The life and times of Libby Withnall

Sorry I won’t be able to blog any more

Yes, I know the girls have only been back at school for a week and half but I’m already exhausted. I’m sure our ridiculous temperatures last week didn’t help. We had almost 7 days of near or over 40deg celsius (104F). Thank goodness for air conditioning!!!

The first day saw Amy head off on a year 7 camp for 3 days and Christy starting in year 4. She has a teacher that is new to the school and is very happy with her.

Then Amy got her have her first proper day in High School. She looks so grown up in the shirt and skirt.

We have to leave home at 7.20am to get Amy, and her friend Emerson, to the bus stop on time. The plan is for them to walk home from the bus it’s so far I’ve picked them up. They missed the bus home from school yesterday, which meant a dash into town to pick them up (15min car trip each way).

I’ve had to open the uniform shop twice (for an hour or two) and spent another 45mins filling orders today. Plus I’ve been getting my household routines re-established and have gone back to the gym. On top of all this my heel spur is acting up. Unfortunately my plan to rest it isn’t really working out!!!! So life has been crazy busy, and not at all like I like it to be. Tomorrow in Christy’s swimming carnival, then I’m hoping to have two days at home to just potter around doing jobs and having some free time for crafting .

Still problems with the photos. It’s driving me nuts. I do the same thing every time. Some times they work. Some times they don’t. Looks like I might have to stick to videos until it gets resolved. So sorry everyone.

I saw this fantastic idea on Natalie’s blog. Some of the other blogs I read do a monthly sum up but I think a seasonal recap is a great idea and a fun way to remember the seasons. Most of this is probably already on the blog but you might learn a thing or two you didn’t know .

I travelled to…

London

Spent 5 fun-filled day in the big city. Walked lots and saw most of the sights. Stayed in a cute B&B.

The Baltics

Our 12 cruise took us to Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Denmark. The highlight would have to be the two days we spent in St. Petersburgh, Russia. But everywhere was just amazing.

The UK

We hired a motorhome and explored England and Scotland for 3.5 weeks – driving from the very bottom (Portsmouth) to the top (John O’Groats). My Dad joined the girls and I in Scotland which made for incredible memories. I fell madly in the love with the North West coast of Scotland and can’t wait to return one day (hopefully sooner rather than later).

I listened to…

The new Enrique Iglesias album, Euphoria

I read….

a few Scottish Historical romances (in preparation for and during our trip). I started using my kindle more and now dislike having a hold a REAL book.

I watched…

quite a few movies on the plane to and from the UK. During the whole 6 weeks we were away I watched NO TV – and loved it . In June we watched LOTS of documentaries on Scotland, plus the movies Braveheart and Rob Roy. I don’t think I’ve seen so much blood and dead people in my life . Back home we watched the Canadian show Being Erica.

I wore….

my beloved Crocs almost every day. I also wore my new jeans which, most surprisingly, were too big when we got back from the trip (can’t the say the same now though ). Most days you would find me wearing my new glass heart necklace that I bought in Sweden. LOVE IT!! And I’ve had so many comments on it. I also wore my new purple wind jacket an awful lot .

I scrapped….

hardly anything.  By the end of Winter I was just starting to get back into it again but found it hard after such a long break. I got 1200 photos (out of 5,000) printed from Snapfish of our trip .

I planned…

the finishing touches of our big trip. And almost as soon as we returned started making plans for our next trip.

I celebrated….

my birthday, my cousins Wedding, Amy being accepted into the selective high school for next year.

I dreamed of…

living in the UK (need I say more)

Odd and sodds….

The dogs (and us) had some lessons from the naughty dog school.

I went on Amy’s class excursion to Kiama and to a dairy farm.

We went to the organic expo in Sydney followed by Luna Park

Christy sang in the school massed choir

August proved to be difficult month as it took me a lot longer to settle down after the trip than I expected.

We attended the funeral service for our friends father.

Sorry to have disappeared completely. Unfortuanately internet is slow and very expensive so we haven’t used it – till today. We’re on the second last day of the cruise and as soon I get back the UK I will start bombarding you with photos and diary from the last 12 days. The cruise has been fabulous – esp. Russia which we all fell in love with. I’ve missed reading your blogs and hearing from you but all will be back to normal very soon.

Unfortunately I awoke a little on the early side today – around 3.30am – and couldn’t get back to sleep. Kevin & Amy woke around 4.30am and Christy a while later. Once again I used the time to blog and play on the computer. Just before 8am we went downstairs for breakfast. Today we were greeted with the delicious smell of warm crossiants.

We set off, with Kevin taking our “setting out for the day” photo. As you can tell warm weather of 25deg  is forecast for today. We haven’t even packed jackets (except for Christy) so they’d better be right.

We caught the tube all the way to South Kensington today – 19 stations and a short walk later we were at the Science Museum. We had about a 10min wait till it opened.

Kevin had wanted to come to this museum but he was a little disappointed as a lot of renovation work was going on.

We stopped for some morning tea. I can’t get over the healthy food choices available here and the fact that so much is organic. All the disposable plates were recyclable, the cutlery was bambo and fairtrade tea, yet again. I tried my first flapjack – can I just say YUM!

Probably the best part for the girls was this great interactive area. We probably spent around an hour here, but it was a bit overrun with bad mannnered school kids.

We then walked next door to the Natural History Museum. This was just one of the entrances.

This was another caotic, busy, hard to find your way around museum. We decided to leave lunch till Harrods so had a quick snack. I had organic popcorn! We then set off to explore.

Can’t say I particularly enjoyed my visit here but Amy was in one of her “tween” moods which didn’t help. We paid to go “The Deep” exhibition but it was a bit of a fizzler.

I did like seeing the deep sea fish though – very weird!

We then walked to Harrods, stopping along the way for a photo in a red phone booth.

So many beautiful buildings. Especially set against a lovely blue sky.

And so to Harrods….

First stop…FOOD! Another maze of a shop. We eventually found the kid friendly Wonderland cafe. Try not to faint when you see the prices (just under double for Australian dollars).

We ordered 3 bowls of Sweet Potato Soup, which was made with the amazing care and attention. And was delicious!

And a bowl of fries for Christy. Who had fun watching Tom & Jerry while eating her lunch.

We had a visit here from Evil Tween Amy so it was an expensive but not an especially nice lunch. I was mean Mum and made her buy her own water – I refused to pay 4.50 pounds (around $8AU) for a bottle of water, when we had some in our bag.

I had to laugh when I looked out the door of our cafe (with cartoons  on the TV) and across into the next restuarant with a man playing the piano.

We then did a small amount of shopping. The girls were just amazed by the pet section.

And these pet cupcakes look good enough to eat.

We also watch a Vitamix presentation and were amazed to discover all it can make – including hot raw soup. The samples made were delicious and we’re looking forward to playing with our vitamix some more.

Back on the tube. When we got on there was only one seat which I told Amy to sit in as she’d whinged the most. Immediately the man sitting beside her (complete with tattooed scalp) jumped up to give me his seat. Just goes to show you can’t judge manners based on looks. My feet, and I, thanked him, as did Christy who sat on my lap. Back in Southgate we had dinner once again the Charcoal Grill. I ordered the pita with hummus, which was delicious, but too much. We seemed to have a LOT of leftover food tonight.

We then walked home – it was such a warm night and there seemed to be a lot of people around. Still so light at 7pm.

I washed all our underwear in the bath and hung them around the bathroom. We had planned to do a full wash but found out there in no laundromat in Southgate and we’d have to catch the tube and lug all our laundry. Plus we don’t really have the time. So we’ll need to pay to get everything washed on the cruise . We watched a few episodes of Airline and then everyone gradually went off to sleep. I was the last one standing (or lying in bed as the case may be) at 9.30pm.

We have a big day tomorrow – the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Madam Trussards, dinner with an old school friend and seeing the musical Oliver. Can’t believe it’s already our last day in London.

Goldies spotted today – zero

Finally we were greeted with blue skies and sunshine. Today was just what you’d expect for a British Summer day. We woke early again and played on our computers until it was time to get up, get dressed and go down to breakfast. It’s certainly hard trying to keep everyone (well, the kids) quiet until we’re all awake but hopefully they’ll get the hang of it soon – afterall we’re going to be living in the one room for the next 6 weeks!

This morning I chose to have a fried egg on toast…with tea, of course.

We had a chat with the owner Sabiya this morning and Christy played with her gorgeous little boy, before we set off for South Gate and the tube to London.

As expected on a work day it was somewhat busier than on the weekend but being towards the end of the line we were able to get a seat on the way in. We changed at Kings Cross and went on to Tower Hill (so much easier than yesterdays attempt).

It was just amazing. Kevin and I have been before, back in 1997, but couldn’t really remember much of it. It is awesome. So full of history. It is recommended to allow 3 hours here. We spent 5 and still missed doing the Yeoman tour. We did all 5 audio tours.

I was glad we got there just after opening as it got busier as the day went one – which is why we never got around to the yeoman tour. Once again we had an early lunch.

They even had a cute little section “just for kids”

I actually chose a cheese roll from the kids section …. so I could fit it one of the very cute cupcakes . And I loved that the tea was fair trade. I’ve been so impressed with the healthy food and organic choices  in London.

After lunch we continued with the audio tour. Christy bought herself a new favourite toy – which she proceeded to play with all afternoon.

Later went to watch a weapons show. One of the actors was amazed to find a young girl reading this book….

She doesn’t get it from me. I wouldn’t even go into the exhibit on torture and punishment .

Lastly we visited the white tower.

Since it was late in the day it was rather busy but we still managed to see all the amour. Christy was most interested in the childrens and horses armour.

Though in typical child fashion she pointed it that this suit of Henry VIII was indeed that of a adult boy .

One the way out we were lucky enough to catch one of the guard ceremonies.

and have a photo with one of the yeoman warders.

It was now 3pm and we were tired and suffering with sore feet again but we solidered on and caught the tube to Barbican station and walked to the Museum of London. After dropping our bags off (with a great deal of relief) we went in search of food and a rest for our feet. I was SOOO impressed to find this. And somewhat surprised that both Kevin and myself chose to have this for afternoon tea (instead of cake, which would have been the case a year or two ago). It was delicious and the perfect way to refuel.

We then set of to explore…on our own…without a tour or guide…which we prefer not to do. The girls loved this saxon house and Christy played happily for around 15mins… until she got a splinter.

There was enough of interest to have made the trip worthwhile and quite a lot of interactive stuff for the girls to play with.

At 5.30pm our feet were about to give out on us so we headed back to the tube for the ride home. It was crowded and we didn’t manage to get a seat until right towards the end. Like last night we had dinner in South Gate. Tonight we chose Pizza Express (which is a lot more elegant than it sounds).

Tonight the natives played horses & knights.

Kevin and I chose a pizza with the middle dough part missing and replaced by salad – genius I say – and the perfect amount for Kevin & I to share. Best of all – it was SOOO yummy!

Amy had the kids meal which was dough balls (dipped in garlic butter) and pizza.

Christy chose garlic bread – which wasn’t what she expected but she enjoyed all the same.

We then trudged back to the B&B and collapsed onto our beds. Tomorrows plan is the Science Museum, Harrods and maybe Buckingham Palace.

We were all awake by 4.30am – which meant we all got a good nights sleep. We lazed in bed – the girls writing up their diaries and me writing yesterdays blog post. Eventually we got up, got dressed and headed down to breakfast, where we watched the kitties play while Sabiya cooked our breakfast.

Today Kevin and I shared a mushroom, tomato and spring onion omelette. It was DELICIOUS!

Then it was time to don our jackets and head outdoors. It was VERY cold and we quickly realized we needed another layer (and some socks) for Christy. Who would think it’s mid Summer?

We caught the bus again…

Then the tube, only to discover the circle line was out of operation. We found out how to get to the next station to the Tower of London but realized we’d lost a good hour and a half of the day. Instead we decided to go to the British Museum. We finally got their around 11am.

By the time we got in, dropped our jackets and bags in the kids area, and decided what we wanted to do, it was 11.30am and I thought an early lunch before starting out might be a good idea. I chose a leek and potato soup but it wasn’t that good – too many leaks I think – so I just at the baguette it came with – and half of Christy’s cookie.

Then it was time to start our audio tour. We went with the kids tour guides that had the option of listen to the adult commentary. It worked really well. Both the girls thoroughly enjoyed it (as did Kevin and I). We did 3 of the tours – Ancient Egypt, Early Britain and Ancient Greece.

Here’s a collage of some of what we saw.

Highlights would be the Rosetta Stone…

and the Parthenon Freeze.

Christy loved this little hippo that we saw in the souvenier shop. Of course, we’d missed it on the tour so had to go back in search of it. She was a bit surprised it was so small. I was amazed it was over 4000 years old.

Kevin made us have a photo with this bronze statue. Apparently it’s famous and we have a documentary about it at home. Christy was quick to point at this it is, in fact, a boy!

Finally, with VERY sore feet, it was time to leave the museum and had to the markets – Covent Garden Markets that is. It was probably around a 15min walk.

The girls loved the street performers.

I loved finding a Whittards store. I was very restrained and only bought a few things.

Just look what I had to tempt me.

We bought an ice-cream from Thorntons – Kevin & I had raspberry and cream and boy was it yummy. We sat in the sunshine to enjoy it.

We then spent around half and hour relaxing and enjoying this street performer, who ended his rather funny routine with a tightrope walk.

We then explored the market section. I got myself a lovely handmade wooden vase and flowers, and Amy bought herself this very cute hat.

Then it was time to catch the tube and bus back to Southgate where we had dinner.

The natives were acting a little strange.

I order the vegetables with rice. Totally delicious. You just can’t order a meal like this in Australia.

We then walked back to the B&B and relaxed for a bit before going to sleep. Tomorrow we hope to make it to the Tower of London.

And you’ll be happy to know today Christy spotted not one, but two Goldies.

No more green smoothies for 6 whole weeks.

Just wanted to let you know there will no further posts on this blog while we are on vacation in the UK. I will however be blogging whenever possible and will be sure to share LOTS of great food over at Life is Journey, Not a Destination. Hope to see you there.