London calling

We left on Sunday afternoon for our grand European adventure. First stop, London! Our flight from PDX to Heathrow was 10 hours long and uneventful. The kids slept; Steve and I mostly did not.

 

But all was fine, and we took an express train from Heathrow to Paddington Station, and made sure we found the statue of Paddington Bear for some cute selfies.

Learning to stand on the right so people can pass on the left on the long escalators. Figuring out the train tickets -- how to insert the tickets and retrieve them, how to pay for tickets using Apple Pay, how to read the train maps. Remembering to look both ways before crossing the street.

And then we continued on the Elizabeth line until we arrived in the City of London area, where our rented apartment is located a few blocks from St. Paul's cathedral.

We went out to grab a quick dinner of sandwiches and fruit, and then walked around for a few hours. Seb wanted to see the Barbican, a combination residential area/performing arts complex/public gardens/restaurants that is largely above street level. He'd seen videos and photos through a British YouTube channel that he follows.

A fragment of the old London city wall.

Credit to Liesl for these photos of the pigeon and the flower.

The very old church of St. Giles, from outside and in. It's been there in one form or another (fires, rebuilding, more fires, the Blitz) since 1066.

Steve and Liesl were tired and not feeling great from lack of sleep, so they went back to the apartment. Seb and I took the Tube to Bond St. station to wander around Mayfair. We visited all the pocket parks - Portman Square, Grosvenor Square, Berkeley Square -- looked at the architecture, the people, the shops, and most importantly (for Seb), the amazing cars that were rumbling around - Lamborghinis, Porsches, Ferraris, Audi R8s, and a Maclaren (which he says costs $1.3 million).

And then we all attempted to sleep, with varying amounts of success.

ballet recital

Another spring, another ballet recital with Elite Studio. Liesl loves it all -- getting dressed up in costumes and makeup, and performing on a real stage with lighting and wings/curtains.

Dress rehearsal was at 11; performances at 4 and 7. She was radiant. You're allowed to videotape the dress rehearsal, which I did. You can see the video at this link.

Picture day at the studio in May.

I was the room mom for the 7 pm show. There was a lot of backstage silliness and dancing by that point.

last day of school

School's out for the summer! Last day of 9th and 6th grades for these kiddos. Both had really good years, with supportive teachers, excellent grades, lots of friends, and sports activities. 

My sweet boy Jasper.

We leave on Sunday afternoon for our grand adventure.

Starlight parade

Liesl had an amazing weekend of fun activities - softball games on Friday night and Saturday afternoon, soccer scrimmage on Sunday, Oaks Park amusement park on Sunday afternoon with Ella and AnaLucia, and on Saturday night, marching in Portland's Starlight Parade.

The parade is part of the annual Rose Festival and winds a few miles through downtown streets, usually at dusk and in the dark (so the floats are all lit up). Ella's mom Sassa works at a nonprofit called Nordic Northwest, and they had a Viking boat float participating in the parade. They asked if Liesl wanted to participate, and she was all in. They got dressed up in borrowed Viking costumes, and then they were on local tv -- we got to watch Liesl spinning and stabbing at the crowd with her wooden sword as she walked the parade route. Amazing.

There was a lot of fake stabbing going on.

Cliff with his daughters Ella and Lotta, and Liesl. They make an awesome Viking quartet.

They took the Max train to the start of the parade, dressed like this.

Liesl and Ella were sword-fighting for the whole parade, with occasional breaks to threaten the onlookers.

Victorious, into the sunset.

Sunday afternoon at Oaks Park. Liesl rode the giant roller coaster pictured behind the girls!!!! She went upside down and around and dropped... she was terrified. But she did it twice, at Ella's urging.

After dropping her off, I took Jasper to the Sellwood riverfront park so he could swim in the Willamette River for an hour. He was so happy - splashing and swimming and fetching sticks and rolling around in the sand. Good times for the young fry.