Park, Park, Park & Park

Back here , I sat in on one of D's Ballet lessons. This past Friday, I made it to another.  She is very enthusiastic about it and displays equal skill and talent as the other kids.  And she smiles a lot while she is "on stage". C snapped some pictures after the performance. I have some video which I'll pull together in the future.

On Thursday, I awoke to C wanting to read Drummer Hoff to me*. This is a book the Nate and I grew up with- wood carvings for pictures and rhymes. He did, very well. And then on Thursday evening, he wanted to read it to D as well.  Which he did.  Very sweetly. *  I used the singular because Bells is currently in Spain.  We catch up with her in a few days time.

As you can see, I'm experimenting with posting from my mobile phone- both pictures and text. We're off to Spain next week (actually Bells is already there! we just catch up with her on Sunday).  And I wanted to post without having to lug around the laptop. Miracles of technology.

this is what a mobile post would look like.

Taking a step back a day, here's how I impressed the kids on my birthday-

We spent a glorious sunny Sunday walking around Wimbledon Common.  It's a playland for the kids- places to explore, trees to climb and animals to see (both alive and dead). One of us stumbled on a dead squirrel, which led to conversations about diseases and what they were.  Then, when we got to a large pond, we found a swan fighting mad about a horse that was patrolling the perimeter. It's an impressive sight to be standing right next to a large horse that is equally eyeing up the kids and the swan. Here we are up on a fallen tree a good 6 feet in the air.  The kids climbed up and I followed. And then the end of the day walk back to the car...

We all chatted with my parents yesterday evening via skype.  Laptop to laptop, kids in their pjs.  Since it overlapped with the kids reading time, C decided to read Grandma and Grandpa a story instead. So he read Meg's Mummy , which he's brought home from school. And then D did a little dance recital for the camera, complete with a curtsey.

Today was Mothering Sunday here in the UK.  The kids are now at an age where things like this make it onto their radar without Dad having to remind them. My old jeans turned into a gift So, yesterday C and I made a lovely brooche for Mummy.  Putting together what we learned on a BBC video and cutting up my oldest (and fondest) pair of Levi's, we fashioned a flower for her to wear. Today, Bella and I awoke to C and D perched on the kitchen counter mixing oatmeal, milk, yoghurt and honey into a breakfast cereal.  They were determined to feed Bella breakfast in bed! After church, we spontaneously stopped by Salt & Pepper.  That turned into a magnificent feast, with me running home to get a bottle of wine to accompany it.  Steph and Colin and Gwennie joined us, again spontaneously, which led to an hour or so in Coronation Park.  Steph is American, so we brought all of our American activities- Frisb...

C came out with a fantastic line a few days back. D had tripped and was a bit upset. So, C asked her if she wanted- A Christian hug A Mummy hug, or A Grandma hug. All three are done in different ways and have different subtlety to them, apparently, to a 6 year old.

We all trained it into Central London for a whirl wind tour today.  This picture sums it up. We started with some simple but good tapas for lunch at a Bermondsey marketplace, specifically on Maltby Stree t.  And found a great antiques store. Then moved on towards the river near Tower Bridge and the HMS Belfast. And then all hopped a Routemaster bus (the ones open at the back) and made our way to Covent Garden. It turned into a great time to see street performers- unicycle jugglers, tightrope jugglers and musicians.  Followed by ice cream! Both kids did a fair bit of walking without much complaining.

The Pirbright Mafia (The Park, Wilson and Fisher Families) all met at Coronation Gardens Saturday afternoon.   After some kite flying, soccer playing and general running around, we all came back to our house for a big pot of bolognese. Here are C, Ruby, Thomas, D and Benjamin.