Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th December 2008

Friday night carol singing was an absolute blast....unfortunately, as with all schools I have been involved in, it was the "usual few" that showed up, but we gave it our best and managed to raise about £100 for the school in a little over an hour, not bad for 5 kids and 5 moms......let me tell you it was an experience which I am glad I didn't have to do in Hillcrest where I actually know people.

Saturday Phil had a birthday party which Megs stayed at to keep the birthday boy's sister company and it gave Si and I the much needed opportunity to go shopping for Phil's christmas presents....fortunately he was far more inspired than I and we returned home fully laden and finished with regards to present buying yippppeeeeeeeee and it is not even the 10th of December, some sort of record in this family I am sure. The birthday party was followed by a quick stop at the Garden Center in Ditchling to show the family the decorations and lights and then home for early bed in preparation for our trip to London on Sunday.

Not a hysterical start on Sunday morning (which made a nice change) but by around 10.30 we were ready to leave for the station to go up to London for the day to visit the Science Museum and take the children skating on one of the many outdoor ice rinks around London.....I must say that is one of the things I love about where we live, we are totally out in the country, and yet only 45 minutes and 4 stops from Victoria Station (central London) by overland train so we really have the best of both worlds.

Now after our last tube experience when we took my mom up to the airport, I confess to some trepidation at another day in London "tube hopping", but I have to say that with our new (and very lightweight) stroller and two very seasoned train catching Robertson children the whole experience was a pleasure and I could once again sit back and enjoy the benefits of first world public transport. We started the trip at Buckingham Palace with a very civilised picnic in St James Park and then it was back in the tube and off to the Science Museum.

The Science museum was everything Si had hoped and he spent 4 very happy hours explaining the exhibits to the children....we only managed to cover 2 of the 5 floors so we will definitely be heading back up in the new year to see the rest and try and get to the Natural History Museum as well. For a country that has only just introduced Saturday banking and is very "olde worlde" in so many ways these museums are a sight to behold and it was wonderful to have our children "play" at science for so many hours, I really do believe they learned a lot from this adventure.

As the sun set we jumped on the tube to Leister Square as I was determined to show the children the main London Christmas lights as we were up in the city already.....unfortunately this didn't work very well as we had limited time (needed to get back for the ice skating) and no real idea of where we were going and what we were looking for, but it did mean a brief visit to Soho and a mac and chips at Piccadilly Circus before heading back to South Kensington for skating.

While I sat enjoying hot chocolate and bonding with my lovely cousin Andrew, Si, Meg and Phil loved the freedom of outdoor skating - I must say there was something magical about a ice rink outside under the Christmas lights and although they were almost frozen by the time they were finished I think it is a memory they will all carry with them for a long time. Skating finished it was back on the tube and then overland train home where we finally arrived at a very cold Haywards Heath station a little after 22h30.

Now this is where the fun really begins, remember the freezing temperatures, well Auntie Madge (aka the bus) was totally frozen over so Si and I bundled the children into the car under blankets (thanks for that suggestion Lin, I keep two blankets in my car permanently now) and started scraping the windows....15 mins later we were finally ready to go, but alas it would seem that as the children's breath had condensed on the inside of the car window it had frozen there as well so, amidst much laughter, we scraped the inside of the car as well and then it was finally home and straight to bed.

Another very successful Robertson family outing!