Doctor's Visit

Today Rachel had a visit with a "paediatric endocrinologist". Here is a very quick summary of the experience.
I left the house a little after 12:30 to go to the bank (cash is good to have). Hannah and Lizzie got dropped off at a friend's house a few cities over. I picked up Emily and Rachel from school a few more cities over and we drove to the Tube station. We took the Tube into London and made it for her 3:00 appointment. We met with the nice, young doctor who was running a bit behind (30 minutes). I was relieved to find that he uses the same tests that our American doctor uses. And the blood lab was in the same building! Good things!
Rachel's a trooper. She's done this twice a year since she was born to test her thyroid levels. She turned down the numbing cream (she's never been offered that before!) and didn't even flinch when the needle went in. She loved showing off the plaster (band-aid) and sticker and saying how brave she is because "it doesn't even hurt--it just feels like someone is hugging my arm."
Time to go home. We take the Tube back, pick up the car, pick up Lizzie and Hannah and are back to the house a little before 6! The girls eat cereal and toast for dinner while I feed Lizzie. They (all 4) take a quick bath and are in bed by 7:15--just in time for Jon to say goodnight.
Here are my thoughts:
I'm exhausted!
I think it's funny that it took as long as it did!
I'm so glad we have private insurance (as opposed to using the NHS) so Rachel can be seen by a specialist.
I'm glad I know someone who can watch my kids--she just moved here from Houston 5 weeks ago.
I can understand why many American moms here have au pairs (foreign nannies).

Do You Do This?

Last night I was craving a chicken finger recipe I made a year or two ago. Chicken strips dipped in coconut, pecans and something else. Of course, I left the cookbook with the recipe in the States. Luckily, I found a similar one on allrecipes.com. Here's what the recipe called for:

1 1/2 cups plain fat-free yogurt
2/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes
2/3 cup panko (Japanese-style bread crumbs)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1 1/2 pounds chicken breast, cut in 1-inch wide strips

I had not been shopping since we got back from our trip, so our fridge was looking a bit scarce--no milk, no eggs, no bread, no butter and definitely no panko, pecans or plain yogurt. I was not deterred, though, because I am resourceful! Here is what my version of the recipe looked like:

5 containers of kids' raspberry/strawberry yogurts

coconut (American version thanks to Carrie)

crushed up Special K cereal with berries (I thought I had picked out all the berries, but Jon said I missed some!)

walnuts

chicken

I thought they tasted great! So did Emily. Jon's comment: "They tasted like breakfast. I like breakfast."

I went shopping last night. I wanted salmon and red pepper soup for V-day and I couldn't think of what to substitute for those things--we're out of canned tuna and tomatoes! :)

Signs of Spring

Winter here has been very mild (especially when I think of what's going on in Chicago and Utah!). I appreciate mild winters, but man do I love spring--especially when it starts in February! Yesterday the girls and I played outside--it was a perfect sunshiny day. They picked the flowers growing by our house, and we saw our first ladybug of the year. All very good things.

Explanation

The following 5 posts are a tour through our recent trip. We drove to Disney Paris Tuesday morning and ended in Dover, England Sunday evening. To get across the English Channel (by going under it) we drove onto a train, following other cars in a single file line. It was a different way to travel sitting inside our van looking out the window of our van looking out the window of the train. It's about a 35 minute ride.

Dover Cliffs and Castle

The last site of our trip was Dover, England to see the White Cliffs of Dover and Dover Castle.

The castle was closing as we drove up. We were told we would need at least two hours to get through the huge thing. Jon's response to the very nice lady was, "We have lots of kids and go through sites very quickly!" She still didn't think we could go through it quick enough so we enjoyed it from afar.

We had seen pictures like these of the cliffs in all our books on Britain--it's one of those not to miss sites. The funny thing about the cliffs is, once you're on the cliffs, you can't see the white part that you came to see! We got a great view of the English Channel and the boats coming in and out of the port.

Canterbury Cathedral

After a short train ride from France we went to church in Canterbury--a very small ward that was very welcoming. A little ways from the humble Canterbury ward sits Canterbury Cathedral. I found this story interesting about this city with a rich religious background.

On Wednesday, December 22, 1647, Canterbury's town crier proclaimed the county committee's order for the suppression of Christmas Day and its treatment as any other working day. However, a large crowd gathered 3 days later to demand a church service, decorate doorways with holly bushes, and keep the shops shut. This crowd - under the slogan 'For God, King Charles, and Kent' - then descended into violence and riot, with a soldier being assaulted, the mayor's house attacked, and the city under the rioters' control for several weeks until forced to surrender in early January.

Canterbury Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Church of England. St Augustine was sent by the Pope in 597 AD to re-establish Christianity in southern England and came to Canterbury. The cathedral sits in the middle of a quaint walking village. The details on this building are absolutely amazing inside and out. I felt like the cathedral (the oldest and largest Christian structures in England) was a shrine to honor the archbishops of the Church of England.

We made it into the church a few minutes before closing time. They were setting out music for the choir. This is where the Canterbury Cathedral Choir (the angelic boys' choir) practices.

Paris Revisited

Day 5 of our trip took us to Paris. It was a whirlwind tour of our favorite sites.

Munching on eclairs for breakfast on our way to the Eiffel Tower.

Jon, Grandma and Emily rode up while the rest of us played at the park near the tower.

Jon took this picture from the top of the tower. He could see me playing with the girls in the sand! We were making sand cookies and cakes.

Inside the quiet Notre Dame Cathedral right before two of the girls got in a shoving-yelling match which led me outside with the kids. They ran off some energy by chasing birds.

Lizze and Grandma in front of the Mona Lisa inside the Louvre.

Outside the Louvre where Emily, Rachel and I hung out in the warm, bright sun.

Day 5 had a theme with the girls: inside bad, outside good!

Versailles

This castle of Louis XIV is huge and ornate. We visited just a very small part of the castle--the State Apartments of the King and Queen and the Hall of Mirrors. The Chateau de Versailles is one of the largest castles in the world. It has more than 2,000 windows, 700 rooms, 1250 fireplaces, 67 staircases and more than 1,800 acres of park.

The grounds were impressive, even in the winter. It made for a great playground for the girls. I entertained them on the inside by asking them questions in each room (How many paintings do you see? How many candlesticks are there? What is your favorite piece of furniture?). Each answer was rewarded with a Skittle.

Here's what a small portion of the castle's gardens look like in the summer:

Disneyland Paris

February started out great for us. Abbott UK had a conference in Disneyland Paris. It seemed silly for Jon to go all the way to Disney without his kids. It seemed even sillier for me to chase 4 kids around Disney by myself, so Jon's Mom very bravely flew here to help out! We couldn't have done the trip without her. Here's what the girls did with me, Grandma or Jon.

The girls saw Disney characters in our hotel (Hotel New York) and all over the park. We caught up with a few, but were mostly interested in the rides.

They went round and round on rides--Mad Hatters Tea Cup was one of their favorites.

They rode on little boats through It's a Small World (3 times) and a

big boat through Frontierland.

They saw 4 parades and

the Lion King show.

One of the most fun rides was the Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast. Nothing like some fun competition among family. We won't say who got the high score though (because it wasn't me!!)