You take the good, you take the bad, you take it all...

..and there you have the Facts of Life.
We believe in giving our kids honest, age-appropriate answers about most things, but I did think I had a fw more years before needing to have the old birds & bees discussion.

Our friends the Kains came to visit us for 2 weeks in March. We had a lot of fun hanging out with them, and Kate loved having another little person to boss around. Jill is pregnant, and this fact sparked many interesting conversations with Kate.
Apparently she doesn't remember my being pregnant with Michael, although she does know about the big belly I had from seeing pictures.

Questions that were asked:
- How does the baby eat?
- How does the baby get out?
- Does the baby have a mouth?
- Can the baby hear me if I sing her "Jingle Bells"?
- How does Jill sleep with that big tummy?
- What does the baby eat?
- Does the baby have nipples?
- Where does Jill's food go if the baby is taking up all the room in her tummy?
on hearing TJ (their 15 month old son) crying: "I think that is the baby in Jill's tummy. She is ready to come out".
And of course,
- How did that baby get in there?

Don't worry, we gave her the most simple of answers, and she did not press the issue further. So next time you see her, she won't be spouting off about sperm or anything like that.


We took them to Hampton Court Palace for a day of Tudor fun, and here are some of the photos we took in the gardens.

Kate took this one of all of us:


In front of the Smurf trees:



I was trying to get a pic of the kids together, and this is how they posed themselves. They thought it was hilarious.




I tried to get down to take a picture like that too, but I'm too old. All that gravel really hurt my stomach.

Bike Tour Redux

Our favorite thing to do with out of town guests is to take them on a bike tour of some of the highlights in London.


Michael was unable to contain his enthusiasm.




We stopped at Green Park, outside Buckingham Palace and I posed Kate in the daffodils that have been blooming everywhere.
She is clearly just posing here to please me, but aren't the flowers pretty?

To what to my wondering eyes did appear

...but Michael eating his vegetables with cheer!


Here is what is important about this photo.
1. NOT that Michael has the dorkiest haircut on either side of the Atlantic
2. NOT that Michael is wearing a hand-me down girl bib
3. Michael is eating Kale.

Everybody knows that we all need to eat lots of dark green leafy vegetables daily. But some of us also know that convincing small children of that fact is sometimes difficult.
I often receive big bags of kale in my weekly veg box, and there is only so much kale soup & sauteed kale one can eat. So my favorite way of preparing it is to make it into kale chips. Contrary to what you are thinking, they are delicious. Crispy and salty, just like the much less healthy potato variety.

Even Michael, who is wary of many vegetables (most unlike his sister, who will happily eat whatever is placed in front of her) dug in. He ate nearly half a bag of the stuff, and his sister and I ate the other half.

Try it. You'll like it. And I bet your kid will too.
And hopefully all those phytonutrients will make his hair grow. Quickly.



To make:
toss together kale and some olive oil, a teaspoon of cider vinegar, and some salt. Spread into a single layer on a large baking sheet & bake at 400F for 15 minutes or until nice and crispy.

Welcome to France

On Sunday I went to Paris to meet up with my friend Judie.
Judie's best friend recently moved to Paris, and she was there visiting her. So I invited myself along and headed across the channel for a fun evening out.
Those of you with small children will understand me when I say that just to have 2.5 hours on a train alone was incredible. I didn't have to read Madeline, color, stuff raisins down throats, shush a certain shrieking 18 month old, or be a human jungle gym. I simply listened to my iPod, read my *own* book, and looked out the window.

On Sunday night we went out for posh cocktails at the Plaza Athenee.
Sex and the City fans may recognize this place as a locale that the 4 ladies visited during the Paris episodes.


Did I mention that the drinks were 26 Euro EACH?? They are very proud of their martinis.

We then went out for a delicious French dinner, and then back to Jen's flat for more wine. It was lovely (see above remarks about no shrieking children).

We walked past the Eiffel Tower on our way out for drinks.
For some reason I look like a hobbit in this photo, but no matter.



The next morning we did a walking tour of the Ile de Cite, the island on which Notre Dame is located. We had time for another fab French meal before I had to scurry off back to the train station and back to reality.



Thanks for putting me up Jen! And thanks to Judie & her mom Pam for letting me crash your Parisian Party.

Brighton

On Saturday we went to Brighton. Brighton is on the south coast of England, and it is a popular beach destination in the summer.
Michael is going to have a rude awakening when we move back to the US and he realizes that riding in a car means being buckled into a car seat without the ability to bop around like he can on the train.




I was keen to visit the Royal Pavillion, which is a palace that was built by George IV when he was Prince Regent. (1 minute history lesson: His dad George III was loco and unable to reign effectively. So his son was appointed Prince Regent until his father's death and he could ascend the throne. A Price Regent rules the monarchy as the Sovereign would). The outside is meant to resemble an Indian Palace, while the inside is heavily influenced by Chinese design. Given that it was built in the early 19th century, the design of the "Chinese" interior is the Englishman's view of what the Orient was like due to the fact that very few people could travel to the Far East.








We walked into the music room where there was a lovely piano. Danny told Kate that this was where the people used to listen to music. She looked around, and very confused, said, "But I don't see an iPod!". Clearly we need to expose our daughter to some real music.

Also, as per usual, all she wanted to see was the bedroom and the toilet. We were lucky that this palace had a loo open for viewing. Kate was satisfied to see where the Prince went wee.

We were not allowed to take photos of the inside, so I grabbed this photo off the RP website. There were many dragons featured in the decor, which a certain dragon-obsessed 3 year old loved & feared at the same time.


I love this photo because it captures the relationship between Michael & Kate so well. She is always looking out for him and making sure he is alright.

Ask the 3 Year Old

Ask your kid these questions and then write down the answers. Pretty funny.

I'm not sure what is up with the dragon remarks. Maybe a comment on my breath? ;)


1. What is something mom always says to you?
"Do you need to go potty?"

2. What makes mom happy?
When I play

3. What makes mom sad?
When I don't play

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Tickle me

5. What was your mom like as a child?
You looked like a dragon

6. How old is your mom?
31

7. How tall is your mom?
150

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Color

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Watch TV

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Being pretty and making really good cookies

11. What is your mom really good at?
Cooking

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Playing

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Get money from daddy

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
spaghetti, salad, potatoes, mango, coffee

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Giving people cards for their birthdays

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
a dragon

17. What do you and your mom do together?
color

18. How are you and your mom alike?
we both like chocolate and we have the same toes

19. How are you and your mom different?
i'm not wearing a brown shirt. My shirt is pink.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
You give me cuddles.

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
out for pizza

I Love London

At least on the rare sunny day. Mostly, I love the food here. It is beyond fabulous. Now that the Sterling has weakened, our buying power has increased. And that means we are able to eat out a bit more often than we used to.

I don't think there is any other city in the world with such an availability of incredible food. You can eat Italian for breakfast, Turkish for lunch, and Ethiopian for dinner. The next day, eat Eritrean, Thai, all different types of Indian, Sri Lankan, Greek, Moroccan, French, Swedish, Chinese and so on. I heard a statistic that you could eat out for every meal for 34 years and never eat at the same place twice. This all bodes very well for my food-loving family, but not so well for my skinny jeans.

Today, after my Pilates class, I went to a excellent Turkish (my favorite type of food) restaurant. I had a fantastic meal of hot mezze, lamb kofte, and Turkish tea. It was served with Izgara soƒan, grilled onions in a pomegranite sauce, an onion salad with chili and a shepherd salad, all with fresh hot Turkish flat bread. Then I walked down to the Turkish bakery and purchased several pastries to share with the family. Unfortunately for Danny, Kate and Michael, I ate most of it on the bus ride home.


Michael goes to nursery 1 day a week, and so I have been enjoying eating out kid free once a week. I try to go explore places that would not be easy to go with the kids...which would be most everywhere. London, for all of its wonderful qualities, is not a place that welcomes children. Most places don't have a highchair, and keeping Michael the monkey still in your lap while trying to eat is no small feat. People here don't generally bring their children out to dinner, so if you want to eat out for supper, you have to either eat at chain restaurant or eat at 5p, which is of course impossible when D gets home from work at 6:30.

There are some things that I do miss about the US. However, with the exception of Mexican, the food is not one of them.