This week Ethan is on half term break, so he is off school all week. We have been spending some time seeing some sights around London on his break. We went to the London Zoo which is one of the best Zoos that I have been to in terms of presentation and treatment of the animals. We also did some research on tigers for his half term homework project where we are putting together a book about tigers. Here is Ethan jumping on one of the inflatables in the kids area.

I just had to include this exhibit which I thought was really funny. There are lots of "stone walls" all over England!

We also went to the Natural History Museum and visited an exhibit on the scientists who live and work in Antartica. Lots of other kids and their families had this same idea. The dinosaur room was so crowed it was almost unbearable. Here is Ethan trying on a jacket that the Scientists in Antartica wear.

Here is a big T-Rex -

We also went to Kew Gardens which is a botanical garden that has a indoor play ground and craft classes for kids. It was pretty cold outside, so we spent most of our time inside at the indoor playground. We will have to go back to explore the gardens. It was a long tube ride to Kew Gardens - 22 stops by Ethan's count! Here are some shots of Ethan playing.

Ethan took a paper scultpure class and made a volcano.

Here is a picture of Kew Palace and some flowers - signs of Spring! Tomorrow we take a weekend trip to York and the Yorkshire Dales.

Last weekend we went to the Tate Modern Art Galley on the south bank of the River Thames in London. We took a boat to the museum. We are waiting for the boat to arrive below. Notice Ethan has his scooter - he pretty much takes it everywhere.

Here is Ethan at the front of the boat!

After a day at the museum and some pizza for lunch, we headed to the river bank to skip rocks. It was a great day.

Just wanted to share a picture of the Bond family that my cousin Torrey just sent me. This is an artistic picture of my Aunt Terri, Cousin Torrey and Grandpa Bond.

This post is in loving memory of my grandmother and Ethan's Great Grandmother Glenna Bond (pictured on the right) who passed unexpectedly on Tuesday, February 12th 2008. This picture was taken the last time we saw her in Phoenix, Arizona Thanksgiving 2006. She will be remembered and missed.

We took our first weekend trip last weekend to Stonehenge, Old Sarum, Bradford on Avon, and to Wales to Caerphilly Castle. We left at 6:30am Saturday, took the tube to the airport, and picked up our rental car. William did the driving and was really good at driving on the wrong side of the road -

It took about an hour and 20 minutes from London to get to Stonehenge. We were very impressed. It used to be that you could walk right near and within the stones, but now you walk in a circle at a distance. You can still get a really good look at the stones. The weather was beautiful and sunny the entire weekend!

We arrived early and it is off-season, so there were not a lot of people which made the experience nicer. Ethan took the picture below -

After viewing Stonehenge, we went a few miles down the road to Old Sarum which is the remains of a site built during the Iron Age and later a Normal castle and then a palace. Here are Ethan and Dad walking up to Old Sarum:

We purchased two wooden swords from the gift shop which lead to Ethan storming the site and a sword fight.

After a good day, we headed to Bradford on Avon - a small scenic town outside of Bath. We found a cute inn to stay for the evening which came with a full English breakfast (yummy - eggs, beans, tomatoes, and sausage (nut loaf for me)). Here are some evening shots of the town and the inn.

After breakfast we started our drive to Wales where we went to Caerphilly castle. Caerphilly is a Medieval castle situated on a river and is truly amazing. The funny thing about the castle is that the town of Caerphilly built up entirely around the castle. You find an interesting juxtaposition of old and new. For example, directly across the street from the castle is a Tesco (a local supermarket).

Here is Ethan taking a shot at the giant cross bow and our picnic lunch outside of the castle!

Ethan started school today in London at Ashmount Primary School. School starts at 9:10 am (very civilized) and ends at 3:25 in the afternoon. The temperature this morning was 39 degrees and sunny! William and and I walked Ethan while he rode his scooter. The walk takes less than 5 minutes. Ethan was very excited about school, and we even met a few boys in his class while we were waiting for the teacher to escort the students to class. He looks so cute in his unifom; I uploaded several pictures here.

The picture above is of his shirt under the fleece. They both say "Ashmount Primary School." He also has a short sleeve shirt in blue.

Ethan on his scooter:

Here he is the front of his school!

After dropping Ethan off, I got to go for a run and spend the rest of the afternoon working. Ethan just got home from school. He was smiling from ear to ear when he walked out of the building. His teacher told me he had a great first day! Ethan told me he made friends will all 5 boys in the class right away. He also came home wanting to do research on ocean life, so he could be the class Mr. Professor. He did mention that the kids write in cursive in his class and that his teacher is helping him learn cursive since he does not know it yet.

We moved into our flat near Highgate Village (Islington, London) on January 24th. We were all really excited about getting out of the hotel and into our own place! We lucked out because we also had beautiful weather for the move. During our last breakfast at LaGaffe, we took a picture with one of the owners Lorenzo who was really nice and helpful every day!

Our neighbor upstairs owns her flat and has owned it for 20 years - a very nice lady who immediately told me how to get to shopping on the bus etc... The flat came furnished, but we had to get linens, towels, and dishes. The first night we took a bus ride out to a huge American Style shopping mall to stock up on some basics. We even went to TJMAXX. The next day Ethan and I took the tube and then a bus across town to IKEA to get Ethan a bed (we have a one bedroom flat) and some cheap dishes. It was quite a sight after Ethan and I were finished shopping (bed in the box, matress, and all). We took a minicab home, and the driver helped us get everything inside. Here is a picture of Ethan in his bed!

Here is the picture of breakfast at the flat and the boys putting together the Lego Castle in the flat.

One night we roasted marshmallows over our gas stove in the flat! Yummy!

Our flat has a really nice view. We even hung a small bird feeder out back to see what different birds they have in England. We look forward to having some meals out back when the weather gets nice. The day we moved in they had put some wet cement around a garden shed in the back - Ethan wrote his name in the cement!

Life is different here. We have learned how to ride the bus and walk to local markets. They have grocery stores like in the US (but smaller). They also have stores that just sell fruits and vegetables, fish shops, meat shops, and great bakeries. Since we take the bus home from the store; I usually go a couple times a week (less to carry - and everything is fresh). Here we are at the bus stop with our laundry. Our washer is being repaired, so we won't have to do this often.

Probably the biggest news is that we enrolled Ethan in a local public school. He starts on Monday! The school is about a 5 minute walk from our flat. His class has only 13 kids, and he will wear a uniform. He will wear a blue or yellow polo shirt with blue pants and black shoes. I will do a separate post about his first day of school. Here are some pictures of a neighborhood park and playground.

The sun was out today, so Ethan and I decided to explore the Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens. It was quite a playground - complete with pirate ship.

Here is Ethan climbing the mast:

Where is Ethan?

After a picnic at the playground, we headed to Circle Pond to feed popcorn to the geese, ducks, swans, and other birds.

We strolled through the grounds of Kensington Palace and met a nice older man, who was feeding peanuts to the squirrels. He invited Ethan to feed them with him. It was a great day, and we enjoyed the sunshine.

In case you were wondering what we do in the evenings at the hotel, here are some shots of Ethan in his room (a small room inside of our room) making Lego ships and watching a movie.

Here is a picture of me working. I like to call this shot the command center.