Park, Park, Park & Park

We arrived. C arrived in style. Bella changed C into his Chicago Cubs baseball team outfit before we landed. He wore his team colors well, right through US Immigration (first stamp in his US Passport- 28 April 2006; O'Hare Airport). I had a picture on my phone but seem to have lost it. More to come- we'll actually be at his first baseball game on Tuesday, rain or shine. All three of us are adjusting to the jetlag: C is still on London time. 3am - He wants to eat...

We're off later today for Chicago. This will be C's first flight, and his first opportunity to put his American passport to use. Posts may be a bit sporadic over the next week, but hopefully technology will work in our favor, and we'll get some good pictures of the States up.

This is Rupert, Christian's buddy, taking his first crawls last week. Rupert is a month older than C and already on the move. We haven't even THOUGHT about baby-proofing. R is C's swimming buddy and the two boys had a great time at the swimming pool on Monday.

C will have his first swim lesson on Monday, so we needed to try on his swim suit this week-end. Great Aunt Nettie was gracious enough to help out the little trooper. Thanks to Grandma Park for the outfit. If this works, he starts surfing lessons on the Devon coast at 3 years old.

C insisted on overseeing Mummy's work in the kitchen this evening. So, he took a prime seat in the sink...

I've uploaded some new pictures into flickr- to the right. Just click on the logo.

Bells has just taught him the skill of sitting upright. We can now spread toys out in fromt of him, and he can pick and choose. Ah, the little things...

C had had enough of the beach by Easter Day, so we headed for higher ground. This is Hartland Point- it was high up, and had jagged cliffs and a visible ship wreck at the base. Just what all little boys love to see. Mobile phone picture

In a very spontaneous way, we ran into a surfing instructor while on the beach. This led to me spending the next morning actually learning to surf...Off the Devon coast...In the Atlantic. It was absolutely brilliant.

Bells found a great cottage to rent out in Devon for the Easter Holiday. Just outside of a small coastal town called Westward Ho! To maintain C's sleeping schedule and to beat the Holiday traffic, we left London at 4:30 Friday morning. Which meant that we were in the cottage by 8 am and on the beach by 10am.

"He did what with his what...where!?!" "How!?!" "When!?!"

The three of us went to our favorite cheap, little French cafe for an early coffee and pastry, and a scan of the Times this morning. On our way back, Bells suggested nipping into St Mary's in the Boltons , since it was Palm Sunday after all. C was well behaved with palm cross in hand, and smiled divinely when blessed during communion. (Of course, he did take his bear hat off in church)

Ah, my single days... I found this buried in a folder on my laptop at work. This is Jack, myself, Ubu and Philipp on 3 July 2004- the day before Bells and I were married. My Mom and Dad took us out to The Anglsea Arms for a proper pub meal. Three top-notch gentlemen and friends.

C attended his first of many Oxford-Cambridge Boat races on a beautiful sunny Sunday. We stood on our tip toes to see over the throngs of people along the Thames at Hammersmith, but he didn't get much of a view. Bells cheered wildly for her alma-mater Cambridge, but alas they were beaten once again this year. (C has implied- in a quiet moment- that he may actually follow in his fathers footsteps and row at his almost landlocked, US Midwestern Alma-mater . That, or Harvard. It depends on the quality of the girls crew.)

And here he is once he'd got the point. We have two more days of baby rice; then on Tuesday, he gets to try pureed pear.

Our boy hasn't quite graduated on to real cereals yet, but here he is just after his first teaspoon of baby rice. He got the idea after a while and managed to get some of it down his throat. He was even heard to smack his lips!