I am officially a bad blogger. Since blogging means sharing daily or weekly updates on the minutia of life and that cyber-sharing has ceased to exist for me for the past 2 1/2 months, my blogging card has been revoked. Next step - attending Lax Bloggers Anonymous meetings (LBA) where we are forced in a group setting, under an hour time limit to blog and have to then read aloud our post and be encouraged by the group to hit the "Publish" button.But I have three very good excuses.
#1
Mason and I took a little jaunt across the pond to visit my brothers in London for 8 days. Now this trip marked the 10th or so international trip for me so it was no big deal, but the first for our little toddler, which was a bit of a bigger deal. My fears mostly resided in the actually flying-for-eight-hours-straight-with-a-screaming-baby category, but were quickly abolished when I found that he was distracted and entertained by all things airplane and that the flight was half full leaving us four seats to ourselves. On the way over we flew through the night, so he got a solid 5 hours of sleep (I, however, only managed two). We landed at 6:30am, stood in line at customs for 30 minutes, got our bags immediately and boarded the train to London Bridge at 7:12am. My brothers were shocked when I rang the doorbell at 8:30am sharp, but after carrying Mason that whole way in the Ergo while balancing coats and a rolling suitcase, I was exhausted.
I quickly found out that although my brother has a fantastic flat in east London, it takes a good 45 minutes to get anywhere "central" (i.e. museums, shops, the tube).
The first day Will, Mason and I felt adventurous and walked all the way to the Tate Modern (about 3 miles). I quickly realized that museum-hopping wasn't going to be in the cards for this trip since Mason spend the majority of the time going up and down the escalator. We sped through some galleries and spent, maybe, 30 seconds with a Jackson Pollack, but otherwise I was chasing him around.
On our second day, I woke up resolved that there was no way in hell I could continue carrying Mason on my back around the city for hours at a time and started hunting for a stroller on Craig's List. Luckily we found a cheap one for 10 pounds and I promptly went to retrieve it (though I still had to carry around a backpack full of supplies for a day out, which got heavy, too. You really can't travel light with children - it's physically impossible.) Now I was a "stroller mom" like all of the other London parents. I noticed that kids aren't carried around at all (they don't walk even), but strolled - even 5, 6, 7 year olds were being carted around on strollers like some caged animals. It was very strange.
I quickly learned that the London Tube system was not build for wheeled purveyors, since they pride themselves on gaps and steps at every station. Luckily, most people were observant and helpful in carrying the front of the stroller up and down steps, but sometimes I had to lift the whole thing up myself and toggle around. The stroller also worked as a napping mechanism (minus getting in and out of buses and trains and crossing streets). Each day I usually went out for a few hours in the morning and made my way back for naptime and spent the afternoon drinking tea and wine at the flat (fine by me, since I had see the sights when I studied abroad here in college).
The London Transport Museum turned out to be a wonderful find and a very appropriate museum for kids and adults. They have real life trains, taxis, and buses, and explain the history and development of transport in the city - quite fascinating (though here again, I spent my time chasing Mason around). The British Museum lasted for 30 minutes, which equated to 10 minutes speed-walking through the Eligin Marbles and Egyptian Mummy exhibits and letting him run around screaming in the central court (the sound, thankfully, muffled by hundreds of school children there for the day) for 20.
I got to visit many of my old food haunts: Wagamama's, my all time favorite (Mason LOVED the raw juice), Belgo Centraal (Mason sucked the mayonnaise off of the fries), Food for Thought, and found some new ones - namely the divine Italian restaurant near my brother's flat called Il Bordello.
All in all, it was nice to hang out with my brothers, even though we could have done that anywhere in the world. I will say, that his vocabulary got a legitimate boost - he came away able to say "boat," "taxi," "bus," and "plane." I'm sure someday Mason will appreciate that he was an international traveler before he could say "shaken, not stirred."
#2
As you can see from the previous post, we moved into our new house when we returned from the UK. After squatting in a friends house for 3 weeks, we were quick to sign the papers and free our belongings from the confines of a 10x15' storage unit. We probably broke a record for how quickly we moved in and unpacked our boxes (not counting the ones, of course, that still reside in our basement and may until we next move). Our friends, as always, came through to lend their brawn and their extreme organizational capacities (thank you, Charlotte!) making the transition a dream. The best part is (other than the fact that we did not have to lift a paint brush), we actually have space in this house for everything we own, instead of having to store it all away in our basement. But, I suppose, that is the lure and the demise of upgrading - you quickly fill your house with things just to fill it up, only to find how much crap you have when you try to move it all again.
I always find it fun and refreshing to move, however, since it offers an opportunity to re-imagine decorations, locations, wall hangings, colors, themes, etc. I like flexing my wannabe-designer skills to make our house beautiful and livable. And I get bored after a while with things I have and need to shake things up a bit. Craig's List has become my best friend and I have found our king bed, free king frame, and leather "man" chair through it to fill out our master bedroom. Next step....planting my herbs and hydrangeas and echinacea plants.
#3
We thought we could live without internet at home. Well, we thought wrong, and a month (A MONTH!!!!) after playing holier-than-thou to the cyber-gods, we relinquished ourselves and are now, happily, "plugged in."
