trip to a(nother!) museum!

Last week we went to the London Film Museum, where they have a bunch of different props from famous movies and displays about film stuff in general. It was pretty cool. It would have been even more cooler if I were a Star Wars fan, ha! cause they had a pretty big Star Wars display. Josiah, you would have liked it I bet!--they had a Darth Vader suit, R2D2 and C3PO, and some Ewok fur, and light sabers.

Anyway, here is Em ready to head out. (Hannah, this is the hat you gave him remember??)

This day turned into a bit of a fiasco before we even got to the museum. Let me tell you about it, in hopes that my lack of a brain will give you a good laugh at least! It was One Of Those Days, let me tell you. So, before we went to the museum, we stopped at a nearby McDonald's for lunch. This part was still fine (though Emrys was a bit fussy). Just as we left McDonald's and were about to head to the museum, I thought "well I better make up a bottle and see if he'll take it now, since he's getting fussy". It turned out, dear people, that in my brilliance I had remembered the formula and the water to mix it with, but had failed to pack an actual bottle. !! Cue panic. We both grumpily decided to just go home. Then I had the brilliant idea to see if there were any bottles for sale at Waterloo Station (where we would be catching the tube home anyways). So we walked back to Waterloo. They did have a bottle! which I bought. Whereupon Travis immediately found an old bottle hidden in the recesses of the stroller. ARGHHHH. By this point I was feeling that the whole thing was turning into a debacle. BUT we were not about to give on the day just yet, so back we went to the museum. The museum itself went off fairly smoothly (apart from Emrys yelling intermittently throughout), but I managed to distinguish myself once more time on our way home, when I went to buy a couple of donuts from a concession stand and proceeded a) to pay the guy too much, even though I had VERY SPECIFICALLY AND CAREFULLY just counted out the money (don't ask) and then b) drop the donut on the ground. What a day.

Anyway, on to the pictures.

The museum is right on the south bank of the Thames, across the river from the Houses of Parliament (behind me) and beside the London Eye.
The London Eye! Notice that one of the pods is broken, near the bottom on the right side--Trav and I were joking that he should ask if he could ride around on that one for free.
Me and baby inside the museum. I have no idea what this is from, but! it is a giant chess piece!
Trav and Em in front of the Dalek/Dr. Who display! (For those who don't know: Dr. Who is a very popular British sci-fi/fantasy show, and the Daleks (the robots) are basically the main villains. It's all more awesome than it sounds, I promise, haha.) I love this picture, the super-serious look on Trav's face + the dramatic purple lighting = hilarious.
They had this room where you sat up on a bench and video cameras were set up to record you, and then they superimposed you onto the screen to make it look like you were racing around the landmarks of London. I'm pretty sure my description of that just made NO sense but...hopefully you will get the idea. Here is Trav, racing by Big Ben!!
A GIANT bench. I am assuming it is a prop for movies in which people have been shrunk? Or something. Anyway. What Travis really wanted was for Em to sit on it all by himself, because it would have looked HILARIOUS! Unfortunately Emrys was having none of that. Oh well.
Me with uniforms from the Band of Brothers series! Those of you who know me well will know that this is A. Big. Deal., haha.
Emrys expresses his feelings about visiting the museum.

Em's new high chair!

Yesterday (Friday) we went back out to IKEA to buy Em a high chair. We are getting to be quite the old hat at the trip out there! It was super cheap, too--£15, so 20 or 25 bucks.

We started out by having lunch in the IKEA cafe. There are always SO MANY BABIES when we go there! IKEA is totally THE place to hang, apparently, if you have a child younger than 2 and live in London. Strollers everywhere!!

Anyway, here is Em, trying out the high chair at the cafe! It's the same model we ended up buying, just a different colour. He is gnawing on one of Trav's fries.

And here it is, in action!! (Please ignore the background mess. What I clearly need is a house with NO FLAT SURFACES of any kind. A house entirely built on angles. Then POSSIBLY I would manage to not have piles of clothes/papers springing up everywhere, haha...).
Check it out, Mom, I think that in this one he looks like me when I was his age. Maybe? Mostly because of how long his head looks, cause if I recall correctly my head at this age was quite excessively tall. ("Was?" you say, "surely it still is?" Oh be quiet.)
WHY HELLO THERE!!!!
Lovin' his new chair. I think he likes being able to see things from an angle other than the floor.

Watching Dad playing his video game!

I realize these last two are not of his high chair, but I'm just sticking them in here anyway. Here is an action shot (I use the word "action" here loosely) of Em in his play pen.
AND...look! I think he is finally growing a little more hair. Yes I realize it is pathetic that this paltry amount is getting me excited but, people, I have not had much to work with up to this point. I am the person that dreamed of giving her baby a full Astro-boy hairdo immediately after birth. SO...the fact that it kind of tufts up a little, at least, is something.

Love, Becky.

pictures from today

Today we went for a wander in the area right around Buckingham Palace. It would be probably about a 45 minute walk from our place, but we took the Tube as it was a bit cold outside + we were lazy, haha.

The front of the palace, with the balcony where the Royal Family comes out to wave at the crowds on big events like weddings etc. You can't really see the balcony from this distance, but it's about halfway down the front of the building, where you can see some columns.
Trav and Em just north of the palace. The gold statue behind is of Queen Victoria and stands right in front of the palace. Em had his plastic cover on because of the wind, so Travis is very helpfully making a little window for him to look through. :) Also note the classics "tourists looking at map" tableau playing out in the background...
This is the Canada Memorial! It is a fountain in the park just north of Buckingham Palace (called Green Park) and was built in honour of the Canadians who went over to fight in the World Wars. You can't see it too well from this picture, but as the water runs down it ripples in the shape of maple leafs (they kind of show up here as dimples in the water near the bottom of the fountain). There is a plaque in the ground that reads "In two world wars one million Canadians came to Britain and joined the fight for freedom. From danger shared, our friendship prospers." We totally just stumbled across this--in fact we almost walked right by! but Travis wanted to see check it out.

On the way home, bud's toque slid down right over his eyes, ha! Fortunately he was asleep and therefore did not notice.

The playpen that we were given by a friend of a friend, whose kids had outgrown it! I am super excited about it!!
Playing with his toys this afternoon. He says TTFN, tata for now!

Hi all! I know I still haven't posted Portugal pictures yet--and I still plan to--but to ease back into things I thought I'd just put up a bunch of pictures from December and January. No real theme to this post, other than "things we do, or see, day to day". And there are alot just of Emrys hanging out (yes, I know, you are shocked. SHOCKED.).

So, to start off (brace yourselves folks, once again this is a VERY picture-heavy post): Trav and Emrys hanging in the easy chair. Please be assured that Emrys was not NEARLY as squished as he looks.

Why hello mom!

WHAT IS THAT THING YOU ARE HOLDING?!?

Me and Emrys. Wow, you are going to think that all we ever do is sit in this chair.

Look! We also lie on beds. This is me and Em being twinsies.

In December Trav and I went with our visiting friend, Samantha, to see the musical Wicked (basically a retelling of the Wizard of Oz, and based on a series of books Trav really likes). The musical itself was kind of underwhelming (and NOTHING like the books, which was disappointing), but it was still fun and the theatre itself was amazing. This isn't a great picture cause it's taken from our seats up in the nosebleed section, but please note the GIANT DRAGON hovering over the stage.

Outside the theatre after the show!

Em playing with his soother. They call them "dummies" here but I just can't get used to that. I also can't get used to saying "loo" instead of washroom, so usually I kind of lamely compromise and say "toilet" which also works, haha. At least they know what I mean whereas "washroom" just gets blank stares. I do now say "lift" instead of elevator, though.

Emrys at the window (we had just come in from a walk...I do not normally dress him like this around the house. FYI). It is still ridiculously too big for him, and made of stiff pleather, which does not help the situation. Oh well, at least it is freakishly warm.

This is my new favorite picture of him! So cute.

In the courtyard of the Natural History Museum. As you can see they have a carousal set up! Also a Christmas tree. And, to the right (outside the picture), they have a skating rink which you have to pay thirteen pounds to skate on (i.e. 20 bucks). Travis and I were all WHAT!!! GO TO CANADA YOU SUCKERS AND SKATE FOR FREE. ON THE ROADS, IF YOU SO DESIRE.

Watching TV on my laptop and holding bud, who fell asleep after eating. As he tends to do.

With one of his favorite toys, Sophie the giraffe.

One side of the living room, with the computer and our bulletin board with photos from home. Also the poster of the cabin in the rain (Mom, you know the one?) that has been in most of the houses I have lived in since I was little. It's like my little piece of continuity wherever we move.

The view from right behind the main campus of my school. This is looking east down the Thames. Waterloo Bridge is in the foreground, then behind it you can see Big Ben and to the left, hiding in the tree, the London Eye. Also, please note how I got a red double-decker bus in this picture too (crossing the bridge). I should be a postcard photographer, if the whole academia thing falls through...

One of the first times he got himself up on all fours!

The view from the 6th floor of one of the libraries I often go to. The building is just a hotel but it looks super picturesque and I was always "oh man I should take a picture of that". So, I finally did.

Em, looking SUPER alert for a change, haha.

In his baybini, playing with a drawer. I caught him in the act. NOT COOL, baby.

And now reaching for his bottle. Not that he has really mastered how to drink out of it and hold it at the same time. He mostly sprays himself in the face and looks confused.

SO HAPPY!!! This is his new outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Littlechilds.

Up on all fours! And holding a piece of his NEW DUPLO (Trav is very excited to have discovered a Lego store in a mall not too far away...it will be our financial undoing I suspect..).

This is how he likes to sleep...pulling on my hair. He cannot get enough of hair.

Hanging with Dad.

And that's all for now folks! I'll try to get the Portugal pics up soon. Thanks for putting up with my massively long absences. xo Becky