I am in LOVE. In love with a town called Henley.
We had a fantastic day today! We rode the train out to Henley which took about 45 minutes, and was a lovely train ride. Once we got there we walked over to the Rowing Museum, which was our main purpose of going. I mentioned before that they have a Wind in the Willows exhibit, and Gabe has been reading it to the kids. We are waiting in line, and I hear the museum lady say to the lovely family in front of us, whom I shall get back to in a minute, that the Wind in the WIllows exhibit is CLOSED. What?! Yikes!!! Turns out a bit of water ran throught the exhibit... blah blah, will be open soon. All of this is fine and dandy, a quick explanation to the kids that we will come back another day, and things are fine. NOW! That family we were waiting behind.. it was Liam Gallagher from Oasis! How fantastic is that!? Since I got here I have been wanting to see someone, someone famous and "Londony", to complete my London experience.. and there he was. The ironic thing is, I had to LEAVE London to see someone!
Anywho! The museum was totally fun, there was an interactive cox exhibit, that Mary-Mae loved. We then walked down the river, stopping to play on a playground. We walked to the center of town, and saw the Oxford Men's crew team running, which was cool. As, they were running in a line, all with their jackets on. The town itself, is just beautiful and charming, and LOTS of famalies about. We were able to go into a family friendly pub and have a pint, and then a bit of shopping, and then back on the train and back to London. By far, one of my favorite places.

Phoebe is ONE! What a day! I can't believe she is one..
We headed out to Kings Road today to walk and shop around for some birthday goodies, we followed the road up to Sloane Square going in shops here and there. Then we hopped on the tube and went to Notting Hill, and we walked up Portobello Road to The Hummingbird Bakery, and bought some of the best cupcakes ever! After that we actually walked all the way back to Kensington Gardens, and caught a bus back to Glouster Road. Came home and had tacos, and cupcakes. A pretty great day, laid back but fun..

Just to be clear.... "Anna" from yesterday was actually George dressed up in Mary-Mae's clothing..

That aside... Today was such a beautiful day.. the weather is BEAUTIFUL!!! We headed back up to Holland Park today! It seriously is so beautiful... I am looking forward to exploring more of it then we have seen so far.. but for now, we head right for the adventure playground. Now, one of the cool things, if you have been reading ... you know that this playground is geared for 5-15 year olds.. now at 12 on a Tuesday.. that group is usually in school, so we had the place to ourselves!! No queue on the zip line. the kids were in HEAVEN! It was so fun, and Phoebe is feeling so much better and is back to her happy self. Love it!

One crappy thing that has been going on is that our local food store, Sainsbury has been closed due to renovations... UGH! So I had to stop at the other chain, Waitrose up on Kensington High Street... and carry the groceries all the way home from there....
Funny thing.. when my friend Leigh was here, she is a bit of a Cliff CLaven.. chock full of facts. Said that there was a problem with people consuming "expired" products in th UK, and that they have special lables that change color...Guess what? I carried a huge gallon of Skimmed milk home to look at it, and say.. "Why is there a big red X on this?" It is EXPIRED! I know, I know... my mother is yelling at me right now as she is reading this. If there is one thing she has taught me, and believe me.. there are MANY things she has taught me.. But looking at expiration dates is one of her favorites..
SO.. down the drain the milk went, and an email to Gabe to pick some up.. and we are now ready for the cereal and coffee hour in the morning.

Right now, Gabe is reading the kids the "Wind in the Willows" book. We are headed to Henley this weekend to the Rowing Museum, and they are suppose to have this great interactive exhibit for kids about the book.

Say Hello to Anna. She has been living in our flat for the past 2 hours. She has the cutest little falsetto voice, when she introduced herself she explained that her "Mommy, Daddy, and baby were lost." Could she live her forever? I said yes, and she said, still using her falsetto voice, "Great. Only problem is.. I'm allergic to butter."

Oh, my lord.. we are all going a little stir crazy.. Phoebe has an awful cold, and we are trapped in doors......

Holland Park in London. Hands down the most fabulous park I have been to, EVER! I LOVED it! For those of you who have read the "Something Borrowed" and "Something Blue" books, it is the park that is Ethan's favorite. Well, I agree with Ethan! It is so beautiful, and it has all these windy little paths, and beautiful flower beds, and formal gardens, there is also a Kyoto garden.. wild rabbit running around, peacocks, and the mother of all...an Adventure Playground. This is a playground with equipment geared to 5-15 year olds.. zip lines, simulated skateboards, spinning things, twisty things, you name it, and the kids loved it, and so did we! It was so fun to see the kids doing all this crazy stuff- and Gabe even got in on the tarzan rope action!!! All the spring bulbs are blooming in the parks, and the window boxes, and you can spell the hyacinths, and with that scent I feel spring, and the time of our departure from here coming. With the weather changing we are getting to enjoy the city in a new way, and I can already feel how much I am going to miss it. It will be good to be home... but we will miss it.

Yesterday, Mary-Mae turned 6! Wow! I always like to look at the pictures we have on our computer of when she was born, and think back to what I can remember of that day and moment. The thing that always sticks out, and I don't think I will ever forget is the moment she was born and they put her on me. I was struck and surprised by how warm and alive she was. Like most first time moms, during pregnancy I watched endless hours of TLC Birth Stories, and was pretty much prepared for the visual of how everythng was going to happen. But nothing had prepared me for how the warm, living, breathing body was going to feel against my skin. I remember it took my breath away, and I started to sob, because with the wieght of this little baby on me made me realize that there was now another person in the world, and I was her Mom.
Six years, seems like a lifetime ago in a way, but yet I can't believe she is half way to 12!!! YIKES!

We celebrated by going out to lunch and then to the Toy store where some wonderful toys and books were picked out. A quick tube ride home, and we broke into the toys, and played! Last night we had chinese for dinner, which is now her new favorite cuisine.

With the festivities behind me, I can now prepare for next week, when Phoebe turns 1!

My how the time flies.

Hip, Hip, I got a new camera! HOORAY!!! Finally-- I have been out one for so long, ours broke.... and now.. I am snapping away! We went down to the "City of London" where Gabe's office is this afternoon, picked up a new camera, and then had lunch with him. We ate at a place called Fuzzy's Grub, which makes wonderful sandwhiches and salads. Technically we didn't eat there, we got it to go and went to the Lane Powell office here in London, and we ate lunch with Gill who is their secretary here, and she is just such a lovely woman. She hid chocolate eggs around the office, and after lunch the kids had an easter egg hunt. Needless to say, they can't wait for our next visit down there to the office!

Let's see what else is new? Yesterday we went to the Natural History Museum, and I coughed up the admission fee into the "Dino Jaws" exhibit. The museum itself is free, and we have been there so much... I think we were all looking for something to do. George spent the entire time scrunched into the basket of the stroller he was so scared. Wish I had the camera yesterday-- that was a sight to see. We practically needed the jaws of life to remove him. Mary-Mae liked it, and I though it was pretty cool. They had huge robotic replicas... complete with growling, tail swooshing, eye blinking...

My other new british hobby is Nigella Lawson, from the show Nigella Bites. Being a Londoner herself, it seems the city is quite taken with her.. not only her cooking, but her wit and charm. So, far I have bought her Feast and her How to Eat cookbooks. All the measurments are in kg, ml, g, etc.. which is great for her.. but I am going to go mad at home. I am trying to pick out recipes without too many ingrediants.. as I don't want to stockpile the kitchen with a bunch of ingrediants when we are leaving in 7 weeks!!! Can you believe it? We most likely are leaving around May 17. Back to Nigella, everything I have made is yum yummy...

stay tune for some fabulous pictures from our new camera!

Last night, I had a wonderful evening! My friend Leigh, who is here visiting treated us treated me and her to the show Mary Poppins. Gabe stayed home with the kids, and we were able to get out the door in time to grab a quick drink and snack at a bar across the street from the Theather. I can't tell you how lovely it was to be in a bar. It was dark, and full of adults all dressed nicely, and I got to have a drink and an adult conversation. Even better then that was the show. It was SO wonderful.... did I mention we were sitting 8th row center. WOW! It was fantastic! The sets were amazing, absolutley AMAZING, and the actors, costumes..I loved it all. The highlight was the "supercalifrgilisticexpialidocious" song and dance---- ahhhhhh, I loved it so much, I cried. Seriously!! It was so fun.

It was also fun to watch the little girl and boy who played Jane and Michael Banks. They were so good, and their little relationship just made me think of George and Mary-Mae. I have enjoyed so much watching them grow up and be friends. This whole experience has just made them closer... and that is so sweet to see. The other day we were walking in Kensington Gardens, and they were running and chasing each other, and George was being his goofy self, and making Mary-Mae laugh.. and this went on for some time, until finally Mary-Mae draped her arm around his shoulder and fell into him laughing, his response was to lace his arm around her waist and the walked like that the rest of the way. Walking right in front of me, fitting perfectly together... brother and sister. It made my heart flutter, and I wished I had a camera..

Yesterday we took the bus to Battersea. It is just over the Thames, and it was a really nice area. They have a park there, Battersea Park which is where we were headed. Inside the park is a Children's zoo, that we wanted to check out. It was a little less then thrilling. It was more of a petting zoo, which maybe I am a bad Mom, but they kinda just gross me out.... Gerbils, chickens, goats... you name it... There was a playground in the zoo, which was fun and kids had a great time on. Phoebe loves to go the swing, and it is just adorable, and the kids go nuts watching her... and then they fight over who's turn it is to ride down the slide with her.
The park itself was really pretty, and I loved that it was right on the water, and riding the bus is always an adventure, and a dissapointment to Mary-Mae when I say, "No, we can't sit up top...I can't carry Phoebe AND the stroller up the stairs." She never stops asking, everytime.. she thinks MAY-BE she grew an extra set of arms last night and can do it!!!

This morning we are hanging about the flat waiting to go meet Leigh at the Tube stop.

My friend Leigh was suppose to arrive today, but slipped under our door was note saying she would arrive tomorrow. Thinking she got some amazing "bump" offer at the airport she chose to delay her travel. Checked my email, and turns out she MISSED her flight.... knowing Leigh like I do... this was a very traumatic experience for her. We will all have to be extra nice when she gets here. I promise not to let George attack her with his Tower of London sword, and yoda light saber at the same time.

Speaking of George.. so last weekend we went to Hamley's which is this HUGE 7 story toy store. We decide before we go in, which by the way we had to "queue in line" to do. We would let each of the kids pick something out. Before we even get in the store George decides he wants a Ben 10 watch. Ben 10 is this super hero kid that uses his watch to turn into differnt things. We go to the boy section, he finds the Ben 10 section, and grabs to watch and does his little "woohoo" dance. DOwn to the girl floor, Mary-Mae agonizes for 20 minutes "WHAT TO CHOOSE?"... alot of , "ooooh, if only I could choose 2 things..." later she decides on a Barbie Diaries diary. We then spot Gabe and George headed twords us.
"George would now like the Hungry Hungry Hippos Game. I had to explain to him that the watch was not actually going to turn him into things."
.....bless his little heart. He was standing there holding this watch that he was so excited for.. now looking like.. "what is this crap?" what is the point.... I think his optimistic dreamer ways are going to lead to lots of dissapointments like that---But lucky me, now I have 36 little white marbles to try and keep off the floor and out of Phoebe's mouth.