Brighton Pier

Piers here seem to be miniature showgrounds open all year round. I think they even used to charge you to go out, but as the years have passed admission has become free. The Brighton Pier first opened in 1899 (replacing an older Chain Pier) and still has some of its original kiosks and iron arches and a signal cannon from the Old Chain Pier. When you walk out on these piers, with a little bit of imagination you can really feel like your back in the 30's & 40's when penny arcades were the big entertainment hot spots, when men and women stood around smoking - not knowing then how bad it was for their health, when Barbershop Quartets sang in red and white suits and kids ate hard boiled sweets and candy floss! Music still plays out on the piers today, but through wired speaker systems, people still eat and drink and chat and enjoy the simple atmosphere, the fresh air and the feeling that comes from being by the seaside! The penny arcades have been replaced with amusement arcades - which are much the same thing - but more technical. A few thrill rides have also been added, but they never appear that popular on the piers, even though there are quite a lot of people about.

I found it interesting to read how the wars affected seaside piers, a section in the middle was often removed to discourage enemy landings! The Brighton Pier boomed after WW2 and was a very popular tourist destination until the 1960's.

Today Brighton Pier is one of the most famous film locations in the world. Lloyds TSB, Coca Cola, Sky TV and Cadbury have all filmed advertisements here. Major feature films such as 'End of the Affair', 'Circus' and 'Mona Lisa' have scenes of the Brighton Pier in them and many TV shows have also been filmed here (none of which I recognise though!).

Our short walk on Brighton Pier was refreshing (and a little chilly, as you can tell from Lani's nose in the picture below) and a nice thing to do before our journey home in the car.

We have seen so many carousels since being here that they no longer seem exciting. Kind of sad really! I'm sure the kids would still love a ride, but it's getting much easier to say "no, not this time girls!"

Princess Jasmine's Castle

After our day at Chessington (and a good nights sleep) we headed to the South East of England to the county of East Sussex - to Brighton and Hove. Brighton became England's first seaside resort and when I saw a photo of the Royal Pavilion in our Eyewitness Travel book I wanted to go and check it out. We all decided it looked a bit like Princess Jasmine's castle from Aladdin - which kept the girls excited!

We decided to go inside and have a look, even though we are just about over looking at stately homes and castles!! I'm glad we did go in though because it was quite different from others we have seen and the inside was really well displayed. It was decorated with fiery dragons and fake bamboo and the rooms, paintings and furniture were all quite stunning. This Lavish Oriental Palace was transformed by John Nash (the same man who designed Regency London) who was employed by the Prince of Wales in 1815 (who became King George IV in 1820).

The audio guide was very interesting and told the story of The Prince of Wales and his love affair with Maria Fitzherbert - who he was not allowed to marry because she was a widowed catholic. Prince George was quite rebellious though and embarked on a life of drinking, womanising and gambling which got him heavily into debt. He secretly married Maria, they lived in the farmhouse in Brighton (which later became the Royal Pavilion) and were quite happy until George's official marriage took place to Caroline of Brunswick (which was demanded by his father in order to get him out of debt). This marriage turned out to be quite disastrous though!

George became Prince Regent in 1811 when his father, King George III was declared mad. The Royal Pavilion which was completed in 1823 became his home. He died in 1830 leaving a rich art collection and an architectural legacy including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and of course the Royal Pavilion.

We found it quite interesting hearing about Queen Victoria's connection to the Royal Pavilion. She succeeded to the throne in 1837 and visited here often and in 1842 she took up residence here with Prince Albert and their 2 young children. Although, it is said that she never really liked the interior decor, and by 1845 they were moving on because the Pavilion wasn't private enough or big enough for their growing family! Interestingly though Queen Victoria took with her tons and tons of the furniture, wallpapers and carvings from the pavilion! (So it's thought she must not have disliked the decor that much!!!) Some of what she took is now back here on loan from Her Majesty the Queen.

And speaking of Queen Victoria, a few months ago we watched the movie The Young Victoria, starring Emily Blunt and it was EXCELLENT! One of the best 'royal stories' I have seen! Definitely recommend it!

Chessington World of Adventures

Chessington World of Adventures is another attraction on our Merlin card so when Mick had the 1st weekend off in October we thought we may as well drive up. It's just south of London so the drive wasn't too long. The kids are getting so good in the car now though. They still have their moments but on average they entertain themselves pretty well. The weather seems to be getting colder and colder as each day passes. It wasn't too bad this weekend but short sleeves are out and the coats are back on. If you are dressed right - it doesn't really matter what the weather is like!

Chessington has a small zoo so we thought we would check out the animals first before heading for some rides. The animals here were fantastic and even though there weren't many of them - you could see them all so much better than at The London Zoo!! This leopard was awesome - it came right up to us and touched the glass and we could hear it purring!! There were quite a few different cats and the girls enjoyed watching them (I thought they would be over animals!).

We watched the Sea Lions perform which was pretty good - they can really jump quite high!

We didn't take many photos here because we were too busy going from ride to ride. We just did the kids rides too because we only had the afternoon, but some of the thrill rides really did look quite fun.... but we are still recovering from some of our last thrill rides!

We went on the Flying Jumbos, Tiny Truckers, Toadie's Crazy Cars, Berry Bouncers, Safari Skyway, Runaway Train, Seastorm and bubbleworks. I know that doesn't mean anything to you - but it does to us!! I also know I have said it before but Leilani is a thrill seeker and I really can't believe it! We all went on the Runaway train together and it was pretty fast - Lani gulped a couple of times but then got right into it! She loved it and was so excited! Emily didn't really know what to think - she just held on for dear life!!!

Leilani also wanted to go on the Seastorm, which is the last photo above - and boy was it a sea storm! She was laughing out loud the whole time we were on it - and it pushed you to one side (like the gee-whizzer!) and she just thought it was hilarious! I was glad to get off the flamin' thing!

We also got sucked in to playing some side show alley games on our way out- which we never play!! I mean why would you pay money when everything else is free!!? But anyway - Mick ended up winning Emily a little Mario and I won Leilani a little Yoshi - and it was really fun I must admit! Mick won the Mario while Lani and I were on the Seastorm and Emily was holding it out so we could see as we whizzed by and she was so happy - it was really cute and I wished I had her on film! I don't think you can ever really get over theme parks - they are so fun!! But boy have we been to a lot this year!

The Girls at London Zoo

Sweet Emily May

Emily went for a walk with her Dad one Sunday afternoon. They walked up to the park, past the golf club and along some bush path. It's really nice to spend time with each of the girls on their own. They always seem so well behaved when they are with you without the other - not sure if it's because they know that it's a special time between you and them or if it's just because there's no one else around to steal the spotlight!

Emily is fascinated with her shadow at the moment and often talks about it! Shadows are fun and she was extra excited to find it inside the other day! The girls use their torches at night to make shapes on the wall but most of all they just like watching it when we are outside - seeing what they can get it to do!

Emily is such a sweet little girl and although she likes to copy her big sister a lot she has quite a personality of her own. She knows what she wants and what she doesn't want - although we haven't really had a tantrum from Emily yet, instead when she gets upset she will have a bit of a loud cry but then calm down quite quickly, sometimes she will even take herself to the step and count to 5! Emily is quick to say sorry and often knows when a sorry is needed. She doesn't like other people being upset and likes to try and make things better. Emily gives lovely cuddles which usually include a little tap on the back with her tiny hand! She is always excited to see you and her smile is infectious! She does get up to a bit of mischief though - drawing on herself is the most common! If she gets into a tug of war with someone over something, she won't give in and stands her ground, but we have found if someone asks nicely for something she might have she will nearly always give it up (Leilani tries to take advantage of her kind nature!!!!) Em still loves her Minnie Mouse and sleeps with it every night. She likes to sing and dance and sit down and watch some TV. She loves puzzles and books and playing hide and seek.... although she is pretty good at jumping out before you find her! Her sweet little voice can become quite loud at times and she is pretty good at not hearing if you ask her to be quiet. When she gets the giggles it's pretty hard to not laugh with her and she loves to say, "just one more time" whilst holding her finger up! She is good at tackling and will lay on top of Lani for ages as a defence! She adores her big sister and loves to play with her. She loves yoghurt, honey sandwiches, and milo and toast. She loves cucumber, strawberries and cakes and biscuits. She has beautiful blonde hair and big dark eyes. We love Emily and love watching her grow and change everyday.

My Little Helpers

One morning a few weeks ago, just after we finished breakfast Leilani announced that she was going to do the washing up. I said, 'That would be nice, how come you want to wash up?" Straight away she replied, "Just so you don't have to do it!" I thought it was very sweet and kind of her! She often talks about 'doing her jobs' (she likes to think she is busy!!) I think it must be time to bring back the job chart. We had one a few months ago, but once it was full I never bothered to make another one, bad of me I know! The girls are usually good helpers though and like to tidy up most of the time - although tidying up to them often just means sweeping everything off to the side!!

Emily decided she would help with the washing up, and when they finished Lani said to me quietly (not wanting Emily to hear), "I think I will just do it by myself next time, because Emily was spilling water everywhere!" They did a pretty good job and I only had to rewash a few things!!! This was the end result - plug pulled and all, and notice in the last picture how they just left the stuff they couldn't reach!!!! Wish I could do that!!!

London Zoo

On Sunday we had a nice big sleep in for a change, and then decided to go to the London Zoo for the afternoon. We had a good day and the girls enjoyed it, however I was a little disappointed with the Zoo, and it was pretty expensive. I think I am a pretty harsh judge though because I have been to quite a few different zoos and I have been to some really good ones - so it was going to take a lot to impress me! We have been thinking about which zoo to go to for quite a while because there are so many here, we heard that the London Zoo was pretty good - so thought we may as well give it a try - but I guess you can't believe everything you hear!!!

All that said, Leilani and Emily did enjoy it, the weather was nice and they had an excellent playground and some very interactive activities for the kids. There was a lot of entertainment for the kids actually, and in some ways it was more of a park than a zoo.

Little miss Leilani is growing up so much, on our way to the zoo she says 'Did you know that you spell zoo Z-O-O!!! We have been talking a lot lately about letters and words and sounds but we were still quite impressed that she just came out with this - without even seeing the Zoo sign yet!!!!

Snakes really do freak me out, but not so much that I never want to return to Australia! We have had quite a few people mention that they would not be able to live in Australia because of the snakes and spiders! I had one lady say to me the other day 'I just don't think I could manage flying that far, and I would never be able to get off the plane knowing all those spiders were around me!' I mean what do you even say to that!!! lol

I think people watch too many of those Australia's Most Deadliest shows over here, and Tourism Australia needs to do something about it!! It's not like they are just in the houses and gardens everywhere and roaming the streets! And death from a snake or spider bite is pretty unheard of these days, which means you often forget about all those deadly creatures out there in the Australian bush! Although if I lived in sydney I might be a little worried about the funnel web!!... and we have had white-tails in our house before... and I do have to remind myself that seeing snakes in summer around the pool at the Harriss' house as a kid was not uncommon!!! (Bet we all have a few story's about that we could tell huh Woolley kids!) Mmm.... the more I think about it... maybe these people do have a point!!!

Anyway, I really can't stay in the 'reptile areas' for too long or I start getting the shivers!!!

The Lion and cubs were pretty cool, although they were quite hard to see and we didn't get to hear a roar like the Carmichael's did at the Melbourne zoo!

In the playground jungle... video to come about this!!

The eye of the tiger really is fascinating! You just wonder what she/he is thinking! Zoos actually make me quite sad, and I feel sorry for the animals in them - I even decided whilst here that I am actually against zoos!!!! (Not really, as I am sure they do a lot of good too - but it does make me think!)

The girls got to crawl through a tunnel and pop up in a glass dome over a hole surrounded by the meerkats! It was pretty clever - but we didn't take any photos, just video!

And Emily's favourite, the giraffe! She was so excited to finally see one, because they were one of the last things we saw - and one of the first things Emily said she wanted to see!