Muddy Puddles

The adrenaline has been running high this month! Between travels, out-of-town guests and a surprise baby shower to plan for and enjoy, it seems that the minutes have passed at lightning speed and the memories have been piling up in joyous amounts recently.

I’ve certainly got lots to be catching up on after all these weeks of partying and adventuring (and with this being our last day of free babysitters!), but for today, E and I thought it best to simply  rest in the loveliness of being back “home” first.

We (well, ok…I) finally woke up at a decent hour, collected Grandma and Grandpa and set out for a beautiful morning of marvelous coffee sipping and Under 5’s entertainment with our friends M and Manuela at a nearby park and mansion-turned-museum, Kenwood House. (Seen the movie Notting Hill? Kenwood, not benefiting from quite as much notoriety as the Notting Hill neighbourhood won out of the movie, is the mansion at which Julia is filming toward the end of the movie…a small claim to fame to draw in our movie loving friends!)

Sadly, our hopes and dreams for a sunny and fun-filled morning were crushed sooner than expected. In true London form, the sun turned to rain shortly after we stepped out of our front gate, and, though the website told us otherwise, the children’s hour at Kenwood had been cancelled due to half-term. Determined to make a cold and miserable day live up to its exciting expectations, we started with a hot coffee and a special treat at the Brew House, a quintessential British garden café, and let the girls watch the rain pour down through the stately windows while they ran through the mansion’s playroom anyway.

And as we headed home, rather than tucking the girls away under rain covers and umbrellas (who are we kidding…we couldn’t have forced them in to their carriers even if we’d wanted to!) and racing to the bus stop, we let our never ending energiser bunnies run…jump…stomp…stop…play…laugh…hug…giggle…their way through the falling skies.  Belly laughs and silly squeals were the only way to express the overflowing happiness we had as everyone chased rogue balloons and dodged rain drops while simultaneously trying to corral our bundles of joy toward the warm bath awaiting us at home.  I just have to share the wonderful time these two had!

And given that this day of enjoyment has brought us back to an afternoon of snuggling in front of a warm fire (a true Summer Day in London Town, as the joke goes…), maybe it will end up being surprisingly productive as well…Happy Weekend everyone!

 

Photo Credit: the incredibly talented Margie Becker (with the exception of Kenwood House, borrowed from telegraph.co.uk)