Park, Park, Park & Park

Friday afternoon, after a absolutely horrendous nights (lack of) sleep*, we had C's Godparent Ubu and D's Godparent Mark over.  History here of Ubu and Mark . *At 2 in morning, a storm blew through- the kids woke up from the jetlag and proceeded to run around the house telling us how they wanted to go back to England.  Nobody slept from then on.

We skipped breakfast as we got out of the house at 7 am. so we had yakatori, porrage and keddigre at heathrow. now waiting to board our flight.

D's Godmother Nettie came by Saturday with a gift.  So  another small celebration for D. Nettie embroidered a tapestry in the great English tradition.

On our way back from London, we stopped at our little section of green- our allotment.  I figured we'd have more carrots, but was surprised to find a good collection of baby courgettes.  The kids ate their fill of raspberries as well.

On Sunday, we all trekked into Central London to meet a few friends of mine from my MBA days.  Jan from Germany and Gonzalo from Argentina. Gon, Jan, D, C, And A It was a beautiful day, so after lunch we all ventured down to the Thames and walked along it.  Here we are in front of Cleopatra's Needle .

Alexander and Jasper Condon stopped by for lunch yesterday.  I tried to contain them for a quick photo, but it was tough herding them.  There is video to follow.

D starts are the local primary school this fall- soon after we get back from the US.  To get the kids ready, they have some parent/child acclimation times.   She seems to have enjoyed them.  And she'll have plenty of company from kids on our street to friends from nursery.  C is also moving.  Up the stairs for next year.  A big step up with the Big Boys.

All four of us made it out to the allotment today for a bit of weeding and gathering.  The carrots have turned out well and the raspberries will be good before we go to the US.  When we get back we should have a wagon-load of courgettes. 

As longtime readers know, we're pretty good about reading to the kids almost every night (or if we're not around, someone else- see here , and here , and here ...!). We've now moved forward because C is bringing home books to practice HIS reading with- he reads to us now! Tonight it went a step further.  As C and Bella were reading together, C had the inspiration to write his own story. Here it is, about Space: "Aliens are gooy. One moon hit the school. The first space probe was in America."

Sheringdale Primary School had their annual summer fair this past weekend.  I really enjoy these kinds of things because of the fond memories I have of my Walker/Prospect School days- talent shows, cake sales and lots of kids running around. One of the fund-raising activities was tatoos for the kids.  Here are both of them- too cool for the camera already among their friends.

Bells has suffered from the residual effects of an inner ear viral infection for the last several weeks.   Labyrinthitis has made her life pretty tough. C made a card, worthy of posting.

When I was in primary (US=grade) school, my Dad would take me out for breakfast on a regular basis.  We went to our local diner for pancakes before school.  I have fond memories of it. I'd like to continue that with C.  Opportunities present themselves sometimes. Today, I needed to take him to the doctor for a little look-see over his hand ( from this ). So, we blew off the corn flakes at home and went to the high street.  Unfortunately, there aren't many diners on offer around Southfields, so we ended up at Starbucks. We actually ate better than we would have at home- me, yogurt + cappuccino. C, a cinnamon roll + fruit bowl + smoothie!

D and C received gifts from Jone's parents Gurutxa and Larri- Basque clothing!  Here is D.  And here's some earlier examples of Basque-wear .

Earlier today, we took C to his first Emergency Room experience.  He cut his hand on a nail. While we were held in the waiting room, I figured out how to post via my mobile phone- that's how long it took- see here . The recap: All in all, the experience for him was manageable- a little scary at some points, but not nearly as bad as it could have been.  A good intro to random and serious accidents.  Since this is a city hospital, he even got to see a guy hauled out in cuffs and stuffed in a van. After cleaning the cut, they glued it shut and wrapped it up- no stitches.

Well we are sitting in the waiting room at st georges hospital. C gashed his hand on nail- not too bad, but enough blood and deep enough to warrant a professional look see. No pictures this time. Waiting for the remedy...