Hola contd and Adios

There! Fancy a little boy from Waiheke having his first swim in a pool in Espana!

Well, we've been having such a good time that it's time to go! I've got lots to tell you about Spain. It's the Tomato festival today but we can't go because we are going to New York today. That's where King Kong was killed, Dad knows because he went to see the movie outside on Sunday night, that was after we had been to the beach for my first swim in the sea, it was nice and warm and called the Mediterranean. I want to tell you about that and the Americas cup village where Rog works, and how I like to stay up late in Spain and how that's when all the people come out to play - even children, but that will have to wait until after tomorrow, when I'll be in Durango, how weird is that? In the mean time here's a picture of Charlotte and Olivia in Valencia

Oh no the bells are ringing, that means it's quarter to something, there's lots of bells and it's really helpful!

I've got lots of nice photos of Valencia, Iris - I think you would like Valencia and Olivia and all her friends, I really really like Valencia and Olivia and Charlotte and Rog have been so nice to us - even if Charlotte keeps saying "and something else you should do tomorrow is ..." - next time can we stay longer? but for now - Adios!

Hola

Hi everybody who looks at my blog, sorry that I haven't told you about Spain - it's just that we are all having a really great time and Mum's friend Charlotte (and Olivia and Rog) are keeping us so busy because there's so much to see!

Thanks for your messages. Alex, Dad didn't even ask me to ask you how things are going at work!! And Nana, I think if you click on the "x comments" word at the end of my message (not the little envelope) and then click beside "other" after you have typed your message and type Nana as your name, then click on the blue publish button you can leave a message - or you can email Mum or Dad like you have been.

Anyway leaving Heathrow we had to go through the increased security measures which meant I had to fit through this slot

That Mum, she's such a joker!

Mum's friend Charlotte was at the airport to meet us when the bags finally arrived and she drove us in her friend's car to their house. Wow, Valencia is a really beautiful city. Lots of old ornate 10 ish stories high buildings with balconies and ornate wrought iron and plaster work, I'll put up some photos later. Anyway Charlotte, Rog and Olivia

That's Charlotte & Olivia who loves dressing up - Emily you would have liked this dress! they live in this lovely roomy (sorry Uncle Dom!) apartment on the 5th floor in a quite central part of the city. There are high ornate ceilings and lovely old lights that I love looking at, lovely big doors that open onto the street below. It's so hot that we sleep with all the doors and windows open so the sea breeze can come in, and in the day we lower the shutters if we go out.

It's very handy that Spain is an hour behind of England time because everything happens later here and it means that I sleep later in the morning and stay up later at night.

We arrived on Tuesday and had little plates of food for dinner - they do that a bit in Espana (that what Spanish people call Spain and I think we should respect that so that's what I might call it).

On Wednesday Charlotte and Olivia took us to a place about 45 minutes away kind of in the country because Charlotte had to walk the dog of a friend of a friend of hers. They live in a new suburb called an urbanisation but things still look kind of old. And everybody in Spain drives on the Chinese side of the road! Now if I can just find that picture of my first swim ...

Leaving London

See I told you Dom wanted to go to the Dodi and Diana Memorial - it took some finding!

Next we went over to Tower Bridge and saw somefunny Video arts thing that Mum wanted to see. I didn't like it all that much so Dad took me outside. Mumsays that I wouldn't have liked the artists earlier one even moresoI'm glad I didn't see that!

We had yummy lunch at a big market that was mostly closed with it being Monday and then we went to Hyde Park. The Serpentine Gallery was closed but mum liked the tea house - it was like a big blowup baloon, here's a picture of Bruno and Uncle Dom inside it.

After having a look at that we went to the Diana Memorial Fountain where Mum and I dipped our toes in

So did Bruno and Uncle Dom

What's that floating in there? There were all sorts of people, Dad just dipped his hand in and Mum and Bruno got told off for playing in the pool!

On the way home Dom picking up 12 Krispy Kreme donuts, but Mum wouldn't let me have one. Peter and Alex and Alex's mum came for Dinner -she's from Argentina! We had a lovely time.

It was really sad to say seeya to Uncle Dom and Aunty Kate and Bruno on Tuesday, thanks for looking after us so well!

Next I knew I was in Spain! But I've a wee surprise but it's too late now so I'm going to wake Mum up for a feed! Adios

Spain is warmer

I'm in Spain now. It seems that there are 2 cooler places - Waiheke and London, and 2 warmer places Shanghai and Spain, but maybe I've got more to learn?

Before I tell you about Spain I'd better tell you about the rest of Windsor and London.

On our walk Philbob showed us lots of the trees that he looks after, some are very old. Here's a photo of Dom and Bruno looking at the Elephant Tree.

It's called that because there are 5 Elephants in it, here's one see

After our walk we ended up at a really nice pub (!), Dom and Bruno caught a taxi to the station and we went home to a BBQ, yum.

Don't you think it's funny that the first time I sat on grass was on Uncle Doms back lawn on the London Estate,and then the next time was the Queens lawn and I come fromWaiheke Island?

Anyway the next day Philbob was really nice and drove us all over the Park he looks over for the Queen, past the Polo paddocks, golf course, 1200 year old tree, lovely gardens and all. Then hayley had to go to work and we caught a big silver Mercedes Taxi to the gates of the Castle. Thanks Hayley, Philbob and Flynn for a really great time, can we stay longer next time?

Mum and Dad wanted to see inside the Queens palace at Windsor. I thought it would be pretty boring but gee wizz, it was just great. Emily and Iris you would have loved the dresses and the Queen Mary Dolls house. Oscar you would just love the swords and armor, and Uncle Dave the plates and just the whole thing! We think that you would really like Shanghai Aunty Kathy. I've got more photos to put up from there but have to make then smaller first.

By the time we got back to London it was about 6 o'clock. We had a lovely time in Windsor but it was nice to see Aunty Kate and Uncl Dom and Bruno again.

On Monday Uncle Dom had the day off work so we went into Tower Bridge, and Harrords, and stuff. Uncle Dom wanted to see the Diana and Dodi Memorial, but I'm having connection problems so that will have to wait.

Hey, thanks for your comments Gret and FGM Rachel, do you know that I have 2 teeth now, some others are giving me some trouble but I pass that on, but I don't need anywhere near as many bibs now, Mum even lets me go out wthout one sometimes so you might start seeing photos of me without one (even tho all those ones I got as presents are really really nice!).

It's late and Dad says it's nearly time to wake up Mum for a feed so Cheers for now - as Dad keeps saying - what's that in Spanish?

Windsor Great Park

OK like I was saying, when Philbob came home we went for a walk for about 20 minutes to this statue

(There's miles and miles of statues) which is at the end of this path

called the long walk, at the end of the path can you see the Castle where the Queen lives sometimes?

Even if it's not fair that the Queen has all this stuff just because she was born and while people in Africa are starving it's still a pretty grand park, and Philbob says this maybe a 10th of it (whatever than means)!

On Saturday after we went to visit Windsor with Hayley

Bruno and Dom came to visit ...

A walk in the Park

and we all went on a lovely walk


I wish Mum wouldn't take photos of Dad when he's slouching!

We even saw Deer!

OK, theres more to come but I have to go and pack because today we are going to Valencia - that's in Spain, it will be sad to leave Dom and Kate and Bruno but the weather will be nicer.

Cheers

The Queen ...

lives at Windsor Castle sometimes and Mum's friend Phil (although people call him Bob, that is except Hayley his partner and all their English friends, maybe I'll call him Philbob) is the Deputy Head Gardener for Windsor Castle and the Great Park at Windsor where we went on Friday, but first ...

On Thursday night Mum and Dad and I had a lovely night with Sally, Kathryn and Eamonn who Mum used to work with here in London. Well I went back to sleep with Uncle Dom and Aunty Kate early but it was lovely to meet them and they came all the way to Finsbury Park to see us. We went to Pizzeria Pappagone right across the road. They were really nice, Eamonn gave me some lovely books. Afterwards they went up the road to the pub and talked more and more. I had to get Uncle Dom to get me up before Mum and Dad came home! Still, he was nice to me so I didn't cry too much.

Uncle Dom taught me and Dad how to do the links better on the blog so we might go a little crazy with links for a while, I hope you like them! And thanks Grandma, Wattie, Bren and Kathy for the comments. Oh yes and everybody's tummys are much better thanks.

Like I was saying on Friday we went to Slough because we had to change trains to get to Windsor. But first we saw Vicky and Jonathon and Fraser in their nice home right near Paddington Station. Paddington is a lovely old fashioned station Mum says just like in the old times, I can't imagine what a steam train is!

I thought we might have a long train trip to Windsor but it's quite quick really, maybe that's why the Queen likes it. And then when you get there, there's the Castle right at the station almost - I wonder if the trains keep the Queen awake!

Hayley and Flynn came and picked us up and then we went to their house. It is so nice, it belongs to the Queen but she doesn't need it. Philbob said she has lots of houses. Mum was very pleased with Philbobs vege garden, you can see the tomatoes behind me and Philbob here (go the Warriors!)

Here's some photos of the park that Philbob, Hayley and Flynn live in and Philbob keeps nice for the Queen (dang too many photos - I'll just push this publish button

The V&A

Yesterday (after we all went to the Doctors to check our tummies out!) we went to the V&A Museum http://www.vam.ac.uk/ to see the Che Guevara exhibition with uncle Dom and Bruno, and met another really nice friend of Mum's called Peter Paul. He and Mum chatted and chatted and had a really nice time.
Here's a slightly fuzzy photo of Mum and Peter in the entrance to the V&A (Dad took it!).

After lunch we wandered around and around looking for a bus (thanks Peter) until Uncle Dom put us right and we went shopping in Kensington Hight St. Here's a photo of Peter and me in Muji

I told you mum was going to go back! Then we went to another Pub!! It was called the Winsdor Castle and had a nice garden bar - we are going to Windsor Castle on Friday I bet there's a nice garden there! OK time for a sleep, I think Dad is off to Tottenham Ct Rd. Cheers

The Tate

Hello, Thanks Mele for your lovely story about Mexico and your travels, I hope you have settled into Mexican time, - just in time to go to Ohio - keep your Mom & Dad on their toes!!. My Mum's been to Mexico, but Dad hasn't. Not so sure about the getting out of the car seat trick - are Mexican drivers safe, what about your Mum and Dad - are they well, we miss you all. And thanks Fred and Miro and Marta and Martin, is it still Winter on Waiheke?

Did I say thanks to you Emily for your nice message? You'd like Bruno, he's lots of fun.

Today Mum wanted to go on the Parklands walk so me, Mum and Dad, and Aunty Kate and Bruno set off. Then it poured water out of the sky, I was nice and dry in my buggy but everyone else got soaked. Bruno and Aunty Kate got a taxi home. This afternoon I think Mum might take me to Ikea, apparently it's a really nice place.

On Tuesday we went to the other side of a big river in London called the Thames. We came out of the tunnel train at a big church that Mum says is called St Pauls http://www.stpauls.co.uk, then we walked across the river on a new bridge. We had to stop to take a picture for Kelly (Hi). Then we were in this huge building with pictures and stuff in it http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/. The funny thing is that I was hungry so we had to have lunch and then had to go after 20 minutes because I wanted to go to the big wheel and we had a booking at 2.30. Mum was really disappointed. Anyway we had time to take a photo of me and Dad with that church behind us.

After I had a sleep we went on the huge wheel with views as far as you could see http://www.ba-londoneye.com/. We were lucky we booked but we didn't need to have rushed and Mum could have seen the pictures at the Tate Modern(!) because we could go anytime really and the queues were so huge.

Anyway here's a picture of me smiling at someone. Outside you can see Big Ben - he's a clock and where Tony Blair works. There's a Double Decker bus that I could pick up in my own hand if I wasn't so distracted!

After we came home I had some of Aunty Kates lovely lentils for tea (Yum Yum) and Mum and Dad went with Uncle Dom and Aunty Kate to a pub called Victoria Stakes for Dinner while lovely Uncle Peter looked after me and Bruno - thanks so much Uncle Peter. I had a nice sleep and was having a nice chat and cuddle with Uncle Peter when everyone came home.

Grey London

Good Morning, everybody is getting up here and it's nearly time for me to go to bed, but no worries I'll be back up again in no time! Thanks Kel for the comment, and thanks Nana for emailing to say that you couldn't leave one, silly Dad had a switch wrong on the blog!! That's fixed now so anyone can leave me a nice comment saying how much you miss me.

Mum and Dad have both had a bit of upset tummy (I'm not sure how mine is!) so we've had a pretty quiet couple of days, off to the Geffrye Museum on Kingsland Rd in Shoreditch on Sunday - most of it was closed but Aunty Kate helped entertain us with her directions along the way -sometimes getting it wrong!! - London sure is a big city!!

Then yesterday we went to have a cup of Tea with Mr Pellici (Mum says it is a classic East end Cafe, it sure looked cute) in Bethnal Green but he was closed!!! Then we went to see Aunty Kate at her work - it's the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green and part of the V&A - but that was closed too!!! Anyway it was nice to see her at work and her boss is really nice. Bruno fell asleep on the bus on the way home. I was just an angel.

Time for me to have a sleep but here's some more photos of Shanghai - did I tell you it was really good fun there?

Here is a photo of the Broadway Mansions where we stayed


And here's a couple of photos of The Pearl Tower from the bridge by the hotel - it is called the Garden Bridge

OK off to sleep now, Cheers

Wembley

So where was I ... Oh yes
Today we went to the Portobello Market where Mum wanted to have Pattisere de Nada at the Lisboa Cafe so we did. The Italian people on the Tube gave me lots of smiles - it was like being in China - that reminds me - here's a photo of the Bund at night and of the view of Pu Dong from near our hotel
















But back to today - then we went to see some friends at Wembley Park, they were really nice. Here's a photo of me and Mum on the train on the way back (Thanks for the groovy bib Justine - I keep them a little bit cleaner now!).

OK, Bruno is asleep, so is Mum, and Uncle Dom & Aunty Kate are out at the pub so I might go to bed. Cheers.

Soho

OK, so there are some things that I have to learn about the layout with photos, it's hard to get the words and the pictures lining up! Hey Henry and the Glovers thanks for the comment! and and Dad says the timing on the Computer is all wrong now so when the blog says this is put on at 7 am that's actually Waiheke time - how can the time be so different there? - and it's bed time here.
It's been another nice day in London today, but yesterday we went to the city and some boring Gallery (the National Gallery actually!) some of the walls were nice colours! But before that we went to Liberty where I met a lovely hippo

and the ladies at Bar Italia - that's in Soho - were really nice and gave me this biscut, see

- I've never had a biscut before, and then we went to Soho square where I had chips!

just joking, but there were clowns and free chairs and chips! Thanks Walkers. Mum found the Muji shop but decided to go back another day - Oh no!

Then we had to come back to pick my big cousin Bruno up from Nursery and we stopped at the Old Diary on the way back home for a pint.

There's every body having a drink!

Mmmm can't seem to add more pictures, be back in a mo! Found how to change the date & time!!

All OK

Maybe you've heard on the news about some baddies wanting to blow up some planes leaving England. It's been on the news here. Anyway, we are all OK but I hope it is over soon because Heathrow airport is closed and anyone who does go can't take anything with them on the plane - what about my toys! We don't go until a long time yet so it should all be OK.

We went to a lovely park yesterday and here's a photo of me and Mummy at Priory Park in Crouch End.

Talking about flying here's a photo of me doing my exercises before leaving Auckland

And here's a couple of pictures of me in my lovely bed on the Qantas plane. Will they let me have a bed if the baddies are still making trouble?

Why is no-one leaving me nice comments on my latest postings?

Cheers

Finsbury Park

Well, here we are in London and I must say the time is wierd! I thought it was 7 o'clock this morning and it was still dark and Dad said it was only 2 Am! But he said that that was OK 'cause of the travelling and all that - should be OK in a day or two whatever that is.
Met my uncle Dom, Aunty Kate and Bruno last night for the first time, they are really nice and smiled at me at lot - but not as much as the people in Shanghai - they were soooo glad to see me! Complete strangers would follow us up the road just to give me a big smile and sometimes touch me. Shanghai was great, very hot so I wanted to go back and sleep a bit in the Hotel (we were upgraded to a suite you know - does that always happen?) and Mum said that it was good that I wanted to sleep because it meant that she (and especially Dad!) didn't do as much shopping as they could have. I'm a bit pleased about that because there were lots and lots of people, although Dad says not as many as you might have imagined, and he says it was cleaner and easier than he was expecting - what was he thinking!! You should see all the huge buildings, ricketty old trucks and sometimes flash cars.
Uncle Dom and Aunty Kate have gone to work now and I need to have a feed so guess what - time to go, maybe Uncle Dom will help me get some of my new Shanghai photos onto my blog for you to look at tonight. Cheers!