Off to England we go!
The flight over went pretty seamlessly....at least, as seamlessly as a flight can go when its 10 hours long, you are travelling with a 21 month old and a 4.75 year old (Iain was a dream, Ria was a handful), and your kids have slept HARDLY AT ALL before arriving in London at 7am England time (11pm California time). Ria got a 45 minute nap in, and 1.5 hours of night sleep. Iain got in just that 1.5 hours of night sleep.
Then we cleared customs, took the airport train to Paddington station, then a cab to Euston station, then waited 2 hours for our train to Lancaster. It was during this chunk of time that we determined that Ria is a "happy drunk" when she is utterly sleep deprived. Iain is more of a somewhat maudlin, but on the happy side, dude when exhaused. All in all, less painful than we had feared!
During the ~3 hour train ride, Ria (thank heavens!) napped the whole way. (She tried mightily to stay awake, but lasted maybe 3 minutes). Iain gave in for about 10 minutes, but other than that didn't sleep. We got to Lancaster, got picked up at the train station by William's Uncle Miles, and the children proceeded to STAY AWAKE until 7 & 8 pm, respectively (I think...), happily playing and eating and running around and smelling flowers. Their resolve to stay awake when anything remotely interesting is happening around them is truly astounding!
Iain had only 1 bad night while acclimating....Ria had 5 bad nights (this can also be read as: Mona had 5 bad nights). But the days were wonderful!
1st up: Miles' and Margaret's house in Brookhouse, near Lancaster. On our 2nd day, William's dad John, along with Alastair, Bev, and little Rowan, showed up, as well as John's and Miles' cousin Cherry.
Here's Cherry:
Margaret turns out to have "baby magnetism", Ria LOVED Margaret, and would turn to her for a snuggle and a kiss when she got an owie, despite the fact that her not-nearly-so-beloved Mommy was standing right there!
I stole this lovely group photo from Alastair's blog, as I didn't have the forethought to get a group photo myself. Top row: John, Bev, Alastair, Rowan, Cherry, Margaret & Miles. Bottom row: us.
On one end of the table: John, Miles and William.
On the other end of the table (well, tecnically also the next night ;-), is Ria with her best buddy, Margaret, who she had by this time christened "MarMaMa".
The shot with me in it didn't turn out well, but this one was lovely! Unfortunately, Ria had just hit meltdown, and couldn't be included in the photo. Luckily we'd already got that cute one above with her walking with Sarah and William.
Outside the cafe was the end of one of London's canals..... heh.
Just a cute photo of the 2 boys. Iain really enjoyed playing with Adrien.....just by being a boy, he interacted the way that, I think, Iain wishes Ria would play. You know, the usual run around screaming in circles that boys do. The boys had fun together.
Ria with Bert stuck to her chin
We visited Highgate cemetary, and not too far in we paid homage to this particular resident.
David took this cute video of Iain and Ria walking through the cemetary. 1st Iain takes Ria's hand to help her walk along, then he makes silly noises with his fingers & lips, and if you can see it, Ria copies him and starts doing bub-bub-bub with her fingers and lips too. Then the minute Iain sees that there's a video being taken, he becomes the big guy, too cool to hold his sister's hand. Heh!
Ria strikes an acrobatic ball pit pose.
Iain winks!
And we're on our way to London.
At the miniature village at Bourton-on-the-Water:
(this is Iain and Ria in the periscope mirror....its supposed to be turned around so you can see them as monsters in the little village ;-)
A pint and a tea...
and then back to Winchcombe, where Ria indulges in her tendancy to channel Imelda Marcos. Even better when the shoes are BIG and PINK!
while cousin Rowan slept in his stroller:
Margaret turns out to have "baby magnetism", Ria LOVED Margaret, and would turn to her for a snuggle and a kiss when she got an owie, despite the fact that her not-nearly-so-beloved Mommy was standing right there! 
I stole this lovely group photo from Alastair's blog, as I didn't have the forethought to get a group photo myself. Top row: John, Bev, Alastair, Rowan, Cherry, Margaret & Miles. Bottom row: us.
On one end of the table: John, Miles and William.
On the other end of the table (well, tecnically also the next night ;-), is Ria with her best buddy, Margaret, who she had by this time christened "MarMaMa".
I have no clue how tall/heavy she is.....no pediatrician visit until 24 months! ...and now that i have 2 kids, I'm just WAY too forgetful to do those tiny little 1 minute tasks like weigh/measure. 2nd child syndrome. Definately 30-ish pounds, though, and into the 2T clothes, so tall still.
Daddy getting his exercise:
AND! a video thereof:
