Favorite Books

My Aunt Rach's blog has a cool feature. It has a list of her 10 favorite books. I liked the idea so much, I put together a list of my own 10 favorite books. I asked Mama and Daddy for their's too. Feel free to comment with your own list.

Here are mine:

1. I Am a Child of God: A Sing-Along Book of Favorite Primary Songs by Carolyn Croll
2. The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone
3. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
4. I'm a Truck by Dennis Shealy
5. Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
6. Dr. Seuss's ABC by Dr. Seuss
7. Hippos Go Berzerk by Sandra Boynton
8. The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton
9. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
10. Stone Soup by Ann McGovern

Here are Mama's favorites:

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2. These is My Words by Nancy Turner
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
5. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
6. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
7. The Harry Potter Series by J. K. Rowling
8. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
9. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
10. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

And here's Daddy's top 10:

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
3. A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
4. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
5. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
6. The Chosen by Chaim Potok
7. All the President's Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
8. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
9. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
10. Ten Philosophical Mistakes by Mortimer Adler

By the way Happy New Year. I didn't know what New Year's Day was all about, until Daddy explained that it's the Julian calendar's birthday. "Oh," I said. "Now I get it."

Brighton Rocks

We went to Brighton today. Brighton is a popular getaway on the southern coast of England. It's about an hour train ride from London.

We walked around some cool shops and restaurants in an area of narrow streets called The Lanes. Then we walked down to the beach and spent some time on the Brighton Pier. There are arcades, rides, and fish & chips joints on the pier. Here's a video of me on the merry-go-round. I held on to the horses ears pretty tight just so Mama wouldn't worry. I wasn't scared at all...

After we rode on the merry-go-round, we walked around the pier a little bit. McKenzie was a little tentative walking on the planks. You can see the ocean underneath them.

After we spent a while on the pier, we walked along the beach. Here's a picture of Mama and me sitting near the beachfront. You can see catamarans lined up on the beach. That's the remains of the West Pier out in the ocean. It burned down a few years ago, after being closed for about 30 years before. I guess no one has the heart to tear it down all the way.

Science Museum

We went to the Science Museum yesterday. The Science Museum is in West London, near the South Kensington tube station. Admission is free. And not the kind of free where you're supposed to give a "donation" to get in, either. It's just free.

The museum is so big, we only saw three of its seven floors in the three hours we were there. We'll go back again later for the rest. We saw a bunch of airplanes, some cars, trains, and some other stuff that's cool for us kids. We also observed the principles of fluid dynamics by playing in the water.

Tower of London

We went to the Tower of London today. We took the tube to the Tower Hill station. Here's the view walking out of the station.

The Tower of London isn't much of a tower. At least not the way I build towers with my Lego blocks. It's more like a castle. There were lots of walls and stairs. And ravens too.

Here's a picture of McKenzie behind the White Tower. You can see the Tower Bridge in the background.

We also saw the Crown Jewels while we were there. They wouldn't let us take any pictures of the Jewels, so I can't show them to you. But take my word for it: somebody really likes diamonds.

After we explored the Tower of London for a few hours, we walked across the Tower Bridge. We saw some cool views from the bridge. Below is a picture of the Tower of London taken from the Tower Bridge, with the city in the background. The next picture is of the London Bridge (lit up in red) with the HMS Belfast in the foreground, taken from the Tower Bridge. Daddy took that picture, so it's a little blurry. Contrary to what the song says, the London Bridge is not falling down.

Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Actually by now it's Boxing Day.

Happy Boxing Day!

We had a fun Christmas. We opened presents, played with toys, ate a good dinner, and opened crackers. Crackers are little wrapped tubes. Two people yank on each end until it pops. Whoever ends up with the middle part gets what's inside: a toy, a lame joke, and a paper crown. It's a British tradition. Check out the video:

In case you're wondering what I got for Christmas, I got a bunch of cool stuff, including new tracks for my train.

Christmas Shopping

We did some Christmas shopping London style last weekend. On Saturday we went to Oxford Street, one of Europe's biggest shopping streets. We took the tube to Tottenham Court Road and then walked down Oxford Street past Oxford Circus for a while before heading back. Oxford Street was packed with people, including these santas playing Christmas music.

On Christmas Eve we went into Croydon. There are a couple of malls there. While we were walking around Croydon, we stumbled onto the Surrey Street Market. It's a big street market with lots of vendors, mostly selling fresh fruits and vegetables. We got a fresh pineapple and some mangos and avocados. We ate them as soon as we got home. They were yummy.

Hyde Park

We went to Hyde Park last Saturday for the Winter Wonderland. We rode on the tube to get there. That's what you blokes probably call a subway. Winter Wonderland is a festival that runs through December in one of London's largest and most famous parks. They have rides and a some booths selling Christmasy stuff. After I rode on a few rides, we bought an ornament for Grandma. Don't tell her, though. It's a surprise.