Ding Dong...

City Boys & Girls Getting Down on the Farm

Saturday was the rare sunny day when the temperature broke 70 degrees (a London heatwave), so we decided to take advantage of the great outdoors and take the kids down to a farm in Surrey. We took Kate here for her 3rd birthday last year, and poor Michael had to spend the entire time in his stroller since he was not yet walking or crawling.

Now that he is a busy boy who knows all his animal signs and sounds, we thought he would enjoy it more this year.

Kate was initially not keen on feeding real, live animals. But she soon came around after I bribed her with a marshmallow.




My kid feeding a kid:




Kate rode the same donkey she did last year. This year though, there was no fooling her and she said straight away "That's not a horse. It's a donkey". But she didn't care.

They had a pig race. They were so cute when they ran! Their ears were flopping all in their faces and they didn't seem too bothered to make it to the finish line very quickly.









What is this stuff? Grass...what is that? My poor kids and their city life.





Just because she rode a donkey doesn't mean she doesn't want a horse of her very own.
"Pleeeeeeease daddy?"




The farm has a huge playground with tons of trampolines, sand pits, and playground equipment. The kids were completely knackered afterward, so I would call that a successful day.

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.

A Real Live Turkeyhead

Today I took the kids down to Chelsea to visit Battersea Park Children's Zoo. Kate was really excited about getting there "before the monkeys take their nap".

We had a lovely day out, and both of the kids had a blast.
Michael shrieked with laughter and excitement at the monkeys. I think they must remind him of someone he knows. Kate was amazed to discover that the little spider monkey had hands "just like ours, but smaller. Smaller even than Baby Alex's hands".

Her favorite animals by far were the pigs and the emus. She even tried to climb into the pig pen.





When I told her that these were Turkeys, she started cracking up and didn't believe me. "A real live turkeyhead? Nooooo mommy!". She even told me to take a photo of her next to the turkey and send it to Tyler, Lesley & Alex.



(We love to call people turkeyheads for those of you who are wondering what the deal is with Turkeys).


Petting the world's biggest bunny. "Please Mommy, can we bring him home?"




They had a meerkat manor, and there was this tunnel you could crawl through and then stand up and you were in a bubble that was in the middle of the meerkat compound.



Michael was too young for the playground, but he did enjoy the mulch:

From Darkest Peru...

Paddington Bear is so named because that is the station where Mr. & Mrs. Brown found the scruffy little bear.
He had a tag around his neck reading "PLEASE LOOK AFTER THIS BEAR", a duffle coat, and a small suitcase.

Michael Bond based Paddington on a teddy bear that he bought for his wife for Christmas one year. He remembered trainloads of children evacuees leaving London during the war with labels around their necks and their small suitcases, and thus did the same for Paddington. It's astonishing to think about sending your small child off with just a tag for ID and a train fare, and praying for their safe arrival in Devon, or Cornwall, where many of the evacuees went. But with London being bombed, what other option did their parents have? As a parent, I'm so thankful that we don't have to make those kinds of choices today.

We love reading about Paddington's misadventures at our house. He tries so hard to get things right, but invariably things go awry. Kind of like someone else I know...

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!

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.

Off to see the Queen

We went to Buckingham Palace to try to see the changing of the guard while Charlene was here. We made the mistake of going on a Sunday morning, and even though we arrived half hour early, it was still too mobbed to see anything.

Kate had the best vantage point.



The bobbies on the horses were very effective crowd control. He would simply march through the middle of the throng of people shouting "If you don't want to be stomped on by the horse, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!"


The sun made a rare appearance, and Kate had left her shades at home. Lucky for her, I was prepared with mine, which she quickly seized for herself.



Look, Michael was there too! And he was awake!




We made the mistake of telling Kate that the palace was where the Queen lives. After the crowd thinned out, she squeezed her way to the front. She was clinging to the gate, saying "I want to go see the Queen! Let me in!" It was really amusing.




So the lesson for us is that next time we have out of town guests, we'll take you to see the Changing of the Guard during the weekday. Surely the crowd will be less then.

All Aboard!

The Hogwart Express. Yes, it really does exist. Well, at least the platform does. We didn't see the actual train.

Tower of Doom

One of the things that I've always wanted to do was visit the Tower of London. The Tower was built by William the Conqueror, beginning in the 1070s. It was intended to be a fortress to protect the monarchy in war and as a powerbase in peacetime. It is most famous today as the site of many executions and torture, although it has had various uses throughout its history, including a menagerie, Royal Observatory, a prison, royal residence, a mint and storage.

I never realized how large the Tower really was...I always just thought it was a singular tower or two.






The Yeoman Warders are the keepers of the Tower. They are part of the Queen's personal guards. I didn't realize that they actually live within the tower. There are 36 of them, and there is a lengthy list of requirements to become a Yeoman. They have to be retired military of a certain rank from the British Army, Royal Air Force or Royal Marines. Members of the Royal Navy are not eligible since they take an oath to the Admiralty, not the Royal Crown.


We were lucky enough to be just in time for a free guided tour led by the Yeomans (aka "Beefeaters", just like the Gin!). They are called Beefeaters because back in the day, most military men were only able to afford to eat mutton. The Yeomans, being the privileged bunch they were, had beef as part of their payment rations. Hence the name. See, aren't you glad you came here today? Tell that fun factoid to your friends and impress people.



This is traitor's gate, by which prisoners entered the tower for imprisonment.


This is known as Bloody Tower, gaining that name in the 16th century because of the murderous deeds which took place there.



The famous Ravens:




Charles II ordered their removal after they proved damaging to the Royal Observatory which was in the Tower. He was then told of the legend that if the ravens were to leave, the monarchy would crumble. So he limited their number to 6, and there have been ravens there ever since. Their wings are clipped so that they remain on the grounds. Most of the ravens were killed during the Blitz in WWII, so ever since then they have kept 9, just in case. Those Yeomans are practical like that. All of the ravens have names, and the average lifespan of the Tower ravens is 20+ years (which is really long for a raven, apparently). I'd live a long life too if I was living in the lap of luxury like these guys.



Michael stayed awake during the tour. He wanted to make sure he didn't get near any of the torture instruments they had on display.