We're back to rain today (Monday), but the weekend was incredible and sunny with fake looking clouds and green, green grass. It was idyllic and about as good as it gets in London, weather-wise, so we decided to go on a family picnic in Hampstead Heath.
Evie was suited up in her Sunday best with her "Dimanche" Babar bib (courtesy of Linda Hall) on and her fabulous sun hat (courtesy of Nana and Papa), of which she is not a huge fan. She was good sport, though, and really seemed to enjoy her first picnic.
After a lot of winding around and bumping Evie's stroller through various fields punctuated with muskrat or rabbit holes, Jim finally found us the perfect picnic spot under a big tree.
It wasn't long before we were joined by this greyhound doggy friend, who was wearing...a Gucci collar. I took that opportunity to explain to Evie that if she wants something Gucci at some point in her life, she is going to have to save her pennies and that we would NEVER be buying our pets designer collar wear! The dog was pretty cute, though, and went off at lightning speed when his owners called him.
Evie experienced her first grass yesterday, as well. We have a patio with trees and ivy and leaves, but no grass, so she was tickled (literally) to spend some time in the grass.
Trees are also a great thrill, so Jim took Evie over to gaze up into the branches of the big tree that we were sitting under.
Future Photographer. She takes after her Dad!
Idyllic weather!
The excitement that is grass (she got a little TOO excited and toppled into the grass on her face, which she didn't like too much):
Flying with Daddy!
Playing with Mom.
Eventually the novelty of the picnic wore off and we moved on. Hampstead Heath has several swimming ponds: the co-ed pond, which gets really crowded and full of people who obviously have checked their modesty at the door and don't mind changing into their bathing suits in full view of everyone at the pond or are wearing far too little; the all woman pond, which is secluded and shaded; and the all man pond, which has a reputation for being a gay pick up area and is, in my opinion, the nicest pond area. I would swim there if I were a man...but NOT at this time of year. That splash in the distance of this picture is a man swimming. Apparently some guys swim year round. Impressive. Or insane?
Duck Butt:
Post-picnic status:
Meandering along a shady trail:
A man and his girl among bluebells and green leaves. Yay for spring!
She's not ready for solids yet, but she's definitely interested, so lately I've been letting her 'taste' (lick) the fruit that I'm eating. Today she tried her first banana!
On Easter morning we woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had brought Evie a very cool present: a xylophone! I'm afraid she was more into the wrapping paper than the actual xylophone, but Jim had a lot of fun with it! I'm not sure how much natural talent for playing the xylophone Evie is going to inherit. I know that my brief career as a xylophone player in the sixth grade band was pretty disastrous. Fortunately there was another xylophone player upon whom I was quick and able to blame all of the missed notes (it's amazing how well you can hear the xylophone, despite all of the other instruments in a band!).
We played Flying Nun for a little while, had a few spit ups, changed into dry and warm clothes and then headed out in search of the beach.
It's always easiest to travel as a two headed monster. I'm trying to impress upon Evie the importance of a great appreciation for costumes and boas. She seemed nonplussed.
She was so not interested in the beach (and who can blame her in THAT weather) that she almost slept through it again... Eventually, though, she woke up and charmed the pants off some waiters with her happy smiles and was keen to check out the sand and sea.
Watching the waves:
She wasn't so interested in feeling the sand...
so I tried a different angle. We'll know who to blame if she ends up hating sand later in life.
As we left the beach we were lucky enough to catch this great band:
And then our camera died, thus ending picture taking in Barcelona. It was a great first trip with Evie!
Sadly, my sweet and wonderful Grandpa died last night after struggling with Alzheimer's for a number of years. The picture above was taken on Thanksgiving 1977 at a family reunion. That big, fat baby looking so happy in the picture is me! Even then I adored Grandpa, just like everyone else who knew him.
Grandpa had a distinguished career as a well-respected psychiatrist at the Cleveland Clinic. But, in addition to being an incredible and much loved doctor, he was also a really fun and much loved grandpa. Every Christmas we piled into some large vehicle at some ungodly hour in the morning and drove from Louisiana to Cleveland, OH to see Virginia and Grandpa. The long drive, which usually involved some sort of family drama along the way and always was divided in half by a stay in a Howard Johnson (Mom and Dad in one bed, Kate and me in another and Will always on a cot) and a dinner at Shoney's (fried shrimp!), was always worth it because at the end was Cleveland, snow, and, the best part--Virginia and Grandpa! It was our custom to honk the horn as we drove into their driveway and Grandpa would always be down the stairs and waiting for us with big bear hugs when we got out of the car. He would usher us inside like we were royalty and fix us ginger ale. The wooden reindeer would be out on the back porch and the snow would be sprinkled with bird feed because he had a passion for birds and never failed to feed them. Everything I know about birds, I learned from Grandpa, including the silly poem about the Pelican:
A fabulous bird is the Pelican His beak can hold more than his belly can!
When we were very young, he had two yellow labs who he named Charles and Diana. He had a picture of Winston Churchill above the kitchen sink and had great respect for the Queen, who he met once or twice during his previously mentioned distinguished career. Although he had lived in the US for many, many years, he was incredibly proud of being English and was thrilled when he found out we would be living in London.
He loved our grandmother, Virginia, warmly, thoroughly and until the end. It sounds cliche, but their love was great and true and what we all hope that we'll be lucky enough to experience. He used to tell the story of having just moved from England to the States and being set up on a 'blind date' with Virginia. 'Blind date' was not a term he was familiar with, and so when he met Virginia he was surprised that a woman with such beautiful eyes could be blind...over fifty years later, he was still enamored of those eyes and his strong and beautiful wife.
I think the most wonderful thing about Grandpa was how happy he made everyone who knew him. He always had a joke or a pun at hand and he even made learning good manners fun. He entertained us for years with his raggedy old puppet 'Blackeyes,' took us sledding, escorted us to the ballet, and made us feel like we were the most important and special people in the world. And he was one of the most important and special people in the world to us, too. I'll always see Grandpa, out in the road with his flashlight waving and waving and waving until we finally couldn't see him anymore.
I'm doing this blog in two parts because I just can't get through it all tonight and I'm not sure when I'll be able to finish the second half. So here is the first part of our trip to Barcelona. I'll start the last part with Easter Sunday (hopefully tomorrow).
For the long Easter weekend, we packed up our suitcase, baby formula, diapers, books, slumber bear, blankets, toys, stroller and other essentials and headed off to Barcelona...with Evie! It was her first real trip and she thoroughly impressed us with her international appeal and enthusiasm for travel.
In Heathrow, she was thoroughly entertained by all the people, blinking signs and the flying pigs in Hamley's airport toy store.
On the plane, after a rough start (ears), she assumed the appropriate travel position: until the end when her ears got the best of her again.
The Barcelona airport is HUGE and for some reason we had to go through security again when we got off the plane before then going through customs. This was annoying, but allowed Evie and me to pose for some glamor shots. By this time I was looking my very best. From the airport, we took a train, which took us right into central Barcelona. To get into central Barcelona by train it cost us 5 Euros! We felt pretty ripped off by the Heathrow Express after that.
From the train, we had to walk to the place where our keys to the apartment were being held. It was at this point that Evie had her first international meltdown. She was hungry and, being the sentimental aesthetic type that Jim is, he wanted us to get to a beautiful square, where she could enjoy her bottle. But Evie is the demanding type and she insisted on the first available bench, so we camped out on the sidewalk with our stroller and luggage while she enjoyed her first meal in Spain. Jim now understands that when Evie wants to eat, we stop, drop and feed.
Our apartment was in a central and touristy location, so we had access to everything we needed and could walk pretty much everywhere we wanted to go. On our first evening, we were so tired that we just managed to go to a cheesy, touristy tapas place and then to bed. We got a thing called a Safe-t-Sleep for Evie, which is basically two pieces of cloth that velcro together around a mattress and then another piece of cloth that velcros around the baby and keeps her straightjacketed in so she doesn't roll off. It was great and Evie got to stretch out on her own daybed and enjoy all the luxuries of home (sleeping bag, paci, books, slumber bear...)
Barcelona is known for its 'organic' Gaudi architecture, which Jim, good architecture student that he is, drools over. He was shocked and dismayed when I said it looked like something that should be a Disney World. But the buildings are still pretty impressive, if weird (in my opinion only).
Our first full day in Barcelona was Good Friday. Jim cooked us a delicious breakfast (he was our holiday chef) and had some essential play time with Evie before we headed out on the town.
Evie wore her finest Good Friday duds for her first excursion.
Our plan was to go out to a market, but since it was Good Friday, it was closed. Fortunately, there were plenty of people dressed up as various characters to entertain us as we figured out our next move. The people who paint themselves and strike a pose in New Orleans could learn a few things from these folks. The costumes were elaborate and wonderful. There was a man dressed as a paint splattered fireman, various angel types like the one who posed with Evie, some regal looking people and a guy who had his head on a platter and kept scaring the passers by. The street performers got themselves dressed and undressed on the street, so you could see their transformation from regular person to fabulous character.
We followed this hurrying priest down the road and into a church, where there were nuns and priests singing mass. Later we ran into them again, singing and processing with the masses in a Barcelona Square. Their voices are really beautiful.
A little later, we, silly fools, thought that Evie was enjoying the sound of her voice echoing. In fact, she was preparing to scream down the house. But she was just hungry and once she had her bottle she settled down for a long nap in her stroller.
After a rather long walk, we finally made it to the beach. As you can see it was a beautiful and beachy day. Evie was asleep in her stroller bubble, so missed her first beach, but we went back on Sunday so she could experience it all while awake (but still, unfortunately not in the ideal weather. Although that was probably better in her case):
The weather didn't dampen our spirits, though, and we continued to wander through Barcelona. We hung around the square where we saw the singing nuns and priests and Evie revived, ate and was, once again, happy.
Eventually, this place opened up and we had a very large and yummy lunch. Evie was, as usual, on her best behavior and the waiters all doted on her (that was our waiter in the background. He convinced us that we needed to get two paellas...they were good, but way too much food):
Evie in her stroller bubble, which keeps her warm and dry.
A market, where they were selling honey, cookies, cheeses and other delicious things.
Some pigeons. We didn't get pooped on. More Gaudi.
Eventually we made it back to our apartment, where we rested before heading out again for what I thought was going to be a short walk, but which ended up being a pretty long walk to the Segrada Familia, which is the biggest chapel in Europe...and another Gaudi. It's unfinished and various architects have continued to try to finish it (with Gaudi's original design in mind). I think it's a pretty ugly church (gasp!), but it's definitely interesting to look at. We got a glimpse of Evie as a teenager while we were there:
She was pretty tired and so were we, so we called it a day and went back to our apartment for an exciting dinner of sandwiches and bed.
This picture is for Jack: After our action packed Friday, we decided that Saturday should be a little less action packed. The sun came out! and we went to the market, which was open.
Yay for the sun!
This time, along with the street performers, there were a bunch of small pet shops set up. We tried to get Evie to notice the birds and bunnies, but she was more interested in the trees.
The market was packed with fruits and vegetables, meats, fish and lots and lots of colorful things. Evie loved it and was looking around at everything that was going on:
After a break, we made our way to Gaudi's park--Park Guell--which was full of people enjoying the long weekend and the nice weather. We walked up a hill from the metro and at reached the park at the top: There was definitely a lot of organic-ness going on. I enjoyed Gaudi more in park form than in church form. There were musicians playing throughout the park, which we all really enjoyed. We particularly liked a guy who was playing a steel drum type of instrument. Evie was entranced and I will post a video as soon as I upload it. We also thought this guy was cool at first, but then we got stuck in his cave (it was raining) and realized that he was monopolizing the space and not letting a guy who played the harp start his set, so he lost points with us. But his instrument was pretty cool and sounded extra cool bouncing around in the cave he was playing in.
Stay tuned for the rest...here is a preview of Evie in her Easter finery (courtesy of Nana and Papa. Unfortunately she spit up all over it before we got out the door, so her fanciness was short lived):
