London

Before we left Texas, one of the things on our to-do list was renew our passports. Mine expires first, but all three would expire before the end of our time here. But since we were also waiting on our visas to be approved and didn't want to send our passports out of our hands, we knew the timing might be hard. So we decided just to take a trip to London once we were here and do it at the U.S. embassy.

As Andy said, "If we have to spend a day in London, then I guess we'll spend a day in London."

Unfortunately we missed visiting the Jeff Goldblum statue. If we had looked at when it was being removed, we probably would have gone earlier. :(

Anyway, we took the bus out on Thursday morning, and caught a bus back Friday night, spending one night in a hotel. We had plans to have dinner with a childhood friend of mine, but she wasn't feeling well, and I told her not to force herself, since I am pregnant after all and don't want to be exposed to anything, either.

Other than the embassy, which went very smoothly, we visited: Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park and the Diana Memorial Playground, the Natural History Museum, and the Science Museum. So have a bunch of pictures!

Buckingham Palace

 Popcorn in my teeth...

 No one told me, OK?

 Hyde Park, where we spent most of the afternoon. It was warm/hot, but not at Texas levels.

 We did lay under a tree for a good half-hour.

 Science museum

 Uncle Matt wanted to treat Jane to something fun in London for her birthday, so we chose this exhibit. It was full of kid-friendly stuff, which was nice because the rest of the place was more museum-y, don't-touch kind of stuff.

 Pulling herself up on a pulley chair

 Dinos

 Deep sea sediment! No really, this is cool! he assured us.

 Fossils in the floors

 Measuring snakeskin in the Natural History Museum

 Tortugas

Thursday also happened to be our 10th wedding anniversary. We found an Italian restaurant that had gluten-free garlic-cheese bread, so that was that. The adults had an amazing meal, and Jane got a special drink with a twirly straw.

 "Mom, you're taking me away from my gelato."

 Infinity mirrors

 Friction slides. One had fake grass, one laminate, and one was wooden.

 Charles Babbage's Difference Engine. Jane knew about this (and me too) from a book about Ada Byron Lovelace that my mom got her.

 A very big computer

 Being silly at the Thai restaurant

 This is the most reliable way we know of to get Jane to eat chicken.

 Andy loves(?) mass extinctions.

 I think I was taking a break so I don't know what this critter was.

 "Hey mate! Glad to see ya!"

 Forams!

 Five years old and not into Dad's shenanigans.

 And, she's back!

 Jane's face when her milkshake arrived.

As for me and baby Snorf, we're doing fine. I'm starting to get some energy back, which is nice. I felt a flutter yesterday which I'm going to say was movement. It's early (13 weeks), but feeling movement in the second pregnancy does happen earlier than the first time. According to the internet.

Also I may have made a variation on poutine last night. The potato fascination continues.