Jumping Back To The Marvelous Present

As I write this, it is 2:21 p.m. on Monday, July 10. I'm actually going to be writing about this weekend and today, and I'll try to catch up on the missing days from last week later - maybe tomorrow.

Steve and I decided Friday night to go into London on Saturday. Some of the plans included riding the bus to the train station, then catching a train into London, then using the bus system in London to get around; going to the London Eye; going to the Natural History Museum; driving ourselves; going to Kensington Park.

In the end, we decided to drive (!) and just do the museum (free) and the park (also free). Driving in wasn't the big ugly thing we had been led to believe it was. Of course, we didn't go all the way into the middle of London - we were on the outskirts of the middle. Make sense? It took about an hour or so to get there. Maybe a little longer. We paid £9 to park for 3 hours, but we got into the museum for free. The whole purpose was to see dinosaur bones.

We were not disappointed! In addition to various skeletons of dinos, we also saw a life-sized animatronic T-Rex. Caleb was in awe, Audrey was freaking out, and Julie was sleeping. We hung around the museum for our full 3 hours and then drove up the road a bit to Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park.

It wasn't the lush green spot I had imagined. There were stretches that looked like they were in need of a serious mowing. We saw the Peter Pan statue and got some cool pictures of the kids climbing all over it. The goal after that was to go to the Princess Diana Memorial Playground. I had read it was really cool. Unfortunately we went to the wrong corner of the park and ended up at a below-average playground populated by a bunch of thuggish pre-schoolers. Ironically it was across the street from something called "Rotten Row." I have no idea what Rotten Row is, but I certainly felt it had oozed across the street to the playground.

We got home around 5 p.m. and had burgers for dinner. I bought some frozen patties a week ago and Steve requested that I never buy them again. I thought they were fine. But I will defer.

Oh - almost forgot. On the way home we located the church in Woodley that Steve with which has a distant connection. A former pre-school Sunday school teacher of his married a man who is now the pastor of a large Baptist church in London. She knows the minister's family at this church. Got it? We decided to find the church to see how long it would take us to get there on Sunday morning. Thirty minutes later pulling into our driveway, we decided to find something a little closer to home.

Sunday morning we made our way to the Kennet Valley Church. They are meeting in the school next to their building while their new facility is being built. Sound familiar to anyone? I hope this next part doesn't ring true for anyone: after church, the whole congregation walked 2 buildings down to the pub for drinks. No kidding. :) The local pub has let the congregation use their function room for coffee after the service. We got a kick out of this part!

We liked the service - Biblically sound. The music was not that different - "How Great Thou Art" and "Lord I Lift Your Name on High" were the first 2 songs. After that the songs were unfamiliar, but not strange. Except the one by Charles or John Wesley. I forget which. The music sounded very English and the words kind of clunked over each other as old English songs are wont to do.

Caleb and Audrey went out to Junior Church, and Caleb ended up staying in Audrey's class with her because she was a little distressed. Both did fine. Julie, however, didn't do so well in the creche (nursery). We could hear her wailing, so Mum went and rescued her. Little toot. She spent the remainder of the service cooing and making eyes at all those around us.

The people were so incredibly friendly. Reminded me of home! We met 2 or 3 families who live just a few houses away from us, even though the church is in another village. Not to be confused with Colonel Sanders, the website is www.kvfc.org.uk.

Lunch was lamb kebobs. Wait - that was dinner Saturday. Burgers were for lunch Sunday. Steve requested the kebobs again with pita and the ranch-type sauce they use on Greek food.

Dinner was a leg of lamb. It was fabulous! Caleb ate so much of it! He also ate the mixed veg and jacket potato. I can't believe he ate the potato - this is a first.

Sunday afternoon we let the kids watch TV for a while. I don't care what Steve says, TV is a necessity, especially with these 2.

Monday morning we got up earlier than usual to take Steve to his safety training that he was supposed to take last week. They messed up his registration, so he had to go today.

I'm cutting this short - it's 2:47 and Caleb gets out of school at 3:15. The girls and I need to drive down and pick him up before we swing down to get steve early.

April