SNOW DAYS, Secondary School, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and tea

I am always late in my reporting of events, but I am having a personal admin day at home today whilst we have some painting done, so I realized I needed to write up about the first snow days we have had in London!!

The last week of February was BITTERLY cold, like in the negative degrees celsius and SNOWY!!  It all started on Monday with HUGE snowflakes, but not much accumulation.  Wednesday, we woke up to about an inch on the ground and at 7:15, we got a message from the school that the school was closed.  (We found out later that day that it was due to burst pipes and staff who couldn't get into school.)  Most other schools in the area were in school as usual.  It's very different to the US where they call the schools by county rather than individual school (which I guess is how the private schools determine it in the US.)  The kids were SUPER excited, and played in the snow for about an hour before we had to go to the playgroup I take part in at church on Wednesday mornings.  Since most of the other schools were and the snow was not really that bad, it was still on.  They had a great time setting up all the ride-on toys in the hall.  Lauren even squeezed herself into a Little Tikes car.  Alison and Drew made friends with a little 2 year old, and made them beg for a little brother even more than usual.  (that is totally NOT happening......)

It's interesting because the garden is JUST big enough for all three of them to be able to lay down and do a snow angel.  They tried to have a snowball fight, but the snow was a bit too powdery for that.  They attempted to build a snowman, but it was VERY small.

Thursday was still very cold, but not much more snow. 

And it was World Book Day, so the kids were happy to be able to still dress up for that: Lauren as the dictionary, Alison as Hetty Feather (even though she hasn't read the book, I think she just didn't want to be Hermione like so many others) and Drew as Harry Potter.  It snowed more after school and the school was called off for Friday at around 6 PM.  And we revealed Lauren's secondary School: Burntwood School, an  all girls school which is about 15-20 minute (1 Mile) walk from here.  She is SO excited!  She knows one girl who is the year ahead of her, and she found out that a girl in her dance class will be attending there next year as well.

Friday, the kids got another taste of my life, as I had told Leila (the baker) that I would come to work but that I would have to bring the kids with me.  I took their Kindles, as well as snacks and lunch and they sat in Leila's parents house and played their Kindles, did a bit of reading and drawing and had eaten all their lunches after we had only been there for an hour and a half.  They had a great time playing with Leila's one year old daughter, Ayda as well.  We came home for a bit, and then went back out to Stagecoach, although the kids (especially Drew) were not too keen to go out in the snow again.  Bonus was that Brad and I got to have an impromptu date night as he took an early train home to make sure he didn't get stuck in Woking.

We were supposed to go to Bath for the weekend so Brad could run the half marathon, but unfortunately it was cancelled due to the weather.  The craziest thing was that on Saturday, all the snow was melted here in London by about 10 AM.  However, I think other parts of the country got lots more snow than London.

Drew has discovered the Diary of  a Wimpy Kid books, and he has read 6 books in as many days....thankfully I was able to find several of them at charity shops last week.  It is impressive as they are marked as 9+.

Alison has discovered loose leaf tea, and she even drinks it the proper British way with milk and sugar.

Next up....visitors and Dublin!!