London playgrounds are waaaaay better than Arlington playgrounds

Today we went to the playground at Kensington Gardens. It is amazing. There is a huge ship that has a crow's nest you can climb to, and lots of rope bridges. Tommy got stuck in the crow's nest (he was only 1/3 of the way up, but I bet he was still more than 6 feet up) and his daddy had to retrieve him. Some nice little girls tried to coax him down but he was intent on waiting for his daddy. The playground is enormous and it's easy to lose track of your child, but there's a good fence around the whole thing and a guard at the gate. So when I do lose Tommy, there will be only a very slight chance that he could somehow run into the street or something. The good news is that this very fun playground is closer to us than the other one in Hyde Park. It's also very international feeling: Lizzie met a little Spanish baby named Paloma.

On the way to the playground, Tommy spotted a merry-go-round. Note his horse's name:

On the walk back we stopped at the pond with ducks and swans, and Tommy, who was very tired at that point, tripped on his feet somehow so we both laughed at him and looked like bad parents. He was very excited about the swans for some reason. There were lots of pigeons but they wouldn't run when Tommy chased them and he found that confusing and not fun.

We also had late lunch (all of my current blog readers would have considered it dinner) with Simon and Vivian. It was fun to see them both and they did not seem too overwhelmed by our chaotic family. In fact, I think Vivian rather likes children and was incredibly sweet to both of them.

CURRENT PICTURES OF THE LULABELL: