Another attempt at a family portrait

First, let me say how grateful we were to have The Twins handy to help us capture a family picture of us.  We have lots of pictures of me with Charlotte and Jason with Charlotte, but very few of all three of us together.  With one twin on camera duty and the other twin on make-Charlotte-smile-while-looking-at-the-camera duty, we were able to get a few decent shots while on a walk through Hampstead Heath.

But first the outtakes (and don't mind my hair.  It was a super windy day!).

open your eyes Jason!

Wait, was he actually asleep in these pictures?

much improved, but C is still looking elsewhere . . .

This one cracks me up!  What a goofy face on that baby!!

What can I say about this one . . . well, at least Charlotte looks cute!

Okay, now for some that actually turned out!

Thanks for the photo shoot, Twins!  

An afternoon at the Heath

We've had more holidays than business days here lately: each of the last two weekends has been of the four-day variety. There were Good Friday and Easter Monday, then the Royal Wedding and the cleverly named "Early May Bank Holiday" (I'm going to credit Thatcher for it not being called May Day like it is in other countries, but I have no facts to back that up).

We spent last week's Easter Monday bank holiday at Hampstead Heath, one of London's many beautiful green spaces (royal and otherwise). The Heath (as we call it...and by we, I mean me and Bethie...I think there are other "heaths" in London) is a large park by city standards. By way of comparison, it is 790 acres to Central Park's 843 and Golden Gate Park's 1017. The Heath is at one of London's highest elevations and makes you feel like you're in the country, all just a dozen or so stops up the Northern Line from Clapham.

We started our day in Hampstead, which feels a bit like Georgetown: quaint, picturesque, and staggeringly expensive. We picked up a picnic lunch at Paul and made our way to the Heath.

We spent some time in the meadows:

And some time by the ponds:

It seems every group has their own bathing pond at the Heath: there's one for men, one for "ladies"...and though it's not an official designation, we found one for dogs.

We had a "whippy and a flake":

And we ended our day with a hearty pub meal at the Holly Bush, though not all of us stayed awake for the meal's end.