Evie's day

In the morning, Evie talks to FInchley. Clearly Finchley doesn't realize the urgency of what she is trying to say.

We think 'cat' is going to be her first word and that she's already trying to say it in her own style.

In the afternoon, Evie and her homeys got in their hot rods.


There is more than one way to drive a hot rod:


After taking the dolly for a harrowing ride in her hot rod, Evie soothes her on the grass:


Despite a yucky cold, it was a pretty good day!

A day at the zoo

Yesterday we went to the London zoo. It was the first time for Jim and Evie and the first time for me during the summer (last time I went it was December or something).
Evie isn't used to facing forward in her stroller, so sometimes she gets a little frustrated that she can't see us. We held hands for a little while on our walk to the zoo.


We decided to make a pit stop/crawl break on Primrose Hill.


Evie attracted the attention of an 18 month old boy (not pictured). He thought it was funny to try to push Evie over. She seemed unfazed. Fortunately, he left.


Then the real fun started!


Trees always play a key role in any walk that we take.


After paying a small fortune to get into the zoo, we headed for the aquarium, which was the most interesting part, according to Evie.





She also was intrigued by the butterflies:


Things were getting a little dire, but then we found the elephant! (just ignore that sign behind me). That elephant made me car sick.


Shoulders are also always fun.

As are shoulders combined with otters. The otters were equally as interested in Evie.



At first I thought the lemurs were raccoons. They have deceptive tails.


Jim refused to pose as a chimp, so I had to go it alone.


Later he found his long lost brother.


It was a good day and the only way to end it was with a drink in a posh pub in Primrose Hill.

Olympics Tour

Last weekend was the London Open House, a weekend long opportunity to tour all the places in London you've ever dreamed of touring FOR FREE! (if you can get a ticket)

Jim got me two tickets, so our friend Keren joined me on a jaunt down to the Olympic park. We had our own personal tour guide.


Evie wants to be in the Olympics one day. She's well on her way to winning speed crawling awards world-wide.


Seagulls on the roof of the exhibition center.


Eventually, we left Jim and Evie behind (no under 8's allowed on the tour) and hopped on the bus:


I took the tour about a year and a half ago, when the Olympics site was still just a big hole in the ground, so even though they said the same things they said when there weren't any buildings, it was nice to see the buildings instead of having to use my imagination (which is not very good when it comes to these things). This is some building that will have a living wall. The piece on top of the building is actually a sculpture by a German artist. It's his vision of the Olympic rings in sound.


This is the Olympic Village which will be totally high tech with Wi-fi and running tracks and a British style green and all of the amenities...but we couldn't get a straight answer about whether or not there will be air conditioning (I suspect yes, but Keren was critical).


This is the IBC/NBC Centre, in which can fit 5 jumbo jets and from which 4 billion people across the world will get news and footage from the Olympics. This building is a big deal apparently, because we passed it (and heard about it) three times on our tour.


The stadium! I can't remember how many people will fit into it, but it's a lot. Then, after the Olympics, they'll take out a bunch of the seats and it will be used by the London community. UNLESS London wins the World Cup bid. If that happens, plans will change and the seats will stay. The stadium is on an island and people will go over bridges to get into it. All of the vendors and goods and services will be housed in brightly colored structures that look like giant M&Ms (not built yet, but we saw the model).


Jim's favorite building: the aquatics center. You can see that it looks very aquatic so far (in a transformers kind of way).


Even though I can't use my imagination as effectively as I would like, I can say that it all sounds very exciting. They are trying to make the site as environmentally friendly and sustainable as possible and I think it will be a nice park once it is all finished. I hope we'll get to see it all up and running!

The day that Jim broke my camera

One day, Jim decided to document his bike ride to work.

Safety first! Jim always (mostly) wears his flourescent vest and mostly (sometimes) remembers his helmet. He forgot his helmet in this picture.


He flies down Rosslyn Hill at top speed (coming back up is another story):


In Camden, he hops onto the canal path. The sun shines off of the canal. It's way too early for much to be happening in London.


Through a tunnel (cool picture, Jim!)

And into Islington and beyond.

Every day he sees this guy fishing.


First catch of the day-- a 3 foot pike! (he throws them back)


The canal path continues through Hackney.


He knows he's getting close to work when it starts to look like this:


But then...Victoria Park!


And...CRACK. Somehow, just as he is arriving at the office, he loses his grip and the camera falls, in slow motion, to the ground. It looks ok! Let the picture taking continue!

Errr...


That night he sheepishly handed me my brand new camera:

Magpie poem

Today I learned that it is bad luck to see a Magpie on it's own. To remember this (and what your fate is according to the magpies), there is this poem:

One for sorrow
two for joy
three for a girl
four for a boy
five for silver
six for gold
seven for a secret never to be told
eight for a wish
nine for a kiss
ten for a time of joyous bliss.

I like that better than the old 'it's bad luck to look away from a vulture before it flaps it's wings' tale. Also, I just want to note that I'm not sure if it's bad luck to kill spiders in England or not, but just to be on the safe side I have been vacuuming them up with the idea that they will set up house in the vacuum cleaner bag (without their legs, Jim says) and it doesn't really count as killing because I have good intentions and they are now happily living in the vacuum cleaner (in theory).

Play

Solitary play (with Daddy's singing birthday card):


Gentle play with Finchley:


Slightly less gentle play with Finchley (followed by a stern voice from the photographer and the quick departure of Finchley through the nearby open window):


Soft play:




A soft faceplant on a thankfully soft floor (Disclaimer: She was not hurt because the floor was like a pillow. She just scrambled back up and continued her climbing, so don't worry!)

Followed by a triumphant climb:


Exciting play! Wheeee!!:


Sandy play:

Lots of play in one day!

Oh the excitement

A new bookshelf!!!! (please note that most of the books are actually NOT on the bookshelf, but are on the floor, after being pulled off of the shelves repeatedly by one curious and excited baby.)


Plus Dad was home early enough to read Pat the Bunny before bed. It was a perfect night!

A Perfect Day (or not, if you were Evie)

Back when I had a job, one of the things I did was to help plan a fundraiser called A Perfect Day for the school where I worked. I left far before things got really planned, but wanted to go on the day and support the school. In addition to wanting to be supportive, we also thought that Evie would be excited to be out and to see lots of people and balloons. Boy were we wrong.

She was not impressed with the Animal farm:

She did not find the chickens amusing in the least:


She certainly was not impressed with the Princess Party (neither was I when they asked the kids if they were going to spend some money and buy blinking tiaras):


Although she appears to be waving in this picture, she was merely pulling on her ear (which might have been hurting).


She definitely was not excited about her first merry-go-round ride.


After that, we took the hint and went home, where Evie napped and then was once again her happy self. Lesson learned.

(PS Despite Evie's rotten mood, it looked like the fundraiser was a great success. There were lots of people there and hopefully a lot of money was made!)