The Princess and the Pea

We picked this book up the other day from the library. It's by the same girl who does "Charlie and Lola". Such a cute book, if you have little girls, try this one out.

Nothing Better Than...

A day at the beach. I heart Coronado.

Picnic at the Park

About a month ago, we decided to head across the street and have a little picnic.

There's our house in the background, home sweet home.

Don't bother me, I'm eating. Pirate's booty, no less.

Annie's favorite thing: the swing



Nap time, at least for five minutes.

Pretty Natalie

The hubby and me.

Dinner Out at the Pub

We were so excited to be able to meet up with our friends, the Ashton's, while in London. And if you haven't seen Shannon's blog, you need to go to it...now. Her photography is stunning. And so interesting. Shannon picked a great pub, the Engineer, it was probably my favorite place we ate at the whole time we were in England. Of course, we had to order the fish and chips with mushy peas. The peas, not my fave, but everything else was so good! And for dessert, another classic English dish (so I'm told): sticky toffy pudding. If you haven't tried it, you need to next time you have the chance. I can't stress enough how delicious it is. A truly memorable evening in beautiful Primrose Hill, I want to live there in my next life. Oh, and thank you Shannon for giving us the experience of driving through London. We were so often using the underground, it was great to see London above ground and see how everything connected.

I apologize for these very subpar pictures of myself, but I had to document the food

Hampstead Walk

This was probably my favorite walk that we did on our trip, it was very interesting to roam through the neighborhoods in Hampstead, a very beautiful part of London. We ate lunch in Primrose Hill before we headed over to Hampstead. We sat next to a nice older English couple who struck up a conversation with us (since we were sitting literally inches away from them), and that was nice to talk with some of the locals. It was also nice to hear they thought we were on our honeymoon. :)

At the beginning of the walk we walked to Hampstead Heath (if any of you were fans of Notting Hill, this was the where she shot her period film and where Hugh Grant's character listened in on her dialogue). We climbed up Parliament Hill where you can see one of the best views of London from afar.

Parliament Hill



The duck pond in Hampstead Heath, backed by some nice flats



The other view from Parliament Hill, notice the rain clouds looming, it did rain that day, and luckily we came prepared with our umbrellas



While roaming the streets around Hampstead we came upon this, I love that you can find little bits of history down any old street in London



The door of the parish lock-up, one of only a few left in London



The street we found the parish lock up on, I just thought it was charming



The High Street in Hampstead was very modern with great shopping, including this awesome candy shop that we spent way too much in. Their Sticky Toffee filled chocolates were well worth it. And thanks to the random person walking out of the shop right when we took the picture.



Other interests in Hampstead: the house where John Keat's lived and fell deeply in love with his neighbor, Fanny Brawne, tragically he developed tuberculosis and died at age 25, Fanny Brawne never married.

Daphne du Maurier's house she grew up in, wrote "Rebecca", and let me tell you, she was certainly well-to-do.

A house owned by Admiral Barton, who was known to shoot cannons from the roof to celebrate royal birthdays, a tradition that later led author P L Travers to base Admiral Boom's house in "Mary Poppins" on the property.