Belgian Parade Cenotaph

We were just strolling when we came upon this ceremony which was about to happen. According to the programme, the Belgian army is the only nation allowed to march armed in London. A privilege granted by the King of England in 1934 for the Belgian's contribution to WW1.

And yesterday the privilege was ours. To see so many veterans with uniforms and medals was very moving and it meant a lot to us that our kids could see all this. They asked all the "why and what" questions (and lost interest) but hopefully in years to come the 'cool' ratings for the chance to witness the event will be higher!

Borrowing from the programme:

They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them,

nor the years contemn

At the going down of the sun,

and in the morning:

We will remember them

Our first day of "summer'

It all started at 4:30am. Ayden was all geared up for Legoland and Jack wanted to shop his heart out. But we managed to keep them occupied till till at least 8:30 to go jalan-jalan. First stop, an underground ride just to take us anywhere...

We tried the Diana Memorial Gardens but it was not open till 10am (?!?!) so we walked on. Plenty of cards outside Kensington Palace for Diana's recent birthday.

A bus ride on to Picadilly- only 2 hours and boy we are enjoying our oyster cards already! On to horse guards.

And we stayed for ten minutes just watching these horses standing still and we had to move on. The plan was to walk down to Westminster Abbey but we stopped at the Cenotaph instead for a wreath laying ceremony by Belgian veterans - more pictures later.

And then on to a big catch up with Mr. and Mrs. Hayes over a lovely Lebanese lunch. Thank you Bani and Sam for a lovely afternoon and letting our kids climb your walls!

Mind The Gap!

Iman with Ayden's help managed to knock out her wobbly front tooth last night just in time for our London/Ireland trip this weekend. She's agreed to hang on to the tooth till Ireland so we can give the Irish tooth fairies some business!

Bridex 2011

Military shows have never really been my thing but with the excitement of all the jets flying around us for weeks, I did not need much convincing to go to one of the shows. On entry the kids were really excited to see the helicopters and climb in and out of the tanks.

The first display was the Sea, Land & Air demo. It was pretty exciting with plenty of explosions. Jack and Ayden weren't too happy and had to hide in Donncha's arms. Poor Jack was so scared he was shaking!

Then came the part we really came for. What a great show! I'm no plane freak so I can't give you the names. I particularly enjoyed the Bruneian show especially as we know two of the pilots. Donncha has been trying to get me to an airshow for years and I think I have caught the bug!

And to finish off a walk around inside the exhibition for a closer look at more boys toys!

Zahra's favorite part was meeting Miss Tourism Indonesia!

not a normal sunday...

A couple of Sundays ago, I left the house very early in the morning. Donncha and the kids started their day later and their first stop was the local neighbourhood roti shop which is a family favourite!

Then it was to the stadium to catch myself and Angela come in from the 10k run we were doing. It was a real surprise to have Donncha and the kids at the finish line. What a relief to get to the end of that. Think I am going to need a lot of training for December!