Birthday Weekend

Our daughter Abigail is a groundhog birthday person. She hates it, but it is what it is. Her husband Mark flew to run in a race in Boston in the US and she had been working a weeklong evangelistic outreach event at the University of Warwick. Jamie spent a couple of days with his grandparents Fiona and Perry. Becky and Abigail met up at their house in Bassingbourn and they collected Jamie. Then all three rode the train back to the Daniel House. Tom, the Daniel House director, was out of town over the weekend and so I had to stay in the London area as I was in charge of the house.

Students were in and out all weekend on different one day excursions in and around London. Abigail, Becky, Jamie and I just had fun. We had to have some of Abigail’s favorites and since she has lived in the UK since 2017, this meant we would be having some American foods. Chipotle was the Friday night bill of fare. We all enjoyed it. Since we were all tired it was an early night.

Each morning over the weekend I made runs to the local coffee shop, Gale’s. This helped fill everyone’s early morning cravings since Jamie made sure we had early mornings. The coffee, morning pastries, croissants, and porridge always helped get the day started. We spend the first day over at the V&A, which is the Victoria & Albert Museum. It is an amazing and huge art museum that is open and free to the public. It also is only about a 10–15-minute walk from the Daniel House.

We could not find an inside play place to go, so why not take Jamie to the V&A and let him crawl and play around the very expensive art. Sounds good and so we did. We also got some coffee and tea and let him enjoy the art at his level and since he loves stairs and they have a very large marble staircase, it only made sense to let him climb to the top and then of course allow him to slowly work is way down the whole staircase. He was in a very slippery outwear outfit that help the sliding movement. People just walked around him, and no one said a word.

After a nap it was time to head out on our evening adventure. First a quick dinner at the very British place called Five Guys Burger and Fries. One of Abigail’s very favorites. Then we dropped Jamie off at some friends of hers, Neil and Jane Powells home. They live in Hammersmith and so had to do a couple and trains and buses to walk to get there all while hauling Jamie, two large bags and a porta-crib. After dropping Jamie off it was time to head to the show.

The three of us went and saw the show “The Play That Goes Wrong”. It was great. Very funny and we all needed the laughter and fun for the evening. After picking up Jamie we decided an Uber was a better way back to the DH and we got to bed.

Sunday after our Gale’s breakfast, which included singing Abigail happy birthday, we headed off to Christ Church Kensington for Sunday morning service. Then we went to FFiona’s for a Sunday brunch. The meal was very good, and they really treated us really well. In the evening Abigial and Becky went to the Duke of Clarence Pub and partook in the Sunday night trivia game. They came in fourth. I stayed back and put Jammie down for the night.

The next day I had to co-teach my vocation class and during that time Mark arrived back from Boston. After class we all went out the pub for lunch and then Mark, Abigial, and Jamie all packed up and we walked them to the tube station and said goodby. It was a great visit and wonderful time.