Football and Fun: Less Than 2 Weeks Left!

We are soaking up every minute here in London!  We've been enjoying the local parks and gardens and we even got to see a preseason football (soccer) game. Along with enjoying our last couple weeks, we are also busy preparing for the move.  This week we sold most of the furniture and electrical things we need to and are getting things lined up for when we return to the states.  Along with all the busy activities, we are really enjoying laughing at what comes out of Tyler's mouth.  His speech has developed so much over the last couple months.  Here are the two hilarious things he said this weekend that had JJ and I rolling on the floor:
1) While playing catch in the living room with JJ and I, Tyler ran to grab one of his stuffed animals, a little dog called Darlin'.  He holds Darlin' tight and says in a sweet voice, "Want to play catch Darlin'?  Hmmmm do you have hands?  No, no hands.  Oh well." and tosses aside to continue to play catch with us.
2)  When Facetiming with Matt, Raji, and JJ's Grandma, they ask if Tyler has picked out any names for the baby and I reply that we haven't asked him yet.  So then I ask him and his name that he chose for the baby is..... Moon-buggy!  We will definitely put that one into consideration!

Here are some pictures from the week.

Tyler really loves this music class we go to on Thursday.  I think the leader likes him too - he gave Tyler the big tambourine to jam with while all the other kids got to choose from the toddler music toys.  Tyler was very proud, and as usual, took his tambourine playing very seriously.

One day I put way too many bubbles in the bath.  I decided to call it a "foam party" but it is a bit different than the foam parties circa late 90s spring breaks :)

One of our new traditions is going to meet JJ at the tube station after work and then watching the fast cars go by while we walk home.  If we have time before dinner, we sit on this bench and watch them all go by.  We live in a pretty nice area and the cars that drive by are ridiculous.  Every third car is a Porsche, Ferrari, or Jaguar.  Tyler is very interested in the names of all the cars.  It's crazy, he knows so many now and calls them by name, "That's a Porsche, that's a Jaguar, that's an Audi, that's a Mercedes, etc."  And he's usually never wrong.  Just today he learned Aston Martin and Range Rover.  It's hilarious and going to be a bit of a let-down when we get back to Chicago.  We definitely need to take him to an auto show in the future!

I love this little garden by us.  It is part of an old historical house called Fenton House and it has to be one of the most peaceful places in London.  We stumbled on this new part on Friday - an apple orchard!  Tyler loved counting all the apples and pointing to which ones were turning red.

It was a pretty tough morning...

Yep, this is the life!

Wow that's a big sunflower!!!

He loves to throw the pebbles in this water basin until I tell him it's time to stop

Snack break at the Fenton House Garden!

Saturday morning cuddles with Daddy.  His giraffe and teddy bear had to come too...

Football Saturday!  It was the first time at a professional soccer game for all three of us.  Arsenal is the closest team to us and the stadium was pretty impressive.  It was a preseason match against Benfica and Arsenal won by a landslide.  It was exciting to see all the goals.

It was the biggest sporting event that Tyler has ever been to and it took a while for him to figure out what was going on.  We got there late since we had to wait until his nap was done and as we sat down the stadium erupted in cheers for a goal.  Tyler didn't get upset but he had a look on his face like what the heck is going on?  Then in the second half he started to get into it.  He would point to the ball if there was a break in the action and ask why no one was kicking it.  

Father-son football fans!

We bought him a little jersey that he didn't want to put on before the game (the only shirts he ever wants to wear have Superman on them) but when we were leaving he was really excited about wearing it....

Sunday my girl friends from our playgroup took me out for massages and lunch to say goodbye.  We went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch (which is hard to come by in London) and they gave us free shots at the end.  The other two had tequila and Blue Curacao and mine was a virgin.  Moms go wild!

We took JJ back to the garden on Sunday for some relaxation and cake.  Tyler has such a sweet tooth!