What is inevitable when taking a family trip somewhere? Those of you who have participated in various of our family trips will surely come up with the correct answer: puking. It is also inevitable that at some point during our various family get-togethers, the conversation will eventually come around to all our previous hilarious stories on puking. “Hey, remember Siesta Key 2006? Who DIDN’T get sick? Remember the Isle of Shoals?” - followed by great hilarious laughter over the poor unfortunates who spent part of their vacation puking their guts out. Understand please, these are not necessarily hilarious at the time, (except for the filming of Bill over the side of the boat at Isle of Shoals) but only afterwards.Friday night, we ordered Pizza Hut delivery, and during the meal, Abby mentioned that her tummy didn’t feel well. I was a little concerned, but not overly, and she ate up, even finishing off with some Oreos. We then sent the kids off to bed at their usual bedtimes so they could get enough rest for our early departure the next day. About an hour later, I heard crying from Abby’s room and when I went to investigate, I was in no way surprised by the pizza/oreo puke all over her and the bed. Poor Abby - she picked up a bug somewhere, and puked off and on for hours. Each time she would finish, Bill would hopefully say something like “I think her color’s better; that will be it” and I would shake my head and say “Nope” or he would say “Her eyes are looking better; her cheeks and forehead are the same temp now” and I would shake my head “Nope”.
Inside, I was groaning, knowing what kind of night was ahead and, of course, we had to get up early to go to the train. And of course our tickets were already purchased, so we couldn’t waste them. I was actually doubtful as to whether Abby could even go. We spent a weary night getting up with Abby each time she got sick; fortunately there was nothing left in her much so they became dry heaves (much less messy). At 5:45 am, I asked Abby how she felt and if she thought she could go to London, to which she replied that she felt fine and she really wanted to go to London. Every time she would finish puking, she would seem to feel just fine, so I believed she had a shot at getting through the day, so we prepared to go. I think her big motivation for wanting to go was knowing that we were going to Buckingham Palace - she did not want to miss that.
It was an early trek to the X1 bus stop. We had to catch the 7:00 am bus at Morrison’s. This was NOT my doing, but rather Damian’s, making us take such an early train to get to London so early!!!!! Our train was the 7:48, but there wasn’t another bus that would get us there before then, groan, moan.
As we left the house, I grabbed some plastic ziplock bags to use as puke bags - a very fortunate move! I banned Abby from eating anything or drinking anything other than sprite/ginger ale. Once we arrived at the Kettering train station, we went to Pumpkin coffee shop and got Abby a sprite, of which she was allowed to take 2 sips. She was able to keep that down - very encouraging!! The rest of us got chocolate chip croissants, mmmm!
Inside, I was groaning, knowing what kind of night was ahead and, of course, we had to get up early to go to the train. And of course our tickets were already purchased, so we couldn’t waste them. I was actually doubtful as to whether Abby could even go. We spent a weary night getting up with Abby each time she got sick; fortunately there was nothing left in her much so they became dry heaves (much less messy). At 5:45 am, I asked Abby how she felt and if she thought she could go to London, to which she replied that she felt fine and she really wanted to go to London. Every time she would finish puking, she would seem to feel just fine, so I believed she had a shot at getting through the day, so we prepared to go. I think her big motivation for wanting to go was knowing that we were going to Buckingham Palace - she did not want to miss that.
It was an early trek to the X1 bus stop. We had to catch the 7:00 am bus at Morrison’s. This was NOT my doing, but rather Damian’s, making us take such an early train to get to London so early!!!!! Our train was the 7:48, but there wasn’t another bus that would get us there before then, groan, moan.
As we left the house, I grabbed some plastic ziplock bags to use as puke bags - a very fortunate move! I banned Abby from eating anything or drinking anything other than sprite/ginger ale. Once we arrived at the Kettering train station, we went to Pumpkin coffee shop and got Abby a sprite, of which she was allowed to take 2 sips. She was able to keep that down - very encouraging!! The rest of us got chocolate chip croissants, mmmm!
(some ancient Egyptian stuff; Abby in front of Ramses II's fist)
On the train, Abby had one heaving episode, then laid her head down on her jacket and feel asleep for the entire trip. We arrived at St. Pancras with little event and headed down to the underground. One bright note: Abby’s sprained ankle was mostly better and she had no difficulty walking on it by this time! We ended our journey at Russell Square, where we met up with Damian. Bill had just enough time to zip across the street at our meeting point to Tesco Express to pick up some Krispy Creme doughnuts. Damian met us a few minutes later and off we went to the British Museum - this is the place that collects all the ancient stuff - Rosetta Stone, mummies, pieces of the Parthenon, and all other manner of stuff. We had about an hour total to go through a few of the exhibits; we hit ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, and some other ancient things like Assyria and Mesopotamia. What an incredible collection! Oh, and museums in London are free of admission, a really awesome thing!
(the Rosetta stone; the piece of the Parthenon; some coffins from Egypt)
We rapidly stopped in at Starbucks (across from the British Museum for future reference) to get our caffeine fix, then it was back on the tube to get to Buckingham Palace. Once there, we were told to go back to the Shop area to pick up our tickets (pre-purchased online), so Bill left the kids with me while he and Damian went back to the other end of the block to get them. Joseph started getting very upset - he had to use the toilet VERY badly and so I asked a Buckingham employee where the nearest one was. She had this long elaborate explanation of where to go (down to the light, then left down that street and at the pub, take a right) the last part of which I had to have her repeat. I was very frustrated by this because Bill had told me to wait for him there and I couldn’t just take a ten minute walk down the road and not be there. A minute later, a nearby lady police officer standing in one of the doorway areas of the palace had overheard and told me if I could wait 2 minutes, she would let Joseph "take a wee" behind the shed. She talked to a couple other people asking her questions and when they left, she motioned for Joseph to come in and she took him onto the palace grounds behind some shed or other. I can imagine she saw Joseph’s distress and my frustration and took pity on us. Joseph was back a minute later, a much happier guy!
They gave out audio guides inside the palace, after a thorough security inspection, and we chose the one geared towards kids. The kids immediately got into that and we had an incredible and very enjoyable tour through all the rooms. Photography was not allowed, and there were many employees around to make sure there were no illegal photos - we did get a nice booklet with pics though!!! The ballroom was set up for a state dinner - for 170 people. The sight was incredible, as were many other things inside.
They gave out audio guides inside the palace, after a thorough security inspection, and we chose the one geared towards kids. The kids immediately got into that and we had an incredible and very enjoyable tour through all the rooms. Photography was not allowed, and there were many employees around to make sure there were no illegal photos - we did get a nice booklet with pics though!!! The ballroom was set up for a state dinner - for 170 people. The sight was incredible, as were many other things inside.
(Abby on the terrace of Buckingham Palace)
Once our tour was done, Damian took us over past Trafalgar Square to one of his favorite restaurants, Texas Embassy. We had a great tex-mex dinner and drank huge amounts of iced tea served there. Soon after arrival there, Abby put her head on the table and fell fast asleep, so she had a nice nap to get her through the day. She had been doing pretty well overall, with very little puking. She had a few moments, especially down on the tube where she would feel sick, but sipping the sprite throughout the day kept her feeling pretty well. On the way to Texas Embassy, she asked for a motrin, and after taking that, she puked it up, but otherwise did OK. We simply kept the plastic ziplock in my pocket, and I would whip it out for her to hold over her mouth when she felt sick. This system worked very well.
After dinner (early dinner, late lunch), it was about 4:30 and we decided to go over to see St. Paul’s Cathedral. We were on the red central line; abruptly at Holbern, everyone was told to leave the train, it was terminating. We all got off, and the board was saying there was an incident between two stops nearby. Since Joseph was again in desperation, we decided to go up to the street instead of getting on another line. We made a pit stop at McD’s for the toilets and to strategize. We quickly determined that St. Paul’s wasn’t going to happen, as the red line was the only one that came near it. It was getting close to Damian’s train home so we decided to take the blue line, where he could go his way to Euston Station, and we could get off at Piccadilly Circus.
When we went back down to the tube, the announcements were then saying “due to a person under the train, the red line is closed between such and such stations” - picture this announcement in a polite British accent to get the right vibe.
In general, we have found that the tube trains can get REALLY packed, especially between big traffic areas. But they are almost always clean or relatively clean and there is not much pushing or rudeness.
We didn’t have a ton of time at Piccadilly Circus, but we did do some touring around to see the various shops and what was about. There was a big Gap store having a big sale : ). Then it was back to St. Pancras to catch our train to Kettering. The train home was fairly empty, and the only mistake I made was to allow Abby to have the water she desperately wanted - she promptly puked it all up a minute later; back to sprite for her!
It was an easy ride home and a nice walk back to the house where it was baths and bed for the kids and getting ready for morning church for us.
After dinner (early dinner, late lunch), it was about 4:30 and we decided to go over to see St. Paul’s Cathedral. We were on the red central line; abruptly at Holbern, everyone was told to leave the train, it was terminating. We all got off, and the board was saying there was an incident between two stops nearby. Since Joseph was again in desperation, we decided to go up to the street instead of getting on another line. We made a pit stop at McD’s for the toilets and to strategize. We quickly determined that St. Paul’s wasn’t going to happen, as the red line was the only one that came near it. It was getting close to Damian’s train home so we decided to take the blue line, where he could go his way to Euston Station, and we could get off at Piccadilly Circus.
When we went back down to the tube, the announcements were then saying “due to a person under the train, the red line is closed between such and such stations” - picture this announcement in a polite British accent to get the right vibe.
In general, we have found that the tube trains can get REALLY packed, especially between big traffic areas. But they are almost always clean or relatively clean and there is not much pushing or rudeness.
We didn’t have a ton of time at Piccadilly Circus, but we did do some touring around to see the various shops and what was about. There was a big Gap store having a big sale : ). Then it was back to St. Pancras to catch our train to Kettering. The train home was fairly empty, and the only mistake I made was to allow Abby to have the water she desperately wanted - she promptly puked it all up a minute later; back to sprite for her!
It was an easy ride home and a nice walk back to the house where it was baths and bed for the kids and getting ready for morning church for us.
(Piccadilly Circus)
2 comments:
Oh my goodness I laughed SO hard at Joseph being able to "take a wee" on the grounds of Buckingham palace....how many kids get to do that??! This is a story to tell the grandkids, for sure! :)
Yup - and won't he be so embarrassed by this story in his teens? hehehe!!
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