21 months

Gavin is 21 months old tomorrow. He's full of energy and attitude, but sometimes he's also sweet and cuddly. He's pretty much always hilarious. He's adding lots of new words to his vocabulary every single day. Recent additions include stuck, shower, peach, wagon, happy, wet, thunder, TV, toy,  play, hat and eyebrow.

This is the face I get when I ask him to smile for me.

another shot from our beach day
(He can't get enough of that hat--he even sleeps in it sometimes.)

eating pizza (and wearing it)

Which is more plentiful on his face: chocolate or displeasure?

Gavin's favorite thing in the world: cookies. Any kind.

another true love: books

a new word this month: noodle ["NOO-no"]

We adore this goofball!

Somerleyton Hall

Today Gavin and I went with our friends Hazel and Becky to a stately home called Somerleyton Hall. I came across a blog that lists the top 11 stately homes in England, and I was shocked at how few I had been to (4), especially considering that one was so nearby. Now I've been to 5 of the houses on that list. :) 

The weather was PERFECTION, and the kids enjoyed each other's company playing on the grounds. (They're adorable together.)

The house is still lived in by Lord and Lady Somerleyton and their family, so the tour doesn't cover the parts they stay in. But the staff was very accommodating and gave us a private (expedited) tour because the kiddos were nearing nap-time. We really appreciated that.

beautiful flowers to go with beautiful weather

So much to love about this picture: the piece of hair in the air; the thumb halo; the facial expression (with mouth full of grapes); the "I love Dad" shirt; etc :)

They made us wear these little blue booties to tour the house. 

Beach day

Being an island, Great Britain has lots of coastline. Most of it is beach. And if the weather were like today's more often, I'm sure Britain would be known for its beaches. It was such a hot day, the beach beckoned. So Gavin and I set out with friends for Wells-next-the-Sea, a village along the Norfolk coast.

Gavin is very fond of Myla (left) and Hazel (right).

Who wouldn't be fond of these sweet, adorable girls?

 Gavin did enjoy playing in the water and the sand, but he mostly tried to eat the sand. Repeatedly. Despite not being impressed with the first (and each consecutive) bite. I promise I even provided lunch for him, but the sand was his heart's desire.

 I loved all the colourful beach huts that characterise British beaches, and it was cute to catch little glimpses inside some of them.

 We had a great day with great friends! Oh, and this is the smile Gavin now gives me when I ask for one.

Enigmas and codes--Bletchley Park

Yesterday we visited Bletchley Park, the home of Allied code-breaking during WWII. At the peak of its activity, Bletchley Park code-breakers were intercepting 4,000 messages per day, and Churchill later said it was thanks to the operations here that we won the war.

workers fixing the enigma-breaking "bombe" machine

We saw some enigma machines and code-breaking machines and period stuff. Most of the mansion is now offices, but we got to see the still-authentic parts. Overall we thought it was interesting but could have been presented a little better. Maybe they were trying to be enigmatic...

There's a cute little post office at Bletchley Park.

Stained glass ceiling in one of the rooms.

Gavin definitely enjoyed playing on the grounds of Bletchley, including monster chess. 

I thought this wartime poster was clever.

London during the Olympics

We went to London for an Olympic event (click here for details) and enjoyed spending the day seeing all the Olympic stuff throughout the city. I've been slightly obsessed with seeing the Olympic rings on Tower Bridge (below, with Mandeville (the Paralympics mascot) dressed as a Beefeater), so I was glad I got to see those.

Jacob's intently studying the Olympic wrestling icon.

Regent Street was decorated in all the flags of the participating countries. It was pretty cool.

 We went to Brazil's Olympic HQ at Somerset House where they're selling Rio 2016 Olympics merchandise (apparently the only place you can get it). We also posed for promotional photos and got free shirts! (I wore mine that evening to the Brazil v. Argentina basketball game. It's only slightly awkward for me that it says "BRA" in really large letters on my chest. It's, of course, short for Brasil.)

The Rio 2016 Olympics countdown clock

Shortly after we left the Rio 2016 countdown clock, these 2 TV presenters approached Jacob (seeing he was wearing his Brasil shirt) and asked if he would interview, in Portuguese, for a Brazilian TV station. They asked him questions about how he was enjoying the London 2012 games and what he thought of various events. I didn't understand a word of it, but I LOVED it.  How cool would it be if he were on TV in Brazil?!

the Olympic rings fountain in the Thames, with the London Eye and Big Ben in the background to the right

one more of the Tower Bridge + Olympic rings

Olympic basketball

We had a really fun day yesterday that included watching Olympic basketball! (A big thanks to Becky, Johnny and Hazel for taking Gavin yesterday and OVERNIGHT.) The first game we saw was Brazil vs. Argentina. It was a pretty close, exciting game. Unfortunately Brazil lost; but you can see us cheering them on below.

 Then (after 10pm) the next game started: USA vs. Australia! It was so exciting to see Team USA with all the NBA superstars! Below, see LeBron James shooting free throws. In the 4th quarter Kobe Bryant shot 4 or 5 straight 3-pointers. It was so exciting! (We won 119-86.)

 Part of the fun was painting our faces and changing into our red, white and blue between games.

We didn't get home until after 2am. Can you tell it's late by our tired eyes as we took the tube to our car? We still had an amazing time! Go Team USA!

Churchill War Rooms

 While we were in London for our Olympic basketball games, we visited the Churchill War Rooms, the underground bunker where UK government officials worked during WWII because of the constant threat of air raids. The above room is the Cabinet room where Churchill declared "This is the room from which I will direct the war."

You can imagine how scared everyone must have been with air raids being a reality of the war.

I thought the kitchen, which served the Prime Minister's family's dining room, was adorable.

I also really loved the wartime posters in the gift shop. This one especially.