Both my 2 were off today due to the Teachers Strike. This wasn’t a problem for me as I can choose when I work. I know it was difficult for many though. So once I knew that they were both off, I asked them what they wanted to do. George immediately said “Can we go to the Natural History Museum?” We’ve not been for a while, and even though we usually go to see the same things, it’s a great day out, and the kids really enjoy it. We took lunch, as I won’t buy the cafe food as it’s so expensive, and the queues are usually biblical. We got a travel card each and started out fun day out. It’s FREE to get in, which is good. When we arrived the main entrance had a bit of a queue, so we went round to the side entrance and went straight in. I’m so glad they have every section colour coded, otherwise I’d get very lost. We started in the “Red” section and looked at the “Lasting Impression”, then took the escalator through the earth up to the “Restless Surface” section. They’ve closed off the Volcano area as they’re doing work on it. Then we went to “Earth Treasury” and decided which stone we would like to take home. When I was talking to the kids about this I didn’t notice that a security guard was in a dark corner right next to us, and I bet he then kept a very close eye on us, until we left that section. We then stopped for lunch, and then went into the “Green” section, looking at Georges’ relations the Apes and Monkeys in “Our Place in Evolution”. I do like the Orangutang’s, I look a bit like one when I get up in the morning. Then the “Creepy Crawlies”, “Fossil Marine Reptiles”, “Birds” there are some ugly ones about, and finally “Ecology”. It was time for another sit down, before we ventured into the next area. The “Blue” section is George’s favourite as it’s got the “Dinosaurs” in it. He especially loves the moving T-Rex, and delights in the fact that someone in his class at primary school was so scared of it when they went on a school trip that he cried. He had to be rushed through covering his eyes. I was on that trip as well, and witnesses what was going on. The kids weren’t young at the time, they were 7 and 8! We also looked at “Mammals”, “Blue Whale”, “Marine Invertebrates”, “Fishes, Amphibians and Reptiles”, and finally “Human Biology”. Emily didn’t want to go in this section to start with, as she’s at “That Age”, but George was very keen. George saw a picture of a woman giving birth, and asked “Why does she look so relaxed?”, my answer was “She’s most probably taken loads of drugs”. I reminded them that it was rather painful, and something I’m definitely NOT doing again!! Then finally we went into the “Orange” section, and into the Darwin Centre, which is new and really interactive. Hardly anyone was in this section, so we had the run of the place practically to ourselves. In fact the whole museum itself was fairly quiet. We got the train home all exhausted and got Mark to pick us up from the station. We then got Fish and Chips and we all went to bed at 8.30pm.