London Eye

As the first week of the school holidays comes to an end me and Tina both booked off Friday to spend the day in London with the boys. We had tickets for the Anniversary Games in the Olympic Stadium later in the evening, but since the gates did not open until 4pm we decided to make a day out of it and take it some sites with the boys. It is something we have wanted to do for some time now but just never got around to it. Even the train journey into London is exciting and part of an adventure for the boys. All the way there they kept asking whether this was an overground train and when they are going underground? So after arriving in Liverpool St we headed for the underground and I explained the underground map to the boys, I then showed them where the embankment was and asked what colour train they thoughts would get us there. Both of them correctly picked the yellow circle line, so off we headed to the South Bank.

 

Tina and the boys on the Millennium Bridge.

The boys were fascinated watching all of the boats on the Thames and really wanted a ride on one.

 

The boys on the South Bank with Big Ben in the background.

Whilst we picked up our London Eye tickets the boys met up with an old buddy of there's, I think his name is David Beckham.

Joshua and Brandon in front of the London Eye.

Two very excited boys killing time in the park whilst we waited for our slot.

It was a very hot day and therefore we had a nice little picnic on the South Bank and then the boys got to play in the park area by the Eye whilst we waited for our time slot.

Joshua on a swing with the Eye in the background.

Little B showing excellent coordination on the parallel ropes.

The wooden climbing frame was a bit big and scary for Little B's legs and he needed a lot of help/support.

Joshua on the spiders web.

A lovely perspective photo of Brandon with the London Eye behind him.

Joshua doing what Joshua does........

Finally our time slot arrived for the Eye and at first Joshua wanted nothing to do with it due to the size of the queue. However surprisingly it moved wry quickly and before long we was collapsing the buggy and going through security ready to board our pod.

Here comes our pod.

On goes Joshua and Brandon, first into our POD.

Brandon looking a little apprehensive and wondering what he is in for.

Up, up and away..............

Joshua and Brandon loved taking in the views and watching the boats going up and down the river.

Little B looking out of the POD. Notice both boys wearing their Olympic 2012 outfits ready for tonight's anniversary games.

Watching the boats below.

A picture of all five of us up in the pod. Incidentally Tina was pregnant with Joshua when we first ever went up in the London Eye. 6 years on and she is in there again and pregnant with number 3.

Stunning views of Westminster and Big Ben from the top of the Eye.

And just how small does the park look and Joshua and Brandon were playing in only 30 mins earlier.

The boys really enjoyed watching some of the street entertainers along the South Bank. They saw everything from film doubles such as Charlie Chaplin and Captain Jack Sparrow, to freestyle BMX's, to guys cracking Indiana Jones style whips and old school string puppet shows.

 

We had a nice ice cream break as we watched this skeleton string puppet perform.

Next on the plan was to head over to Buckingham Palace. The two boys have learnt a lot about the Royal Family since the Jubilee last year and the birth of George Alexander Louis this year. So we thought it would be really good for them to see where the Queen lives.

We left the Eye and headed back over the river heading towards Buckingham Palace.

Big Ben, Big Daddy, Big Josh..............and Little B.

Me, the boys and the Eye from the other side of the river.

As we headed towards St James Park we were fortunate enough to see Horse Guards Parade. Brandon was initially a bit scared by the big horses but very curious about the swords and whether the guards were good or bad soldiers. He also asked why the guards were all so grumpy and never smiled - how funny.

Me and the boys with a grumpy guard.

This guard still wouldn't smile for a picture.

View over the Horses Guard with the London Eye in the background.

After a lovely walk through St James Park we finally arrived home - Buckingham Palace.

Joshua was really gutted once we reached Buckingham Palace as he actually thought we were going to meet the Queen and not just see where she lives! Fortunately there were some military vehicles moving around the court yard which took their minds off of the Queen. Plus they also enjoyed watching more grumpy guards marching up and down.

According to Joshua the RangeRover Evoque was the Queens car parked out front.

Military operations in progress.



Me and the boys standing outside our new garden gates.

Little B was getting tired and therefore had a shoulder carry around the Victoria Memorial.

Me and the boys at the Victoria Memorial.

Joshua and Brandon insisted on throwing coins into the Memorial despite me saying that the Queen really didn't need our money!

Joshua standing under one of the Jack's, Union Jack's that is.

The boys letting off so steam in a sand pit in St James Park.



The stunning view across St James Park Lake looking back down at Buckingham Palace.

 

The above picture kind of makes you realise just how far the boys walked over the course of our day out in London. OK so we took the buggy to give there little legs a break every now and then, but overall they were a pair of little troopers and must have covered several miles during our exploits around our Capital City. Despite all of this walking though we were only half way through the day, next it was back to the embankment to head all the way over to Stratford Station to get to the Olympic Park for our main attraction of the day. Read more tomorrow.........