P-day and some other stuff

Everyone needs a day to renew and regroup every once in a while.  Monday was ours.  I cleaned the flat, we ventured to the grocery store and then started school for the year.  After school, we headed to the park near the flat.

Welcome to our classroom.

It was good to take a break from the city and get some order to our lives.  There is so much going on everyday with little time to process and really absorb it.  Our daily schedule usually means getting up early and then we head into the city.  We spend the day walking around seeing things and enjoy spending time together.  After that we go to the park and the kids run around for a bit.

Our flat is still a grungy but it's growing on me.  Thanks to Amazon Prime and my brother- and sister-in-law I've been able to get knives that chop and a few other kitchen items I needed.  It has become our home right now and I can't believe we're already a third of the way through our time in London.

This city has been a really neat place to spend time in.  It has surprised me and now, I have my next trip planned.  I can't wait to come back again.  One of the most surprising things has been how kind people have been to our family.  No one has been rude or upset over my kids and their wonder at the Tube and excitement of escalators or their habit of stopping once they step out of a train or at the top of the escalator, or when they decide to spread across the hallway of a busy train station.  (Can you sense a theme?  Riding the Tube is the most stressful part of my day but also kind of my favorite)  So many people have helped carry Ben's stroller up and down stairs or carry it out of a station for me.  They have given up seats for us on the Tube.  The other day, the guys working on the road stopped their jackhammers while we passed because one of them noticed the kids holding their ears.  This is a friendly city.  The city is also quite clean, so far the cleanest of any European city I've been to.  It has been a very pleasant experience.

School.  It has begun.  We started school on Monday and I had the kids crying within the first couple of  minutes.  Wow, is this a learning experience.  Here in London there is so much to see and do we are trying to squeeze in school time.  I had all sorts of plans for writing assignments and science experiments but I have realized these past few days that we don't have time for all of it right now.  We generally leave at 9 in the morning and get home around 4 pm.  I feel like right now, Hannah and Jonathan need to do their math and Charlotte and Spencer need to do their reading practice.  Other than that, things can wait.  We are experiencing so much and that is the point of this trip.  We'll have more time once we leave London but for now we'll soak in this great city.

Life is good.  We've been very blessed with this opportunity and we are trying to soak as much in as we can.  Jonathan loves the museums and pretty much everything.  The little kids are just along for the ride.  Hannah is stuck in that weird 'tween place where she is too old to really enjoy the stuff Charlotte and Spencer are into but too young and innocent for things teenagers would enjoy.  She also likes doing things with her hands so walking through a museum of stuff isn't really her thing.  We love her and we'll figure it out together.  She is doing a lot of reading.  Ben has gotten use to the stroller and quite enjoys it.  The stroller has been a life saver though.  He naps there and eats there mostly with a smile on his face.