick stops along the way. We walked across Tower Bridge. More road works on the pavement meant we had to cross the road. Hair raising. And we also stopped by Buckingham Palace for a photo. The Queen was in so we waved. Some of the children even think they saw her look out of the window.

Ellie is fast asleep now and I think I'll have a job waking her up in the morning.

London Day 1

Ellie and I are in London at the moment on a residential with Year 5. Ellie has been looking forward to this for ages. We left at 8.00 this morning and our first stop was Stonehenge. It was covered in mist and very eerie. We could just about make it out through the shroud. Ellie is the one in the pink hat taking photos.

After a quick walk around our next stop was London Zoo. The weather was much kinder to us there and we had a lovely time. Ellie's group managed to see lions and tigers but missed the giraffes. My group did the opposite.

The hotel is boiling hot and the children are writing diaries at the moment. Bed time is not until 10 o'clock. I'm not sure I can wait that long!

Exmoor In The Snow

Here are the Betazoids, at the very beginning of our walk over the snow laden hills of Exmoor. The first Christmas Eve walk we've ever done in snow. It was all very exciting, and even the dog ran round like a mad thing to start with.

Walking through the woods was beautiful, if hard going on the up hill stretch. Coming down to the stream on the other side wasn't too much of a challenge. There were some very handy logs where the kids could pose for photos.

Then we had to go through fields where no humans had trod since the snow fell. The snow was up to the top of our wellies. It was a very long way up. Even the dog slowed down - eventually!

Finally we made it to the pole - the wooden one with the yellow top (Caitlin is leaning against it.) But our disappointment was almost as great as Scott's moments later. Not that anyone had been there before us, but that there was another one, on the top of the next rise. And then yet more walking, through virgin snow that was even deeper than the top of our wellies. It took us an hour to go 3/4 of a mile. Me and Ellie fell into snow deeper than my knees, Carl lost his boot in boggy ground hidden beneath snow. The dog went head first into a snow drift. But none of us have laughed so hard in ages.

Best Christmas Eve walk ever!

Snow At Last!

The rest of the country have had snow for ages. We had to wait, but finally its here! We woke up on Saturday morning to a white world. It was beautiful. So in between getting the house ready for Father Christmas we have been playing, naturally. Caitlin spent so long making Jeffery, her snowman, it got dark.

We've been sledging with Jo. Although that didn't last long, cos it was hard work pulling the sledge up the hill and the snow there wasn't that good.

And this is what happened when they all fell off!

The dog loves it. We throw snow balls for her and she can't understand why she can't find them when they land. Snow is tasty though. She been for lots of long walks and doesn't seem to get cold paws or anything.

The only downside to snow is that the postmen don't seem to be able to work in it. Ellie's present still hasn't arrived, despite being dispatched on 8th Dec. I walked to the post office to collect my post today but the postman couldn't walk to my house. Poor thing!

Centre Parcs

Last weekend we went to Centre Parcs in Longleat. I have only just now found the time to post about it. My life has been a huge whirlwind of catching up ever since returning on Monday night.

We had a great time. This is Caitlin and Ellie coming out from their visit to Father Christmas. More cuddly toys. Every year Ellie asks for a teddy and I keep saying there's no room left in her bedroom for any more cuddly toys, Father Christmas must know this by now, but every year he brings her another one!

This is our front path. We were within spitting distance of the dome so walking down for a swim was no problem at all. They didn't want to go swimming that much though. It was too cold.

When we first arrived there was loads of snow, but hours later it started to rain and most of it disappeared. Some lingered on, and the ice everywhere was pretty. Our villa backed onto a lake which was completely frozen over. We wandered down to take photos.

The main lake where they do the water sports was competely frozen over too, we weren't expecting that.