the kiddos are back on the blog

These pics are from last month when we took the kids to the Children's Museum for the day in Seattle. We walked across the ferry and took the metro bus to the end of the ride free zone (which was really just so Jamie could get to ride on the bus) then walked the rest of the way to the Seattle Center, where we ate lunch before going to the museum. The kids had a lot of fun for several hours, then we headed back to the ferry, taking the monorail to the Westlake Center and then walking the rest of the way. The walk back was completely brutal, it was in the 30's, raining and windy. You could tell the kids were not liking it, occasionally Abby would just let out a yelp, and Jamie started crying because his hands were too cold.

Abby tries to buckle herself in the stroller...
On the ferry:

Abby loves fish:

Playing in the water table:



Abby takes a break on the floor mat:
Time for peek-a-boo:
Let's ride the mini metro bus!

Dress-up time!

Abby's done with dress up...
Jamie's turn:
Art time:

I needed to show Abby what to do:
Doesn't it look like she drew this herself? She's a prodigy!


Bundled up for the walk back:
Riding the monorail:
This one's for you Charlie, since I know you'd rather look at pics me instead of your niece and nephew! (okay, so he complained today that I needed to put up pics of the kids again)

London - day 7

Woo-hoo! This is my last London post! Today was spent on a tour to Stonehenge and the city of Bath. Once back in the city, we visited the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, and walked across that bridge and London Bridge, which we did all at night. Unfortunately, our camera ran out of batteries at Stonehenge so we have no pictures beyond that. I will probably download some from the internet for my scrapbook pages! The city of Bath was really cool and I would've loved to have more time there, but we did get to visit the site of the original Roman Baths (still operational but not in-use) and we got to eat in the smallest pub in Bath, and walk around the town a bit.

This is what they think Stonehenge used to look like when it was complete. The largest two stones that are connected by one top, those sit right behind the alter stone, which is a bit smaller and right in front of that. On the summer solstice, the sunlight rises over another stone in the distance, goes thru two of the outer stones, and hits the alter stone.
Me listening to the audio guide.

Some of the stones have fallen over, others were stolen or used for building purposes.
The most intriguiging part is how these stones got here. They think that some of them came all the way from Whales! And this was before the wheel was invented! The largest stones are about 20 ft tall! The largest one you see to the right is one of the ones that was behind the alter stone (which is now fallen over).
Cheers!

London - day 6

We had to switch hotels today so a few hours of our day was wasted on that. The hotel we stayed in at first was nice but a little uppity for our taste. It was very expensive but thanks to Kim and Jeff who told about "cash and points" we got to stay there for a much more reasonable price. The second hotel, however, was recommended by Budget Travel and was hip, cool, and modern. The staff was very nice and helpful and they had a business center that didn't charge you!

Residential street:
First stop was Harrod's again, with their egyptian escalators (I don't know what makes them egyptian).
Inside Harrod's:
Here's my reason for coming back - I bought the blue purse as my own souvenir to take home:
Picture of Harrod's in the background (the big building all the way in the back), and a London taxi in the foreground (which you see everywhere).
The Hoxton Hotel:

After we checked-in, we went to the British Musuem:

Second to Egypt, Britain has the most egyptian artifacts in the world, most of them here:


Real live (or dead) mummies:

Unwrapped mummy:
Bodies of the poor were often dumped in the desert sand which actually preserved them quite well:
Later, they started putting bodies in wooden caskets, which didn't preserve so well:

Chinese heritage:



Afterwards we ate at a pub (again) then headed back to the hotel as we had to get up early the next day for our tour to Stonehenge.