Canary Islands, Lanzarote

Our first family vacation and Avery's fourth country to visit. The Canary Islands are off the west coast of Africa but is actually part of Spain. It took us three flights to get there. Unfortunately our bags didn't make all three flights and we didn't get them until the next afternoon. Avery did great but we seriously need to start paying more money for direct flights! We rented a private villa with a pool. The goal of the vacation was just to relax. Since we've been in London Josh has been working lots of hours and we have been on the go all the time, so we were due for some peace and quiet.

The view from our villa.

Eating outside, as we did for every meal.

Family pic from the villa.

Chillin at the pool.

Getting ready to go for a swim.

Swimming with daddy!

My New Cousin!

My new cousin Clara Reese was born on May 19!  She even outweighed me coming in at 10lbs. 1oz!  I can't wait to meet her!  Check out Aunt Tonya's blog for portraits of the cutie: Tonya Marie Photography's Blog.

Swimming Pics

With Bubbe in tow we were able to get a few pics of Miss A in action at swimming lessons. The water has been too cool for her the last two weeks so Avery now has her very first 2mm wetsuit! For the second week in a row she cried when the instructor took her to do her underwater swim. She will let me submerse her but wants nothing to do with the instructor. Maybe next week?

Bubbe and PopPop

Bubbe and PopPop (Josh's parents) arrived Saturday to visit Avery. We spent the day relaxing and just hanging around the Hampstead area. We attempted to get PopPop fish n'chips for dinner, his food of choice in the UK, but the pub had run out of fish. Didn't they know who was coming? Sunday we headed into the city. We took the London Eye where Bubbe braved her fear of heights. Then we walked by Big Ben, Parliament, through St. James park to Buckingham Palace, and finally down The mall to Piccadilly Circus, Lester Square and Reagent St. What a day!

PopPop, Bubbe & Avery on the London Eye

Bubbe & Avery with Beefeaters

The day did end on a bit of sour note when PopPop woke up in extreme pain that he recognized as kidney stones. After many hours in the hospital, it was finally confirmed to be kidney stones. PopPop is now out of pain and doing ok but sadly this will cut their visit short.