London--36 Hours, No Sleep and, surprisingly, No Tears!

Lucy anticipating. I hope we didn't get her hopes up too high.

Our good friend Quin Seamons drove us out to the airport on Monday night at around 11:00 PM. I'd heard stories about the mass exodus of expats from Abu Dhabi at the commencement of summer and we didn't want to get left behind. Our fears, it would appear, were unfounded. I don't know if I've ever had a smoother airport experience in my life and that was with two airport security checks and an immigration officer. Even though our flight was full, we had no difficulty getting on early and becoming quite comfortable situated.

Bored waiting to board.

James at 12:30 "What's the big deal?"

There are times when Abu Dhabi has a small town feel, especially when you look around the plane and see that you're flying with two families that you know pretty well. We visited a little with one of my coworkers and with a family we knew from church, but it was mostly just nice to have some familiar faces around us.

The flight took off at 2:15 in the morning, and for most of its 7 hours, it was pretty uneventful. I struggled a bit with getting comfortable, but most everyone else seemed to be able to steal a little bit of sleep. Sure, there was a little bit of confusion with the airport taxi we had hired and the traffic was atrocious, but even with those minor bumps, we couldn't have asked for a smoother experiences.

After the grand tour of Mom and Mike's new digs and their accompanying garden, we packed up and headed to the Science Museum. It was a pretty remarkable facility, definitely too much to take in all at once, but what was most remarkable was how our kids just kept going and going and going. What I understood about the body and its limits was redefined this day.

Onslow Gardens. One forgets how one misses the little things, like the color green.

If we could somehow tap into James' energy source,
I truly believe we could halt our dependence on big oil and
save the environment too!

TV and Nintendo in London. We're giving our kids a true international experience.

The science museum.

I call this: "Liam, a study in blue."

Still standing (most of us that is)!

We ended with a great dinner at Nandos (peri peri sauce is my new favorite) with Mom and Mike. The food was good and the quantities able enough to sate my ravenous brood. Only James fell victim to the soporific qualities of roast chicken. He was eventually roused and conceded to walk home with minimal complaint. Before this, I was trying to get the kids to join me in a betting pool to see who would be the first to break down in tears from stress and fatigue (my money was, of course, on me) but no one was willing to take me up on it. Oh, did I mention that everyone but me and Lucy is sick with sore throats? And their still smiling until they have to swallow something. Best family ever!

Everyone say, "Sleep!"