London Baby!

My blog is called Lessons from the Home but my next few posts will be far from that, should be called Lessons from outside the Home, as we have spent a lot of our time exploring our new surroundings and making most of the recent spell of nice weather to visit some famous sights in the south of our country. London was top of Mr Cheeky's list to explore, mainly because he wanted to go see the Queen and meet Paddington Bear. Having allowed Mr Cheeky the opportunity to make a plan for the day we set off for the first time to navigate the London Underground and make our way into the heart of the capital. A walk into St James' Park took us over a bridge affording us some lovely views of the London eye on one side and Buckingham Palace on the other.

Once through the park we strolled down the Mall towards the big house in all it's grandeur.

Mr Cheeky's planning paid off as he timed our arrival into London to coincide with the Queen's Cavalry Parade. 

We took a closer look at the Palace as we pressed up against it's gate. Mr Cheeky was disappointed that the Queen wasn't at home but he has since come home and spent some time writing a letter to her instead.

Through the Wellington Arch we went as we made our way into South Kensington to visit the Natural History Museum which is a treasure trove of information. The boys enjoyed the exhibition on earthquakes and volcanoes. Due to me making a conscious decision not to include my children on the photos I share I am unable to show you the pictures I took inside the museum as they all have the beautiful smiley faces of my boys on. Maybe next time I will be more careful to take a few faceless shots of the exhibits.

The favourite find of the day though was the Princess Diana's Memorial Playground. I was impressed at this little treasure in the heart of London. A beautiful play area filled with sensory activities from sandy pirate ships and water play, to a wooden fort and slide area and a beautiful musical sensory zone tucked around the back. I never expected to find this little gem, I'm glad Mr Cheeky was drawn to the buccaneer adventure play area on his search of things to do in the big city.

Finally Mr Cheeky got the pleasure of meeting Paddington at Paddington Station, a beloved character from Michael Bond and we have since enjoyed reading his books and listening to the audio cds in the car.

Home we came tired but happy. Our first trip into London was a success.