Le Disney

We're back from Disney. And let me just say that whoever had the idea (cough cough Eisner, cough cough) to put the "Happiest Place on Earth" in the land of the haughty Frenchman needs to have his head examined. The French are good at a lot of things, like cheese, wine and sneering. But none of those things are great pairings with a children's park. Even the French border control agent gave Danny a hard time about it. "Why on earth would you put it here? Why not someplace good? Someplace like Spain?" Mr. Border Control, we were asking ourselves the same questions.


I'm sure that part of it was that my expectations were too high. The parks in Orlando are fantastic. The parks in LA are pretty darn good too. The parks in France....eh. But Kate had an absolute blast, and that is all that matters.

We took the Eurostar through the chunnel to get there, which was a fantastic way to travel. Except for the fact that they had these pesky trays that stuck out from the seat in front of us. Poor Michael couldn't stop bending over and bonking his head on it. He's now known as "Rocky". We were hoping he would bust out with a "Yo Adrienne" to complete the look, but we had to make due with "mamamama".



Paying homage to the men who pay the bills: Walt, Mickey, & Danny.




We walked in and this mini-parade was happening.



Kate reacted by trying to turn & run, shrieking loudly.




But she soon warmed up to the characters, and in fact Tigger blew her a kiss, which she is still talking about.

Desperately waiting for her turn on the carousel:



Going through the door in Alice in Wonderland's Maze:




Kate and Dad about to go on the teacups:





Riding the Magic Carpet:


The ever elusive family holiday photo (thanks Mike!):



Michael got to ride the rides too!

MIchael 8 & 9 Months

Poor second child syndrome. He's getting his 8 & 9 month pictures combined into one post.

8 Months old and already knows how to Gig 'Em. That's my boy!




I remember right about this stage with Kate that it started getting very difficult to take these photos.

"Oh, what's that?"




I gave him the lens cap to try to distract him, but it didn't make for a very good photo.


"Ha Ha Mom! You'll never get a photo of me sitting still again!"



"Hurry up and take the picture or I think I'll just lunge off this couch"



Finally, a decent picture. Or, as good as I'm going to get.




He weighs 18.5 pounds, which puts him in the 25% for both height and weight. His head is in the 50%. Big brains and all.
He has his two bottom teeth already. Kate didn't cut her first tooth until after she turned one, so it is strange to me to have a little baby with chompers. He isn't crawling yet, but he can scoot backwards on his tummy and forward on his bottom. He tries to go from sitting to all fours, but invariably pitches forward and bonks his head on the floor. Since we don't have any carpet in our house, this makes for some hard falls.

He is very much a grabber. He goes for anything within reach. In line at Disney, he grabbed countless strangers hair, and even an older lady's boob, much to my horror. (she was behind us in line, wearing a very busy printed shirt. I think he liked the pattern. Luckily, she didn't seem to mind.)

Holland Park

Yesterday we braved the nasty weather and headed down to Holland Park for a day of fun with our new friends Madeline, Olivia and Pamela.
Holland Park has a tranquil Kyoto garden with peacocks who will eat from your hands! This guy, however, was too busy fanning his feathers to ward off the intrusive gardener to bother eating. The girls were enraptured:




It also has an awesome "adventure" playground. Due to the yucky weather, we had almost the entire playground to ourselves!


After the playground we headed to my mecca, Whole Foods, and ate a yumtastic lunch before heading home. Kate was so exhausted that she nearly fell asleep at the table while we were waiting to eat. She wanted to sleep so badly on the tube ride home. She is definitely her momma's daughter...that girl loves her some sleep. :)

Thanks for hanging out with us ladies! We had such a fun time and Kate awoke this morning telling me that "she loves Owe-vea, Pam-wea, & Mand-dewyn".

We're off tomorrow morning for Disney Paris!
Check out this pimp hotel we're staying in. I don't know who is more excited, Kate or me!

Reason #21 I'm glad we don't have a car

Think gas is expensive where you live?


The average price of a gallon of petrol in the UK is now £4.80 (US$9.65) while a gallon of diesel costs a staggering £5.30. People on a trip here for the first time may be caught out by petrol being sold at the pumps by the litre where the cost is around £1.06 at the moment, but trust me, when you drive around for a while it will soon become obvious that the £20-£30 you throw into your tank doesn’t last very long at all.

Wow. Although my friend Stephanie did just buy a car last week, and I found myself daydreaming about trips to Tesco & Homebase without having to worry about how I'm going to get all my purchases home.

Siblings

Kate has a lot of fun toys and things to play with, but I am quite certain that the best gift she has ever gotten is her little brother. Watching the two of them play and interact with each other is one of the best things about being a parent. I am so happy that they have each other, and that, at least for now, they love each other so fiercely.

Michael absolutely adores her, and looks around for her whenever he wakes up or she isn't there. And Kate engages him in endless games of peekaboo, train play, and apparently some plotting revolt against mom & dad under the blanket:











It is sometimes hard to push the stroller, because she just wants to be in front loving on her brother.

A guy walks into a bar...

What was really so funny? Danny telling her to eat her broccoli.

Hever Castle

On Sunday, we went down to Kent to visit Hever Castle, which is the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. The website and the train station said it was a "2km country walk" to the castle from the station. We thought "2K? No sweat" and set off on foot to get to the castle via the footpath. Apparently 'country walk' means mud bog in the Queen's English. I nearly lost my (brand new!!!) shoes in the mud, was submerged up to mid-calf, while Danny was cracking up behind me. Like a true gentlemen, he let me go first. And Kate, who I was carrying, kept asking "Mom, why are you so MUDDY? Get out of the mud!!" So that was fun. Finally, I figured out that Danny and Michael could just hop the fence and trespass on some drier ground so Dan got to avoid looking like a street urchin the rest of the day, and the wet squishy socks too.

Despite looking like I had wallowed in mud like a pig, we had a fun time. The gardens were absolutely gorgeous. Kate had a blast in the mazes, and enjoyed the fountains and sculptures too.

The castle was bought in the late 19th century by the Astor family, who created the gardens. The Astors are the family who owned the Waldorf Astoria.

Perk of the Job

On Friday, we took Kate to watch Playhouse Disney Live on Stage at the Hammersmith Apollo. Kate doesn't watch TV, but she knows who the Little Einsteins are, and of course Mickey & Minnie since they pay the bills. She was so excited at the idea of the show, but I was a little unsure about how she would do in reality. I wasn't sure if she would have the attention span to sit still during the show, or if she would be frightened by the noise and characters.

She *LOVED* it. She was dancing in her seat, clapping and singing along and nearly just shaking with excitement. It was so much fun to watch. These are some of the best things about being a parent; watching your child experience such sheer joy and their childlike amazement and awe.

She woke up the next morning and told us that she had dreamed about the show, and she was ready to go back again that day. We're taking the kids to EuroDisney next weekend. I am so, so excited to see how Kate reacts and how the French do Mickey Mouse.