Weekend news
Here's a round up of all my news from the weekend, bit wordy, so settle in with a cuppa if you're going to read it all.
First off a wedding on Saturday of one of my Rainbow colleagues. The bride looked beautiful in a strapless, white lace dress with her sister as bridesmaid in a lovely blue dress of a similar style. The 1st thing the bride said as she stepped from the car was "Is he here?" I haven't sought permission for sharing the actual pictures, so instead here's one of the co-ordinating floral arrangements which looked stunning.
After the service I hot footed it home to organise the family and have an early night ready for our big trip to London on Saturday. We left by 2 coaches at 7.30am, cold and pouring with rain. Lots of excitement and lots of nerves. We met briefly at Fleet services before heading into central London. The children's coach went straight to the Royal Albert Hall ready for rehearsals, costume fittings and photographs before the evening's performance. The parent's coach stopped outside the Kennsington museums just before 10am (we got stuck in traffic at Hammersmith) where we were greeted by an hour long queue for the Natural History museum.
There was no way I was up for that in the torrential rain so we fought our way against the crowds in the queue to the Victoria and Albert museum which had just opened and we were able to walk straight in. Here is SMO in the cast courts. I couldn't decide if I should take pictures or not, so i just took a sneaky few with the flash off.
After a light lunch in their slightly over priced cafe we wandered out to do some shopping and look for somewhere to have a more substantial pre-show meal. The sun attempted to shine on us as we strolled along the Brompton Road and we picked up a few bargains. A 30% off sale in Gap meant the children and I all got London hoodies as souvenirs. Plus I found an independent souvenir shop selling postcards at 10p each or 12 for £1, which meant I could buy a stack of 36 to share with the children and the Rainbows. I had expected them to be expensive in Harrods, but at £1 each I left them there and nearly had a coronary in the National Geographic shop where they were £2 each!!! I did buy something in Harrods though, I spotted an Emma Bridgewater stand with some Union Jack tissue paper on it, expect that to be appearing on a mixed media project sometime soon.
We were getting proper hungry by now and with the doors to the show opening at 5.30pm we decided to get our meal at 2.30pm before doing a bit more sight seeing. They were queueing out of the doors in all the Brompton Road eateries, but then SMO spotted a side street (Beauchamp Place) with some cafe signs and when we investigated we discovered Escape and had a lovely meal.
Here's my chicken with tomato and green leaf salad with freshly squeezed orange juice and behind you can just about see SMO tucking into a turkey and emmental crepe.
After SMO had consumed a slab of cake we headed off to the Albert Hall to getting our bearings. They were still queueing for miles outside the Natural History museum as we passed on Exhibition Road. The sun finally decided to put in an appearance, and with a long evening sat down followed by a coach ride home we felt a nice walk in Kensington Gardens was just the ticket. Here's me in front of the Albert Memorial railings. My coat's looking a little bulky as I have my valuables in a cross-body bag underneath it, well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!
The sky was gathering in dark ready for more rain by the time we returned to the Royal Albert Hall and I was looking forward to a sit down.
We had treated ourselves to front row seats in a box, it's not every day that your children perform at the Royal Albert Hall now is it? The view was fantastic and the performances were so professional. Our dance school performed 3rd from last in the second half and didn't appear on stage to dance until 9.30pm, an incredibly long day for them and quite a nerve racking wait. They were of course superb, not that my opinion would be biased or anything! Here is the finale with all 1400 children singing "Don't Stop Believing".
After being directed to the wrong coach on the way home and meeting up again at Fleet we pulled into the coach station around 12.15am and whisked the children home straight to bed and asleep by 1am.
I think they were still being swept along on the adrenalin high from the event when they went off to school on Monday, but yesterday morning Small 'n' Grubby was looking worn out and complaining of feeling ill, so he had the day off, but was fine by the afternoon. His timing wasn't great though as this meant I missed the Queen's visit and I will probably be interrogated by the school today who will think I lied so he could go to see her Majesty!
First off a wedding on Saturday of one of my Rainbow colleagues. The bride looked beautiful in a strapless, white lace dress with her sister as bridesmaid in a lovely blue dress of a similar style. The 1st thing the bride said as she stepped from the car was "Is he here?" I haven't sought permission for sharing the actual pictures, so instead here's one of the co-ordinating floral arrangements which looked stunning.
After the service I hot footed it home to organise the family and have an early night ready for our big trip to London on Saturday. We left by 2 coaches at 7.30am, cold and pouring with rain. Lots of excitement and lots of nerves. We met briefly at Fleet services before heading into central London. The children's coach went straight to the Royal Albert Hall ready for rehearsals, costume fittings and photographs before the evening's performance. The parent's coach stopped outside the Kennsington museums just before 10am (we got stuck in traffic at Hammersmith) where we were greeted by an hour long queue for the Natural History museum.
There was no way I was up for that in the torrential rain so we fought our way against the crowds in the queue to the Victoria and Albert museum which had just opened and we were able to walk straight in. Here is SMO in the cast courts. I couldn't decide if I should take pictures or not, so i just took a sneaky few with the flash off.
We were getting proper hungry by now and with the doors to the show opening at 5.30pm we decided to get our meal at 2.30pm before doing a bit more sight seeing. They were queueing out of the doors in all the Brompton Road eateries, but then SMO spotted a side street (Beauchamp Place) with some cafe signs and when we investigated we discovered Escape and had a lovely meal.
After SMO had consumed a slab of cake we headed off to the Albert Hall to getting our bearings. They were still queueing for miles outside the Natural History museum as we passed on Exhibition Road. The sun finally decided to put in an appearance, and with a long evening sat down followed by a coach ride home we felt a nice walk in Kensington Gardens was just the ticket. Here's me in front of the Albert Memorial railings. My coat's looking a little bulky as I have my valuables in a cross-body bag underneath it, well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!
I think they were still being swept along on the adrenalin high from the event when they went off to school on Monday, but yesterday morning Small 'n' Grubby was looking worn out and complaining of feeling ill, so he had the day off, but was fine by the afternoon. His timing wasn't great though as this meant I missed the Queen's visit and I will probably be interrogated by the school today who will think I lied so he could go to see her Majesty!
** Kate **
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