March 2013

The weather here has been miserable this month--cold and rainy and several days of snow even (it snowed this whole weekend)!  It wouldn't be so bad if it was January or February, but it's supposed to be spring, and so far, this is the worst month of weather we've had all winter :(  We're trying to keep busy with inside activities, but we just can't wait for a little bit of sun and to be able to get back outside again!!

Here are some pictures and videos from the month that show us braving the elements outside and trying to keep busy with indoor activities.  There are also some pictures from Mother's Day--in the UK, Mother's Day is on March 10.  Needless to say, this was the coldest Mother's Day I have ever experienced :)  But, we still had a lovely day!  My boys took me to a nice breakfast, spoiled me with flowers, and even let me take a nice nap while they went out to run some errands.  I couldn't have asked for a nicer day (well, next year, I wouldn't mind a little sun :)

Nathan the butterfly!  The theme in music class this week was creepy crawlies and insects.

Make your own bowling alley inside the house.  What can I say, after spending so much time inside, we have gotten a little desperate for new, fun indoor activities.  

"Oops, I feel in the box."

Enjoying a Babyccino at our Mother's Day breakfast.

Happy Mum's Day!  This was my Mother's Day gift from Nathan (with a little help from our kids' club).

My Mother's Day flowers from the cutest little delivery man ever!

This is how we usually get around these days.  And, he insists on going everywhere with his back-pack (which he usually fills with candy :)

The Saint Patrick's Day festival at Trafalgar Square.

Cooking Class

Nathan made this lovely Native American headdress in the art room.

This week in music class, we learned about Ireland, including its animals.  That's a sheep on his head :) 

Giant Easter Eggs in Covent Garden.  He loved the Thomas the Train egg.

Driving the bus at the London Transport Museum.

Someone got an Easter package from Grandma and Grandpa.  He was thrilled!

Life-size Lindt chocolate bunnies in Covent Garden.

An Easter Egg hunt (well, actually Lindt chocolates, but they called it an easter egg hunt) in Covent Garden.  

A giant bunny!

After a fun morning at the London Transport Museum, the Lindt Easter Egg Hunt, and lunch with mom, he was so wiped out, he fell asleep on the bus on the way home :)

A giant chocolate Easter egg at Harrods.  You can take this home for Easter brunch for a mere £800.

The London Aquarium And Other News

Nathan and I went to the London Aquarium today for the first time.  It's definitely not as big and impressive as the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, but it was still a really nice cold-weather activity.

Nathan was so excited to go to the aquarium to see the sharks, the turtles, the Nemo fish, and the penguins.  And, although he enjoyed the other fish and sea life there, he pretty much raced around the aquarium looking specifically for those four things.  We even had to go back to see the penguins a second time :)  After spending the better part of a week cooped up inside (see explanation below), we had a great morning at the aquarium!

And, to fill you all in on our not so fun week last week, it basically went something like this: Chris was out of town all week; Nathan and I tackled potty-training, so we were inside for a couple of days working on that; potty-training got a bit interrupted on the second day when Nathan got sick and we had to take a ride in an ambulance to the emergency room (he got a really high fever (104 degrees) and had a scary little episode where he stared off into the distance, went limp, and was unresponsive for a couple of minutes, then came to and started vomiting - mom got a little freaked out and called 999).  And, although that all made for kind of a miserable week, the good news is, Nathan is fine.  His fever went away by the middle of the night Tuesday night and stayed away.  It was apparently just a virus and the little episode he had was just connected to the spike in his fever.  And, despite the interruption to potty-training, Nathan did really well and we are now diaper-free, except at nights!

He was thrilled to see this giant penguin before we even got into the Aquarium.

He's actually on his hands and knees looking down at the sharks swimming below him.

This tank was a favorite of Nathan's, because there was a giant turtle in here.

The penguins!!  This was his absolute favorite part!

Nathan and his friend, Tyler, in the shark tank.

This was last week during a play-date with his friend, Aiden, who was also potty-training.  They were taking a little bathroom break :)

Nathan and Aiden hanging out at Purple Dragon.

London National Transport Museum

Nathan and I didn't have any plans today, so we decided to visit the National Transit Museum for the first time.  Nathan loved seeing and driving all of the buses, trains, and trams!

We finally had a sunny day and Nathan decided he needed his sunglasses to eat breakfast, because it was so bright :)

He kept them on to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse :) 

Standing next to a horse-drawn bus.

Standing on an old train.

Driving the bus.

Driving a tube train.

 

Bowling Adventure

We have decided to take at least one pre-planned field trip every weekend.  Although we have done a lot of really fun and interesting things since we have been living here, we were beginning to feel like many of our weekends were spent wandering around Chelsea (our neighborhood) and frequenting various restaurants on the King's Road (our high street).  And, while we live in a lovely neighborhood, we want to be sure that we are seeing and experiencing everything that London has to offer.

So, thanks to Nathan's recent obsession with the bowling app on the iPhone and and iPad (thanks Aunt Deanna for introducing us to that one :), Chris thought it would be fun to take him bowling in real life.  Not exactly an educational or historic field trip, but Nathan had a blast and is repeatedly asking to go back again!  We went to Namco Funscape--a big arcade with lots of games, bumper cars, and some bowling lanes.  It was actually a perfect adventure for the gloomy Sunday we had last weekend.  Not surprisingly, Nathan loved all of the "sports" games--bowling, football (soccer), golf, basketball, skee ball, etc.

In other news, we found a new music class today (8 months into being a stay-at-home mom and it still cracks me up that this is very exciting news in my life :)  The music class we were taking at the kids' club just wasn't cutting it.  We were in a fantastic music class in Pasadena and the one at the kids' club was a bit of a mess.  So, we tried out a new one today and we both loved it!  We now have a Wednesday morning activity to keep us busy :)

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Oh, and wishing my mom a very happy birthday (her birthday was yesterday).  Wish we were there to celebrate with you!

Here are some pictures and videos from our little family fun day last weekend.

Happy 2013!

After a month and a half without internet, we're finally "connected" again!  A lot has happened since my last post, so I will try to briefly fill in the gaps.  On November 30, we moved to a new flat (same neighborhood, just about a mile down the road).  We really love it here.  It's bigger, brighter, and most importantly, smoke-free (we were having issues with second-hand smoke coming in through our bathroom vents at our old flat).  Oh, and it's right upstairs from the kids' club, so it's an ideal location for us, especially during these cold winter months.  

Shortly after our move, we left for California for the holidays.  Chris was there for about 2 1/2 weeks and Nathan and I got to stay for about a month.  As always, the holidays were a bit hectic, but it was really nice to spend time with family at Christmas-time.  Overall, we had a wonderful trip and it was so great to be able to spend time catching up with friends and family who we hadn't seen in six months.  It was also really nice to enjoy some warm wether in the middle of winter.

When we came back from California, we arrived to a blanket of white.  Although it was quite a change from the California sun, we had lots of fun with our first "snow weekend."  Nathan especially loved throwing snowballs!

The snow didn't stick around too long though and this past weekend was actually really pretty and warmish (a high of around 47 degrees).  So, we took full advantage and had a family date day.  We took Nathan to the London Eye and got a bird's eye view of London.  I was a little nervous that he wouldn't like it and we would be stuck for a half hour in a capsule above London with a kid who was whining to get off.  But, he loved going up in the "bubble" and looking down at the water and trying to find our "home" from way up there.

Here are some pictures from the last couple of months.  Now that we have internet again, I promise it won't be so long between posts.  Happy New Year everyone!!

Decorating our baby Christmas tree.

Having fun at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland.

Our neighborhood at Christmas-time.

More fun at Winter Wonderland.

Having fun with poppers on New Year's Eve.

Enjoying the California sun!

Nathan and his cousin, Matilda.

Doing work with Grandpa.

Watching Great Grandpa work.

And, trying to help him out.

Playing a game with Uncle Casey and Great Grandpa.

 Having fun with the cousins!

Snowball fight!

The London Eye.