Paris

On our 5-day trip to Paris in May we have met my mom who was in Paris at that time for a conference. Mom was happy to see us and especially Mark who grew up into a much bigger boy since the last time she saw him.

Vintage car race in Crystal Palace park

Summer in London started last week, but it wasn't long until it was over. We were out as much as possible those days. Even at work I tried my best to spend as much as possible outside during lunch breaks. Crystal Palace park was where we headed last weekend to see vintage car race that takes place every year. We arrived earlier before the race and could take a close look at the racing cars. Mark got lucky, an owner of one of the cars allowed him to sit inside his car. Mark was very happy and proud!

Helping daddy with a broken wheel

The other week we had a flat tyre, and needed a temporal replacement. Need to replace a wheel? Daddy, leave it to me!

Surrey Docks farm

Surrey Docks farm is a little farm located in our area right by the Thames. I find it quite a unique place as it's a farm in the middle of the city. We often go there with Mark and I sometimes find it to be a real life savour. I don't always feel like taking Mark to parks which requires driving, so as an alternative it's usually Surrey Docks farm which is in about 10 minutes walking distance from us. They serve nice food there as well, which is another reason to go there. There they've got some domestic animals, including goats whom mark loves feeding from his hand. There are plenty of kids all the time and animals are very used to people. One of our rituals is feeding goats and chickens. Chicken feeding however is not as fun as feeding a goat. Goats normally stick their heads out from the fence and reach for your hand where the food is which is the funniest thing for Mark.

Dulwich Park

Was going through the pictures we took in Dulwich park a few weeks ago. It's an absolutely lovely park with lots of activities. We rented out a bicycle with an attachment in front where Mark could be placed and drove him around the park. Mark found the bike ride extremely fun.

Kew Gardens

I was startled when I saw entrance price for Kew Gardens. It was 13 pounds per person and if I knew the price in advance I probably wouldn't come and would be wrong. It's expensive but I think worth every penny (if you are used to English prices:)). We went there for almost the whole day with Mark and Andrejs. The territory of Kew Gardens is absolutely huge, and it is also very beautiful and very well preserved. The things I liked most were 2 big orangeries, Chinese pagoda and also the Treetop walkway. Treetop way is around 20 meters high and lets you to walk above the trees and see the whole parks area. It all was very nice experience of walking so high and seeing the area from the top, but the scary part for me was when this whole construction started swaying in the wind, I could barely walk without holding to the railings. My photos aren't particularly well describing the beauty of Kew gardens, as it looks so much better in reality.

Father's day

The 3rd Sunday of June is Father's day in England and it's the first time Andrejs has celebrated it. We also bought a barbecue maker and made our first ever barbecue, this time just for us, sort of a trial before the big one that is coming next week. Today I went upstairs to take some things and left Mark in the kitchen for a while alone. I came back few moments later and he was already sitting on the window! Good we have keys to lock the windows. Couple of months ago when we were installing new windows builders have left us window keys which confused us a little, why would somebody want to lock closed windows from inside??? Now I see why!

The little one is back

Our little one is back from Latvia and I simply coudn't wait to see him after more than 3 weeks since he went to Latvia. He grew a little and looks like became more organized and aware of things, more attentive and so much more talkative. He keeps learning new words in 3 languages, sometimes answering in one, sometimes in another language, which sounds very funny sometimes. We brought Mark a book about trolls in Iceland and I tried to read it for him before he went to bed. In one of the pictures Mark pointed his finger at some hairy troll with a huge nose and ears (female though) and said "mama". I keep wondering what he meant, and I do hope he didnt' mean it!

Happy Easter!

It's nice sometimes just to get away to Vilnius. I am here only for 3 days, but this little break is perfect for me. As usual in Lt I am not doing much, just hanging out with a close friend and family. Ah, and it's Easter time, so I am eating a lot, because my mom is a perfect Easter-cakes cook! Happy Easter!

Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight the biggest island of England, which is actually very small. We spent a lovely weekend there. And the weather! It was simply fabulous!

London Eye

For Andrejs 29th birthday we went to the London Eye. A very pleasant 30 minutes ride with magnificent views of London. Looots of pictures from that day

Bumba

Bumba this is how Mark calls a ball, circle, or anything that is round. Bumba is a real word, meaning "ball" in Latvian and is one of Mark' favorite and the most frequently used. Even the Moon is bumba. One day it wasn't a full Moon and Mark noticed that it isn't round. He pointed his finger towards the Moon looked at me with eyes full of sadness and said: ajajaj bumba...

Bumba is also a balloon. Mark loves them, especially when they fly up and stick to the ceiling, so that he cant reach it and makes everyone jump up to get it for him. Once we didn't tight it to the pushchair properly on the street and bumba flew up to the sky to Mark's greatest disappointment. He was so unhappy that could even remember that incident the next day and kept telling me "bumba ga-ga ajajaj". (A short explanation ga-ga is also a word in Mark's dictionary meaning "to fly", "an airplane" or something that is moving in the sky. Ga-ga comes from a bird, Mark calls all birds gaga. So "bumba ga-ga ajajaj" meant that a balloon flew away and it's very sad).

Next day we had to buy a new balloon. Mark was extremely happy, he was taking bumba with him everywhere no matter what he was doing, watching cartoons, drawing, eating playing with his cars, bumba was with him all the time, until he discovered that he actually can sit, lay and even jump on that bumba! We kept telling that if he is going to keep jumping on bubma like that bumba is going to blow up. That was exactly what happened few minutes after. This time however Mark felt probably that bumba's blow-up was related to what he did and prefered to forget and not to mention bumba anymore.

Mark is drawing

About 1-2 months ago Mark found a new activity for himself - painting. This all started from the kindergarten which Mark is visiting 1-2 times a week. There he was given an apron (guess why? :)), paints and a molbert. I didn't see but Anna said Mark loved painting. So we bought pencils and Mark started to draw. When he draws he does it with both hands, sometime with both at the same time, sometimes changing from left to right. We still don't know if Mark is left or right-handed. Maybe both?

Oxford

Little beautiful town Oxford is just 1 hour away from London. When Andrejs father was staying a few days in London in the end of January we went together to see it. I kept saying Andrejs that it's all reminds me of Hogwarts, fictional college from Harry Potter book. Apparently, I was right, when we entered one of the colleges halls we found out that several movie scenes from 2 Harry Potter movies were filmed exactly there. Mark found the hall particularly exciting and kept running from one side of the hall to another. Interesting thing that the glass in internal yards of Oxford colleges is not there for walking, it is even forbidden to walk on it, with a very little exception. Only people who achieve certain degree in in certain field are allowed to walk on it. Weird Oxford college rules.

We climbed Oxford Church all together and saw Oxford from the top and that was the last thing we saw in Oxford before heading back. A slideshow report

Christmas time and Mark

There are lots of events and places for kids in London. Recently we took Mark to Horniman's kids museum. There is a room of different unusual musical instruments from all over the world so kids can try them out. Also the museum itself is very big and there is lots of space (something we can't say about our flat), so Mark was very happy to run around from one room to another. Once he was so fast that we both lost him among other kids and were running around trying to find him. In one of underground rooms there was a big aquarium with colorful fishes, something Mark was very impressed with. One fish that caught his eye was swimming in one place and Mark kept watching it, then the fish started to swim fast another direction and Mark decided he should follow it and was running after the fish along aquarium wall back and forth.





For Christmas Mark got a new car. He was very impressed and wouldn't leave it for a second even before Andrejs managed to properly set it. Under the seat of his car there is a box that can be opened and used as some storage place. Mark likes to put a cat toy into it. He would open it, put the cat inside, close the box, sit into his car, drive it, get out from the car, open the box and make a very surprised face expression that he can't imagine how the cat could turn out under his seat!



On 25 of December we had some guests (Andrejs uncle and his wife) whom later we took St. Paul's Cathedral to listen to Christmas Carol. We were a little anctious Mark won't like to stay for the whole concert, but he was so surprised to see such a huge space that he coudn't stop looking around. He also loved clapping together with everyone when songs finished.

The next day we went to an Italian restaurant next to the Tower Bridge, which has wonderful views on the river and the bridge itself. The place was very child friendly and Mark got some presents from restaurant's staff, colorful pencils with a special drawing paper with a cook drawn on it. When Mark saw it he said "diadia". Mark knows that diadia is a person who is male and not his father or a grandfather. He doesn't know however how to say "tiotia" yet.






A waiter suggested to order some food from children menu. There wasn't much choice from only 3 dishes, and we ordered Pasta Bolognese just to give it a try. When Mark saw it, he took 1 piece of pasta, ate it, but didn't eat any more of it. I guess he isn't a big fan of Italian cuisine. Instead Mark learned how to drink juice from a straw.

Mark is a big fan of dish washing. Usually when I sit on a chair in the kitchen he comes to me, grabs my hand and starts pulling me from the chair. First I thought that he just doesn't want me to sit and wants me to play with him. But actually that isn't what he wants. Once I stand up he no longer shows any interest in me and walks towards the chair, and starts pushing it towards the sink. Then he stands on the chair, grabs dishes that stand next to the sink and tries to turn on the water. When the water appear in the sink that's when all fun begins. Mark starts washing them making lots of excited noses and pouring water all over the place. That's how Mark looks after washing the dishes.



And this is "Baby". We bought it for Mark in Barcelona. Mark calls the toy "Baby" as well as other small children that he sees on the street. Baby isn't Mark's favorite toy, but he likes to press a button on his back which when you press says "mama", "papa" and other things I can't remember now.

Mark loves to have long walks, especially when there are some small stairs he can step up or down in the street. He wouldn't miss a chance to climb any stairs he sees, even if they aren't really on our planned route. When steps up or down he calls it "kap-kap", something grandmother Anna taught him.