Since we are in the middle of a tentative relocation, we couldn’t plan in advance to travel anywhere during this long weekend. But being a non resident has its perks in the fact that even local places become a tourist spot. So we decided to find out nearby child friendly places and spend mornings sight seeing. As I keep saying, it always seems more fun to plan outings with parents who have kids of similar age as your own. So we did just that this time around too. My daughter is very close to our neighbor’s daughter, and her mom and I are really good friends now too. So it just made sense to plan the outings together 🙂
Luckily the weather was great on Saturday morning, so we left home around 9:30 am and traveled around 40 minutes to a place called Bekonscot model village. This place is quite close to London, and really great to visit with kids. They have a miniature village with a fully functioning model train and railroad system and our kids loved it. I think all the kids loved watching the trains run around all the tracks. There were model book stores, town centre, pubs, homes with backyards, shops and even a prison! The attention to detail in those miniature figures were amazing! They also have a small play area which is perfect for 2-4 year olds I think, a small cafe and a souvenir shop. You can buy family tickets online or when you reach there- I think it costs the same. We spent the morning there and grabbed some coffee and sandwiches, and both the kids seemed to enjoy the place a lot 🙂
We got back home just in time for my daughter’s afternoon nap, and spent the rest of Saturday evening grocery shopping, ordering in dinner, and watching a kid’s movie with our respective drinks. It was a beautiful, fun and relaxed day.
On Sunday, there was a forecast of rain most of the day. So we got together with our neighbors and headed off to London sea view aquarium (near the London Eye), after breakfast. There wasn’t a lot of traffic and we reached there by 10:30 am. I love aquariums, museums and planetariums- yeah, I’m a certified nerd..lol! And it was double the fun watching the two two-year olds straining to look at the fishes and singing ‘baby shark’ all the time! (yeah, I’m sick to death of that song..lol) We didn’t stop in London for lunch though, since I could see my daughter getting tired and the exit was a mad rush since a lot of families were waiting it out inside due to the rains. So we left around 2 pm and my daughter fell asleep in the car and luckily kept sleeping until we reached home too.
Sunday evening was again a relaxed affair. We didn’t go out anywhere, since it was raining, but we cooked dinner and watched some more TV, and just chilled. I guess you might have already guessed that I don’t like to pack my days with too many activities, even with the toddler in tow. Chilling is kind of my mantra, especially if I’ve done some social outing during some part of the day 🙂
Monday, we just did the usual cleaning, cooking and a trip to the playground nearby. Pretty low key. Caught up with the extended family on FaceTime and read a lot of stories. I stayed up late and finished the book I was reading (I was Anastasia), and with that finished my summer reading challenge!! Woo hoo!! I did it 😀 I’ll post a review blog soon. I also wrote a letter to one of my pen friends- so all in all, I felt like it was a good and fun long weekend.
What was everyone else up to this end of summer long weekend (if you are in the UK)? And if not, I’d still love to hear what you did this weekend? Do you like to chill on weekends, or pack your weekends with social activities? 🙂
Starry Eyed Enigma 