May 2015

May 1-10, 2015

Monday, May 4 was a bank holiday in London so we took a little vacation to Dublin, Ireland from May 2-4.

Ready for Ireland

On Saturday, May 2 (the day we left) Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge was born! I was a little disappointed because I wanted to sit outside St. Mary's Hospital to catch a glimpse of the new baby.

Announcement outside Buckingham Palace

Leaving the hospital

The Princess

Registered at Westminster

Luckily, one of my buddies, Kate was arriving back in London in time to see the scroll outside of Buckingham Palace. She said their had been huge crowds trying to get a picture. Crowd control was in place and only allowed you to see it for a few seconds before you had to move. The Princess was registered at the same place Harvey was! Although, I'm sure Kate had them come to her and didn't have to wait in line.

On Sunday, in our hotel room Harvey rolled over! He has been working on it, and getting better but this looked like a professional.

As soon as we got back from Ireland, Josh was off on a business trip to Birmingham. Harvey and I celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a burrito from Tortilla in Victoria station. We also saw a pop up stand making Mexican food. Harvey celebrated by starting to grab his feet and toes.

The Londoner looks very confused

18 Weeks Old

Thursday my buddy Kate celebrated her birthday! We got cupcakes at Primrose Bakery and walked to Primrose Hill. We "hiked" to the top and enjoyed the great view. It was a little chilly but at least the sun was out.

Sara, Kate, Harvey, me, Mary and Rachael

Friday we celebrated Danielle, Matt, and Josh's 30th birthdays. We had dinner at Wahaca and loved seeing all the work friends.

The weekend was Mother's Day weekend! My first one! Saturday we went to Wagamama and frozen yogurt at Snog with the Stones. Danielle told us that Snog means kiss in London and the shop has some signs playing on this. 

Swim Classes

Frozen Yogurt

On Sunday, we hit some road blocks but finally found waffles at Kua'Aina and it is now my new favorite restaurant! I'm trying the pancakes next time...yum!

Happy Mother's Day

My Boys

Banana Milkshake

May 11-17, 2015

Harvey is a rolling over machine! He doesn't last a minute on his tummy before he's flipped over.

Texas box from Aunt Karin- 19 weeks

A friend from the Junior League of Collin County was in London for a visit so we met up! We tried Lupita. It was pretty tasty Mexican food. I got the tacos and bean tostada, and Saira tried the enchiladas. I enjoyed it, and would go back. It was great seeing a fellow Texan and catching up!

Harvey and I went to another NHS baby/mommy activity they offer called Stay and Play. It's basically set up like a day care with tons of toys and activities that are available for us to play with. Of course we arrive and Harvey was sleeping. I sat and enjoyed a cup of tea with the other moms until he woke up. He loved watching the other kids. He must have his mommy's "observational skills".

My friend Rachael has a great blog and loves doing taste tests. We all brought out favorite London grocery store snack and stuffed ourselves! I brought the dark chocolate digestives but have a new love for the Thornton bars.

yum!

On Friday my mom arrived!!! We were so happy to see her. She had a crazy journey due to someone jumping on the tracks but finally made it to the flat.

She's here!

Harvey is much bigger than last time

My hair was too long and needed to be cut. Its getting hot in London and the no a/c doesn't help, so I cut a bunch off.

Now that my mom is here, I have a shopping buddy. We went out to Oxford Circus and had a spot of tea at Debenhams after mom found her new London luggage.


May 18-24, 2015

20 weeks

We ventured out to Chelsea in Bloom. I had heard great things about all the stores in Sloane Square having crazy beautiful displays out for this event. They were really cool, but not as big and awesome as I had expected. It was a rainy day but suddenly the sun came out, so we could really enjoy the displays.

Secret Garden

Alice in Wonderland

Kate Spade won "People's Choice"

We took a big trip to Norway this week. We also celebrated Josh's Birthday!!!

May 25-31, 2015

21 Weeks- Harvey loves books

We got back from Norway on Monday evening, Memorial Day. We took Granny to see the Stay and Play activity, she thought it was really neat. Thursday marked our 11 months in London. I can't believe we are almost half way through our time in London.

On the bus my mom observed Harvey Nichols on Sloane Street! Hehe just a coincidence with our Harvey.

My friend from Dallas, Kara, is in town celebrating her birthday. We got to meet up and hang out. It was great seeing her! We went to Victoria&Albert Museum to see the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty Exhibit. It was crazy! He had a very creative imagination. It was a dark and artsy display, and it was obvious a lot of money was put into it. If you love fashion I would recommend this exhibit. No photos were allowed inside the exhibit.

Alexander McQueen

Kara told Harvey all about Texas

 After the museum we went to lunch at Patisserie Valerie and some shopping. We both really love Cath Kidston so I took her to the flagship store!

Shopping

That night Josh had a work dinner at Salt Yard. I was so lucky that my mom was here so I could go too! It was lots of new (to me) and interesting food. Josh and I enjoyed our adult night out.

The Queen going to Parliament (thanks again Kate!)

Rachael and I both have our moms in town so we decided to meet up for lunch. I have been telling Rachael all about this restaurant close to her that I love! We met up at Italian Connection and enjoyed some giant pizzas.

After lunch it was back to Oxford Circus. Mom and I can window shop everyday!

In London these seals are outside places famous people lived. I just noticed this one and have probably walked by it hundreds of times. Winston Churchill lived on my street! Really cool!

On Sunday, Regent Street was closed to traffic and they had a big Magnum celebration for the new flavors. I am a huge fan of the pink raspberry, its one of the best things I have had in London. We walked around and window shopped (again!).

Magnum Pink

Queen Elizabeth at Hamley's

Legos

Lego telephone booth

Harvey is 5 months old! He loves rolling over, has a favorite toy (apples), book (10 In A Bed), song (Baby Beluga), has traveled to Spain, Ireland, and Norway, plays with his toes, and loves experimenting with new sounds.

Norway, May 20-25, 2015

As soon as we moved to London, my mom talked about this amazing train ride through Norway. We literally Googled best train ride and this exact trip popped up!

You can book everything separately, but for convenience and ease we booked the Norway in a Nutshell trip. Looking back I am very happy with this decision and would not have changed it. They booked hotels, and all our travel.

We left London and flew into Oslo in the afternoon. We took a train from the airport to the central station, and our hotel Clarion Hotel Royal Christiania. This hotel was fantastic! Our room was huge! Like 2 tvs huge! Right downstairs was a TGIFridays and they delivered to the room. We found this to be very funny!

We walked around Oslo. It's very beautiful, but Norway as a whole is VERY, VERY expensive. This free walking tour (by Josh) was perfect, and so was the weather. My mom was not excited for all the walking that was planned, but she did it! (It ended up being about 7 miles!)

We were surprised how close you can get to the Palace. They have guards, but I felt like I could walk right in the front door. There were hardly any people around and we got to see a changing of the guards right before our eyes.

Next stop was the Vigelandsparken sculpture park. This was a beautiful park filled with 212 bronze and granite sculptures. Many are nude with children in interesting poses.

The next morning we headed to the central station for our train to Myrdal. The train was very comfortable. Good thing because it was a long ride. We started with cool weather, went way up in the mountains, and saw tons of snow.

Ready for the train ride

Josh's birthday

Getting off our train

In Myrdal

In Myrdal we caught the Flam Railroad to take us down to Flam.

Flam from the train

Made it to Flam

A cruise ship had Flam as a port

Our hotel

Midnight and the sun is still out

View from our room

Flam was a tiny town right on the water nestled between mountains. It was breathtaking. We spent the night at Hotel Flamsbrygga, it was so cozy on a cold night. 

Breakfast at the hotel

Rainy day in Flam

Shopping with Granny

Harvey was not a fan of the troll

Local cider

Fresh fish from the fjord

After lunch we got on a ferry boat to Gudvangen. It was not the best weather, but the views were still awesome. My pictures don't do it justice as it was breathtaking!

Harvey's first boat ride

Our boat is in the distance- arrived in Gudvangen

Viking boat

Viking carved out of wood

 After a short photo session in Gudvangen we boarded a bus. This is a famous bus ride with 13 hairpin turns and goes straight down the mountain. It was like a slow roller-coaster ride. This is where is got a bit crazy. The bus was supposed to take us to Voss where we would get on a train to Bergen. Well, there was a huge mudslide and we had to take an extra train, boat, and bus to go around the mess.

Crazy turns

Looking over the edge

Train station in Voss

Waiting in Voss

Second boat ride

Another train ride

Made it to Bergen...in the rain with a broken umbrella

We arrived in Bergen pretty late due to re-routing around the landslide, but the sun is still out. We were ready for bed at Clarion Collection Hotel no. 13. The next day was set for exploring Bergen.

Harbor in Bergen

For lunch we tried Zupperia. They had tons of different soup, even reindeer soup. I got the Goulash and it was fantastic! Mom got the clam chowder, and she LOVED it!

Yummy soup on a cold day

Lobster in the soup

Cable car up to the top of Bergen

 The Floibanen was a ride up to see the view of Bergen. Again breathtaking! This is a travel system used by the locals who live up the mountain. I can't imagine having to do this daily as a commute to my house, but what a view you would have.

 Harvey's first tram ride

We tried out a local spot, Peppe's Pizza for dinner. It was interesting...not the best pizza I have ever had.

First time in a highchair

My little marshmallow

 The next day was our trip back to Oslo. Of course we had to deal with the mudslide issues again.

Much happier with this troll

Norway was an amazing trip. It was so funny to go from cool weather up to snow within a few hours. We feel so lucky to have had the chance to go. We would never have seen this beautiful country had we not been living in London. The people were so friendly and helpful. They are well educated and speak so many languages. They greet you with "hi hi" and we thought it was so cute we have started doing it. Norway was very clean and easy to get around. Again I will say it was very expensive so pack your own snacks to save money!