Monday 18/12
Another week to spend with my sister. It feels so magical. We thought the best idea was to stay local that day so that is what we did. As soon as the kids were ready for the day we headed out and walked to the high street.
We went to a few different charity shops that morning. It was cute how Melissa sang to George in one of the shops. They are so lucky to have her. She is so spontaneous. In the end I bought too much from the charity shop haha!
We got back home and then it was time for me to head out with the boys to the hospital. I was having a stress echo test done. We waited for nearly an hour and then I began my test. They were surprised how fit I was (me too!) I don't run or go to the gym but they said that I was very fit! After the test they put a portable heart monitor on me that will stay on for the next 48 hours. George ran into my arms after I came back to the waiting room. He had been crying for so long, Matt said.
Back at home we enjoyed the new toys bought and just hung out together. We had some dinner and then continued playing. James loved watching a show with Melissa. Then we had time to wrestle a bit before getting into bed.
Tuesday 19/12
We were all excited to start the day because we knew it was going to be very rainy and wet. We love rainy days. Luckily what we had planned that day was all indoors. London is so beautiful in the rain and fog.
Our first stop was to Shrek's Adventure. James can't get enough of this place and he was so excited to take his auntie Melissa through all of it. The boys love it when we go through the mirror maze.
The best part of course was seeing Berk at the end. Melissa is a big fan of How to Train Your Dragon as well. Melissa and James sat down and read the book while enjoying the atmosphere. George ran around in circles meanwhile.
Our next stop was the Aquarium. Melissa seemed so excited to tell the boys all the cool things she has been learning at Uni about invertebrates and animals. James loved taking it all in.
Seeing the octopus move around was really cool. We loved how close the sea turtle was to us as well. It's nice coming so often because you see different animals close every time. We went through the tunnel and just felt completely surrounded by the sea creatures above us. George fell asleep soon after.
Melissa invited James to do the under the sea VR experience. He was so excited because we always pass this and never do it. He loved every minute of it.
Once again we found ourselves close up with the sea turtle. What beautiful creatures they are. Melissa and James really enjoyed spending time together.
George woke up when we got to the sharks again. We all took a rest here. James was so excited to do his sticker book so that is what we did for a good half an hour.
We then continued our journey to the jellyfishes. I love this section. I need a jellyfish tank at home… It would be so therapeutic to just sit and watch them all day.
Once we exited the Aquarium the boys found themselves chasing pigeons. They were giggling so much. I loved watching them. And seeing Melissa with them just fills my heart so much.
We passed by this special Pokemon stall that had a queue that was hours long. We got in the queue to the London Eye and only had to wait 20 minutes to get on. The views were really spectacular. The boys never get bored of it.
Once it was over we walked down the riverside and through the Christmas Market. We got some yummy Dutch pancakes. Out of all the Christmas Markets in London these pancakes are the best and cheapest!
We then went into Foyles bookshop to do some browsing. The boys were overstimulated by the amount of toys around. It was chaos haha!
We walked into the Southbank Centre to find toilets. We bumped into a fun musical lift that sings as you go up and down it. George wanted to do it again and again haha! He loves singing along. We stopped a bit in the Little Library there and hung out a bit. Then we headed out.
It had been such a beautiful day out. We all were happy and that makes my heart so happy. Melissa and James really seemed to bond. He loves her so much. And don't get me wrong, George loves her so much too! At home we ate dinner with Matt and then went to bed.
Wednesday 20/12
We prepped ourselves well that morning because we were going to hit 3 Museums that day! Up first was the Natural History Museum. Because of the season it was so busy but we made it to the dinosaurs. James and George were so happy to see the festive T Rex.
We then sat and hung out a bit by the oldest object in the museum, a meteorite. George was in such a silly mood. He just wanted to walk in circles. It was so fun to watch him.
The next section we went to was the Creepy Crawlies. James loves this section of the museum (I do too because it's a bit less busy). Melissa was so pumped for this section after taking her bug course at Uni.
She was amazing and explained things to James. She is a natural at asking questions that get him thinking. It was like James was getting a private tour of the Arthropods.
Next up was the rocks. We went up in the lift and walked into the vault of rocks. I love this room. It reminds me so much of my dad. He spent so long treasuring each case he'd look into. We all went to my dad's favourite rock, the star of Africa, to remember him.
The boys just really wanted to run around so we let them do just that. They had so much fun together. I love seeing how much they hug each other when they play. They are such loving brothers.
Our last stop in this museum was to the Volcano and Earthquake section. George fell asleep around here so he didn't get to feel the earthquake simulator.
Next museum was the Victoria & Albert museum. I started off by taking her through the renaissance and medieval section. She told James the stories of the Greek sculptures around us. He loved listening.
We walked through the casts section as well. At this point James turned to me and asked me how long this tour was going to take haha! He is so cute. He was very patient.
Lastly we looked at the sculptures. Melissa really seemed to light up around here. Sculptures are breathtakingly beautiful. It is amazing that they can make something so elegant come out of an ordinary rock.
We then went to the cafe to have some lunch. We were all pretty hungry. I love this beautiful cafe so much. We had some tasty food and hot chocolate as George woke up from his nap.
Once our tummies were full we went to the last museum for the day, the Science Museum. We went straight to the basement to the kids play space. I thought it was going to be quite empty because of the time of day but I was wrong!
Oh well, it didn't seem to bother the boys much. They were happy to play. George got himself soaked but was so happy. James and Melissa were off playing. She made him so happy.
We then went to the ground floor to the other kids' play space. It was way more empty here so we spent a good while playing. James was so happy showing his auntie all the things he loves about this space.
We then walked through some of the galleries as we were on our way out. George was playing his little harmonica when a very rude security guy passed us and told us off. He was very disrespectful and I was fuming. The moment finally passed by but it took me a good while to get over it.
Our last stop was to the Chapel for toilets and a bit of running. It was nice to finally be out of the crowds. London is wonderful when there are no tourists haha! There are so many people during the holidays that sometimes it ruins the beauty.
We then headed home to have dinner. We wrestled a bit before getting into bed. It had been an exhausting day.
Thursday 21/12
We decided to take it nice and slow since the last two days were so much. We played around in the house in the morning as we waited to head out. Around 11am the boys rode their motorbikes to the bus stop. Our destination today was Westfield. The boys were so happy to ride next to each other. I love not taking the buggy out with me.
Once we got to Westfield we headed to the Lego shop. We were meant to actually go to Legoland that day but we just didn't have enough energy. I was not feeling my best. So we got a little Lego build from the shop for James and he was just as happy.
At noon we headed to the cinema. Melissa really wanted to see Wonka and I was worried if it would be too much for the kids. But they really liked it! We timed it so George would fall asleep. So I actually got to enjoy it too!
After the film we let the kids do the Christmas Craft they had going on. They really just wanted to play around with the glue haha! It was a cute elf door. We walked by the ice rink and the upside down house.
We got on the bus and headed home. It was dark now as it was the shortest day of the year. When we got home we played around and James worked on his Lego. He was so happy with his new set. When Matt got home we had dinner together. We then headed off to bed.
Friday 22/12
We woke up to another slow day. We just hung out and played the whole morning. There was lots of cleaning to do so that is what I did as the boys played. George went down for his nap just before lunch.
When he finally woke up we had lunch and then got ready to go. We were so excited to go see Bluey on stage. A friend gifted us the tickets and we were over the moon to go. So we made our way to the Royal Festival Hall.
The play was so fun and heart warming. You could hear all the laughter and joy from the audience as we watched. At the very end there were massive balloons that came out to the audience and we played keepy uppies with Bluey. It was so fun.
After the show we went up the musical lift and to the Little Library to do some reading and playing. James quickly made a friend and they played so well together. I then moved the boys to a bigger space so they could run around more.
We stayed there for a music rave party. The boys loved dancing and following the lights. We only danced for about 20 minutes and I could see that they were really tired as they just sat and watched the other kids dance.
So we headed home. I love seeing London in the dark. It is a different world. Once we made it home we had dinner with Matt. And as always we did a bit of wrestling before heading into bed.
Saturday 23/12
Another slow day. Matt loves it when we get to sleep in on the weekends and not have any plans. No plans that day since we all wanted to relax. Well , the boys didn't want to relax haha! So we did a lot of wrestling before George's nap.
When he woke up we walked to the high street for some dinner. On the way we bumped into Fosters Books. We had to go in and take a look! There were books there from the early 1800s! It was such a treasure to find.
We finally made it to Zizzi to have some pasta for dinner. The boys were on Matt the whole time so was able to eat independently the whole time! It was quite nice! I loved sitting next to Melissa and chatting about life.
We walked home and hung out together. George and Melissa watched animal videos for ages. He laughed so much. I love seeing them bond. We ended the night by snuggling up in bed. I love these snuggles.
Sunday 24/12
I can't believe it's Christmas Eve! The year is almost up! The boys were so excited to wake up as they always are on the weekends. Once we were ready for the day we headed out. It was a windy day but relatively warm for Christmas Eve.
Our ward was combined with Hyde Park 1, 2 and Britannia wards. So even though we got there early we couldn't find any seats. We went up to the cry room to watch sacrament.
A few friends of ours joined us as well with their kids. This space is so nice to have when kids just won't sit still. We at least can hear some of it without the pressure to maintain the kids.
It was just an hour of church but took us ages to get out. The boys were enjoying themselves since we were the only ones on the floor. They had energy they wanted to get out before we walked home. George fell asleep as soon as we started the journey.
George napped for a good while which was so good for me because I have been two weeks behind on my to do list. When he woke up he joined the other boys as they played lego star wars.
I spoke to my mum and dad as the boys wrestled and played. We had dinner together and then watched Klaus to celebrate Christmas Eve. It was a very chill Sunday evening and we really enjoyed each other. I loved all the wrestles we got in before bedtime. And tomorrow is Christmas!
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