Leaving US and first few days in London

On Friday, December 30th, we were slated to leave the US for four months to go to London.  All was well in the family ... mostly.  The older two kids were quite nervous about leaving their friends for so long and about the idea of a foreign country in general.  The adults were running around like crazy to make sure everything got done.  Then, at 1:00, a limo came to pick us up and take us to the airport.  That's just the way we roll ... and that was the cheapest way to do the 3 hour drive with us and all our luggage.

The limo came at 1:00 and things were all smiles.  The trip to Newark was uneventful and the best part is, we really didn't have to see Newark (up there on my list with Detroit, MI and Gary, IN as the worst places in America).  Thankfully, the airport is just fine.  We got to Newark early, checked in, ate, relaxed while waiting for boarding, and got on board for our 9:25 flight.  All kids slept at least a little, and certainly enjoyed having a TV screen on the seat in front of them that they could use to watch any show they wanted.  When we arrived (a bit early), everyone was still all smiles:

Everything went really smoothly that morning and we arrived at our flat about 10:00 AM on December 31st.  Then we spent the rest of the day unpacking and doing a bit of exploring the neighborhood.  We let the kids take very short naps, and all the kids fell asleep at a reasonable hour on New Year's Eve (8:00 or so).  

We were woken up by a loud boom, and looked out our window to enjoy the New Year's Eve fireworks.  They went on for quite a while (no July 4th to celebrate here, I guess) and were pretty spectacular.  That was watched by both grown ups and Allison (who woke up with the noise).  Our flat is maybe 2-3 miles from downtown and we have a great view of downtown London (and the London Eye).  

Other notes on the first few days:

- We went to the London New Year's Day Parade, but it was a bit of a letdown.  There was a crowd 5-6 people deep before we got there, and couldn't see much.  We found an elevated perch from Trafalgar Square to see a bit, however.

- We walked through Hampstead Heath.  Found a playground at the end (the park is massive, so it took a while to find it).

-  We walked in the Piccadilly Circus area and went to Hamley's - a 200+ year old store.  There are 7 stories to this store, and it is probably the best toy store I've ever seen.  (we thought it was better than the time square toy stores)

Finally - here are a couple pictures from our flat.  Downtown is way in the background.  

That's all for now ...  Homeschooling started for the kids and Amanda.  Matt worked on preparing for the students to arrive on Saturday and the class he's teaching.