A day with little ones in London

London is a great city with so many possibilities. However, to make it something that the kids enjoy, we look for simple things. By the time we got to London everyone was exhausted (and I was officially sick thanks to the allergens I failed to fight) so it was a bit of a rough day. However, we still managed to squeeze in a lot and have an alright day.

We started out with a late breakfast and collecting some formula for Max becuase we ran out a day earlier then I planned. We finally met up with Bob around 11 for a short visit to the Musuem of Science and Industry where Ellie enjoyed playing in the two kid friendly exhibits - The Garden and Patterns.

Max spent the time in the stroller and still managed to smile anytime I looked at him and spoke to him. That boy sure has charmed his way into my sole with that behavior! I love him so much!

I decided based on everyone's behavior and my feelings, naps was on the agenda. I know that seems boring for a day in London, but without them, we wouldn't have made it to dinner to see Uncle Dolan who was in Copenhagen and then teaching until dinner time.

Despite the racket in the hotel, the kids slept great. You can see I did not becuase I was up taking photos of the cuties as they slept.

Grampa had thought a boat trip was a nice idea. He was right. This was a great way for the kids to get a relaxing view of parts of the tourist bits of London. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed it too.

Waiting on the pier for us to depart. Ellie liked the climbing.

Now we are onboard and Ellie is admiring the view and asking what will happen if she goes swimming in the Thames. Are there crocodiles? How will we get out? and many other questions...

Max isn't very impressed.

We sang London Bridge is falling down as we went under the London Bridge, but the Tower Bridge is a more impressive photo opp.

After the cruise, we got off at the Tower of London and rested. I took the opportunity for a photo opp. I'm the eternal optomist for a good family photo, but don't seem to be able to really ever get it.

Ellie and Max make each other smile quite easily.

Afterwards, we set off to meet up with Uncle Dolan for dinner in a traditional pub on the south side. It wasn't easy to find a place in the center of London suitable for sitting with the kids and having some food. We found something that was a good environment, although the food left a lot to be desired. That's alright though, becuase you don't go to a pub for dinner expecting high cuisine, we wanted to relax and just enjoy the last night away. It was good to see Grampa and Uncle Dolan again. Ellie wanted to see where Uncle DOlan lives, but that didn't happen on this trip. Maybe next time we can visit his flat.

Max had fun playing with Grampa.

Ellie was so happy to see Uncle Dolan.

It was a long evening and both of us had to take our aim at getting Max to sleep. I tried a walk in the Ergo, which didn't work becuase there was too much action on the streets with the people, the trucks, the lights, and just all the new noises. Daddy was able to rock him to sleep in the Daddy recline stroller again. Good job!

As you can see, Ellie too enjoyed our dinners in the pub. She usually did a lot of coloring and playing around with Grampa and Uncle Dolan when he was there. It was a good evening.

First night in a hotel as a family

Our first night in London was the first night in the hotel as a family as well. Ellie and Max both have their established bedtime routines and have been challenging to get to sleep. So, being in a single room is a challenge for us all. Hotels bring closeness in a way that I enjoy experiencing those as well. The room is a total mess. We have a crib set up for Max which serves as free play and sleeping place – which is of course a no-no for a well slept child. I believe in naps, bedtimes, and routines. None of these are happening for the children on a regular basis while we travel. I find it challenging to balance the need for stability and routine with the need for travel, flexibility and new experiences. I know it’s an impossible balance, but one I hope to generally find a way to impart to the kids as they grow.

It is just now 10 pm and they have finally fallen asleep in their comfy beds for the night. We probably got them laid down by 9pm. It took them a while to settle because Mommy and Daddy are enjoying a few treats from the locate Patisserie and the Odd Bins (aka Wine store). I do hope that we are setting a good example for them. We love them very much. If it weren’t for out little “beans” we would be at the corner pub. But the beauty of looking over at them sleeping is much better!

Daddy, Dance

The best part of our first and tired night in London was Ellie’s determination to dance through the streets of London. This is slightly funny because this isn’t really normal behavior for Ellie. I encouraged it, because I wanted her to be having some fun on what I feel was a bit of an non-kid friendly day.

As we paraded up and down about 10 blocks of Cromwell Road in Kensington looking for our ideal dinner location (never to be found) Ellie didn’t get frustrated, but instead decided it was time to dance. We aren’t sure what really started this, but she started wiggling around and saying, “Daddy, let’s dance.”

I started to dance with her and sing some song from the 80’s. She just ate it up and kept on “dancing.” I was finally able to convince David to join her for brief periods and caught this photo. It was really funny. She kept this up all the way home – several blocks!

I love my little Ellie bean and her spirit! I hope that my rigidness doesn’t manage to squash it.

Traveling to London (from Glasgow)

Today was another travel day. These are hard on the kids, though we do try to plan around them best we can. We took a late morning train so that Ellie could spend some extra time with Grannie and Millar. They took her to the park to see the ducks and do a little playing for about an hour before we left for the train. Max got his morning nap in comfort while David and I packed us up.

We were at the train station with plenty of time, thanks to Millar and Hazel. We got on to our seats and were able to be really organized. We got our luggage right beside us and lots of extra seats. It was a good set up – best yet. We had lunch and tried to get everyone to sleep – it took a long time. Max ended up sleeping in the elevated stroller – David was patient as he held it at this elevation for nearly two hours – with only a bit of sleep…

I ended up playing on the computer, encouraging Ellie to sleep – but it was very hard for her. She finally fell asleep about 15 minutes before we arrived in London – oh well.

We arrived in London early and the challenge began – how should we get to the hotel with all the bags, safely. We had 3 large bags, 1 travel cot/port crib, 3 very full backpacks, 1 3 year old in a stroller, 1 big Max in the Ergo on my front and (one of the backpacks on my back) and my big red purse. It was a LOT of luggage and babies.
I was nervous to take the kids in a taxi without car seats, so we set out on the Tube. David was patient. It included a connection and a LOT of stairs. Honestly, we were a little crazy to do this, but I felt it was the safest way.

Honestly, the most important point of this blog is to point out how friendly the people of London were to us as we tried to make our way. I honestly cannot count the number of people who offered to help us make our way around – up steps, escalators, out trains, and just through it all. I know it was more then 10 different people – about half may have been other Americans in London – which I found odd. But I do believe that had I had this same challenge in NYC, as much as I do love NYC, we wouldn’t have had one person offer to help us. We started accepting the help graciously after a while. I am grateful to all those who helped us because it was not an easy trip. There were a lot of steps and my shoulders were dead when we arrived to our posh hotel location in South Kensington.

When we arrived to the room, David got a shower and I lay down on the bed to relax and enjoy a treat. Ellie also took her pants off (like I had done) crawled up beside me and said, I will lay here with you and enjoy a treat too mommy. It was so cute. It’s the kind of things you get when traveling in a hotel and you are so close.

After everyone was washed – a bit of an interesting experience in itself – we headed out to find our dinner. It was not as easy as we expected to find a dinner/pub to welcome children. We have realized Children are not really expected to be going out to eat and/or to pubs. This is unfortunately disturbing to David and I who have learned to enjoy this multi-generational experience that England can provide. We are hoping Uncle Dolan can suggest something better for tomorrow.

A busy day in Glasgow

There's so much to do in Glasgow when everyone lives there. There are so many parks to visit (if you are Ellie) and streets to visit (if you are David) and shops to visit (if you are me). So, with this, we couldn't do everything and had to realize that we will definitely be back.

We decided the final day should be relaxing. Ellie went to visit Pollockshields park with Grannie, Millar and Daddy in the morning, while Max had a nice long nap at home. They got to see the horses getting new shoes. Ellie even got one of the old horse shoes as a souvenir to take home. Daddy has insisted on carrying it back with us, and since he's the carrier, it's on board. Apparently Ellie was fascinated with the horses and told them she'd like to stay there all day watching them.

She also got to see highland cattle in real life - the ones Mommy thought were a kind of sheep at first. They are very hairy. She enjoyed seeing them.

They wrapped the morning up playing int he park where Ellie tried every piece of equipment and played until she was exhausted. She took a 4 hour nap in the afternoon that was well needed. (Naps haven't been as consistent as they should be during this vacation)

While the kids napped, Grannie watched them to allow David and I time to walk around the downtown area to do a little shopping and check out how the city has changed. David and I both really enjoy walking around cities. I like the shopping and grazing on the delights of the city - finding the best espresso and treats - and looking at the houses to pretend I'd buy something equivalent to what we have at home. David likes to check out the architecture, changes, and historic statues. We spent a lot of time doing this in NYC when we were dating. It's a relaxing time for us both. We even took the little Glasgow Metro back to Shields Road.

We planned to go out for a Curry for our last night in Glasgow. Millar knew of a great place where they treated us like royalty - Mister Singhs. Apparently most of the people there have been his students at one time. They are all very kind and the food was nice, although, I didn't have mine until after we put the kids to bed. Max was not up for being out to dinner; he was cranky and I ended up walking the block with him and rocking him in the stroller until he fell asleep. Ellie had fun sitting with Grannie and getting lots of cuddles for her last night in town. It's hard to believe how fast the week has flown by. We enjoyed visiting with everyone so much. I know this time has been special to Ellie and although Max may not remember it, I hope the pictures will serve of some value to him too.

Ellie is enjoying a mint with Grannie. I think she looks like me as a little girl here.

Max was a bit of a wild man before we went for our walk. The high chair did provide him about 2 minutes of enjoyment - banging on the table!

Finally asleep, just in time to go home.

The little moments

I have spent a lot of time packing, organizing, unpacking, planning and repacking. I don't think 6 stops in 2 weeks was the greatest idea for the family at this age. However, the kids have been really brilliant as Hazel would say :-)

Tuesday morning I enjoyed a little cuddle with both kids in bed upon waking, without a rush to go anyway. They are so cute and so much fun. I love then!

We were playing peek a boo and just messing about with Ellie's blankies.

A small gathering at the Cummings Hay Flat in Glasgow

Hazel and Millar had arranged for people to drop by to meet us and the kids on Monday evening after naps. (Too bad we didn't actually get home in time for them to have naps... however...)Hazel put out lots of food and RoseMary provided lots of lovely treats. Millar did his park in keeping the guests glasses full ( a bit like Uncle Alan does in York.)

It was a really nice evening. The guest list included: Hazel's best friend Rose Mary - who arrived early to help prepare, Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Muir, Friends Jenny and Pam, Uncle Robert and his friend Sheila, David's God Mother Lynn, Hazel's friend Danny, Cousins Irene and Howard, and I sure hope I haven't missed anyone out.... It was a nice full house and I believe the gathering room was nearing capacity with Max's big old playpen in the middle.

Each brought gifts for the kids and commented on how well behaved they were. Max slept through about half of it and then proceeded to play the role of the cute little baby boy very well.

Ellie was exhausted but only suffered a few breakdowns. She did a lot of coloring and playing with Stickers. She was really taken by Unlce Robert and enjoyed playing with him. She liked knowing he was Great Nanna's baby brother (like Max is her Baby brother). He taught her a few mildly naughty/mildly entertaining antics which backfired on him as he left. She decided wiggling his ear was a fun thing and he laughed histarically. As everyone laughed it egged her on. This kept up for a while, until I realized she was messing with Uncle Robert's hearing aid. I was a bit embarrassed, but he assured me it was fine.

We rushed the kids into bed when everyone left around 8 or so. It was a work night, they we didn't feel it.

Thanks to Hazel and Millar for making it easy for us to meet everyone in one go. It's a pleasure putting faces to names and letting the kids meet all these kind and wonderful people that keep sending so many gifts to them.

That sign says....

We were walking around the West End of Glasgow on Monday late monring to see the flat where Daddy grew up.

Daddy's was on the top floor.

This is Grampa's house.

As we were leaving Wilton street and walking back down the hill I pointed to the little corner store David used to frequent as a kid for his treats and explained to Ellie that was where Daddy used to buy his ice cream a lot. She didn't really see what I was pointing to, so I drew her attention to a read sign outside. She then caught on and said, "Maybe I could buy some ice cream from there sometime too."

I said, "Go tell Daddy what you'd like to do."

She turns around, runs back up the hill to David and says, "Daddy, that red sign says 'Buy Ice Cream Here Now!'"

Even that cute, David didn't take her in for ice cream.... we kept the tour moving.

Next we went to see where Grampa lives when he's not traveling abroad - which has been everywhere Ellie's seen him. I like Bob's place and the big window out front. We took some photos there.

We were then off to walk by the river and see the mill. David tracked through some of his favorite places to play. Ellie enjoyed playing and lots of running. Max did good in the stoller with a stop on a swing.

When we were walking down there I explained to Ellie this is where Daddy used to play. I then asked, "What do you think Daddy used to do with Uncle Dolan down here when they played?" Ellie looked around and responded, "Smell the pretty flowers." Everyone got a kick out of this.

As we were driving to the West End, we passed a Subway sandwich shop. Ellie says, "Mommy, I want a cheese sandwich with peppers, pickles and tomatoes from Subway for lunch. So, for lunch, we walked to find a Subway. When we found one Ellie announced "Hummmmmm, I smell Subway!" She enjoyed her sandwich - the entire 6 inch double cheese sub.

After lunch we went to Kelvin Grove Park where Daddy used to play. Ellie wanted to try to super big cool slide near the skate park. It wasn't easy getting up.

We proceeded to the kiddie park, which has changed completely since Daddy was little, but we had a little fun anyway. Max slept.

The west end is nice and it's good for the kids to see where David grew up. Hopefully during the next trip they will understand it a bit btter.

A day in Edinburgh with the kids

On Sunday we packed up and left Stirling. We had a nice time staying with Margaret, aka Great Nanna. Ellie really enjoyed getting to know her and her house and town. Max was very comfortable there too. It was nice having the kids spend time with their great grandmother and their cousins too. I enjoyed the visit very much. Margaret was very kind and hospital to us. She cooked us nice foods and let us basically take over her house, which I know isn't easy to do.

Leaving Stirling at the station. We used the train a lot in Stirling. Margaret's place is only a 7 minute walk. It's great!

We were meeting up with my friend Farah and her family for a day of fun, mostly based around the kids. We met up around 11am, which felt earlier becuase we got to experience the time change again here in Britian. Farah picked us up at the Haymarket station and we headed to a big indoor play area called Monkey Buzniss. It was a great place for Ellie and her two kids - Ryan 5 and Zien 2. Ellie really enjoyed playing there and it was nice to catch up with Farah and meet her family.

We had some late lunch at a popular chicken place called Nandos - where David was the only one having chicken. The kids were exhausted and I was ready to take them home, but Ellie had caught wind of discussion of the big park in The Meadows, so we persisted on to the biggest play park I have ever seen in a public place.

The kids had a good time. Max even got a swing or two. We hung out there for about an hour and then started towards city center with 2 exhausted children - one on my back and one in the stroller. Actually, we started with Max on my stomach asleep and I could not handle the pain on my back. I told Ellie she would need to get out of the stroller so we could put Max in to sleep. She looked at me and calmly said, "No." Then proceeded to lay her head back, close her eyes and fall dead asleep for nearly 90 minutes (this is the ONLY time this has happened on our trip.) She was so exhausted, she couldn't take another step. So, David and I figured out how to move Max around to my back in the baby Ergo and marched forward.

It was a long walk into town, but we enjoyed the walking. When we got near the center we stopped for a treat in a cafe. Ellie slept though this as well - it was table service and we were there for nearly an hour. Max woke though in time to demand a little on my vanilla ice cream, which he has gotten a few times on this trip. He loves it very much. I figure, there's not much else that we can do to treat a 9 month old on this vacation.

We didn't get any time to visit the castle, maybe next time. This is a picture of Ellie enjoying the treat she got after waking from her long stroller nap. It was a bit of a tramatic waking and hard to calm down, but thanks to a Starbucks treat, she's alright!

We made our way towards the train station and arrived at 5 minutes before the next train took off for Glasgow (destination for Sunday night was hotel Hay-Cummings). We bought tickets and ran for track 12 and just missed the train pulling out of the station with 2 tired chickens in tow. So, we checked we were allowed back out of the tracks area and proceeded to the pub for a pint while waiting. The kids had some snacks from the bag and enjoyed their time as did David and I.

We made the 6:30 train back to Glasgow and arrived around 7:45. It was very long train ride back. We were all anxious for showers and Grannie's house. They were all so bored, Daddy made up a song about Mommy having ants in her pants!

We were happily greated by Grannie and Millar - with a big car, carseats and eveen a latte from Starbucks for Mommy! They are so kind and take very good care of us.

After a bit of wrestling with the carseats and giving in to the fact they are not as secure in British cars as they are in American ones, we proceeded home for some quick bed and baths.

The kids did great today! It was nice meeting up with Farah and we intend to do it again when we are back next time - 3 years or something like that. The kids are so very flexible, which I am proud of them for being. They get this from their daddy!