A Day At The Parks

A Day At The Parks

We spent today walking some of London's best parks. We began the morning in Hyde Park and visited the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, Serpentine & Speakers' Corner

. The fountain was beautiful and Waverly enjoyed putting her hands & feet in the cold water. Then we headed over to Kensington Gardens and the incredible Princess Diana Memorial Playground. Waverly had a wonderful time - this photo was taken there. It is Peter Pan themed with a large pirate ship and other very unique areas for the kids to play. J.M. Barrie used to live right off of the Gardens and we walked by the place he once lived. Then we headed to Regent's Park for a picnic dinner, a game of catch and some bubbles. It was a picture perfect day - sunny and warm.

Comments

erin heiser said…

Hey Shannon,
If you get a chance, you sould go to Hampstead Heath. It was my favorite when I was there. It's really gorgeous. And if you like cemeteries, Highgate Cemetery is cool and close to the Heath--there are some famous people burried there (like Karl Marx).

July 29, 2007 at 9:52 PM

Welcome to Holland

By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.