Across the Pond

Joseph was reading a paper at a conference in Edinburgh, which gave us the perfect excuse to visit Dave and Georgia in London! Joseph had to catch a train up to Scotland almost as soon as we got in, but Evangeline and I were able to relax and enjoy their hospitality. Oh yeah, we saw a few things, too. :)

Parliament and Big Ben

It's been renamed the Elizabeth Tower, but we refused to comply

Yay, Westminster Abbey!

The view in St. James's Park--Whitehall, Horse Guards, The Eye

Evangeline just loved all the ducks and geese (not pictured)...

...and all the green space!

Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards

They successfully changed :)

So excited!

Fish and Chips with Chip Butties for the non-fish eaters

Happy face

Every night after dinner, Dave and E treated us to a concert

The Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens, the most fabulous playground ever!

The theme is Peter Pan, with a huge wooden pirate ship surrounded by sand...

...teepees, water play, and Neverland-esque trails and hideaways

Boarding the pirate ship

Below decks

Making music in the "woods"

At the water pump

It was hard to tear her away

The formal garden by Kensington Palace

Lovely ladies

The nice gardener who let us in as long as we promised to leave with the tour group

Victoria's memorial was nice and understated...

...compared with Albert's in Hyde Park. Yikes!

A beautiful day

The Diana Memorial Fountain, which was more a place for wading

If E hadn't been sleeping in her stroller at this point, I'm sure we'd have been in there, too

The Serpentine - fun to see Olympic events here a few weeks later

We checked out the Museum of Childhood

Great sandbox

Tea party

Our little wizard!

Quite pleased with her babyccino (yes, that's a thing)

Making pizzas at home

Borough Market, south of the Thames

Now THAT'S some cheese!

Tower of brownies

Meat pies

G getting our grilled cheese--seriously the best ever!

Chilling by the Thames

The Globe

Tate Modern

Letting off some steam by running up and down the ramp

Millennium Bridge and St Paul's

View from the bridge

London Bridge looking festive

St Paul's, where I resisted the urge to sing "Feed the Birds"

This one could not resist an open piano, though

Bus stop fun

Conference over, Joseph rejoined us and we went to the Hackney City Farm

A nice rural feeling in the middle of East London

This fancy fellow was positive he was pecking a rival

More playground time, of course!

At Dave and Georgia's local

Covent Garden

Big smiles

Trafalgar Square, which she loved, obviously!

We had a hard time getting her away from those lions

Jones Fam

Horse Guards

10 Downing Street, what we could see of it

Pub lunch! So much delicious cheese on the sandwiches...

Hanging around the Barbican, a very unique housing development

Quality time :)

Making friends on Hampstead Heath

Fortifications at a tea shop--my lavender cake was awesome, by the way

Naturally, the cow creamer was irresistible

A few summarizing thoughts about London:

• We were surprised by how multicultural it was. I always think of London as being more homogeneous, but that was definitely not the case. I think it helped that we were based out of East London, but it was still very impressive.
• Another surprising thing was that it made us more appreciative of Hong Kong public transit. London's was so much more expensive, especially the tube. And the stops seemed to be further apart; we had to do a lot more walking to get to the stations. And they don't all run as often. By where Dave and Georgia lived, there was ten minutes between trains during non-rush hours. In Hong Kong, you practically throw a fit when the trains are four minutes apart! I guess we are just spoiled.
• We loved, loved, loved the playgrounds in London. There was so much variety, space for creativity, and potential for risk. You couldn't help but draw some (unflattering) comparisons about cultural values when you contrasted London and Hong Kong.
• People were generally very friendly and helpful. Every time we were struggling with the stroller or luggage, someone immediately stopped to offer to help. Another pleasant change from Hong Kong!

It was a wonderful trip in every way. Great to spend time with family, great sights, great food. We didn't even come close to seeing everything, which gives us another reason to go back!

Chicago!

We were so happy to start our summer travels back in the good ol' US of A. It was lovely to be able to eat our favorite things and, more importantly, see friends and family. We started off in NW Arkansas, got over our jet lag there, and then drove up to Chicago with an all-too-brief stop in our old stomping grounds of Champaign. Unfortunately, we lost all the pictures we took in Champaign, so if someone could share theirs, we'd be most appreciative! Cliche or not, we were robbery victims in Chicago. Someone broke into the place we were staying in Wicker Park (while we were sleeping!) and snatched Joseph's computer, where we had recently transferred pictures from the camera. But luckily that was the only thing stolen, and more importantly, no one was hurt.

Our Chicago trip started out with Joseph's dad and step-mom, Tom and Darlene. We ate pizza, went to the zoo, tooled around, and enjoyed being together.

The seal being put through her paces

In the bleachers after the show

The rhinos were a big hit with Evangeline

We were also thrilled to get to see old friends Andy and Sarah, who made the trek even though they were about to be new parents. Awesome! Friends and brunch at Lula--a winning combination.

Very grateful to the lady who took this picture, but I wish she had moved a few steps closer...

The climax of our trip was my cousin Mason's wedding to his fabulous bride, Shirley. It was so special to be able to be at the event, to see more family then we would have otherwise, and to meet Shirley's family, too.

A beautiful ceremony

Cousin Tom doing the reading

The big moment!

I don't know why we didn't take any pictures of the reception at the Bristol, but the food was amazing and a great time was had by all. Evangeline decided that the hors d'oeuvres were too fancy for her, so the staff brought out a giant bowl of apple slices and cheese wedges for her. Score!

The following day we rehashed all the wedding highlights, bought a new computer for Joseph, packed up, and headed to the airport to jet off to our next destination, London!

Three

I've been silent on the blog front, but that was because we've been travelling all summer. Five countries in seven weeks--it was epic! Now that we're back in Hong Kong and over our nasty jetlag (it was the worst we've ever had!), I'll try to catch you up on our summer travels.

It started off with a bang because a certain someone turned THREE.

This was a very important birthday for her, because it meant that she could go to school AND she would finally have to pay for public transportation in HK (she has been longing to have her own card to beep on the readers). We have been talking about her turning three for months and months and months.

Of course, it was my birthday too!

Chocolate fudge cake, white chocolate mousse filling, sour cream chocolate icing

Is she my daughter or what?

We are so blessed to have her in our lives and we just can't wait to see what this new year brings. I realize I'm slightly biased, but she is such a delightful little person. I love the fact that she just has a blast no matter what we're doing. I love how talkative and expressive she is, and her vivid imagination.

It's going to be a great year!