Happy New Year!

Eli and I managed to stay up until midnight, and it's a good thing because people here set off fireworks. Somehow, the kids stayed asleep. But, we started the new year this morning at 5:45 because that's when Tommy woke up (Eli says that more fireworks were set off, but I am skeptical because they did not wake me up). Lizzie followed shortly and Eli and I groggily started the morning routine. We had a dutch baby for breakfast, and then went for a long run. Both kids fell asleep in the jogger -- probably because they woke up before 6 -- and so we kept walking until they were done with their naps. Anyway, we've had a very fun week. We went to Winter Wonderland, which is a huge amusement park that is set up in Hyde Park during December. It's actually really impressive given that it's temporary. Tommy's favorite ride was the snowman bouncy house and he jumped until he passed out, almost. (Actually, he jumped until I saw him slug some girl in the back and I climbed in there and got him, but he was exhausted.) We also went to the British Museum, which did not go over so well with the three year old in our house. He liked the building, but the mummies creeped him out. Our strategy is to stick with the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum (and possibly a couple of others) so that Tommy continues to look forward to museums and not decide that they are boring or scary. On Tuesday, Eli and I went to Oxford Street (and also to the gym so Eli could give me some pointers on my swimming) while the kids stayed with Miss Alina. Oxford Street was pretty horrible -- so crowded it felt like we were at a concert, not walking down a sidewalk. Our fault, but we had to do some returning and exchanging, and not dragging the kids along was too temping. The other high point of our weekend has been cooking from the cookbook the kids got Eli for Christmas -- Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals. So far, it's pretty great.