Summer in London

While Bethie has been away in DC, summer arrived in London.  Summer in London is brief and exceedingly pleasant, and Charlotte and I have been trying to take advantage of it while it lasts.

We've spent a lot of time at our local parks, which are beautiful and popular.  After a long session in the sandpit, Charlotte cools off with an ice lolly.

Our good friends, the Hallidays, have had us over for several barbecues while Bethie has been away, so Charlotte has had some good time with her best friend, Emily (note the necklaces!).

It's been warm enough that Charlotte has been able to use her summer pyjamas.  They have an elephant on them, and that is clearly their best feature.

Extra days at nursery while Mum is away = additional admirers of her painted toenails.

Fashionable child.

We celebrated a nice day off together yesterday by having dinner at the Sparrowhawk, our favourite Crystal Palace pub.  Charlie has become a great restaurant companion.  She had the pot of catsup and a bowl of peas, I had the burger (which is fantastic!) and the chicken and mash she didn't eat.  She said "cheers" whenever she saw someone raise a glass.  We shared sticky toffee pudding.  Seemed a bit wintry for late July, but chilly weather is always right around the corner here. 

Charlie asks for her Mum several times each day, including first thing each morning.  She gets so excited when I ask her if she wants to see Mum, and she hugs and kisses the iPad when Bethie is on FaceTime with us.  Thankfully, she's home tomorrow!  We can't wait!

Ice Cream in the Park

Charlie and I spent some time in Crystal Palace Park yesterday.  After a solid session at the playground, we went to the ice cream truck that sits just outside (shameful!).

I learnt from Bethie later that this was the first time Charlie had a cone of her own (though I certainly helped her with it).  I let her choose from the menu, and she chose a whippy with a flake.

Dinosaurs at Crystal Palace Park

One of the coolest things about our new neighbourhood is that it has dinosaurs.  Well, dinosaurs and extinct mammals to be exact.  The sculptures live in Crystal Palace Park (a mere five minute walk from our flat!) and were commissioned in 1852 and unveiled in 1854.  I had no idea they were that old until I looked them up!  They were apparently the first dinosaur sculptures in the world.  They are absolutely awesome to see in person!

Charlie hasn't shown much interest in them yet, but my friend Holly's four-year-old twins loved them!

On a side note, Holly and I are a Facebook success story.  We were introduced via Facebook by my old voice teacher, William Sharp, who had heard Holly sing and was quite impressed.  When he heard she was moving to the UK, he wrote me and suggested we get in contact.  Other than being moms, cloth diaperers and Americans living abroad, we also both have a connection to Washington state!  She and her husband and adorable twins live on Vashon Island.  We had loads to talk about!  

Slide

This post is about one of the two things Bethie says that Charlie and I do while she's away (the other one is eat oatmeal, which requires no blog post).

We have several nice parks in our new neighbourhood:  the large Crystal Palace Park, a smaller park that has a lake, and Westow Park, which is pleasant if small.  It's also just behind the Sainsbury's, so it's a convenient place to stop as part of a trip to the grocery.

The most important part of Westow Park is the disproportionately large playground (and there seem to be plans to make it bigger and better).  As we approach, Charlie starts to happily fuss around in her pushchair, chatting and smiling with excitement.  When she gets out of the pram, she stands still, taking in the scene.  When she decides to start playing, she usually walks toward the toys and other kids with a loud, "AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" in a consistent tone.  She'll do it for ten seconds or so.  Just letting everyone know she's there.

Last Saturday, she was bold enough to climb up the steps of one of the toys.  She would either crawl through the tunnel or slide down the slide, with my help.  Yesterday, though, she figured the whole thing out for herself:

We're Moving!

As much as we've enjoyed living in Clapham, we have been a bit disappointed with our flat here.  We have had problem after problem with the flat itself (electrical issues, warped floors, mould . . . ) and other issues with the neighbours (unsavory characters) and neighbourhood (it is an area of Clapham better appreciated by young twenty-somethings looking to party and not the "Yummy Mummy/Nappy Valley" area that attracted us to Clapham in the first place).  We have been happy here despite the problems, but we are THRILLED to be moving to the London neighbourhood of Crystal Palace next month.

Our flat comprises the entire ground floor (our windows are on either side of the front door).

Crystal Palace is a southeast neighbourhood of London that got its name from an actual crystal palace that was built there in 1851 (more on that here).  The palace burned down in 1936, but the name stuck.  Our new flat is right near the overground train station (as opposed to the tube) that zips Jason right up to London Bridge where he works.  It is still an easy trip to get into town, yet the neighbourhood is very quiet and more family orientated than our current one.

We were originally looking in Dulwich and Blackheath/Greenwich, but we didn't love any of the flats we viewed there.  We were gobsmacked when we walked into this particular Crystal Palace flat because of the incredibly high ceilings and absolutely enormous rooms!  An extra special draw was that the kitchen was, by far, the nicest kitchen we had seen in any London flat.  Another huge draw is that our friends Mary and Rob and their daughter Emily have just bought a (gorgeous) house not far from our flat.  They move only a few weeks before we do.  :D

Here is a pic of the kitchen with the previous tenant's items:

We've upgraded to a MUCH larger space with granite counters, a dishwasher (finally!) and even a microwave (which we've been living without).

<><><><>Here are a few pics I took with my iPhone when we toured the flat (FYI, the couches in the living room are being removed before we move in:

our bedroom

still our bedroom

Charlie's room

the living room (it is actually MUCH larger in real life)

more living room

We move the day before Valentine's Day (how romantic!), but there is a lot to do before then.  We still have to find Charlotte a new nursery, pack our things, hire movers, and I need to start advertising my voice lessons in the new neighbourhood!  Ack!  What am I doing writing blog posts when there is so much to be done!