Park, Park, Park & Park

Well, in the quick growth of a kid, it has come and gone. We had a lovely day yesterday with a few close friends and some champagne in the backyard. Some nice gifts and a pink home-made cake. D was very well behaved (C was slightly less so, running around with his mates).

Living over here, we need to take some opportunities to teach the kids about America, Americana, American things and people. After C and D had their naps, we all watched the highlights from... Glastonbury - the British Woodstock-type music fest. The headliner last night was... Bruce Springsteen , who did most of his big hits, except- travesty- Born in the USA. We watched a few, but all danced to Glory Days, which then led into Louie, Louie. Now it's about time for D's first birthday.

I just noticed that the last post is number 505. That's a lot of Cs and Ds. Do you remember this one ?

C got himself in a bit of trouble today. Bells came down during naptime to find shampoo over several of his toys and on his bedroom carpet. This has become a bit of a trend over the last few months- paints, water, toilet paper, and crayons have all featured in his creative exploits during quiet time. Unfortunately, he is now feeling the wrath of the parent. No “Here Comes the Fire Engine” dvd, no pudding tonight, and no stories at bedtime. No doubt there will be other challenges, but there is only so much cleaning and lecturing a parent can do to a three year old.

C found a rather large log at Claremont Park today (as well as a few other bits of the forest). He insisted on carrying it around a lake and into the cafe for tea. And then it came home in the trunk of the car with us, and is in thee backyard. He should be sleeping well tonight.

Equal time for siblings: One of the best pictures to date.

As a three year old, C makes his way through all manner of moods, emotions and the resulting facial expressions. Here are two of the good ones recently. First, he attended a sports day where he did quite well at the running races. Here is his enthusiasm. Second, here is his satisfaction while eating one of the best roast pork sandwiches ever at the local village fair.

C went to a Pirate themed birthday party today. That's his shipmate Aaran next to him (it was his party and he decided that Spiderman was much cooler at the last minute). C had a brilliant charcoal beard, ripped jeans, and bandanna with built-in eye patch!

Since we did a christening in the US, we thought we should do a church blessing here in the UK to balance things out. Here is Uncle Adrian. Sunday, the 31st of May, we gathered Godparents and family at St. Barnabas here in Southfields. And then had a bit of champers back at the house.