London Bridge is falling dowwwwn

It has been so much fun having dad here! On Thursday we just hung out during the day before collecting the boys. When Pernille came home later, dad and I went into Guildford and ate dinner at a New Orleans diner before going next door to the cinema to watch Ocean's 13! I learned that a theater means there is live entertainment, but a cinema is where you go to watch movies. Also, when you buy a ticket here, you are assigned a seat which was nice because you knew where to sit before hand and there wasn't the awkward asking someone to move down a seat so you can squeeze your people in. The movie was so good and Dad and I thought that it was the best one so far!

Friday, I dropped the boys off at school and did some cleaning and then got ready because I was going with dad to the Renasas office in England and then out to lunch with some of his colleagues. I picked him up and then we attempted to navigate our way to the office which was on the west side of London. The driving here is confusing but we made it! After sitting in on a meeting with him, we went out to lunch with three people he works with. The lunch was delicious and we ate at a place called On The Thames which was literally on the Thames..clever name. We drove back after the lunch, I dropped dad off and then was just in time to collect the boys from school. We had a lot of fun after school and they were full of energy so I just sent them off to play in the back garden. When Pernille got home, she had just come from a little pub next to her office where everyone she works with was gathered after work and insisted that I go over there and meet everyone, especially a girl named Lauren who is only 2 years older than me and lives in Guildford.

I quickly got ready and was excited to meet Lauren, as I have been trying to meet her but it never worked since I have been here. I got to the pub and Lauren met me outside and was very nice! She has the curliest black hair I have ever seen! Her boyfriend is in a band and she invited me to hang out with them more, which I am very excited about! There were about 25 people there from the office that I got to meet and everyone was so nice! There were some cheeky guys who asked me about a million questions and we had to draw a map to show where Indiana is. When I said I was from the midwest, they thought I meant the part of the country where Colorado and Arkansas are, they did not understand why we call our state part of the midwest. I didn't stay there too long, and said bye before heading home because I knew Saturday would be an early day.

Saturday morning Pernille and Andrew left the house early to go sailing, so I had to wake up before 7 to watch the boys until their Grandmother came to pick them up. The boys played outside for a bit, but then it started raining bad so they came in and watched the movie 'Valiant' while I read a magazine. After they got picked up, Dad came over and we drove down to the south coast and walked around Southampton for a few hours in the gross, rainy, cold weather. It was really nasty weather, but we walked down to the water and saw a cruise liner which was cool and then walked back to the car and drove over to Portsmouth. I slept on the way over there because I was exhausted and then we ended up just driving back to Guildford because there was no point in being on the coast the weather was so bad.

We were just going to relax at home but when we got back, we decided to go into London for the night and then stay there for the day on Sunday. We got a hotel and then drove to the station and took the train into London Waterloo. After walking around for a bit, we saw Big Ben and the Thames and then it was dark so we navigated the tubes to our Holiday Inn up in Bloomsbury. We got checked in and ordered a pizza with grilled veggies and peppers (yum!) and then we both went to sleep. We slept in until 11am and then got ready for our day. We were on the Piccadilly line for our hotel so we just took the tube to Piccadilly Circus and then got off there to eat and walk around. There were a lot of sirens while we ate and I think dad was a bit nervous because we were close to where the car bomb was found the other day, so we went to one shop and then decided to go somewhere else. We cruised London and went back to Big Ben and then walked by Westminster Abbey but we couldn't go in because it was a Sunday. We were going to walk over to Buckingham Palace but started going the wrong direction, but got it sorted out. As we were walking over to the Victoria Station, we were about to cross a road when someone said my name. This might seem like a normal thing, except that this has not happened to me in over a month, since I have been here! I looked up and Blane and his parents were crossing the road over to our side! It turned out that they were lost on their way to the water to go on a boat ride! We talked to them for a few minutes before going our separate ways, but it was funny to randomly see Blane walking down the road when we had tried to meet up the whole time we were here and he leaves next weekend to go home!

Dad and I decided not to go to the palace and instead got back on the tube to go to Nottinghill and go to the Portabello Market to look at the antiques and the fruit stands. There was no crowd and a lot of the shops were closed because of the poor weather and everything that is going on, so we went to a very English pub and got some tea and rested our feet! After relaxing and talking, we headed over to London Bridge and walked across while I sang "London Bridge is falling down" the entire way up to the bridge, over the bridge and then as we walked along the water over to the Tower Bridge. So amusing. We walked over the Tower Bridge and then it was nearly 7pm so we hopped on a bus that took us to the Waterloo station so we could get a train home. It was a nice and comfortable ride home! We got back and my phone rang and Kate was on the line from Waterloo letting me know she had gotten there and would be at Guildford in an hour! I cleaned up my room a bit and then picked her up!

Kate studied in Italy for the first part of the summer and then has been traveling everywhere! She went to Barcelona with Ginny, Kelley and Jessi (and Nicole met up with them as well) then went to Germany to see her friend, then went to Paris and Amsterdam with Jessi and Ginny before taking the Eurostar over here to see me, Christy and Nicole! She has been traveling with two huge bags and I can't imagine doing it because they are so heavy! I picked her up and we came back to my house and chilled on the couch and talked! We also got plans squared away with Christy to meet Kate at Waterloo tonight and I wrote down everyone's information and tube stops for Kate in case she gets lost! We showered and then went to bed. It was so weird having someone else in my bed, but so nice to be able to hang out with Kate!!!

This morning she is sleeping in, and I took the boys to school and then came back and vacuumed, mopped, dusted and ironed. We are going to hang out a bit and I will show her around and then collect the boys and take her to the station to get on a train! It is so nice to see familiar faces and I love having people here!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day :)

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