Fancy Hearse and Cute Snack pics

We saw this and were curious as to what it was... It appears to be a hearse behind a horse drawn carriage and an extended car (for family of deceased I'm guessing?). 

And the kids were buddy-buddy during snack time today so I had to take a pic:

Westbourne

Hailey is obsessed with her new yellow Hunter wellies (that our friend Leslie passed on to her last weekend). Little miss independent just loves that she can put on her boots by herself (after tearing off her socks and shoes). 

This morning Hailey and I bussed it to Westbourne-a charming little town between Poole and Bournemouth filled with restaurants, pastry shops, cafes, and boutique stores that are full of character. I took pictures of some of the restaurants etc. that I want to pay a visit sometime, so I can remember.

Hailey got a sample of this chocolate bar and I forgot all about it. You can't see the extent of the damage but the chocolate was all over (her clothes, mouth and the stroller)! I don't think she actually ingested any of it. :)

Dancing Duck-looks like a fun bar/restaurant:

Need to try this brewery:

Cool gourmet food shop where I scored some local beers and ciders, lemon stuffed olives, and raspberry vinaigrette:

Two French cafes! Heaven...

Cool indoor shopping area with boutiques:

Looks like a cool breakfast or lunch joint:

This was the best fish and chips place according to our neighbor here:

Cute cafe:

The Forge:

Saw this place in Brighton and London as well and want to try!

It was a fun morning perusing the stores and neighbourhood (I always oogle it when the bus goes past this area on the way to Bournemouth). And Hailey even took the first of two naps. 

Oh, I went in the liquor store in search of Sipsmith gin that Leslie recommended and came to the realisation that the bulk of the gin brands come from London (I never really noticed that before). 

London

This past weekend we took the train to London. Neither train ride was not ideal, Hailey was climbing up and down nonstop in the seats and both of the kids were carrying on. We were totally "those" people annoying people around us I'm sure. NEXT time we are just going to bring the DVD player and hope it keeps both kids seated and occupied (Hailey is a loose cannon but one can hope.) 

We took the tube to Belsize Park from Waterloo Station andstayed with my friend Leslie and her family in London. (Leslie and her husband Peter are former Seatteites that have been living in London for 6yrs. now and have a 3yo son Peter San.) PS is a total cutie and Ethan and him really hit it off right away.

Leslie and I were chatting up a storm and didn't go to bed until 12:45. It was nice to catch up with a fellow expat/mom friend! 

The kids didn't go to sleep until after 10pm and as a result, they were moody the next day as you will see in some of the pics below. :)

Welcoming daddy home Thursday night. Ha, they have been competitive about hugs lately and keep going back and hugging Chris again. Chris loves it!

Melancholy at the Poole train station. Check out how little luggage we have (I crammed all four of our clothes into that one tiny wheeled carry-on.)!

She can put stickers all over herself. As long as she is happy and occupied!

Fascinated with Lite Bright (perhaps a future gift idea). Look how nicely they are playing together in this rare moment:

Best buds playing castle together:

The three amigos:

Ethan was all excited to see Big Ben (it's featured in Cars 2 after all...)

Westminster Abbey:

Loads of Union Jack flags and nicely

manicured gardens at Buckingham Palace:

Breakdowns for both kids at Buckingham Palace. This picture really captures the moment. Apparently they aren't fans of all of the royalty hubbub. :)

And I just cropped the kids out of this one (Hailey is running off and Ethan looks like someone punched him). But Chris and I look happy. :)

Here Ethan is back in good spirits as we are observing the guards:

Ethan kept asking about his friend and when he would get to play with his friend (PS) again. 

Then we met up with Leslie and fam at the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park. What a cool fountain! It had all different sort of jets and textures and the kids walked the loop several times.

"No, you da man!"

First they were talking to this "naughty robot" and then they were pretending it was a drive through machine ordering device (I may have put that idea into their head):

Who is playing more-the dads or the kids?

Perusing "The Stables" at Camden Market. I was after handcrafted items but the market was full of a Eastern imports (lots of lamps, rugs, incense, etc). I swear there used to be more handcrafted items. However, I did purchase a unique black patterned zippered sweatshirt dress from Katmandu.

Huge robots outside raver store (which had two full time dancers up on platforms  and all of these glowing items):

It started raining (ha, no rain was predicted so of course we didn't bring raincoats) and we escaped to Waggamammas for lunch. We attempted to go to the British Museum after lunch but the line was around the block and we only had 30min. so we took a double-decker bus back to Leslie's house. We had to make a mad dash for the train and ended up making a quick goodbye and practically walking straight onto the train at Waterloo.

Here is Hailey feeding Chris something (it cracks me up how she opens her mouth up to do so):

London was fun to visit and there is SO much to do but I don't think I could live there. I love their tube but not really the dirty boogers that you get as a result.

Shult Grandparents Visit and Beer

Chris has been working hard to try each and every beer here. With some help from myself and his parents, of course. 

 And after much deliberation, these were the favorites:

Here is this tough determined girl (with two skinned knees to show for it) riding the scooter:

Can you tell that Ethan was excited for his grandparents to come visit? We worked hard to color the banner above for them and rode with Chris to pick them up from the airport on Fri (they left at noon and didn't arrive back until 6pm)! Apparently Ethan talked grandma's ear off in the car.

We showed them around Poole on Sat. And randomly found out that it was Pirate Day (complete with a parade and a big inflatable slide and pirate costumes everywhere).

The two smallest boys playing the cymbals in this marching band were really cute:

Pirate Ship Pram!

Napping with Grandma:

We took them to the Stable for gourmet pizza, cider and beer and then contined drinking beer back at home during nap time (naturally). :) The sea gulls were mocking/laughing at us.

Sunday after church we headed to the Bournemouth Beach for Father's Day via train/walking. It was high 60's and sunny off and on. Not too hot--perfect (although hot enough for me to fry the back of my neck/shoulders that was exposed by my scoop neck top. I didn't realize I needed sunscreen there too!). Grandma, Chris and the kids had a great time burying each other in the sand, getting wet in the ocean and building an extensive castle complete with a moat.

Here is Ethan bossing Gma around (typical first born): 

Chris bbq'd two types of fish (they were phenomenal!) and pork sausages for din when we got back. Even though it was Father's Day, he insisted that he enjoys barbecuing (it's true). 

Here is Hailey trying to get marshmallow off her fingers after the s'more she ate (we roasted them over the bbq coals):