London calling

We went to London during FABJs midterm break, a week off from school in February.  Apparently London is not a top destination in February, at least based on our cheap flights (via Ryanair, admittedly).

The weather was lousy - we woke up to snow on Monday morning.  Still, we had a great time on the London Eye.  The kids were running around the ... pod(?) having a great time.  They were completely oblivious to the French tourist who was terrified of heights, sitting on the floor, holding on to the bench for dear life.  Fortunately, he eventually accliminated to the setting, and he may have even smiled (and loosened his death grip slightly).  Here are a few photos of the girls in the Eye:

Note how the French tourist is relatively calm at this point

Before FABJ disabled the tablet...

The ladies looking at all the boats on the Thames

 

Another fun part of the experience occurred before going up in the Eye.  Our ticket also included a 4D experience, essentially a 3D movie with "smell" (although I don't remember the smells).  It was basically a promo video for going up in the Eye, complete with birds flying around.  But we still enjoyed it.

 

Tuesday was "pancake Tuesday" so we enjoyed pancakes with our hosts, LBJs brother and sister-in-law.  The pancakes were crepe-like rather than "fluffy American pancakes" (as an Irish newspaper called them).

 

 

It was a nice routine for the trip.  We'd do one tourist event per day, in the morning.  Then we'd get lunch before returning "home" so ORBJ could nap.  It was an enjoyble trip for all (including, hopefully, our generous hosts).

 

Activities included the National Gallery, the Science Museum, and the Natural History Museum.  FABJ enjoyed having a giant bubble built around her at the science museum (a better parent would have captured the event on film, I admit), and the dinosaur exhibit at the natural history museum was quite impressive, even though it was mobbed with school groups.

 

The kids were very well behaved except when LBJ and I tried to meet up with friends over lunch.  They (and FABJ in particular) don't do well when not the center of attention!

 

Crossing the Thames in lovely weather

Creating their own masterpieces at the National Gallery

The National Galley had a clever activity for families.  It featured 5 paintings with a theme (ours was flowers), with 2 pages of activities for the girls to do at each painting.  The first activity was to find the painting in the room.  The girls seemed to enjoy these activities, as well as getting stickers for completing all 5 activities (not counting the one picture that was on loan for a Manet exhibit elsewhere in London).

 

super bowl in ireland

I was pleased to discover that, unlike other playoff games, the Super Bowl was to be broadcast on BBC2 (a channel that I get).  The down side was that the broadcast began at 11pm, with the game starting around ... 11:20pm?  A bit late for a "school night", so I recorded the game and went to bed.

I managed not to find out who won (not too hard in Ireland, although apparently RTE - the national broadcaster - had the outcome of the game on its website).

So I settled in for what was a rather enjoyable game, except for the outcome.  I became a bit of a 49ers fan while living in SF - the only NFL game I've attended was at Candlestick (versus the Saints).

It was strange watching the game without any ads, let alone the Super Bowl ads.

During the regular season, another UK channel we get (Channel 4) would show the Sunday evening game.  I recorded one game and enjoyed watching it on Monday evening - again, not too hard to avoid learning the outcome.  I didn't feel like subjecting LBJ to any more.  She's just lucky that none of these UK channels shows college basketball, the sport I most enjoy watching (along with tennis).

Speaking of the UK, we spent a few days in London over FABJ's midterm school break.  Once I get the pictures uploaded, I'll post some of them.
 

Irish invasion, part 3

Let me start this posting with a picture of a high-powered princess meeting that took place during our trip:

Ok, Snow White, this is how we achieve world domination...

Perhaps one of the highlights of the trip was a trip to NewBo City Market in downtown Cedar Rapids.  My parents now live in a trendy, hip neighborhood.  Part of the motivation is unfortunate, as many people have use-it-or-lose-it funding as a result of the 2008 floods.  But the bright side is that there are a lot of things happening within walking distance of my parents.  We saw restaurants, bars, a coffee shop, and a community bike shop.  And, my dad said that a microbrewery is opening a block or two away.  But the crown jewel of this development (in my opinion) is the market.

It is an indoor market currently open three days a week.  Most of it is a set of food stalls, with a lot of linkages.  For example, the butcher provides meat for many of the stalls, and the bakery provides bread.  We liked it so much that we ate there twice.  I hope to visit the beer and wine stand on a future visit (aside from buying a six pack of beer for our hosts in Chicago).

The girls loved it, too, as a balloon animal maker (is there a better term?) was set up in the non-food end of the market.  This guy was very impressive, and he operated solely on tips.  Here are a few photos to illustrate the point:

PL and ORBJ admiring MM (to protect his identity, of course)

FABJ sporting the latest Iowa fashion accessory, the ladybug

Did you really think we could avoid getting at least one princess?

It was great to see the family, and I'm looking forward to a return visit at the end of May.  ORBJ and I are going alone (while LBJ and FABJ go to France) to visit an elderly relative of mine who turns 100 in May!  ORBJ is about the only family member she remembers, sadly.  But it will be nice to see my parents during our visit to Kansas City.  And, we're stopping in DC for 2 days to visit friends there.  My sources tell me that one youngster in the DC area is quite excited by ORBJ's impending visit (no, not you, Howard).

Irish Invasion, part 2

Chuck  E Cheese

Need I say more?

LBJ somehow got out of this adventure by getting a haircut.  My sister thought that it would be a relaxing time for us.  We could sit around while the kids wore themselves out.  She had me convinced.

Well, in reality, we were all worn out.  Too much visual stimulation.  Still, we all seemed to have a good time:

You can take the girl out of Kentucky, but ...

A disturbingly large mouse (CEC to protect his identity)

Shouldn't a parent or grandparent be watching that child?

Phew!  At least Papa is on the job

One evening, my family kindly offered to watch the girls so LBJ and I could go out for a nice dinner in Iowa City.  We found a restaurant with a "Food and Wine" best new chef; it was called Devotay.  However, on a cold (12 degrees F) night in early January, it was not particularly crowded.  In fact, by around 8:30 we had the place to ourselves.  It was a lovely meal - tapas mainly; we highly recommend the restaurant.

Next time ... balloon animals and local markets.