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glacier_kittyYesterday mom and I went with grandma and Jack to a retirement home..Jack's granddaughter and her husband, great granddaughter and great-great granddaughter met us there. This was started because grandma got sick on Christmas and went to the hospital, and neither of them are doing well in the house they're in (it's really upsetting to see Jack struggle to do everything) and just need more care. On Christmas his granddaughter Liz sent mom and her sisters really nasty letters saying we never do anything and she and her husband have to do everything and stuff like that, which made everyone super angry..we have been to visit her and help her more than once!! They think we should visit way more..they have absolutely NO idea how much effort and time it takes to get here from Alaska..you lose an entire day and most of the night traveling. We soooo couldn't wait to meet Liz. *cough* There was one awkward moment when her husband was like "there are 4 of you [sisters] and grandchildren, you need to visit more often, we do everything!," which made me want to melt into the floor, but mom handled it very well and we were ok. For a really dumb and long reason, no one else in Jack's family has anything to do with him, which is really sad, because he's such a great guy! The nursing home did seem nice, and the people very caring..grandma kept asking if she could bring her craft stuff and keyboard and stuff like that, and every time the matron (that's what they called her lol) said "of course, no problem!" Jack was all for moving in, but grandma was very hesitant (we thought it would be the other way around, since Jack's lived in his current house for decades). She was extremely upset when she got home..we totally understand it would be hard for her to move and get rid of stuff (it was very hard for me to move from Texas to Alaska, but now I love it), but she didn't seem to see it would be good for both of them, especially Jack. It was very emotional for everybody..she felt a bit better later and seemed resigned to her fate, but she still wasn't happy about it. It's definitely going to be a big change, but they both need it. I think they're going to live there for a trial period or something first..we'll see what happens..
Today mom and I went to London..I like that it's an easy train ride from here. I saw some hilarious graffiti that said "OMG! Y2K!" haha!! I remember when everyone was freaking out about that. :P The nice security guy helped us figure out other possible train trips we wanted to do. When we got there we took the Underground (subway) to a stop near the Natural History Museum. Even after all these years, the Underground tunnels still smell the same as when I visited when I was a kid. :P All of London smells weird actually LOL. It was sunny, but SO cold, especially since it was windy! The museum was suuuuper busy and crowded, omg. D: We wandered around looking for the penguin egg Cherry brought back from Antarctica, but didn't see it..we asked someone and she was like "uhh..I don't think it's on display anymore?" Cue instant panic attack LOL. Between that and the crazy amount of people, I was completely freaking out and overwhelmed. We went to the front desk, where finally someone knew what we were talking about..it still took forever to find it lol..but finally there it was, THE PENGUIN EGG CHERRY BROUGHT BACK FROM ANTARCTICA, RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF ME. AHHHH! He touched it!! Squee!! There was also a digital tablet thing that talked about Cherry and co.'s journey to get the eggs..awesome! I doubt most of the other people in that room knew the power of that little egg..such hardship and toil bringing that back..wow. I just wanted to tell the other people casually looking at it its amazing story. One couple walked by and the guy said something like "I'll tell you about the penguin egg!" and I thought "I'll tell you all about it!!" Then mom was like "uhh, you're preventing other people from seeing the egg." Oops, sorry LOL. Also at the museum were lots of cool shiny rocks, things about volcanoes and earthquakes and stuff, bones, etc. We also stumbled upon more things brought back from the Terra Nova Expedition, and a few of Wilson's drawings and a bird he stuffed! I kept saying "O.M.G.!!" haha. There were also some Terra Nova souvenirs at the gift shop..I guess I have a new favorite bag now LOL. I also finally got Pokemon Go to work, and now have some from London, yay! (Lots of Dratinis :P) We were so done with crazy crowds and we were hungry, so we took the Underground to Piccadilly Circus..we were just going to take a peek (it's normally a very busy place, so we thought it would be insane like everywhere else). There were still a lot of people, but definitely not as bad as I thought it would be. We had dinner there at Pizza Hut, then walked to Trafalgar Square..we did a quick geocache there..woohoo, my first cache in England and in a foreign country!! It's also currently my farthest from home cache: 4210.701 miles! Wow! We also went to see the statue of Robert Falcon Scott near Trafalgar Square, and then got the heck out of busy London (note to self: SATURDAYS IN LONDON ARE CRAZY. Haha). It was nice getting back to quiet West Byfleet..there are wayyy too many people in London lol. I'm pretty sure I smell like the Underground now..eww, city grime. :P We're going to relax tomorrow, that was exhausting lol
Yay, pictures!
The outside of the Natural History Museum..cool!
Cool!
Ooo, a penguin! This bird room was insanely crowded D: (Dana, you would have loved it! Lots of cool little hummingbirds!)
Huge bird is huge!
OMG THIS ROCK IS FLUFFY *dies*
I saw this and could tell right away that it was carved by glaciers haha
One of the earliest earthquake detectors!
Cooool volcanic rock thingy LOL
Pele's hair, formed when lava cools rapidly in the wind
I felt like I was in Harry Potter..
MMMM TASTY ROCKS
Cool fossils!
AHHHH THERE IT IS *flails!!*
"After indescribable effort and hardship we were witnessing a marvel of the natural world, and we were the first and only men who had ever done so; we had within our grasp material which might prove of the utmost importance to science; we were turning theories into facts with every observation we made, – and we had but a moment to give"
Cherry touched this egg!! Squee!
It was a lot colder than -40!! (That temperature in Celsius is the same in Fahrenheit.) It got to -77, and Cherry said that was the day he found records weren't worth making (it's super weird seeing "Henry Bowers"..he's always been Birdie to me!)
Of course it's the best travel book ever written ;)
Ooo, Terra Nova stuff! It amuses me how they bolded "the heart of every Englishman" lol
The letter in the middle was written by Scott's wife!
A bird Wilson stuffed, and a couple of his sketches!
Another bird and drawing, and OMG THE CASE CHERRY BROUGHT THE PENGUIN EGGS IN *DIES*
*flails*
More sketches
Specimens the expedition brought back!
Whoa!
Piccadilly Circus. The ads on the wall are all digital now!
HAHA, I love the girl photobombing me!! She looks so annoyed :P
Interesting random Yoda guy at Piccadilly :P
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square selfie, for the geocache we found :P
The statue of Robert Falcon Scott
Today mom and I went to London..I like that it's an easy train ride from here. I saw some hilarious graffiti that said "OMG! Y2K!" haha!! I remember when everyone was freaking out about that. :P The nice security guy helped us figure out other possible train trips we wanted to do. When we got there we took the Underground (subway) to a stop near the Natural History Museum. Even after all these years, the Underground tunnels still smell the same as when I visited when I was a kid. :P All of London smells weird actually LOL. It was sunny, but SO cold, especially since it was windy! The museum was suuuuper busy and crowded, omg. D: We wandered around looking for the penguin egg Cherry brought back from Antarctica, but didn't see it..we asked someone and she was like "uhh..I don't think it's on display anymore?" Cue instant panic attack LOL. Between that and the crazy amount of people, I was completely freaking out and overwhelmed. We went to the front desk, where finally someone knew what we were talking about..it still took forever to find it lol..but finally there it was, THE PENGUIN EGG CHERRY BROUGHT BACK FROM ANTARCTICA, RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF ME. AHHHH! He touched it!! Squee!! There was also a digital tablet thing that talked about Cherry and co.'s journey to get the eggs..awesome! I doubt most of the other people in that room knew the power of that little egg..such hardship and toil bringing that back..wow. I just wanted to tell the other people casually looking at it its amazing story. One couple walked by and the guy said something like "I'll tell you about the penguin egg!" and I thought "I'll tell you all about it!!" Then mom was like "uhh, you're preventing other people from seeing the egg." Oops, sorry LOL. Also at the museum were lots of cool shiny rocks, things about volcanoes and earthquakes and stuff, bones, etc. We also stumbled upon more things brought back from the Terra Nova Expedition, and a few of Wilson's drawings and a bird he stuffed! I kept saying "O.M.G.!!" haha. There were also some Terra Nova souvenirs at the gift shop..I guess I have a new favorite bag now LOL. I also finally got Pokemon Go to work, and now have some from London, yay! (Lots of Dratinis :P) We were so done with crazy crowds and we were hungry, so we took the Underground to Piccadilly Circus..we were just going to take a peek (it's normally a very busy place, so we thought it would be insane like everywhere else). There were still a lot of people, but definitely not as bad as I thought it would be. We had dinner there at Pizza Hut, then walked to Trafalgar Square..we did a quick geocache there..woohoo, my first cache in England and in a foreign country!! It's also currently my farthest from home cache: 4210.701 miles! Wow! We also went to see the statue of Robert Falcon Scott near Trafalgar Square, and then got the heck out of busy London (note to self: SATURDAYS IN LONDON ARE CRAZY. Haha). It was nice getting back to quiet West Byfleet..there are wayyy too many people in London lol. I'm pretty sure I smell like the Underground now..eww, city grime. :P We're going to relax tomorrow, that was exhausting lol
Yay, pictures!
The outside of the Natural History Museum..cool!
Cool!
Ooo, a penguin! This bird room was insanely crowded D: (Dana, you would have loved it! Lots of cool little hummingbirds!)
Huge bird is huge!
OMG THIS ROCK IS FLUFFY *dies*
I saw this and could tell right away that it was carved by glaciers haha
One of the earliest earthquake detectors!
Cooool volcanic rock thingy LOL
Pele's hair, formed when lava cools rapidly in the wind
I felt like I was in Harry Potter..
MMMM TASTY ROCKS
Cool fossils!
AHHHH THERE IT IS *flails!!*
"After indescribable effort and hardship we were witnessing a marvel of the natural world, and we were the first and only men who had ever done so; we had within our grasp material which might prove of the utmost importance to science; we were turning theories into facts with every observation we made, – and we had but a moment to give"
Cherry touched this egg!! Squee!
It was a lot colder than -40!! (That temperature in Celsius is the same in Fahrenheit.) It got to -77, and Cherry said that was the day he found records weren't worth making (it's super weird seeing "Henry Bowers"..he's always been Birdie to me!)
Of course it's the best travel book ever written ;)
Ooo, Terra Nova stuff! It amuses me how they bolded "the heart of every Englishman" lol
The letter in the middle was written by Scott's wife!
A bird Wilson stuffed, and a couple of his sketches!
Another bird and drawing, and OMG THE CASE CHERRY BROUGHT THE PENGUIN EGGS IN *DIES*
*flails*
More sketches
Specimens the expedition brought back!
Whoa!
Piccadilly Circus. The ads on the wall are all digital now!
HAHA, I love the girl photobombing me!! She looks so annoyed :P
Interesting random Yoda guy at Piccadilly :P
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square selfie, for the geocache we found :P
The statue of Robert Falcon Scott
