June 2015

June 1-7, 2015

Harvey is 22 weeks old.
This week we took mom to Harrod's Ice Cream Parlour. She loved the ice cream experience.

Tuesday, mom and I went to Selfridges. We had salt beef sandwiches (corned beef) at Brass Rail in the food hall and we got a yummy doughnut at St. John Bakery. We loved walking around and I even got a massage!

Harvey wants a bite

St. John Bakery

On Thursday, I met up with my friend Kate to see Pitch Perfect 2. I watched the first one the night before so I was ready to go. I liked the second one better. It was great to get to see a movie. Thanks mom for babysitting!

Saturday mom and I had a girls day. We went to a pub lunch (on her bucket list) since its really hard to do with a buggy, and saw the musical Matilda, at Cambridge Theatre. We both had a great time, and LOVED Matilda. This is one of my top musicals for sure.

Pub lunch

Sunday, the Stones had family in town and we all got together for dinner at our neighborhood pub, Marquis.

Babies need so much stuff

June 8-14, 2015

23 Weeks

Harvey looks so much like his daddy! He weighs 15 lbs 8 oz.

Mom and I took a day trip to Windsor Castle. The Queen was not in but we enjoyed the tour with no time restrictions that I had the last time I went. My favorite part was the Queen's doll house. It has running plumbing and electricity. It was very cool! Mom loved it and even got involved with the changing of the guards!

doll house

watch out!

Harvey and Mom at Windsor

We went through Paddington Station and had to check out P.Bear and an entire store filled with goodies.

We met up with Rachael and her mom for cream tea at Sketch. The cream tea consists of a tea with a plain scone and a sweet raisin scone. Of course jam and clotted cream too! Its a smaller and less expensive type of tea. It was such a cool place but nothing can beat the "Mork and Mindy style" egg toilets.

Darjeeling 2nd Flush

Each egg is a toilet

We took a long weekend trip to Switzerland.

Lil Travler

June 15-21, 2015
We got back from Switzerland and granny accomplished the difficult task of 4 loads of London laundry in 1 day! It took her 13 hours but she did it! Thanks mom!

Harvey tried carrots this week. His first reaction was pretty neutral, didn't love them but didn't hate them!

24 weeks old

Mom and I took Harvey on a day trip to Brighton. It's pretty close and we really wanted some beach time! We took a train from Victoria, and I was very proud of us for figuring out train times and tickets all on our own.

Warm day in London- ready for the beach

Royal Pavilion

 The first stop was the Royal Pavilion. It is so intricate and beautiful! It is a formal royal residence and was built as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales.

We got lunch and did some shopping at The Lanes, then it was beach time!

 The beach is very interesting because it is smooth stones rather than sand. We had a great day out and loved seeing Brighton Pier.

Friday mom and I headed to Hyde Park to check out British Summer Time. We walked around the park and tried some yummy food trucks.

Chili Cheese dog from Dogtown

Soft shell crab burger from Crabbie Shack

On Saturday, Josh and I went to the races! It was the final day of the Royal Ascot. We took a VERY crowded train from Waterloo to Ascot. This was a betters paradise. They had so many different betting stations, and they were even betting on what color the Queens hat would be! It was orange by the way. We had a great time, and a lovely picnic lunch.

Getting on the train at Waterloo

Lucky horses

 Sunday was Josh's First Father's Day!

June 22-28, 2015
Josh had a business meeting in Rome and we got to join him for the week!

25 weeks old

June 29-30, 2015

Harvey got the best surprise in the mail from his Houston buddy, Samuel. We are BIG Curious George fans and don't have this book! We are preparing to celebrate the 4th of July in London (round 2!).

Harvey loves sucking his toes, he's tried carrots and broccoli, loves yelling, laughs after he burps, has been trying to sit up on his own, and his favorite British song is Grand Old Duke of York. He weights 16 lbs 4 oz.

Rome, June 24-28, 2015

Josh had business in Rome, Italy and we got to join him for a long weekend!

We have an Italian cruise coming up in July, but Rome was not on the itinerary. Mom, Harvey and I flew alone to Rome because Josh was already there. We were on the same flight with my friend Rachael, so she kept me entertained on the flight.

flying over the Alps

Welcome to Rome

We got in pretty late in the day and by time we made it to our hotel it was Harvey's bed time. We found a cute little restaurant by the hotel for dinner.

The next day the three of us went exploring the city. It was HOT!

Orange tree right in the city

Cooling off

one of many Gelato breaks...yum!

Trevi under construction

Make a wish

Geppetto making Pinocchio

Pinocchio is from Italy. We found out it was actually a scary story...Pinocchio killed Jiminy Cricket.

Josh joined us for dinner

The next morning we woke up super early to visit the Vatican. Looking back I'm really glad we got the early tickets. Our tour group got to go inside an hour before the doors opened to the public and the lines were already crazy when we were arriving. The dress is modest, skirts and shorts must be to the knee, and shoulders must be covered. There were tons of vendors selling scarves to tourists who were not dressed appropriately. 

Vatican Walls

Ceiling

The Sistine Chapel was built in 1475, the same year Michelangelo was born. The ceiling was painted by Michelangelo, not on his back but rather on a platform of his own devising. This is the site where the College of Cardinals gather to elect the new Pope.

Door to Pope's apartment

Cardinal and special guests entrance and door

Setting up for an event

Holy Door

The Holy Door at St. Peter's Basilica,  is cemented shut and opened by the Pope during the Jubilee for pilgrims to enter. Pope Francis apparently does not like this tradition and wants the door to always be open.

Holy Door from the inside

Inside St. Peter's Basilica

Swiss Guard

The Swiss Guards are responsible for protecting the Pope. They must be Catholic, single males with Swiss citizenship and between the ages of 19-30.

Pantheon

The next day we were set for touring the Colosseum. 

The Colosseum was really interesting. Entry to the Colosseum was free and sponsored by the government. The rich sat in the nice marble seats while the average folks got a piece of pottery at the entrance with their seat assignment. There were different phases of the day starting with the animals vs animals, gladiators fighting animals and then the final event was gladiators fighting gladiators. It was a fight to the death. Sometimes the audience had a say as to let them live of die.

Gladiator Harvey

This area was covered with wood and is where the animals and gladiators waited to fight

Crazy lines! Get tickets in advance

We had lunch, and then headed to Palatine Hill and Roman Forum. The tickets were included in our Colosseum. 

Arch of Titus 

Original door and hinges at Temple of Romulus

Temple of Romulus

We ran into the Stewards

This tour took all day and we were very hot and tired! It was definitely time for a yummy Italian dinner!

Mom met a friend from Campoasso, Italy

Rome was fun to visit but definitely a big city feel. Lots of homeless people and pick pockets (we had 2 attempts on us!). It was very dirty and lots of graffiti on beautiful buildings. Everyone is trying to sell you something and there is no shortage of "selfie sticks". We are very much looking forward to our Italian cruise to see more of the country.