A day at Kew

This morning, after much drama and annoyance with the tube, we decided to bag our original plan (going for a walk in Kent) and instead to go to Kew Gardens. We thought Evie would like to see all the flowers blooming and to look at the trees.

We started with breakfast at Polly's, which is a nice little cafe near where we live. IN the life of Jim and Claire (and Evie, too), food never fails to improve moods. Plus we love poached eggs. Yum!



Then we hopped on the overground. Evie is getting used to our main modes of transportation (tube and overground at this point. I haven't braved the bus with her yet)and likes to look out the window.


Unfortunately, by the time we got to Kew Gardens, Evie was pooped from the excitement of being on the train and proceeded to sleep through almost the whole visit. Jim and I still enjoyed it, though. The magnolias were in full bloom! And there are daffodils all over the place.


Jim caught me in this oh, so natural pose, as I gazed sentimentally up into the magnolias. What pensive thoughts was I having? Probably something like, "I need to find a place to change Evie's diaper."


Jim gazes as well. He was considering lunch, I'm sure:


We find that we often leave Jim behind as he takes six million pictures of whatever has piqued his interest...in this case it was magnolia buds.


We thought that it would be a nice idea to take a picture of Evie with these blue flowers in the background. She was asleep in her pram and thought differently (as evidenced by the look on her face). Lucky for us, she had a good scream and then promptly went back to sleep. That was the last time we woke her up and in future pictures of our day, she is represented by her stroller. She's kind of like our own garden gnome, whom we take pictures of in various places...except she comes in the form of a stroller.


Evie in front of the River Thames:

Evie at the Pagoda:

Evie, zen-like, in the Japanese gardens:

We almost stepped on this green woodpecker, who was pecking around on the ground for bugs.

Unlike Evie, I always am willing to ham it up for the camera.


After a bottle and diaper change (and standing out in the cold for at least 10 minutes while two women took ENTIRELY too long to change one baby...note to parents of babies: don't dawdle in the changing room!!!) Evie was awake, but still not feeling Kew.

But then...we went into a Green house! She really liked looking at all the giant palms and also was glad to be super warm, I think. I guess when she's older, she'll be more excited about Kew Gardens, but we are glad that she at least enjoyed a little bit of it this time!


Sadly, the weekend is over AND it's cold and grey but hopefully next weekend will get here quickly and we are really looking forward to our (please warm and sunny) trip to Barcelona in a couple of weeks, so there is much to be excited about!

A few pictures of Evie (who else?!)

This is not good. She prefers music videos with lots of strobe lights and special effects. She's especially a fan of Hip Hop.


First bath with no tears! It's a process, but SOMETIMES bath time isn't so horrible.


Evie and her doudou (a 'favorite stuffed animal or blanket' that Aurelie gave her)..so happy together!

More good times with Kate

One of the fun things that London provides for people with babies is movie showings for babies (the movies are for the parents, but you can bring your babies. They are called 'scream' showings). So Kate, Evie, Jim and I went to see Marley and Me at the Everyman Cinema:


Evie thought it was a snoozer:


But the rest of us were pleasantly surprised and actually enjoyed the movie, which is about a beloved family dog (we were expecting it to be pretty bad, but beggars can't be choosers when it comes to the Scream movies. You watch what they show.)

Sadly, Aunt Kate had to go home, but before she left, she and Evie had a meaningful chat:


We miss you, Kate!!!