We continued our visit with Dave and Lisa in October. We had a wonderful day at the Tower of London, a great way to learn some of England's history. There are many great photo ops of the Tower Bridge from the grounds of the Tower of London.
We took Dave and Lisa on our 'sheep walk', one of our favorite foot-paths near our house. This path gives you a real sense of English countryside - grassy fields separated by hedgerows with occasional sheep and horses. Here the kids are wearing their 'wellies', short for Wellington boots, a necessity with the perpetual mud in England.
In mid-October Carsons's class at school had a field trip to the National Gallery art museum in London. Here is Carson with his classmates working on their assignment at the gallery.
Rachel turned 12 years old this month! Hard to believe she is almost a teenager. For her party this year we went to a pottery-painting studio with a group of her friends and they each got to paint an animal. After the painting we walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch and cake. Her party theme was emoji's!
Since the party with her friends was a week before her birthday, Rachel waited until her actual birthday to open presents from the family. Two birthdays ??
Towards the end of October Grandma arrived for a visit! We were hoping to see her sooner but she finally got her passport renewed and was well-overdue for a visit. She brought her friend Chris with her for part of her visit and we had a great time. One night 'the girls' went into London to see Phantom of the Opera, what an amazing show!
The kids were on a school break during most of Grandma's visit so we all went into Kensington Palace one day.
The kids liked the old game tables in the palace - no video games here.
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| Gorgeous gardens surrounding Kensington Palace |
No visit to England would be complete without afternoon tea! We found a great place right next to the palace that served a traditional tea, complete with the tiered trays of sandwiches and cakes. The kids loved the hot chocolate. They even had a gluten-free option for me!
The big debate here is which goes first - the jam or the cream? We decided cream first, then jam. Yummmm...
During Carson's school break he and some friends took part in a den-building activity in a nearby park. Almost like building your own house in the woods, the boys loved it.
Halloween is celebrated quite mildly in the UK compared to the US. Our favorite activity at Halloween is trunk-or-treat with the American Women's club. This year the kids each brought a friend and here they are ready to go collect candy! For Carson's friend, this was his first time ever trick-or-treating - he was amazed at all the candy.
