I’ve been wanting to take the kids to Buckingham Palace ever since we’ve arrived, but we wanted to go when they have the changing of the guards (which is every other day in the winter).  We skipped our school for the morning and made it just in time.  I wasn’t prepared for how many people would be there, thinking it was just an ordinary Thursday in November.  The grounds were packed.  We’ll have to go back when we have a better view, but we did see the new guards march in.  The music, the horses, the guardsmen, their uniforms—it’s fun to see the traditional British at work.  The boys were wowed.  The older boys are researching the history behind the monarchy and palaces and learning a lot.  This past year marked the Queen’s 60th reigning year.  With baby George’s recent christening and the photograph of the four generations of heirs to the throne just released (the first since the late 1800s), it seems like there’s a new level of interest in the Royal family.  There’s souvenirs of them everywhere and on everything.

Ever since Cade saw the ice skating rink at the Natural History Museum, he’s been dying to go.  We rode the merry-go-round right away and waited for a good evening to return to skate.  We picked the perfect, warm night to go and had the best time skating. It was so pretty with the Christmas lights and decorated trees. This was Jace’s first time, and they had these adorable penguins for kids to push and keep stable.  He was so proud of himself!  Cade was a daredevil as usual, spinning and doing tricks.  We were praying he wouldn’t fall since his football concussion just healed.  There was this great, smaller rink off to the side for beginners that we had all to ourselves.  The little boys got more daring and Jace let go of the penguin to try things on his own.  They’re already asking to go again.  Chances are we will since there are so many festive ice rinks to choose from.