Another crazy couple of days... traveling all over, eating, drinking, laughing.. trying not to get hit going across all these street crossings in London.  I have so many photos, it's hard to weed it down to a few.

Thursday, my daughter got to ride around Hyde Park...

The afternoon was spent shopping at Harrod's and Hamley's.  

Friday we hopped a train for Brighton... it was a cool, breezy day...



Saturday we went to Ely, where I went to school as a young lad...  this is the Cathedral there..



Stopped at Cambridge on the way back for a punt ride on the Cam....

This morning we were up to tour the Globe theatre (proper spelling here)...  it's an authentic reproduction, built by hand with wood, pegs and thatched roof.

 A stop through the Tower of London..

Finished with Evensong services at St. Martin-in-the-fields church off Trafalgar Square.

Tomorrow.. off to Canterbury and Dover.  :-)

Not enough time to write much, so just some photos and captions for now!

St. Paul's from the top.

Madame Tussaud's

Trying to get to Hogwarts!

Changing of the guards and the Royal Mews at Buckingham

A Stroll through St. James Park

Westminster Abbey

Then it was off to see We Will Rock You, which was a blast.  It has been two long days, but we have all been enjoying ourselves. 

Greetings from jolly old London.   We made it!  It was a long night on a cramped aircraft, but we all managed to sneek in a little sleep.  Arrived at our flat around 12:45 pm London time yesterday and went off on our first trek through the city.  

For a bunch of sleep-deprived, jet-lagged people.. we had a good day! Took a tour bus around some of the sites,  walked for miles, took a river cruise back to Tower bridge (which is close to our flat).  We found some supplies at a local Costcutter.   Ate fish pie and bangers and mash for dinner (well some of us did) along with a Pimm's near the London Eye.  AM and her crew did the London eye.  My daughter, who is a bit under the weather wanted to pass on that one. 

Off to the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral and Madame Tussaud's today.  

Summer is here.. school is over and my daughter has finished middle school and will begin high school in the fall.   The 8th grade graduation dance was full of beautifully dressed young ladies, and a few "nicely" dressed boys, all getting a chance to say goodbye to their friends for the summer.  The middle school feeds three different high schools.. so for many it was a last chance to see some of their school friends.  They loaded them up with caffeine and sugar and sent them home at 10 pm.  I wonder how many made it for the last half day of school that Friday?  ;-)

Last weekend AM and I attended a wedding for a coworker of mine.  It was a fun time, held in the Belvedere in Baltimore.  This building used to be a hotel, but is now condos.  Between the building and the Sinatra impersonator.. it seemed like we had traveled back in time a bit.  

Father's day was another horse show in the morning, the daughter was in with some older kids and ended up with a 4th place ribbon.  She was a bit under the weather.. having been sick on Friday and Saturday, but she persevered and did her class.  After that we headed down to AM's for a dip in the pool and dinner out with a group of fathers.  The bluegrass band that was playing had the older folks entertained.. the teenagers.. not so much.  

Now on to the summer vacation, farm runs, margaritas by the pool, and more... should be a great summer! 

It's official... my daughter is now 14 yrs old. Well, she was actually born a bit after 9 pm, but that is just a technicality. We started celebrating with a wonderful dinner at the Melting Pot on Friday with AM, her kids and my mom. That is quite a feast.. especially the dessert. Today she was over at her mom's for a family party. A trip to Hershey Park with a select few friends was her birthday request, so we will have to work that out in the next month or so.

She still has a week of school left, she did get to start a bit later... but I am sure it is tough with so many others out of school at this point.

I was headed home tonight to pick her up from her mom's after spending a very pleasant few hours at AM's, enjoying the pool on this very hot day. I try to remember to put on NPR on the Sunday evening drives since they play the old radio shows. My roommate in college used to listen to these... Dragnet, The Shadow, Baby Snooks, tonight I was treated to one I had never heard of... Johnny Dollar... a freelance insurance inspector. They actually thought the adventures of an insurance inspector made good entertainment? I listened for a while, it was tied together by his expense account.. but reached my destination before I found out what happened with the stolen fur coat.

What else has been going on... planning for vacation, working, trying to stay cool! Started clearing out the kitchen a bit tonight... scary when you find things deep in a cabinet that were best used three years ago. Have 10 boxes of Spongebob Macaroni and Cheese.. obviously not the popular food choice lately. :-)

Thought I was going to be able to post a photo of the last band concert, my daughter's finale as a percussionist I am told, but they were out of focus. Hopefully I will have some better photos to post in the coming weeks.

To my daughter - I wish her a Happy Birthday!