Fun at Home Whilst Everyone Else is on Holiday

We went back and forth about going somewhere for this past long weekend but decided to stay here at home and it was a great decision.  We got incredibly lucky with the weather every day of the weekend where it hit almost 70 degrees and sunny (very unusual for London and a sunny contrast to the weather we've had the last 3 weeks).  So we went out and enjoyed our own neighborhood every day.  We had heard that everyone goes on holiday for the bank holiday weekends and that was right because even with the sunny weather it was easy to find a table to eat/drink outside, the only gelato place in town didn't have a line, and even the crepe stand was empty.  It was really glorious and much less busy than a typical weekend.  A good time was had by all and I think we all needed this weekend to remind ourselves that London is an OK place to be after all.

We took our nice camera to the Heath to get some family photos (sorry there are a lot here!)

JJ really gets some air with him!

Horsing around on top of Parliament Hill with the city in the background

Stick of the day...

The Kerns in the Heath

He likes to climb trees!

Cheerio snack time

It's tough to cram them all in your mouth

#totalstud

More tree climbing

This tree was still growing sideways even after it fell

Tyler's new favorite way to ride - on Daddy's shoulders!

Baby in the woods!

Not really fired up about Mommy's kisses

Lunchtime!  PB&J of course.

His first taste of gelato.  To say he liked it would be an understatement.  We have a video of him going completely bonkers on a sugar high after he ate a good portion of this gelato.  I think he's predisposed to like ice cream since his mom and dad are addicted too.

A nice lady gave him a balloon at the beer garden.  Within about 5 minutes he lost it - hope it didn't kill any sea creatures in the Atlantic.

I love this street - it's so English!

Fun with the new bubble wand.

It also doubles as Tyler's lightsaber.

He had the sandpit all to himself this morning!

JJ took him to swim class this morning since he was home for the bank holiday.  He also let Tyler basically swim in the fountain before class :)

Kernovich Celebrates 4 Years!

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary and we got a chance to go out and celebrate on the actual day for the first time since our 1st anniversary.  It was so nice not to have any school, work or baby commitments and just celebrate us.  Alison came over to babysit and we headed out to a fancy part of town, Mayfair.  JJ did a great job planning the whole thing and it was nice for me to have a day off of being the family activity planner!  Earlier in the day Tyler and I headed out to meet our friends Andrea and Nathan at the National Army Museum in Chelsea.  They have a great kids zone in the basement that Tyler and Nathan enjoyed.  Now we are looking forward to a nice long weekend here in London as we gear up for our next big trips.  We are tagging along with JJ to Ireland next week on one of his work trips and then the week after we are headed back to the US!  Lots of things to look forward too!

Remembering a great day!  We want to go back to Isle of Palms someday.

Tyler is so great at "folding" laundry.  He made sure that every piece was ripped from it's nicely folded pile and scattered on the ground.

Channeling Price Harry in his UK Army dress up :)

Playing under the Union Jack flag

Tank time!

Celebrating with a nice little 1/2 bottle of Prosecco!

The cute, quaint restaurant we ate at in Shepards Market, Mayfair.

The Highs of Having Visitors and The Lows of Bad Weather

We had a great time with Tara and Jeff last week as they headed to London for the first leg of their European vaca.  It was really nice to have folks from home here and we all went out for our first night on the town with people other than just ourselves!  We miss them dearly and enjoyed hanging out in Hampstead, tasting really delicious British food and drink, witnessing a serenade to a Take That song by a man dressed in a Hooters costume on the tube, and just being part of our life here.  Tyler really took to both Tara and Jeff.  Tara showed him some moves with the air guitar to Guns & Roses and he loved talking with Jeff (well when I say talking, I mean saying "haaaaaaa" over and over again).  We even had a few celebrity sightings.  JJ and Tyler saw Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis walking on the High Street and Jeff saw James Franco sitting at a bar in the West End.  Now that they are gone we are really looking forward to our next trip back to the states even more and I can't wait to get out of this terrible London weather.  We still wear fleeces here and a pocket of sun may come out from time to time to warm things up, but the weather has been consistently been 50ish and cloudy/rainy.   When I see pictures of people back home that are in bathing suits and going to the beach - it makes me a little sad. I think a lot of travel south is in our future this summer if this weather keeps up so we can see the sun...

We walked to Buckingham Palace one evening

Tara and Jeff did one action packed day of sight seeing - here they are on the boat tour

They look so stylish and British!  This was on the walk to Sunday Roast on Mother's Day

Tyler picked a dandelion for me for "Mum's Day"  He had a little prompting from Dad.

Our big guy always likes to walk with a stick.

The Kern's on the tube on our way to dinner with Tara and Jeff

Tyler loves Auntie Tara :)

This crazy lilac tree is growing out of the sidewalk.  We had to cross the street to see if it was real and it was!

Tyler loves Mommy's smoothies!  This was an exceptionally good one: spinach, pineapple, banana, greek yogurt, flaxseed, and coconut milk!

Tyler thinks it's hilarious to look at me through his plate after dinner.

We went for a nature walk Friday and he had a lot of choices for his stick.  This picture also inspired us to give him a haircut yesterday - it was getting a little crazy!

Then we tried out a new play club in the Heath.  He was a big fan.

They had about 8 of these little cars and it was hilarious to see all the kids roaming around in them.

Training scooter

Saturday I volunteered at an event for the women's club so Tyler had an action packed morning with Dad.  He found these crows while eating his muffin snack.  Since he had food, the crows were a little more interested in him than normal.

Just waiting for him to drop crumbs

Fun in the Heath with Dad near a pretty tree.

Weeeee!

Later on, we enjoyed I made our first Pimm's Cup- a British drink.  Yum!

At Toddler's World

He loves these fountains outside Toddlers World and where he goes to swim class- he has to dunk his hand in each stream.

Getting all wet!