A visit from Just Gene

My cousin Gene swung through for a visit this week. He was a model house guest and a hit with the girls. And he even agreed to go to the Natural History Museum with us (during the most crowded time...summer in London).

Waiting for the tube at Belsize Park. Evie waved and the tube driver tooted. It was the thrill of a lifetime:
Millie shed some tears on the way:
Posing with the Pterodactyl (and her ham sandwich):
And in front of the escalator that ascends into a giant Earth. Evie was completely mesmerized by the sparkling rocks along the wall, but we whisked her away to the dinosaurs:
Gene displayed some Herculean strength on the way:
We never had managed to go to the dinosaurs before, due to the crowds. The day we visited was no exception in the crowd department, but we were determined!

Millie was in a jovial mood:
We stood in line for a really long time, waiting to see the big T Rex robot, but when we got there, Evie was not a fan. She couldn't get away from him fast enough! I had to carry her for a while after that.
The mammals section was also pretty amazing (and, again, something we had never seen). While stuffed giraffes are much less interesting than live ones, they were still impressive:
There were also hippos, elephants, Rhinos, lions and tigers and bears, Oh My! And a humongous model of a humpback whale hanging from the ceiling. In the middle of taking this all in, we started to fall apart at the seams, so we headed back out into the rain and onto the tube.

Gene also did a lot of wandering around London and headed out to Stratford to visit Jim at the Olympic Park (not on the same day as the museum, although he did go down to Camden, which I thought was impressive. I was exhausted)!
It was a nice visit and Evie was sad to see her 'friend' go, but hopefully we'll see Gene again in the not too distant future...like when we manage to make a trip to DC!