The Undocumented Week

Many things happened this week, and I have no photos of any of them. I'm not sure what happened to my obsession with photographically documenting all events. You'll just have to believe me when I tell you that we had our second trip to A&E this week. Josephine broke her thumb in a door. Poor kid! She has a cast, and it has to stay on for another whole week! The cast is on her right hand, and she is right-handed. It took her a couple of days to get used to using her left hand to eat and do other things with, but she is pretty accustomed to it now.

Luckily, Bernie took some photos around our neighborhood that I can post. There are all kinds of great shops that are a 15-second walk from our front door, and I'm glad Bernie has documented them.

We also went to Rebecca's recital at the Royal College of Music. I don't take the kids to live music performances very often, and was not sure how they would behave, but they were really interested! Of course, no photos of that, either.

Rebecca had taken them to RCM once before, but without me. She got them ice cream when they were there. As we were leaving, I told them I would get them some ice cream, and they took me right to the place Rebecca had taken them. This involved crossing the street, going up some steps, entering a building, then going up more steps. I was so impressed that they remembered how to get there.

The days have been really long, and the light at twilight (which lasts like an hour) is fantastic. I have some photos from our windows taken late in the day, including the one above featuring the Natural History Museum.

Pascale looking silly



A restaurant on Chelsea Green, right outside our door. I like it, Bernie does not.



Continuing our tour of Chelsea Green, the pharmacy where we get all kinds of stuff.



Again right ouside our door, the rug shop where we have bought nothing.



The butcher and wine shop that we frequent.



This shop always has nice window displays.



On the left, the location of the fish-and-chips place that closed. On the right, a chichi clothing shop



The framer's. Josephine likes to sit on his doorstep.



The stratospherically expensive hair salon.




Battersea Power Station, seen from our window at sunset.



Bluebird cafe has outsize tennis balls to celebrate Wimbledon.



Bernie took the girls to Gambado today.

Weekend at the Seaside

For Father's Day, we went to Brighton for the weekend! It was really a lot of fun. It's a great place to bring kids. Not much traffic, very compact and walkable, lots of places for them to run around. We stayed overnight on Saturday. I did not make the reservation until Friday night, so there was not much available, but I managed to get us rooms at the Holiday Inn. The Holiday Inn is located a little to the west of the main attractions, which I was at first disappointed about. But then I realized that right across the street, there's a playground and several funfair attractions for kids 5 and under! It turned out to be the ideal place to stay.



We ate lunch on the beach when we first arrived. It was a little chilly there.


Me watching the kids on the rides.


Josephine on the trampoline.


Pascale on the bouncy castle


The weather was rather blustery and chilly, but Josephine still braved the temperatures in order to wear her swimsuit in the paddling pool.



We walked A LOT, but the girls managed well.


Giant inflatable slide


Josephine on the beach


Bernie with the girls


A lovely painting by Pascale

Many London Parks

The nice weather is continuing, so we are spending as much time as we can outside. This week, we hit St Luke's Park, Battersea Park and St James's Park. Both kids were back in school this week from their half term holidays, and they are enjoying the second half of their summer terms. Both schools make an effort to get the kids outside as much as possible on these nice days.

Josephine's artwork is improving by leaps and bounds! At this point, she draws a head and body with multiple appendages.


Butterfly hunting in Battersea Park. They saw some butterflies, but they were unable to capture any.


Josephine in motion


At St James's Park. Notice the parade of horse riders on the street past Josephine


Bernie and I went out for drinks and dinner


Josephine showing off


Pascale drew this picture of herself and me at the Victoria and Albert Museum. She hurt her right arm on the way there, so it is bent and she looks a little sad.

Pascale's half term

Pascale had her half term last week. I kept Josephine home for a couple of days so we could all do stuff together. We went to the V&A, the Diana Playground, and Gambado, and did lots of fun crafts at home. The beginning of the week was freakishly warm for London, so it felt very summery.

We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe today. I thought the girls would love it, but they just thought it was OK. I liked it, though, because the girls were entertained enough by the atmosphere that Bernie and I could actually converse during lunch.


I love the black swans at St James's Park


Climbing at the playground


At the Diana Playground


At Kensington Gardens


Pascale made a hair bow

Josephine's half term

Last week, Josephine had her half term holiday from school. It was pretty relaxed. We went to some museums and the playground and mostly just hung around the neighborhood.

With the silver lions at the Victoria and Albert Museum


At the Science Museum


At St Luke's Park after picking Pascale up at school.


Watching the monkeys at the Battersea Park Zoo


The firetruck at the zoo


The tractor at the zoo


The sand moving equipment at the zoo.


Pascale took this picture at Battersea Park!


The playground


The playground

Museums, Gardens, Parks on a 3-day weekend

Bernie took the girls to Kew Gardens on Saturday, so I figured I'd go to the Tate Modern to check out the exhibits and make some purchases at the bookshop there. Well, they had the above-pictured installation going on! It's a huge plywood playground! Of course, I HAD to bring the kids there, but it was only there for the weekend, so we had to hurry. We went on Sunday. The girls had a good time, but Pascale would have preferred if the toys were more colorful. They would never be able to put together an installation like this in the US. The lax liability laws here make toys much more fun.


Biking in Battersea Park


Pascale's picture in the art gallery


Kew Gardens


Millennium Bridge


Playing at the Tate Modern


Tightrope walking


Climbing


Lounging