Leaving Crayke Manor was hard, mostly because I fear it might be another decade before seeing those relatives again. Our next stop is London for a week. Amir and I went in 2014 after graduating from medical school, but none of the kids or Liza have been.

We took the foot path down to The Major Oak, one of the great old trees in the UK. It’s thought to be anywhere from 800-1100 years old, with a trunk 36 feet in diameter. That’s a three story building!

At the Major Oak, there’s a court of small tents, each with a kid-friendly activity. Some are free, some like archery just a few pounds. The kids tried both archery and catapulting – they were fast learners.

Sherwood Forest was the perfect midway stop between Crayke and London. Trying to do 5 hours straight with everyone in our crew would have been impossible, or at least a recipe for meltdowns and screams from the backseat.

We arrived to our AirBnB in London right around 6:30pm. It was a smooth checkin process, and the place is nice with plenty of square footage, especially for a big city.

There is one odd thing – for as nice as the place is, the owners most definitely still live here. Roughly 90% of the cabinets and closets are “taped off” and used by the owners’ items. If you break the seal, the sticker changes colors and you get fined £50 ($63) per sticker. Anyone who has ever had kids knows that a 1.5 and 3 year old just LOVE peeking into cabinets and drawers. As the lady said “per seal” I just saw dollar bills floating up up and away. When I pushed back, she backed down and said to just let them know if the kids break one on accident and we won’t be charged. Phew.

Still, there’s not much space left for our things, and the blue stickers everywhere somewhat cheapen what is otherwise a beautiful home. There’s also a pair of the dad’s running shoes tucked to the side in the hallway, and family photos everywhere. We feel a bit like we are invading their space. I’ve just never had this experience before, especially at this price point.

The location here is spectacular- in Chelsea, surrounded by the Egyptian and Spanish embassies… Amir said we are close to where parliament meets up, so it’s a very cosmopolitan and diverse area. It’s also perfectly situated next to a tube station (deliberate on our part), as we plan to take the tube all over the city this week.

We ordered Vietnamese via Uber Eats tonight as we just didn’t have the energy to head to the grocery store, and the kids were too far gone to risk eating out. It was delicious and a great way to refill with fresh veggies to offset all those pies from last week.

Amir has just informed me that we may not have hot water on two of the three floors, so in only one bathroom… not sure how that is going to go. We are contemplating changing places. No hot water to shower might be a deal breaker.

– Steph