Last Month Part 5

When we got back from England life didn't come grinding to a halt in anyway. First Alyssa, a friend from Americorps, joined us for a week. It was great having someone here that was willing to help out as both Orson and I adjusted to the time difference and it gave us an excuse to drive out to Point Reyes and show Orson the Pacific Ocean for the first time (that's right two major oceans in one month!)

Here he is in his whale watching outfit from Aunt Anne (we even saw a baby whale!)

playing in the sand

Matt and the waves

Alyssa and Orson enjoying the picnic we brought

What a wonderful week it was, thanks Alyssa!

The next weekend, Matt, Orson and I joined Pat and Pat at Pebble Beach for the car show. It was really neat looking at all the old cars and even more fun to spend time with some more Grandparents :)

This was one of my favorite cars at the show:

Matt had lots of fun getting to geek out on all the cool cars

and to top it all off, Orson got to meet the Stig!

And then life kinda returned to normal, with playdates, parks and mom time.

We are having more and more play-dates now that the babies are getting older. Lucy and Maddox remain some of Orson's favorite babies to play with

Orson and I volunteer on Tuesdays at MSN and as a bonus get to attend the Music and Movement class that is held there. Orson loves it and I enjoy getting to make music with a group (even if they are babies). He is in the middle of the circle in red.

Orson attended his first political rally and did his first lobbying yesterday along with lots of other moms and babies in MSN. We were trying to convince CA lawmakers to pass a bill making baby feeding products containing BPA and other harmful chemicals illegal to sell in the state of CA. It was actually my first rally as well, very interesting.

Orson and I threw Matt a surprise party for his 33rd Birthday. I never thought I could pull it off but we did and Matt was completely surprised. It turned into a great evening full of friends and laughter.

To wrap the month up, some of Orson's new favorite things:

swinging

playing his piano (was mine as a kid)

and riding on the family horse



And of course my new favorite picture of Orson,
Matt fixed up Orson's floppy hat and made it into an awesome cowboy/aussie hat....everyone in Target thought Orson was adorable :) Good job Daddy.

Oh and by the way, Orson now has four teeth, weighs in at 19 lbs and is 29 inches long (which meant a new carseat) and is grubbing on solid foods. Whew, what a month....what will the next one bring?

The last month!!! Part 4

To wrap up our time in England we headed back to Ealing and London and spent the week going on day trips with Lynda and just enjoying family. We went to Trafalgar Square and took pictures with the lions, visited Kensington Park (where we played on the big playground, road the carousel, saw Peter Pan, took tea and enjoyed out last day in town), went to Lynda's favorite charity shops and celebrated Dad's birthday. It was fun and relaxing and all in all one of the best vacations I think I ever had.

Orson and his new shoes

Orson and Lynda outside Dad's apartments

Lynda, Orson and I in Trafalgar Square

The formal gardens in Kensington:

The amazing playground! I hope we get to take Orson again when he is a little bigger and can run around

Orson's first carousel ride...it went really fast and he loved it.

Orson and Peter

Picnic in the park

Orson's first cup of tea (actually it was empty, he just loved the way it smelled)

Playing in the grass

Thanks so much for the lunches, day and weekend trips, chatter and love, Dad, Lynda and Mike. Orson and I loved every minute of it and can't wait to come back. Also, Lynda and Mike....congrats on the up and coming Grandchild, Orson thinks you will be awesome Grandparents!

The last month!!! Part 3

On Sunday we headed out to the Eden Project and then to the southern most point in England, the Lizard (the art Dad bought for us in St. Ives was of Lizard Point) and then on the way home Monday we drove through Exmoor (a national park area) and by Carnewas.

The Eden Project is an old mine turned into a garden theme park (no rides just beautiful gardens and some crazy biomes). I enjoyed the outside gardens more then the ones in the biomes but the architecture of the biomes made for some great pictures.

The monster in the picture below was made completely from electronic trash

At one point Orson (and his Grandpa) found it highly amusing to peak over a fence in the gardens

Apparently the English are Georgia Tech fans

I wish that I could grow a vegetable garden as pleasing to the eyes as this one is....terracing it made it look even more special I think. I was disappointed that they did not serve the fruits of the garden in their cafeteria though.

Orson wrapped up the day by falling asleep amongst the daisies

After Eden we drove down to the Lizard and then walked out to the point. The colors and sea were beautiful and it made me a little sad to realize we were leaving it on the next day.

Just breathtaking

As you can tell, Orson loved that we carried him there and back...he thought flying around the sea was more fun then anything else we had done on the trip

On Monday we decided to take the long way back via Carnewas and then Exmoor. The sea was how I always pictured the English seaside to be that day (gloomy, moody and harsh, yet beautiful) and the moors were just lovely to drive through. Although the decision made the last few hours home difficult (Orson was very tired of being in the car) it was completely worth it.

Carnewas and the steps were very very pretty but also rather cold and wet.

I wanted to climb down the steps but after going down a few (with Orson in tow) I decided to let Dad have his fun alone....after looking at this picture, I'm glad I did.

The forest of Exmoor

Views of the sea

Orson decided it was time to get home and that he better take the wheel :)