Bonding weekend

This could be our last weekend as a family of three and it's definitely our last weekend of just the three of us because Mom/Lala gets here on Thursday (HOORAY!!!!!HOORAY!!!), so we decided not to do our usual hanging around the house or walking on the Heath, but to actually make an effort to get out of the neighborhood since it will be a little tricky for a while once the baby gets here. I apologize in advance for the very few pictures of Jim in the last couple of blogs. He's been behind the camera a lot lately, but I will try to get more pictures of him for future blogs.

Anyway, today we went to the Tate Modern, via Borough Market (where we got some yummy salsa, but no pictures). Evie was very excited to look at the Thames and all the boats and to jump in some puddles:
Taking a stroll in front of the Globe Theater:
These days, getting Evie to look at the camera is not easy, so I have to sacrifice my dignity to try to get her to at least LOOK like she's looking at the camera. More often than not, this gets caught on film...and Evie still doesn't look at the camera. It's a good thing I'm happy to make fun of myself.

Outside the Tate Modern. At first we had this delusional idea that we were going to go to the Tate Modern and then take the boat from the Tate Modern to the Tate Britain...ummm, yeah. That didn't happen.

But we did enjoy the Tate Modern, where we weren't supposed to really be taking pictures, which is why all of these are a little blurry.

Here we are preparing to go gaze upon thousands of porcelain sunflower seeds, which were artistically placed on the floor below. I have to admit, I didn't get it.
Evie actually really enjoyed looking at the paintings and, funnily, was most interested in a 'pincushion for fetish' or something like that (a sculpture in a case with some other phallic looking artwork. We didn't get a picture, unfortunately). She also wandered into this tour group and stared fixedly at the Miro painting that the tour guide was describing just as the woman said, "...as you can see, it is quite childlike." I guess that makes it also appealing to children.
This is a window that looks down on the turbine hall or whatever the giant Tate Modern Hall is called. Windows, and looking out of them, is a new passion:
Gazing at a Monet...
and then blowing off some steam with Daddy:

It was way beyond nap time in the tube on the way home, but Evie was still happy. No one had a meltdown and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely, feeling lucky to live in London and be able to enjoy great things like the Tate Modern on a whim.

Halloween

Halloween was a kind of never ending celebration for us this year, but it was a lot of fun because Evie was in the Halloween spirit. After our rather early first Halloween parade and movie (as ladybug), we were invited to a baby Halloween party, where Evie dressed as a fairy. With so many Halloween celebrations, it was important to have several Halloween costume options.
Our hostess, Amy, really outdid herself, with great food and fun games for all the kids (about 20 of them!!!) to play. And, as they trashed her beautiful house, she remained calm and happy, which was the most impressive part. Here are Evie and I playing "Pass the Parcel," a popular English party game for kids. I don't think we have it in America, but it consists of a present or presents wrapped up in layers of wrapping paper. The music plays and the kids pass the parcel. When the music stops, whatever kid has the parcel, unwraps a layer of wrapping paper. At Amy's house, there was a present for every kid in each layer. I think normally, though, there is just one present in the middle and one lucky kid wins the prize. Evie liked her Mr. Whoever book that she won.
Arts and crafts is one of Evie's favorite things to do and she got really into making her own scary mask at the party:

Her friend Oliver was a disgruntled Bumblebee...briefly.
Here I am with some of my friends from our prenatal group. We all met when we were pregnant with our now almost 2 year olds. Time flies!

Another highlight: 8 liters of jello for the kids to put their hands in!!! Amy put bats in the bottom for them to find and fish out. What a party!

And finally...a baby (and me looking slightly possessed)! We've been talking about babies a lot around here, obviously, so it's always very exciting to actually get to hang out with one. Evie was holding hands with and kissing this baby. Not sure that the mom was so pleased, but I was happy to see her responding in a positive way to a baby since we'll have one in house very shortly.
This year, pumpkin carving was also something that Evie could help out with. Last year she just watched and looked amused and slightly confused by the whole process.

In America, from what I remember of my trick or treating days, if you're in a neighborhood, people are generally handing out candy. If their lights are off and their shades are drawn, it's a good sign that they aren't interested in handing out candy. Here, the sign that people want to participate in Halloween is whether or not they have jack o' lanterns in front of their houses. Evie was back in ladybug mode for her trick or treating debut and we started out on a posh street near our house, where there were quite a few jack o' lanterns, but no big crowds. It should be noted that she got her first piece of candy from the house where Jim Henson once lived (across the street from our NHS clinic, which used to be a Muppet warehouse. Yes, we kind of have a slight obsession with the Muppets...mostly me, actually).
It also didn't take long for Evie to figure out that all she had to say was 'trick or treat' and 'thank you' and people would give her candy. She really got into the spirit of things pretty quickly and is still holding out hope that she'll be able to eat said candy at some point in her life.
Some of the houses were really decorated and at this house, the owners were jumping out and scaring kids as they came into the yard. That's the spirit! Luckily, they saw how little Evie was and decided NOT to scare her. That probably would have ended our night prematurely, as, as previously mentioned in this blog, she has entered the 'scared' phase. Today we went to the Tate Modern and she was scared of a couple of the paintings and a black egg-like sculpture, which did look like it could have been on Dr. Who (more about that in a later blog). SO...not getting scared at Halloween was a great accomplishment!
It was a fun, if extended Halloween for all. Looking forward to next year!