A couple of videos from Christmas day.

A girl and her dog

I wouldn't watch this video if you're a germaphobe.:)

Ms. V: Walker Extraordinaire!

Sorry it's been a while. Another technical glitch with my computer. It's fixed now, on with more pics and videos.

Silly Girl

Laughing.

Bfffffffffffffttt.

Fun times

Snacking on a pear.

She walks!...sort-of.

Maybe we're just annoyingly proud parents, but we were both just blown away how quickly she picked this up after just a couple of days of us buying that little contraption.

Last 2 videos from London

Goofing off on the London Eye.

This is the London Eye:

It takes about half an hour to travel the circumference of this massive ferris wheel. When I say massive, I mean MASSIVE. Each of the 32 portals is roughly the size of a school bus. The wheel itself is almost 500 feet high! It is an impressive sight in the flesh.
Needless to say, it was a pretty amazing experience...needless to say here's a baby:

Playing in the garden at Hackney City Farm

A walk down the High Street near the apartment we were staying:

Crawling at the Tate Modern:

More fun on Brighton Pier:


A stroll across the new Millennium Bridge over the River Thames in central London:

Fun on Brighton Pier!

Dance Girl Dance!

Having some lunch near Brighton Pier.

Enjoying the music from some street drummers


Fun with Great Grandma.

Playing with a friend.

When you're a child, it's so easy to make friends.
This little boy decided that he loved Violet the second that he saw her playing on the floor while the two of us wait for Christine in a store. I was told by the father that his son had a soft spot for babies, espescially friendly ones. This three year old had a six month old sister at home.
It took the parents about 20 minutes to encourage him to move on. The two of them spend the time playing on the floor.

Yummy Sand in Hyde Park

Memories of London

Thought it was time we gave a proper update on our trip and our little wonder-baby :) We had an amazing time in England, it was a lot of fun and a very different experience vacationing with a baby but a very good one. We had such terrific weather, it was hard to believe that it was Fall, it was at least 15 degrees most days and fine. We only used umbrellas one day!

Jon rented a great flat for us in the perfect part of the city. Our street was quiet but we could go up our street to get to the transport, restaurants and shops of Notting Hill or go down the street to get to Kensington High street for similar but different services. It was absolutely perfect. We spent a lot of time at the flat in the evenings to accommodate Violet's bedtime so we definitely didn't get into the nighttime activities the city has to offer, perhaps in a few years. It actually worked out well because we were generally exhausted by the end of each day of exploring.

The great weather allowed us to walk HUGE portions of London. We certainly put on lots of miles and enjoyed getting to see the diversity of the city. Having Violet with us changed our expectations of what we could do or wanted to do in a day and I think it was very good for us. We enjoyed stopping for leisurely lunches at restaurants and we took lots of breaks from our exploring so that Violet could stretch her legs and interact with some other kids.

We explored some really interesting markets, my favourites were the spitafields market which showcases lots of local designers and artists, a little 'alternative' market off the trendy brick lane area and the borough market which has gourmet food and fresh ingredients as far as the eye can see -apparently a favourite of Jamie Oliver. The petticoat lane market and a couple of the other east london markets were really fun too - great accents and interesting food. We did lots of other shopping too of course, the whole family is nicely decked out in new threads.

There are parts of the City that are just a bit too crazy to spend much time in (even though it is no longer tourist season the tourist spots were still busy) so we ventured to them but didn't spend much time there. We did make great use of the beautiful parks though. It is quite amazing to be in the throng of everything and 5 minutes later to find yourself in the middle of an enormous peaceful park. We were staying right next to Hyde park which is a very large park in the heart of the city. It has the princess Diana memorial fountain and playground as well as a great art gallery and many other attractions. The playground was awesome, always filled with kids and Violet loved it. She had her first mouthful of sand in that playground and we caught that on video too! We also checked out Green park, St James Park, Regent Park, Holland Park, Hampstead Heath (in North London with a view of the city) and numerous playgrounds and parks that we happened upon.

We spent one glorious day in Brighton which is a seaside town, very close to London, lots of celebs call it home apparently. We had a seafood lunch on the patio of a great little restaurant and then took Violet to the amusement park on the pier - she had her first rides on the teacups and the carousel. There was some really bad dance music blasting in the background which Violet was rocking out to - video of that to come.

We also took a trip to Machester and Oldham to visit Jon's grandma and grampa and his great aunt sophie. We had a really nice visit with them once we arrived, it was touch and go for a few minutes in the taxi to Oldham from Manchester as Jon was on his cellphone talking to grandma, grandpa and sophie trying to get directions. Let's just say the driver and I were having a great laugh as Jon tried to get some clear info but we got there without any issue in the end. We stayed overnight so we also enjoyed a morning of exploring Manchester. Jon stumbled upon a mini london eye so we took a ride, it was a perfect way to see the city on very short time.

Violet was a very happy little traveler, she absolutely loved the buzz of the city, especially all the people she found to flirt with. Her favourite was traveling on the underground. The norm on the tube is for everyone to look down and keep to themselves. Well not with Violet in the train, she would have the whole car of people chattering and laughing with her. We were a bit worried about taking the tube with a stroller as there are lots of escalators and stairs and almost no elevators but with 2 people it is just about doable. London is definitely one of the the least accessible cities I have been to. In the end we had a great experience using the transport system.

Violet grew and changed so much in the 3 weeks we were away. She has started crawling much faster, grew in length and weight, got her first tooth (and her 2nd since we arrived home on her 10 month birthday) and has become so much more interactive with her play. She is an expert diner now. We love taking her to restaurants and sharing our food with her, in some cases even ordering her a meal of her own. One restaurant which was very kid friendly called giraffe had salmon with steamed veggies on their kids menu which was perfect for V as her new favourite foods are fish and broccoli. She will literally choose broccoli off her high chair tray over any other food - lets hope this continues!

She is babbling much more and really starting to 'get' language. She had been saying mama, dada and baba in various babbles but seemed to connect dada with Jon and Mama with me while we were away. She actually has started saying daddy as well - it is so cute and Jon LOVES it of course!. She has also started saying hi, not consistently yet but one morning she just popped her head up on the other side of the coffee table and said 'hi!'. I thought it was a fluke but she has since said it numerous times and has added a wave when she says it. It is so fun watching her figure out these things.

Its hard to believe that we have been home for almost a week already. We are all finally just getting over our jetlag and getting Violet back on a schedule. Lots of changes are to come for us over the next few weeks as I prepare to go to work and Jon and Violet prepare to start spending their days without me.

A couple of videos below, Violet napping in her carrier as we walk to Hampstead Heath and playing in Whitely's shopping mall (a little baby-friendly place we found to let V get out and play).