Queues and shopping

We had a great nights sleep at our hotel - I can fully recommend the Kip Hotel in Hackney. The room was perfect for us and we all had a good nights sleep and we were not far from central London.

Our first port of call today (after a fantastic fry-up) was The London Tower. We waited 25 minutes for a tour of the Tower with a Beefeater, we stood and listened to his first introduction of what was around us and then as we moved on to the next place, we decided the girls wouldn't cope with the 60 minute tour and therefore decided to make our way to the Crown Jewels. By this time of was 12.30 noon.

The queue to get in to see the Crown Jewels was over 1 mile long - fortunately it was quick moving. We managed to keep the girls fairly calm during the queuing process by allowing them to sit against walls, or on steps that were a stones throw away from us.

By the time we had finished seeing the Crown Jewels, it was past 2pm and we had promised the girls a visit to Hamley's before our journey home.

We had a quick lunch in Subway and then off to Hamley's. In typical Dixon style, our journey was eventful..... As we got off the tube train to head towards Oxford Circus, we left the platform, rounded the corner and were greeted by a gust of wind, which blew R's cap off her head and onto the tracks. At first we thought something serious had happened, R was screaming hysterically and full blown tears. I turned to check her over to find out what had happened. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done about it today, but the control room have assured us that they will try to retrieve it tonight - fingers crossed. However, it has got to be collected in person! I tried to offer to give them money for postage - explaining that we are not regulars to the city and it was a homemade and very personal item, to no avail! It will now go to Lost Property and will need to be collected from there in the future :(

Thankfully, the trip to Hamley's seemed to distract R and take her mind off the incident. The girls were given a budget and had fun looking at what to purchase. DM came out with a remote control car, as did P. R had several soft toys and Aj made a Finding Dory Build-a-Bear.

We then made our way home, with 4 weary girls in tow; who are all now tucked up in the own beds, fast asleep - hopefully dreaming of the great adventures we've had together as a family this weekend :)