Springtime in London

It's been so long that it's a two for one blogging kind of day!  The trees are finally starting to bud and we are really enjoying spending a lot of time outside lately.  I guess that is what a long winter will do to you - make you extra appreciative of the spring!  Tyler is especially enjoying it and when he wakes up from a nap he instantly points to the door and says, "out!"  We've been spending a lot of time in the Heath watching the ducks and going for nature walks.  We miss having mom and Aunt Sue here but we are looking forward to Tara and Jeff's visit in less than 2 weeks!  Here are some pics from the last couple days.

Hampstead in bloom

Nature walk with dad - Tyler loves walking sticks

Oops!  Wipe out in the woods.

Not only does Tyler love chasing pigeons, he also loves chasing ducks

He's really forming a relationship with the neighbor's cat Mish Mish.  She's really scared of going outside but she will peak her head out at Tyler.  Today she let him pet her nose.  I think they will eventually be great friends :)

Duck watching - there is a great little fenced area just Tyler's size to watch them.

Another walking stick

We took another trip to Costco and found this giant bear.  JJ wanted to take it home - I reminded him how small our flat was and it stayed at Costco :)

Another beautiful rainbow!

Mom and Aunt Sue's European Vacation

I think this is my longest gap between blog posts!  We have been busy having fun with our visitors and enjoying this beautiful London weather so the blog had to wait.  We had a great time with Mom and Aunt Sue.  I'm so glad that they made the trip to come see us.   The weather was finally wonderful, all of our travels went smoothly, and Mom got to see just about all the sights in London and Paris and world traveler Auntie Sue even saw some new things too!  Best of all they both got a lot of cuddle time with Tyler and he certainly enjoyed having them around to shower him with hugs, claps, and laughs.  We did so much the blog would be super long if I described everything so I will do it in pictures below.  It was so nice to have them here and we miss them terribly now.  It's a good thing we are headed home in June so that made it a little easier to say goodbye.  I'm so proud of them for taking this adventure to come and see us!  We miss you already :(

Mom and Aunt Sue arrived and we had crepes for lunch in Hampstead as a preview for Paris

Jet lag?  What jet lag?  We are walking to the top of Parliament Hill on our first day!

Hyde Park on the Serpentine

Sensational Butterflies exhibit at the Natural History Museum

The butterflies eat basically the same thing that Tyler does :)

Auntie Sue was a butterfly magnet!

Harrods!

Mom found Dean Street on our walk through Soho

Chinatown

M&M World in Leicester Square

Meanwhile, also in Leicester Square - chasing pigeons!

Sisters at Buckingham Palace

Tyler enjoyed having new people to swing him

Double team!

Smoothie time!  This is how we do it :)

Eurostar trip to Paris

Tyler always has a big smile for Grandma

Tyler's new friend on the train.  It took a while for him to warm up to her but pretty soon he was cuddling

Tour Monparnasse - incredible views of Paris - the pictures do not do it justice...

My little man and I at sunset

Horsing around with Grandma watching the sun set behind the Eiffel Tower!

Arc de Triumph

Big T and the little Arc de Triumph

The view from the top - JJ carried Big T up all 280 stairs :)

The Kerns on top of the Arc de Triumph

Arc de Triumph baby!

We had the best crepes of our life here!  We went back for lunch on Sunday!

Sisters on the Champs-Elysees

Kerns on the Champs-Elysees

Lunch on the Champs-Elysees.  French onion soup - yum!

Tyler made at friend at lunch

Notre Dame in the spring

Tyler loves street musicians.  When he sees one he will stop in his tracks and just start listening.  Then he will give a little dance or clap.  We also taught him how to put money into their instrument case.  It's adorable :)

Big T at the Louvre

Big T living it up at a French playground

Jardin du Luxembourg

The waitstaff at the crepes place was incredible - they kept giving Tyler toys to play with

Eurostar back home

He loved hamming it up for Grandma and Aunt Sue

London Bridge

Tower Bridge

Boat ride from Tower of London to Westminster

London Eye

Big Ben!

JJ met us at lunch for a trip up in the London Eye!  We had never done that before and it was a great day for it!

Tyler enjoyed the sights on the Eye

Another street musician!

We couldn't have had better weather on our last sightseeing day in London.  We don't get too many days like that around here so we enjoyed every minute!

Tyler loves having breakfast with Grandma.

Horsing around with Auntie Sue

Grandma cuddles