Park, Park, Park & Park

At St Barnabas.  C was Ceasar Augustus. D was the Angel. And here's more:

A worthy experience for the day after Christmas in London.

On a rainy afternoon.  With Lilly, Asher and C D.

D has the idea this morning of a spontaneous trip to the high street in our robes and pajamas.  So she and I did. In honour of Uncle Nate and creating new stories.

A musical Thanksgiving: After the St Barnabas Christmas Fair, we all scooted over to Bella's cousin's house- Louisa and Ed Davies.   They are the ones who just moved back to Southfields after 2 glorious years living in New York. The occasion was a slightly delayed Thanksgiving dinner.  It turned into a fantastic affair. There was an all hands (American and British) rendition of the Star Spangle Banner, with a full piano accompaniment. There was a huge turkey, stuffing, sprouts, and sweet potatoes. There was good wine, Bud beer and a wee bit of Kentucky bourbon afterwards.   And then we watched football without the pads, or as it is known here- rugby. Here is a link to video of the singing in facebook .

Was a small celebration around the house for C's birthday- drinkies as we know it.  He was very excited about a gigantic lego set, which he completed two days later.  We're off to a movie tomorrow with his friends for more of a kids party.

C had his first communion at St Barnabas on the 16th of November.  We had a full house, and I even acted in a short play. Godfather Andy, Grandpa, Ian the Vicker, Bella, C, Taroh, Me, D, Taroh's Dad John

Back in October, we all ventured out to Essex for the weekend.  We had a lovely time on Mersea Island , which is a little known corner of the Thames Estuary.

Like we did back in August, we journeyed to our old stopping grounds- Earls Court- for Sunday lunch with The Quintons.  Here's some famous footage of all the kids together when they were younger- here , here and here . And here's the recent takes:

Ah a proper Sunday Lunch... complete with a walk around the neighbourhood. We journenied to north London today for a meal with Bella's work colleagues Ian and Andreas. It took us to Mornington Cresent- an area the kids had never been to. This is what makes London special: a lovely Sunday lunch, a walk to a beautiful vantage point, and then back for more pudding.  And the kids were great company for everyone.

Each kid had a friend over last night. The girls had the loft; the boys the bedroom. Here we are off to the high street for French Breakfast. It's D, Issy, Taroh, C.

But somebody someday has to win the biggest stuffed bear at the fair. Out at the Wimbledon Common open day, D won the lucky prize. It is actually taller than she is.

Straight out of the door this morning. C is starting year 4 with Mrs. Bellock and D in year 2 with Ms. Sommers.

The Temple of Posiden sits atop the end of the Athens peninsula- a great view into the Med.

...And the Oracle says...

The kids have been keeping diaries and doing math practice everyday since the start of their school holiday. It's needed a bit of prodding at points, but overall has been a great success. In Greece, they get the opportunity to work outside and then dive right in the pool as a reward.

We crossed the Parnasas mountains yesterday and arrived in beautiful Galixidi in the middle of the afternoon. Here we are along the port in town while gathering provisions for the house.  Provisions included local wine, fresh veg, lots of Greek yogurt, tahini and ouzo.

The Chelsea is right around the corner from our apartment in a residential area of Athens. We show up in the mornings for iced sweet coffees, and then pre dinner drinks in the late evening.

We are in the Agora today, having visited the hilltop of Acropolis yesterday.

After early flights for ALL the Parks- some from Chicago, others from London- we managed to meet in Athens. The apartment we are all at is fantastic- near to the good stuff and very helpful owners. We took a stroll this eve and found ourselves involved in the elaborate changing of the guards in front of the parliament  building.

Upon our arrival back from Spain to Gatwick Airport, we joined Bella and D at a nearby hotel (the airport is very near to where the family reunion took place, so no point in going back to London late Friday and then coming back to East Sussex the next morning). The girls had their own special time- swimming in the pool, getting their nails done, etc. Many of the extended Van Maurik clan gathered in Colemans Hatch for a lunch and games (Bella is a cousin).  Part of the celebration was to welcome Louisa and Ed back from their 2 year stint in New York. And Gilly (from the VM side) brought out her original Winnie the Pooh- he's pushing 100 years old.

Christian, Marco and Carlos. They all got on beautifully. And each learned a bit of the others language.

After dinner, the boys and I took over the pool table for some impromptu lessons.  This was the first time any of them had played so we invented a modified 8 ball game. Bedtime finally came around midnight, so it was quite exciting.

C and I left Pirbright Road at 430 am today. And now we're enjoying the surf in Calella, North of Barcelona. Joined with C are his new friends Carlos and Marco.

C and I strapped my camera to his helmet for a bit of an experiment.  Here's the video from YouTube: And here is a sample of the GoPro original .

Up to the high street this evening for a bit of pizza, and we bumped into half of Shedingdale School. Talis, D, C and Taro Taro, C and Matilda The Three Monkeys- Taro, C and Tino

C is 54 inches (137 cm) tall and weighs 58 lbs. D is 45 inches (114 cm) tall and weighs 37 lbs. Here they both are before summer camp earlier this week.  D was off to ballet and C was learning to sail and row and kayak.  And jump off of boats into the water.  It was "epic!", he said afterwards.

I took C, D and Matilda- C's classmate from the school year just ended- out for an afternoon of fun at the park.

I met everyone at Borough Market for lunch today after they had a boat ride. The kids were amazed that I could eat a kangaroo burger and not get jumpy.

Faith, a family friend from the States, arrived today. She's here for 3 weeks to help corral the kids over the summer holidays.

D had her final ballet class of this season today, which of course had a small recital. And we all went out for pizza and ice cream to celebrate afterwards.

Back on the day C was born(!), Andy and Jack dropped everything and joined me for his head wetting drink at our then local pub.  Here's the evidence . At the 10th Anniversary Party, we were reunited for a quick photo.

We had the 10th Anniversary Party ( invite here ) last weekend.  And we had a special guest- a 10 year old cake! The Original Cake After the original Big Day ten years ago, we saved the top round of the wedding cake.  Living in a sealed container in a dark cabinet meant it was actually well preserved.  The fact that it was a fruitcake soaked in alcohol helped. The "new" cake was delicious as well.

We had several of Bella's work colleagues over for a lovely poached salmon, with a bit of English champange beforehand, today. Ian and Ed brought their newest member of the family- Dora the 6 month old Dauchound. The kids were taken with her. And she helped D overcome her fear of dogs.

The boys had their first proper cricket match this morning. We headed out to Barnes Common at 8:30am as the overnight rain stopped. C showed both some strong bowling and batting- hitting a 4 at one point.

D and I walked hand in hand up to the high street for milk this morning before breakfast...