3 Little Monkeys

2years 75 days

Actually, the title of the blip doesnt do our girls justice. Today, LegsLonger and Littler and Katiemoo have done us so very proud. After a not too hurried start, lots of time to create much mess, we all went to the station. The girls played at a little table, dragging chairs around the waiting room before we got on the train. Katie had her first experience of the Underground, taking us right into the heart of Westminster.

We walked past the Houses of Parliament, at exactly 11am, so the children heard Big Ben. They looked over the Thames and at the big red buses, then at the London Eye before we went into the London Aquarium. They LOVED it! Katie was very very taken with the octopus (I think because of the Wiggles) and Lyra was determined to join the fish. Ellie loved the freedom of exploring, at great speed. They all seemed to love the rays. Katie and Lyra fed some. Katie loved it when they "jumped up and down".

We took them into the touch tanks, where they had a bit of a look. But it became pretty clear that we had 3 extremely tired toddlers. We'd taken a double buggy, but not one of them wanted to settle in it to sleep. We ended up with three adults cradling three babes in arms, taking a breakneck tour of the (huge) aquarium in a hunt for seating (preferably with coffee). Thankfully, they said we could go back in at any point that day. We stumbeld across a perfect break place. Huge comfy sofas - which were empty - with costa coffee. And when the babies woke up, there were car games for them to "drive" while we waited for lunch. Before they'd finished, Katie was asking to go back to see moremore fishes and find the octopus.

We were very glad we went back in as we spent nearly 3 more hours exploring huge areas we'd not seen. Crocodiles, turtles, penguins. LOTS of time watching the sharks. Ice walls. Nemos. A randomly placed sole childrens picnic table, perfectly placed for afternoon snack. And then more fishes. Also, they found the green screen area for photographs, which is where they are playing in this blip. Lyra even managed to Lyra-bomb a photo of some other peoples!

They were having a wonderful time. We were approaching the end and thought to check the time. Our hearts sank when we realised it was approaching rush hour. And it was raining. Toddlers, trains, rush hour, rain. Headache. So we feared at least. However, they did us amazingly proud. They coped brilliantly. Noone went to sleep, noone whinged, everyone ate some snacks and drank. Everyone smiled at each other across trains.

On arriving home, the tiredness became very apparent. Katie was too tired for anything more to eat, managed a bit of a bath before asking to be put to bed. Exhausted but Happy.

Once the grownups had sorted toddlers and eaten, I was treated to a mug of the infamous Pooky's Mulled Wine. And I promise you, it exceeded its reputation! Yummy!!