Christmas Holiday Part 2

Last Wednesday was the last day of school before the Christmas holiday and we went to see Chloe's Christmas show. She sang and did all of the moves, but did not like the audience looking at her so she faced the back of the stage the entire time.

We had a nice view of Chloe's hair for the entire show.

We left right after for London. Like before, we took the ferry and then made the 2 hour drive into town. Our timing wasn't great and we reached London during rush hour. To say driving through London at rush hour while on the opposite side of the road was stressful, doesn't quite capture it. We were very relieved to reach the hotel. We had heard about a Winter Wonderland in Hype Park and walked over the next morning. We got to see Santa, went on a few rides and played a game.



Colin the confident one and Chloe who knows she has been a little bad.

After a stroll around Harrod's, we took a taxi down to the Southbank to see a German style Christmas Market. English taxi's are 'brilliant'. It is so nice to be able to roll the stroller right on without having to fold it up. We walked over to Leicester Square, Covent Square and then made a stop in M&M World where we let the kids make their own mix of M&M's. 



Our 2 bags of M&M's valued at about $15!!

Over in Piccadilly we brought the kids to the Rainforest Cafe. Needless to say, they loved it and it made paying a small fortune for an OK meal worth it.

A friend recommended that we walk up Regent and Oxford Streets to see the lights. People don't decorate with lights like we are used to so it was nice to see the buildings and streets a glow. While the walk was nice, we didn't expect the enormous crowds of people doing their last minute shopping.

We had a long day of walking and were pretty tired and went back to the hotel. I had brought Chloe's skeleton pajamas that glowed in the dark. When we turned the lights out, she gave us a performance of 'Dem bones, dem bones, dem dancing bones' on her bed. I wish I had video because it was so funny.

The next day, we brought the kids to a stage performance of The Snowman. It is a story of a boy who builds a snowman and that night dreams that he comes alive. It was the first time they have ever been to the Theater and they were mesmerized. After the show, we did a little more wandering before that bad weather moved in and we head back to the hotel. We were lucky that the hotel had a pool and the kids were eager to swim every night.

On Christmas Eve, we pack up the car and start our trip back to Belgium. We get really excited about going to foodstores in other countries, especially the UK. Food in Belgium is very expensive and the selection is not great. We packed the car with Cheerios, tonic and things like popcorn and some curry supplies and got back on the ferry so we could be home in time for Santa to come!