Our UK Trip: Brighton Pier

One of Jackson's favourite things we did while in England was visiting the Brighton Pier. Mama made this video about it:

Our UK Trip: Brighton 1

After a couple of days in London, we travelled down to Brighton by train. We stayed at a big, neat flat right near the ocean.

Jackson had his choice of bedrooms, and chose this red one. It was very warm!

While in Brighton we checked out a couple of our previous places of residence, from Brighton Square, Mama and Daddy's first flat in Brighton...

...to Norfolk Sqaure, where they lived just before Jackson was on the cards.

We also visited our house in Millfield Cottages, and were so happy to get to visit with our former neighbours Joan and Tony, who read this blog!

While in Brighton, Jackson loved having breakfast on the beach at the Meeting Place...

...while pregnant Mama became obsessed with the amazing coffee and simple white toast with Marmite at new coffee shop Marwoods.

Our UK Trip: English Transport

Jackson enjoyed many forms of transport while we were England, from London taxis and buses and the Tube, to tour buses and boats, and even paragliders.

Our UK Trip: Highgate

Our second full day in London, we took the train up to Highgate. We had fun in a lovely park while the sun was shining.

We visited Highgate Cemetery, and the graves of Douglas Adams...

...Karl Marx...

...and the recently deceased Malcolm Mclaren.

Then we escaped a rain shower with a lovely pub lunch.

Our UK Trip: Around the Galleries

On our first full day in London, we went to some art galleries around town. We started out at the Tate Britain, where Jackson loved seeing WWII bombers turned on their heads and suspended in the air.

Jackson loved looking at the paintings. He wanted us to explain what was happening in ones that particularly caught his attention. He really enjoyed the "scary" ones too, such as John Martin's paintings of the wrath of God. Daddy bought Jackson a book about terror and the sublime that featured a lot of his favourites.

From the Tate Britain, we were able to take a boat down the river to the Tate Modern.

We saw landmarks such as the Big Ben, the London Eye, and St Paul's Cathedral, all of which Jackson continued to remember and recognise for the rest of our trip.

The modern art at the Tate Modern wasn't as much Jackson's thing, and it was nearly lunchtime, so after a quick visit to the surrealism floor, we had a picnic outside on the lawns near the river.

It was fun!

Our UK Trip: The Ritz

After our Kuala Lumpur stop-over we headed to London, where we stayed at the Ritz! Granma and Daddy used to stay here when Daddy was little. Granma arranged for our room to have champagne and snacks, some chocolates in a top hat, and even a teddy bear for Jackson--which he decided he wants to give to the new baby when he comes.

There was even a fun London bus puzzle that Jackson loves to work.

Jackson really enjoyed his spaghetti room service meal the first night.

The Ritz even supplied Jackson-sized slippers and a robe. Thanks Granma!

Happy Birthday, 'Name!

(And then plenty of salty things, to get the sweet out!)

KL Part 2

On our second day in KL, after a big international buffet breakfast (gotta love large Asian hotels!) we set out for the KL Bird Park, the largest free bird park in the world (though many birds were actually caged). Jackson loved the owls! He also got a kick out of a peacock that seemed to follow us everywhere. He was a little intimidated by these guys:


We were also "followed" by this family, who "snatched" Jackson away. Very funny.


When it got too hot to be outside, we went to a huge mall called Times Square where there was a massive indoors adventure park. It was a bit surreal.


We had lunch at a Wendys (which Mama hadn't seen for years), where everyone seemed to be wearing red.


That afternoon, we chilled out at the pool, complete with its waterfalls and the KL skyline in the background.

Kuala Lumpur Part 1

We had fun on our two-day stop-over in Malaysia on the way to the UK. Our first morning there we went to the Petronas Towers and the over to the KL tower, where we went all the way up, and where Jackson got to ride a pony at the bottom.


Afterwards, we checked out the old Central Market and some temples in China Town.



It was a tiring and hot day, so that night Mama and Jackson ordered a lovely room service meal of noodles, beef wraps, and papaya coconut rice.

Mistakes No Regrets

We have so many photos and videos to share from our trip to Malaysia and the UK. While we were away, Mama's good camera broke down so she had to use her phone to take photos. This resulted in her mistakenly taking videos when she thought she was taking photos. So we compiled a video comprised mostly of these "mistakes" to give you a hint of what our trip was like.

Jackson Is 3!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JACKSON! He is three years old today!

We have just returned from our trip to Kuala Lumpur and England, so lots of updates to come...