Thursday 22nd December

After dragging the kids around to all kinds of things they are just too young to really appreciate, we decided today was about the kids. I had booked tickets to see a Santa panto and Aunty Sarah was coming along for the ride.

The station next along the line from ours is called New Malden. Xavier announced very early on that New Malden was his favourite station and every day on the train he asks if we are getting off at New Malden. Today was that day. We didn't need to go to New Malden, but I had to go and top up the credit on our phones in Kingston before we could head to the lunchtime panto, so Adam and Xavier got the train in the opposite direction and got off and New Malden just to see what was there and just so Xavier could say that he got off at New Malden.

They discovered New Malden has a McDonands.

Stella and I just missed a train at Kingston as I had to also top up my travel card, but it turns out that when we got to New Malden, Adam and Xavier were standing at the exact door of the carriage we were on. I assumed they would have got the earlier train, and even so, whats the chances of them actually getting on the same carriage without even knowing which one we were on.

The panto was small but cute. The theatres big panto is Aladdin, however, my kids have no idea of that story so we figured that the smaller Santa one was a better option. The kids sang along and got into the 'behind you' and 'hello charlie' of the panto, but neither was keen to sit on Santa's knee after the show. He was a wonderful Santa, with a real beard and really did his best to get us pics with him in them. Best Santa we have seen ever I would go as far as saying.

Waiting for the Panto to start

Stella is not at all sure about Santa

Xavier is really not happy about the situation

A Peppa Pig stage show is coming to the theatre next year, and while we wont be here to see it, the kids (and Adam) did enjoy playing with the poster.

Adam & Xavier

Stella & Adam (think she was chucking a fit)

Photography by Xavier

We got back to Kingston and began the hunt for a new suitcase, as the airline broke one of ours on the way over. We also managed to talk the kids into visiting one of the story telling sheds. It was nothing like we expected. I thought it would be people dressed up simply reading to the children, but it was actors actually telling a story. The woman we had was wonderful, she moved around, she made eye contact with everyone in the room, she had the children and adults alike fully engaged in what was happening. And the best bit, it was all over in 10 minutes, the perfect length of time for young children.

We got home, had dinner and 2 exhausted children were in bed before 6:30pm. Yah!

Wednesday 21st December

Today we all headed into London with the plan that I would go and visit Shakespeare's Globe theatre by myself. Adam was going to take the kids to do something else and let me have some quiet time to enjoy the theatre without the kids going nuts. 

Outside the Globe

Another view outside

I have always loved teaching Shakespeare. I love the sauciness of the times and the controversy surrounding his life. The Globe is situated in an area of London known as Bankside. Now its a nice suburb that draws locals and tourists alike, but in Shakespeare's time, Bankside was considered the wrong side of the river. People only went to Bankside for the theatre, brothels, animal fighting and drinking. No-one ever considered actually living there.

The current Globe isn't built on the original site (the original Globe burnt down when a canon prop went wrong during a play and the reconstruction was torn down years later by some religious crazies) but this globe has been built using traditional dimensions and building techniques. Sadly during my tour there were restoration works going on, which meant that I couldn't see all of the stage area but it is still a very impressive building. I'm so sad that they don't run a winter season, it would have been amazing to actually see a play being held there, but we did get the opportunity to watch some actors rehearsing some Shakespeare which was better than an empty stage I guess. I visit sites of significance like The Globe and Stratford-Upon-Avon and the poets corner in Westminster Abbey and just cant stop thinking about how I can organise a school camp to these places once I go back to work. I crave visiting such sites with other who not only appreciate how important they are, but also are as awestruck as myself when there.

Rehersals

thatch roof, this is what caught fire in the original globe

To add the the sauciness of the time, I also learnt during the tour that in Shakespeare's time one of the churches (I don't recall which one and don't want to get it wrong and insult and entire religion) owned all the brothels and allowed their 'girls' to attend the theatre looking for work. These women were referred to as the white geese girls, they wore pale makeup, a white apron and waved a white handkerchief making them apparently look like white geese.  So while women were not allowed to perform on stage due to it being completely immoral, it was perfectly fine for the church to employ prostitutes to scout for work at the theatre.

I did spend up a bit at the gift shop, needing to buy new illustrated versions of Macbeth and Romeo & Juliet (my original book was lent to a colleague who never returned it), I also bought a great "You are quoting Shakespeare' poster a magnet and an "out damn spot' tote bag. Can you guess Macbeth is my favourite.

After my tour I met up with Adam and the kids and we jumped on a train and light rail to Greenwich. Which was nothing like I expected. I'm sure I had in my head that Greenwich was this awesome, cute, funky little village with great shopping, and maybe it is, maybe I just missed that bit, but all I saw was the Naval something or other and the massive hill up to the observatory and the line thingy. (you can gauge my level of interest here, hey?). There was no way that with my knees on fire (still) I was hiking up that hill, Adam didn't even ask me if I wanted to, he knew the answer already, so instead he asked the kids who both wanted to go with him. So I sat in a covered walkway and watched the as far as I could up the hill.

The massive hill to the observatory

Adam and Stella across the line

Bunny had a turn too

I was sitting under the walkways

We got a little lost trying to find the right train back, but a lovely policeman must have seen us looking confused and asked if he could help, the entry to the station was across the road from where were had stopped, so we weren't as lost as we thought. We made it home in one piece and despite claiming we needed an early night, stayed up much later than we should have.

Tuesday 20th December

After our late night last night, the kids were up ready to go at 7am, so in total about 6.5 hours sleep. Nowhere near enough for kids who need at least 12 hours to function.

Adam cant just sit still, so he headed into London to continue his mission to get photos of the complete monopoly board.

We had no food in the house, so the kids and I decided to head into Kingston to grab something to eat. It took almost 2 hours to convince Xavier and Stella to get dressed, and ended up in me dressed and walking out the front door without them before they realised I was serious about putting some clothes on.

We bused it into town and ended up at McDonalds, where else would you end up with our kids? The kids had a lovely chat to a woman on the bus and her teenage daughter, the woman was a nursery school teacher, so was wonderful at getting them to share. After lunch I suggested that perhaps we could go and listen to some story reading. Here in Kingston during Christmas they have like little wooden sheds set up throughout the town and people in costume read stories to the children. It's free, but you are encouraged to make a donation to a local charity. The shed is all warm and has cushions and soft lighting and looks rather inviting. I thought story reading would be awesome, but Xavier pretty much laid down on the footpath at the suggestion wailing "I'm too very tired, I must go home and just have a little rest right now". So we came home. Of course once we were on the bus, Stella declared "Mum I thought we were going to story reading? I wanna go to story reading. I wanna hear stories, mum, mum, mum, mum why aren't we having stories?" etc etc. Of course at that moment Adam called to tell me Dave was coming over to collect his suit so it was handy we were on the way home anyway. All the while Stella continued on with the story reading complaints. By the time I got off the phone to Adam the kids had decided that one day Xavier was going to stay at home with Daddy and Mumma and Stella were going to get on the bus for story reading. I did suggest that they both stay home with Daddy and I could go and do something alone, but Stella matter-of-factly informed me "that just not going to work for me mumma." *sigh*

They did come home and crash on the beanbags and watched a kids movie about Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. Which reminds me, we still need to take them to Richmond park (walking distance) to see actual deer. Although at one point Stella got rather upset about Rudolph 'not being able to do anything right' and there were tears when the abominable snowman dropped a log on Rudolph and knocked him out. But all was well once he got to lead Santa's sleigh. *phew*

Despite being so tired, they still both farted about for a good hour at bedtime. I just keep reminding myself that Xavier was just as hard to get to sleep at Stella's age and it will pass.

Monday 19th December

The day started bright and early with Adam and Xavier needing to head off early to David's to prepare for the fun that was to follow.

Teresa is Chinese and in the last few days we have learnt there is a whole world of tradition that goes along with a Chinese wedding. Apparently we got the abridged version, but it was still a whole heap of fun.

The festivities began at 9:15am where David and his 'posse' arrived at the bride's house to complete some challenges set by her bridesmaids to prove he was worthy of marrying her. Stella and I were there already waiting to see what challenges were going to be set. As Adam was one of the best men, David had the option of handing over any challenges that were too hard to the best men to complete on his behalf.

After being dressed appropriately in a Chinese jacket, hat and a big red bow, David was asked to first prove his strength by doing 20 push ups, easy enough, but they added a small cousin to his back while this happened. He was then presented with a plate of small crackers topped with chilli paste and wasabi with the instructions that the entire plate was eaten. He chose to share these tasty treats around his posse. Next the posse had to carry David (who is 6'5") across the street and back, and its a very busy road they had to dodge buses, cars and cyclists. In honour of the stag do, the posse had to perform lap dances for David as well a lick chocolate sauce and wasabi out of a nappy (don't ask). There was passing a jelly bean around the circle, using only their mouths and a drink of soy sauce and wasabi to wash it all down. At this point the bridesmaids decided that he was worthy of Teresa's hand, however, there was the small task of negotiating how much cash David was willing to hand over for her. Once payment had been made, David was allowed to enter the house and carry Teresa down the stairs.

There was food and drink for all before the official tea ceremony began. David and Teresa had to serve tea to family members starting with the eldest and working down. For generations older than them David and Teresa had to kneel to do this, but for their generation, they stood to serve tea. Adam and I were close to the last to be served, seeing as Adam is only 16 months older than David, even though I am younger than both David and Teresa, because I am married to David's elder they had to serve me tea too. In return for serving us tea, we handed them a red envelope with lucky money enclosed.

Adam, David and Xavier then headed back to get suited up for the wedding. Stella went with Grandma and Grandad to get ready and I headed to the hairdresser to glam up a bit.

I'm not scared to say that there were several people worried about if Xavier and Stella were going to come to the party and perform in their roles of ring bearer and flower girl. They had both gotten dressed without too much fuss, which was a positive start, but when push came to shove, Xavier was more than prepared to step up to his very special job carrying the rings but despite all the coaxing in the world, Stella refused point blank to walk down the aisle with the other flower girls.

Yep Stella wasn't going to walk down any aisle.

Xavier was questionable too

The wedding was beautiful. The venue amazing. The meals delicious. The photos will show this better than any words I can come up with. Adam was so nervous about having to give a speech but he totally rocked it. I planned to stay around to see the first dance, then take the kids home. The first dance was an entertaining choreographed number with a series of lifts, all very tongue in cheek, but beautiful and sweet. After the first dance everyone was invited onto the dance floor which is where my plan (or need) to take the kids home ended. They danced the night away. They danced with each other, with the bride and groom, with friends and grandparents and even I got a look in. Adam however, didn't get any love from the kids. They had an absolute blast, and just quietly I think they may have stolen the show with their moves.

Stella sitting next to me rather than walking down the aisle

Xavier got to the end of the aisle, saw Adam and his face lit up

The reception room

Loft space in the reception room

The first dance

Xavier, Stella, Aunty Sarah and Uncle David

Look at how much he loves dancing

Shaking her groove thing

Dancing with grandma

The level of cute of the kids on the dance floor quite honestly made up for all the carry on of the past few weeks. 



About half an hour before we were due to go home, Stella passed out on the couch. It was an easy drive home, to find a fox standing in the middle of our street *shock* we carried children inside, got them as undressed and redressed as we could before hitting the sack for the night.

It was such an honour to be able to be here to witness this wedding. I have always been a big fan of David and to finally meet the woman who has stolen the heart of our Aussie boy it all now makes sense. Teresa is gorgeous, inside and out. She is warm and friendly, funny and outrageous. She has welcomed us into her life with love and excitement and has embraced Xavier and Stella as if she had been there from the start of their time earthside. Xavier and Stella have showered her with the same excited affection, even Xavier, the quiet, reserved boy who sits back and assesses situations before jumping in, just couldn't hold back with his new Aunty Teresa. I cant wait to hear news of them having children of their own, but I really cant wait to hear news that they are going to be calling Australia home, even if just for a short while.

Just before we left we remembered to get a photo of us together

Sunday 18th December

Adam's parents must have taken pity on us after the lunchtime antics of the kids on Friday, because yesterday Sarah called Adam to ask if she and Grandma could take the kids for the day, they were thinking perhaps to a movie. Naturally we jumped at the offer.

Xavier and Stella were collected about 10:30am and headed off on the bus with Grandma and Aunty Sarah with plans of a McDonalds lunch and movie visit confirmed. Adam and I headed to the train Station into London to spend some time admiring all the artifacts at the British Museum. The Brits like the tell you that they are taking care of all of these precious items for the good of the entire world, however, its really just a collection of stuff that England as stolen from other countries.

Like all museums in the UK its free entry, because we didn't have the kids and therefore the pram, we had to check our coats and bags into the cloakroom. Its so cold out, that you need to really rug up, however, there is nothing at all wrong with the heating in most buildings in London. You walk in the door of anywhere and almost pass out with the overwhelming heat. Shopping is a constant state of dress, undress, dress, undress, its nuts. Also because shopping centers as we know them aren't really the norm here, strip shopping on a high street is much more the norm.

I was starving so we headed off to find something to eat, we thought seeing as we were kid free we would skip the sandwiches at the cafe and head up to the restaurant for something a bit fancier. However, on getting up to the restaurant we almost passed out, not at the heat but at the prices. We decided that perhaps sandwiches weren't so bad after all and we might get something nice for afternoon tea on the way home instead as our little indulgence.

This is the inner area of the museum. It used to be a courtyard but they filled it in to make more exhibition space. Its breathtaking. The Restaurant is at the top of this central round section.

We figured that seeing as the Rosetta stone is the pride of the museum we would head there first. The stone is a pretty significant item. Its a massive slab of stone with the same passage carved into it in Hieroglyphics, Ancient Greek and something else (yep totally a history buff am I) which was the standard language of the general people. Finding this stone meant that researchers were able to, for the first time, really able to decipher the hieroglyphics they had found as ancient Greek was commonly understood. So a pretty huge find. It was found in Egypt, so technically belonged to the Egyptians, however, somehow the French had it, and when England conquered the French, they took possession of the stone. Now you might think that the English might hand this significant item back to the Egyptians, but nope, they are 'taking care of it' for the good of the world.

Rosetta Stone

We spent a bit of time in the Egyptian section of the museum and boy are they taking care of a fair bit for the Egyptians. We saw statues, sarcophagus's, mummies (OK so these were freaking cool) and a range of pots, stones, blah blah blah stuff. But the mummies were pretty awesome. Seeing the mummies made me realise how small people used to be, we really must just be getting taller and taller each generation. I also really liked the x-ray pics that went with the mummies showing what was inside.

And a piece of Pyramid, ya know, just looking after it.

One thing that I was pretty excited to see was a real 'bog' body. I studied bog body poetry in high school and have since been fascinated with the bodies that were so perfectly preserved in the peat bogs. So much so that I once wrote an entire Rock Eisteddfod around my fascination with these amazing memories of the earth (it was awesome too). I would love to someday go to Ireland and see more of these bodies.

Seriously amazing.

The museum is so huge that there is no way you could see it all, even it you arrived at opening and were kicked out at closing. We finished up with the Parthenon area. Just one more item that the Brits are taking care of for the good of all. I kid you not, they have to have at least 50% of the carvings from the Parthenon there. Apparently the Greek government have asked several times for it back but the Brits are refusing the give it back claiming that its an important part of the museums collection in helping people to understand the time line of civilisation. right. They also like to emphasise that while they have it, it is able to be viewed by anyone for no charge. They also had a tonne of statues from the Parthenon, all but 1 without heads. Apparently the heads are being 'taken care of' by someone else who decided they needed taking care of first.

See, walls of the carvings

The 1 statue with a head

By this point my interest in old stuff was wearing very thin. I was BORED! So we headed back to the station with the plan of getting a small snack along the way. We walked back through a small park, where I was naturally overjoyed to see a squirrel. Then ended up with some hot chocolates for the train ride home.

Of course the kids were perfect for Grandma and Aunty Sarah and had a wonderful day. Although when we got home Xavier was missing. He had been borrowed by Uncle David to go and jump on their new bedding. HUH???? Yep my 4 year old was being encouraged to jump on a bed. Why, I hear you ask? Its Chinese tradition for the bride and groom to receive new bedding as a wedding gift, traditionally the brides mother/sisters/aunts would make it (I'm not sure who made this one) but before the wedding they have young children (usually nieces and nephews) come and jump on the bed for good luck and the hope that they will soon be blessed with children of their own. Teresa's nieces had participated in a good bed jumping, but to encourage some sons also, David came to borrow Xavier for him to have a jump on the new bedding too (he didn't want Stella and her girl germs). Fingers crossed it works for them and we hear the pitter patter of tiny feet soon. Also fingers crossed that Xavier doesn't think that jumping on new bedding is OK at home.

We spent the night getting all ready for the big day tomorrow. The day we have travelled half way around the world for, the wedding day of David and Teresa. All the time hoping and praying that Xavier and Stella would perform their duties beautifully.