Photo essay of Teal and Sophia's visit

Sam chillin' with the girls

At the boat pond in Central Park

Alice in Wonderland

SUV (sidewalk urban Vehicle)

Don't try this at home (feeding 4 year olds Tiaramisu at 9:30 p.m.

Two lovely ballerinas

By the Women at Yale Sculpture by Maya Lin 

Just a few more stops....

Since the London sojourn it's been nonstop around here - in all the best ways. 

For Murray's birthday (May 15) we went to his med school reunion in NYC. We left both kids at Carole and Murray's (bless them!), zipped down, and stayed the night. Very fun.

A few days later, my cousin Sharyl stopped in (from AK) and her husband Bill came up on his turn-around (he's a pilot based out of NYC so a trip to NE CT is shorter than a trip home to AK). We had a great time and Sharyl has the cutest baby belly! Due in July, she's in the "fertility goddess" stage - all curves, still feeling good and the baby is jumping around happily.

The day after we said goodbye to Sharyl and Bill, Teal and Sophia arrived! We'd been looking forward to this  visit for awhile.  The girls were soooo excited to see each other. They were here for almost 2 weeks and we had a blast.

Intermingled with their visit were other events, namely a visit from Murray's college roommate, his wife, their 4 yr old daughter and 18 month twins! I've always thought Kevin and Mary are exceptionally great people, and Jackie (the 4 yr old) is a star too. But now, after watching them with the twins, I'm in AWE. The twins are cute like you read about..... and non-stop action adventure heros. Kevin and Mary live on Code Red these days - even when they're talking to you, they are ready to dive after one or the other of the twins (Harper and Patrick) in a flash. Jackie is a super grounded, fun kid and all three girls got along swimmingly (to our great joy).

Kevin and Mary had ventured on the trek north (from Raleigh) for Kevin and Murray's 20 yr college reunion. So we left Teal and Sophia to their fiber adventures (Teal stocked up on cool fibers for spinning - you'll have to read her blog to find out more) and headed to New Haven for a weekend of funny encounters with old friends, Camp Bulldog for Natty and a open bar. Even as a spouse, it was fun. It's such a beautiful campus and one afternoon Murray and I dropped Natty off at C.B. and just wandered, going into the colleges, libraries and the Center for British Art. Our favorite kind of date. 

I've fed my babies in some interesting places (for example, perched on a ice berg during one of our x-country ice skating adventures on a frozen glacier lake) but perhaps my favorite place is in an art museum. I choose a seat in front of a picture I want to enjoy and have some enforced quiet time with my baby and art. Sublime.

Our trip to NYC with Teal and Sophia will have to wait for another blog, but here's a teaser: you haven't lived until you've taken 2 little princesses to a "Little Mermaid" broadway musical. Hilariously cute. (the trip back to the hotel with the 2 overstimulated girls - not so cute. But let's remember the good times, shall we)

London calling

Yes, we went to London. Murray got a wild hair to visit London and started fare-watching. He found some good tickets, we called our friends Alexa and Rupert and away we went for 4 days. It was incredible fun! I was skeptical, but it far exceeded my best expectations. As usual, my brilliant husband is the master of fun.

We contacted our old church, St Paul's Ealing, and they agreed to do Sam's christening. Alexa and Rupert Broad, along with Stuart Carlisle, agreed to be his godparents. What a lucky little guy! Stuart couldn't make it to London, but two out of three isn't bad.

Alexa and Rupert graciously hosted us - they're a wonderful family. They have three boys - Max, almost 5, Zach, 3 1/2 and Sebastian, 6 months. Here we all are.

Natalie is ooooh la la in love with Max (and Zach is in love with her!). She's a princess, Max is her prince, Zach's a knight and Sebastian and Sam are the courtiers.  From time to time, she would shriek "I need some space!" and run upstairs but they had a great time overall. 

Picnicing in the back garden

Max and Natalie at Brighton Pier

All three big kids at Brighton

The adorable babies

Originally, the one hitch in our git'along was Sam's passport (the lack thereof), but nothing a trip to the Passport agency in Boston couldn't fix. That was Tuesday. Thursday Sam and I went to pick it up (it would be there after 4 pm but the office closes at 4:30 - I had to get the timing right), we spent the night in Boston and flew out early Friday morning to arrive in London that night. We were greeted at the airport by Alexa's smiling face - what a welcome sight. We were prepared to travel on the Tube but so appreciated her ride. 

The boys were asleep when we arrived so the next morning we met Sebastian and got reacquainted with Max and Zach. We all went to our neighborhood park for a pick-up game of soccer (football to them) then did a walk along the Thames. Lots of energy with 5 little ones! And when they melt (and they all melted at some point) it's a circus. We ended up catching a bus home and we sat in Natty's favorite seats: top floor, front window.

Sunday was Sam's christening, a pub lunch and baseball in the park. We'd brought the boys Red Sox baseball bat and ball and had a great time knocking it around. And Peking Duck take-out from our favorite place for dinner. I had been craving it since we left and it was as good as I remembered. Yum.

Monday was a blast - a trip to Brighton Beach! Rupert took the day off from work and Max took the day off from school. We rode the Tube to Victoria Station and took a train to Brighton. We ate fish and chips on the beach and Murray went swimming (!!!).  The Pier was fun even though most the rides were closed due the high winds that day. 

The best part for me was the hot, fresh doughnuts we got. Light, hot, sugar coated: amazing. 

Then home again! The flights weren't bad - after biannual AK-CT trips, a hop across the Atlantic is totally doable. Natty was stellar - she takes it all in stride. Sam slept most of the way over in his bulkhead bassinet, but was awake and partying on the way home. 

It's been non-stop since we got back - Murray's medical school reunion in NYC, Sharyl and Bill were just here visiting, Teal and Sophia arrive tonight and Kevin, Mary, their 4 yr old and 18 month twins arrive Monday. Oh, and I volunteered for Coffee Hour at church today. As usual, I hopelessly over-catered for it, but now we have lots of snacks for guests! As Murray would say, "Just another stop on the good life express"