The Munce Family: A magical London Christmas

We are here!

After years of planning and talking about this adventure, we are here, jet lag has subsided and its every bit as magical as we had hoped.

We left Sioux Falls at 1:15pm on Friday, December 20th and had a relatively uneventful journey. Our flight out of Minneapolis departed at 5:40pm, we had dinner on the plane followed by teeth brushing and goodnight gummies. The kids were so grossed out about the teeth brushing part in those little bathrooms, I can't say I blame them. Greta and Piper slept, exactly as I had hoped. Sully, on the other hand had a really hard time turning off his brain. His personal TV kept him awake, and the two year old in front of him who was wide awake the entire flight didn't help either. Neither Dave or I slept much, either. We arrived on time and met our driver as planned, he delivered us to the Notting Hill flat around 9:30am. We had some time before the apartment was ready, so we walked down Portobello Road and to Gail's Bakery for a very jet lagged breakfast. The kids barely ate, Dave and I had no problems adapting to the new food. We made it into our flat and we all crashed for 2 hours, we woke the kids around 3pm and they were disasters, oh my gosh, especially Sully. We pulled it together and walked along the market in search of things to make our flat as Cristmassy as we could, it was a really fun way to explore our surroundings. We ended the night with melt downs at Pizza Express :).

On Sunday we made our way to the Churchill Arms restaurant via a double decker bus, much to Greta's delite, then to Winterland where we visited Santa and connected with Sarah, our sitter, who was darling and really nice and engaging with the kids. While we were waiting for Santa (1.5 hour wait), Piper fell fast asleep in the stroller. It was actually great timing as she was having second thoughts about Santa and isn't entirely sure bout him yet. After the visit, we played a few games, it was very unsuccessful, ending with lots of tears, but they were so hard and expensive. We made our way toward the Natural History Museum when I realized all kids had to use the potty. So we snuck into a very fancy hotel near Hyde Park, the Dorchester, to use the loo. We made our way for a quick photo and then back to our neighborhood for dinner at the Electric Diner and then bed.

Monday morning started with Dave's phone being on the fritz. We found place in central London who helped us and then went to the Apple store for a better charger. We happened to be adjacent to Carnaby Street which was a nice surprise as it was on our list of things to explore later that day. We had lunch in SOHO and then back to the NHM for a merry go round ride, which the kids loved. We went for dinner at a family friendly joint near our place, it was just ok. The kids were terrible. Like coming of out their skin terrible. And then in the next minute, Sully and Greta were speaking Spanish with the waitress and in that moment, they redeemed themselves. Piper fell asleep during dinner, once again, good timing.

Tuesday was Christmas Eve and we made it a day about Auntie Julie. We woke up and went to the NHM for our scheduled ice skate, which was so charming. We started out slow, but when we got the penguins, life got better for all of us. We raced around the Christmas tree and loved our 50 minute session. We ended it with a quick lunch and then tried to tackle Harrods with no success. We came home to regroup before going to Kew Gardens which was every bit as magical as I had hoped. There were lights and music and merry go rounds and helter skelters and snacks and we were loving life for the first 45 minuets, and then the kids fell apart. We finished the walk and left hungry and cold. We wandered through the area and found this most charming Christmas Eve restaurant where we had pizza, pasta, wine and tapas, it was just right...until I realized I had lost my credit card at the gardens. :( We had to deal with that when we got home. It was a magical and memorable Christmas Eve.

Christmas day was so low key, exactly what we needed after our 5 nonstop adventure days. The kids opened their gifts and stocking and stayed in pajamas until about 5pm. I did 4 loads of laundry and we regrouped. Dave and I gave each other a 1 hour walk break and it was so good for both of us. We both took in the sites and enjoyed some peaceful time. We decided to venture out for dinner to see what was open, turns out not much. It was still good to get fresh air. I spotted a place that looked like it had a pizza on the window but it turns out it was a pita and we were at a middle eastern restaurant with a prix fixed menu. Ha! Not exactly ideal for our situation, but we made due and it was fun for all. We returned and watched a family movie and enjoyed having a day for just being together, it was lovely day.

Thursday was Boxing Day, we had a lazy morning. I had an idea, lets try to find Sully some new shoes and check out that mall we had heard a lot about. Terrible idea, turns out Boxing Day is basically the equivalent to Black Friday in the States. We would never think ever of bringing our kids Black Friday shopping in Sioux Falls, and here we were in London with our kids in a busy crazy mall. Oh, and did I mention it was raining and windy and the umbrellas we purchased on Portobello Road were cheep and broke in like 5 minutes? Fortunately we found a 5 Guys and we were all recharged and better. Major save. We came back to our neighborhood and found shoes and came home in time for our sitter. Dave and I ventured out on our own which was good for us and good for the kids to do their own thing. We explored and saw SIX the Musical, which was incredible. We even stayed late (because I was last in line at the bathroom) and saw a couple of stars. We came back to our neighborhood for an amazing Italian dinner and returned home around 11 to a successful evening for Sarah and the kids, except that Sully stayed awake waiting for us. Oh well, it was worth it.

Today was a kid day. We slept in and did some homework here before going to The Museum of Transportation. We had lunch there and the kids had a great time running around stamping their guide cards and playing in the double decker busses and trains. Dave probably had as much fun as they did, checking out the history of The Underground. We finished up and came home for dinner at the flat, onion soup, leftovers, and wine. A regrouping night at home with shows and a chance for me to catch up on this blog.

It's been a great adventure so far. The kids are doing quite well considering we are constantly on the move and getting so many steps in. Its so good to not have the pulls of home life and to just be together. We are thankful we have one more week together.