the tooth fairy visits again...

old dutch pancake house

look at the size of these things!!

liza lost her tooth!

Losing a tooth in London is a good deal. Liza was happy to hear that a pound is worth more than a dollar :)

tate modern, kew gardens

Well, our weekend was jam-packed with sightseeing and lots of fun with uncle Paul. On Saturday, we spent the day at the Tate Modern, where the girls looked at lots of art with Paul. I don't have many pictures of this because while Paul took the girls around the museum Frank and I enjoyed some drinks at the roof top bar overlooking London-- fabulous (thank you Paul!)!! Ruby slept on Frank's back the whole time. Sunday was spent at Kew Gardens, which is the Royal Botanic Gardens, where there was every kind of tree and plant imaginable. Ruby got her 1st souvenir! It's kind of unbelievable that I packed enough clothes for all 6 of us and plenty of things to keep the older girls happy for a month, but not a single toy for Ruby. She was getting tired of chewing on Purell bottles and Altoid containers, so we finally bought her a toy. She was thrilled!

paul's here!!

Uncle Paul arrived today to visit for a few days. The girls were so so so excited (and so was I!). What a treat it is to have someone from home here. We spent the day showing him some of our favorite spots and he showed us a great exhibit and pavillion in Hyde Park. We ended the day with some delicious japanese food.

battersea park

Yesterday the girls and I took the bus across Battersea Bridge, which is just down the road from us, to Battersea Park and spent the whole day exploring. It was an amazing park, with a small zoo (with monkeys that Liza adored), a giant Buddha statue (which Alexis LOVED and took very seriously), and a huge "adventure" playground. The adventure playground was actually for kids 8 years and up. Serious playgound-- they don't even let kids under 5 in the gates! By the way, I don't think I could do any of these things without Julia. She has been a giant help with Ruby. The two of them have gotten really close on this trip. A few times, Ruby has lifted her arms for Julia to pick her up after getting hurt.

ruby

It's hard to believe that Ruby will be 11 months this week. It's even harder to believe that her 1st birthday will be next month. *sniffle* She makes us all laugh so hard every day. Her favorite place in the house here is in front of the washing mashing where she plays in the clothes and gets super excited if she finds one of my shirts. This shot of her in the pack and play is one that I took when she woke up from her nap, right when I went in to get her. She usually wakes up happy. Today she kissed us for the 1st time. Lucky Liza got the 1st one. But she quickly got the hang of it and gave one to everyone.

alexis takes a video

Warning, this video will make you dizzy.

Watch at your own risk!

regent's canal

On Sunday we took a boat ride along Regent's Canal. The boat took us to Camden Town, which has a big open-air market. This market seemed a little different than some of the others we've been to. There were bars and loud music playing and very few kids. It probably wasn't the most appropriate place for the girls, but they seemed to like this market best of all. There were some interesting vendors there and Alexis became fixated on pink, fuzzy handcuffs that she was dying to buy for a souvenir. We were able to steer her away, where she settled for a pretty white scarf. We then walked our way along the canal and through Regent's Park, which was gorgeous.