This had lots of potential but the reality was, sadly, quite frustrating. It was insanely crowded. We arrived exhausted from the long, hot train ride, then battled the crowds to purchase sun hats and find our picnic basket. We recovered a bit after our riverside feast and decided to explore Hampton Court Palace rather than continue w the garden show. CJ and David enjoyed some educational talks and demos while we admired then Tudor kitchens and learned more about the dark history of the palace.
On a day trip from London to basingstoke, we visited the site of Jane’s childhood home in Stephenton, and on to Chawton, where she lived with her mother and sister on her brother’s Estate, plus lots of other Austen locations of interest.
Lily is pointing out the wand in Olivander’s that belonged to Rupert Grint/ Ron Weasley (below) 
A fascinating look at how movies are made. I really enjoyed learning about costumes and props. It’s an unbelievably large and detailed process. Thousands of people worked on the movies. The sets look as if you could start filming anytime! It feels very surreal. I do wish they’d sell butter beer for a grownup palette. And no fire whiskey?! We put in over 7 miles of walking that day. And there weren’t any Hogsmeade sites.
Short journey outside of London…
Today (trying to post from a few days ago!) we had a bit of a lie-in before parts one and two of The Cursed Child. Even Bryant is very impressed and Lily is over the moon. Full of surprises. We hear it’s coming to SF soon!
Decided to see a show while waiting for the flat to cool down. It was amazing! We enjoyed some London nightlife and practiced our underground navigating skills.
Found our cute London flat in Marlybone. Had lunch at a nearby pub and then CJ and I went on a mission to pick up an AC unit the owner had ordered for the flat. It was worth the trouble since temps were in the 90s! Hoping the rest of the week is cooler!
Off she goes to her final regular school day at Laura Jeffrey Academy. We spent last evening trying to choose just one baby picture for the slide show, which I watched several times in order to desensitize myself so I don’t cry at the ceremony!
I’ve had an itch in my brain for a long time. I’ve done a ridiculous amount of surfing on camping trailers, chuck boxes, overlanding, etc. So I decided to do something.
First thing I did was pick up a Space Trailer (shout-out Todd!). In case you don’t know, Space trailers are very nice, made in the US, and are all the things you’re thinking about when you buy a cheap Harbor Freight trailer, but don’t get.
Second thing I did was to build a camp kitchen to put in it. Here’s some snaps of the process. It was built entirely of scrap and re-purposed materials that I had lying around. Maybe I have too much (s)crap lying around … ? The design objectives were to be able to run a 2-burner camp stove and a propane grill off of a 20lb propane canister with some extra storage for camp gear. I did little drawing, but mostly designed as I went, with the inevitable re-work on some technical debt taken along the way.
Now I just have to take it camping!