A long day out to London.

Yesterday K & M met the getting up, dressed and ready to leave the house by 8.20am challenge not only successfully but without any prompting from me at all.  I was very impressed!

We arrived at Portcullis House just in time for our tour of the Houses of Parliament, with A cutting it very fine but getting there by the skin of his teeth!

We got to go into the House of Lords (but not to sit down because only Lords, and Baronesses of course, are allowed to 'sit' in the House of Lords).  Our guide told us a bit about the Lords and how anyone of us could become one by becoming an expert in our field and being invited (at which K announced she didn't want to become one because she doesn't want to be 'important' when she grows up!).  We heard the division bell ringing a couple of times, once while we were in Westminster Hall (the only part where you're allowed to take photos)

Window in Westminster Hall

Model of the Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall

From there we went to the House of Commons, where we sat and listened to the a debate for a little while, there were very few members there though.  After this we returned to Portcullis House, where we attended a workshop about how laws are made.  It was very well done, using and expanding on what we'd learned on the tour.  Between us we came up with some ideas for a bill, then voted on which to debate.  Our bill was that all children should have 2 hours free time each day to do what they want to do.  Our bill started in the Commons and we debated it, standing up when we wanted to speak, then we voted on it.  Our bill then went to the Lords, where we debated some more, looking at the details and making amendments.  K suggested (through me as she didn't want to speak herself) that the bill should not be limited to children and M stood up to speak (my idea, but I'd already spoken on K's behalf and M was happy to speak) to point out that there might need to provision to help some families, for example where children might be carers for their parents.  We voted again and sent it back to the Commons.  There wasn't much ping-ponging between the Houses (not enough time), so we had a final vote (just as the division bell went!) and our became an Act of Parliament as it was voted through almost unanimously.

After this we asked K & M what they'd like to do for the couple of hours we had before the next organised activity, offering things that weren't too far away to make it worthwhile.  From the options presented (art gallery, cathedral and aquarium) they both went for the aquarium, so that's where we headed.  There was plenty to see and K & M both enjoyed doing the little activity book that involved collecting stamps in a passport, with questions about various animals along the way.

There was lots of rays, which we watched 'flying' through the water

Both K & M decided to touch the starfish when given the opportunity

One of the questions was about sharks' eggs, which are known as mermaid's purses

K used to be very scared of sharks and needed to close her eyes to walk past them, but has now decided she quite likes them!

We did have to rush the last part of the aquarium a bit, in order to get to the London Eye in time.  We went to see the short 4D film (3D plus real bubbles and squirted water!) first, then went on.  About 5.30pm was just about the ideal time of day to go on at this time of year, as we went up in the light, but by the time we were on our way back down it was getting dark, so although you could still see plenty, buildings were lit up and looking very beautiful.

A rare photo of the four of us!

Then it was back to the coach for the trip back, getting home (with an extremely tired M) just before 11pm.  Fortunately we didn't need to get up for anything in particular this morning!