Walking London and Other Things

I have way too many photos to upload and limited space, so sorry for the lack of photos on my recent posts. I can assure you we've been really busy, but if you still don't believe me see my instagram feed for a little taste of what we've been up to.

When my dad was here, we must have walked half of London trying to see all the good stuff. I'm always one to keep walking just a little further because I have major neighborhood FOMO (fear of missing out). I would hate to miss that secret little park or majorly gorgeous house because I decided to stop too early. Also there is so much to see in this city, and who knows how long I'll be jobless!? Definitely trying to take advantage of these warmer days of freedom with Henny.

We walked all over the Financial district, crossed nearly all of London's bridges - sometimes twice (missed the waterloo and southwark), walked markets, walked to find restaurants, walked Oxford Street for shopping, walked Westminster and Parliament, walked around Bath, etc. etc. I could go on. And I will definitely do separate posts on our time in Bath because that town is truly breathtaking.

Since my dad left, I've kept up the walking pretty well. Yesterday Henry and I went to Shoreditch and Spitalfields market, which is actually just about a 10 minute walk from our current flat. I didn't realize we had so much so close! It feels very business-centric where we are, but taking a couple different turns really puts you out somewhere completely different. Today I logged 5 miles walking around the London Zoo, up to Parliament Hill, over to St Johns Wood, then back into Regents Park to see the boating lake and the gardens, finally ending at the tube stop to go home. We were exhausted.

Every night my legs and feet are exhausted, but every morning we wake up, eat some breakfast and my mind gets moving about another place we haven't yet seen. And out the door we go on another adventure. It's fun, but I'm wondering how long I can keep up my momentum! Also, Mark is headed on a business trip next week and I'm trying to not get nervous about being completely alone in this new country. So if anyone wants to come visit (mom? Jenny? Laura? people?) our doors are open! :)

I really am grateful to be spending this time with Henry in this new place, figuring everything out together. He is at such a lovely stage - nearly 2 years old and proving it every day. His no's have gotten louder, but his cuddles have become sweeter and his smiles and laughter more frequent. He's learning to say "no, thank you" instead of "NO!" and "more xx, please" instead of "MORE!" - we're working on it. We read every morning, do a little coloring, and go out for an adventure. I'm slowly trying to break him of the pacifier, but it's like a drug for him and this transition time is maybe not the best time to be pushing him...so I'm being pretty gentle about the whole thing. But I left the house without it yesterday which I thought was pretty brave of me (moms, can you relate? or do I just sound like a total excuse-maker?!) I'm glad I have a little buddy to go on adventures with me and make me laugh. He really was cracking me up at lunch today. We had penne pasta and he got this little smile on his face in the middle of eating lunch, and he decided he would stick his finger in the pasta tube instead of using a fork. We both laughed about that one for awhile. He ate the rest of his lunch that way! Loved his little creative moment and his funny sense of humor. I totally get him. Most of the time.

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain, so I'm hoping we can find something indoors. Maybe the aquarium or another museum. We haven't hit the Natural History museum and I hear great things!