I Feel Like I'm in London, Y'all!

I didn't realize that we were all in need of a mini-holiday, but our weekend in London was a breath of fresh air.  We decided to pack lightly and take the train.  Sophie and Emma enjoyed visiting the cafe car and ordering hot chocolate and sandwiches.  George enjoyed not having to drive and constantly stop for little girls who needed the toilet.  And I enjoyed having a happy little family.  When we arrived at Paddington station, we were thrilled to find a real live Krispy Kreme doughnut shop.  This was, honestly, one of the highlights of our trip.  We bought a dozen right then and there, and each savoured a few mouthfuls of childhood and joy.

We stayed in a lovely little hotel, The Trebovir,  just around the corner from Earl's Court station.  Lili and I had our own little girly room on the first floor, while George and the big girls stayed up on the fourth floor.  We didn't intentionally book rooms so far apart, but it was a busy weekend in London, and this was all that was available.  It all worked out fine though.  I enjoyed calling upstairs each morning and hearing Sophie's chipper little voice answer the phone, "Good Morning!" 

Friday morning was spent at the American Embassy.  It was a bit surreal being in a room full of Americans for a change, but that was about where the excitement ended.  Sophie became quite fed up with all of the waiting.  By the time it was all said and done, we had spent nearly three hours there.  Even the vending machine, which was chock full of Oreos and Reece's peanut butter cups was out of order!   Never mind all of that.  Most importantly, all of Lili's paperwork was in order.  Her taken-at-home passport photo was accepted, and she should have passport in hand in about two weeks.  Look out, world!

After the embassy the fun began... we enjoyed a decadent lunch in an Italian ristorante then took to the London Underground for more adventures.  We visited Harrod's as well as China Town, which was all decked out for Chinese New Year.  As you can see in the photo above, Sophie has had happier moments.  Luckily she cheered up as we walked through Gerard Street and eventually found a nice place to have an authentic Chinese meal.  Sophie enjoyed wishing all of the staff  a happy new year and just generally being a cutie patootie.  We also discovered that Chinese people apparently LOVE little blue eyed babies.  Lili had a myriad of adoring fans there.  Emma took pleasure in experimenting with chopsticks and trying duck for the first time.

I have to interject that throughout all of this, Lilianna Gwyneth was just about the happiest baby in the world since she was almost never put down.  She spent almost the entire trip in someone's arms, in the Baby Bjorn, or on someone's lap.  The girl was as happy as a pig in mud. 

The next morning, we packed up and were ready for another day in the city.  The girls had fun in Covent Garden watching all of the street performers.  Emma especially enjoyed shopping and came home with two new pairs of boots from the Skechers store.  Lucky little lady!  She still claims that shoe shopping was the best thing about the trip.  The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring some of the big London highlights like Trafalgar Square and Big Ben.  Afterwards we had a few headaches with the trains when Westminster Station was randomly closed for no obvious reason, but this meant that Sophie and Emma got to have their first ride on a red double decker bus.  We even allowed them to sit up top in the very front seat on their own.  They really thought they were the cat's pajamas.

Due to our diversion with the bus, we arrived home a little later than planned, but it was really all fine since we took the trains all the way back to Radyr.  We have a new-found appreciation for train travel!  Sophie and Emma watched a DVD on the journey home, and George and I amused ourselves with the narrator function on his word processing software.  You can't imagine how much fun it is to make your laptop say things like, "I don't think you're ready for this jelly."

And now we're back in the swing of things.  The girls are back at school, both wearing new boots, and I am basking in the glow of a rather exhausting, but extremely satisfying weekend away.

What's not to love about exploring the world with this lot?