Shopping US Style

Got the mini-van escort to Tesco this evening which must be closely related to Target. They pretty much had everything I could think of. We now have a few clocks, a radio for the kitchen, (thin) pads for sleeping, some back-up food, and toilet paper! Just in time!! With six weeks left of her third pregnancy in four years, Karen was very helpful. And I understand Bruce and Ben were very helpful with the 31/2-year-old boy and 11/2-year-old girl that were left at the house while we shopped. I'm not sure who was more tired when we got home. Apparently the girl climbed up into Bruce's arms toward the end and fell asleep, much as Sophia used to and still can. The boy, on the other hand, was still doing is very best to destroy the house when we walked in. One of those anything-for-attention types. Karen said she would call when she was making a major grocery run, and I told her I would help watch the kids in the store when we go during school hours. I think it's a good deal for everybody. We were getting very tired of heavy plastic bags on a 15 minute walk.

This means I now have batteries and can take pictures again, and a microphone I can try to hook up maybe tomorrow. Ben took a few pictures today of us all in front of the Economics Library door just outside Bruce's office building. He took several of Bruce in his office, every one of them with Bruce's eyes closed. He was so impressed that Bruce was able to close his eyes before the flash every time, that he tried again later while they were babysitting, and Bruce still blinked for every photo. But I guess we all knew that Bruce is multi talented.

I won't have alot of time to set up Skype tomorrow, as we've planned to spend the day in London. We learned that Tuesday is family discount day at the Mary Poppins theater, so we're going to catch a matinée and see what other tourist attractions we can swing by. At the very least, we will ride the London Underground, and hopefully cross the Millennium Bridge. That may be all. Ben and Barbara just visited London with Len before coming to see us, so it is very gracious of them to indulge us this way, as usual. We all had a great visit to the Zoological Museum today (Ben was very impressed). The Geological Museum is first thing on our list after London. Ben truly can't imagine how great that one is going to be based on our experience today. (Cambridge has been around for a while, and had an impressive collection of specimens.) It was fun to see an mesozoic amenite today, just like the ones we find at the ranch. And the kids have become very good at spotting fossils in the limestone of the buildings around town. What great experiences. Looking forward to many more with all who are able to visit.