Law, Partially

The FD Linges shared a few last hurrahs before Mum started school and Bob began going to nursery four days a week (up from his previous two). Having fun with soccer in Hyde Park, 1 September. September 1, we visited Hyde Park, in particular the Serpentine, in which sat this colorful pyramid made by the installation artist Christo . It was a fun day where we also played soccer in the park (see video above), and Bob got up close with some Serpentine swans. Sunday, 2 September, we spotted a sunny day and thought we better head straight for the shore before it's too late this year. Many, many others had a similar idea. Above, Bobby and I in Brighton Station just after we alighted from the Thameslink. We're both smiling in anticipation of the fun awaiting us on our day trip to Brighton. Brighton Beach has no sand, just rocks. I did wade into the English Channel; those rocks on the bare feet are uncomfortable, and the water is cold like the Pacific...

Celebrating the start of fall and the big boy's birthday falling just after, we decamped from north London for British places even further north. Nainai flew in from Cedar Rapids to adventure with the FD Linges. Months earlier, Christine and I had planned a route, booked a car, homestay lodgings, lunches and early dinners at restaurants, and seats on a scenic train route. We booked with Nainai's discerning consumer preferences in mind. We hoped to make this her best trip ever. We planned to chase down her ancestors in Nottinghamshire and Beatrix Potter in the Lake District; she also had Scotland on her list of places to visit, so grant that wish we did. Although she lives far away (at least 13 hours by plane, plus train (i.e., Piccadilly Line)), Nainai is an important part of Bobby's development. Bobby often talks to her over video chat, and Mum and I often put our child development questions to her. Usually we just need reassurance that his seemingly illogical behavior i...

This summer, Bobby made his second trip to the Tate Modern. The occasion was to view a biographical exhibit of Picasso's works from 1932. Bobby, in this year, Picasso was painting to stay relevant after having already achieved fame but also dealing with the dissolution of his marriage (caused, of course, by his infidelity) -- why is this not resonating more with you?! Turns out, the day became not so much about a series of paintings as the timeline of life, including Picasso's and our own, as well as everyday lessons in parenting. Successful adventures with our young boy require us to get right the timings of naps, meals, and snacks. This particular Sunday, we messed it up. The ideal museum trip -- at least when you want to meaningfully observe the works and read the descriptions -- requires the boy to sleep in the Ergo Baby carrier while Baba soaks in the museum. Otherwise, the boy would prefer to run through the museum, or if he's super tired and irritable, just throw a...

These days, it's all about vehicles, especially planes and trains. Whereas our adventures in Islington and further afield used to be focused on finding parkland, increasingly we are looking for trains. Much of Bobby's summer outdoors was spent down the road from our apartment (i.e., flat) at a gate to some light industrial sites through which one can see trains passing on their way to King's Cross. Much of his summer indoors was spent playing with his toy trains on the carpet or looking through the window to spot planes in the sky. Growing up is a process of observing more and more phenomenon and then recognizing similar phenomena that fit with patterns seen before. Bobby is fascinated by his urban environment, especially vehicles. He loves observing and exclaiming his observations -- for vehicles including, bicycles, motorcycles, garbage trucks, rescue vehicles, trucks, cars, taxis, boats, buses, airplanes, helicopters, and trains. His ability to recognize different type...

While our little boy had taken ill on his long weekend in the Cotswolds, a healthy bouncing baby boy across the Atlantic was clamoring to meet him. Three best buddies hanging out at Rachel House. The London Linges have spent a good amount of time in DC over the years, making it our most visited city outside of the ancestral homeland in Cedar Rapids. Our last days in the US before moving to London were spent as guests of Gugu in DC. See last year's blog entry  and  the other . The year before, DC was the last trip of Mum and Baba before Bob was born. August is vacation time in Europe, more so on the Continent than in the UK, but August in a UK office is slow, and many London restaurants close for the month. So fourteen months after our most recent, very enjoyable stay in DC, we were packing up in London for a two week trip to DC. There we expected to find the 2018 Catalina Wine Mixer, with Linges from far and wide coming to adore the new babe, Lincoln Kevin. But ...

The Cotswolds are an "Area of Outstanding National Beauty." Under England's (and Wale's) AONB scheme, changes to the landscape are limited by law. So in the Cotswolds we end up with these rolling, grassy hills dotted with medieval stone villages of golden limestone, looking just how you would expect the English countryside to look. Bobby dashing through the village common in  Kingham , a small Cotswolds village where we had dinner at the Kingham Plough, an upmarket pub (many, or most, of the pubs in the Cotswolds seemed to be upmarket). We had occasion to pass this fine weekend in the Cotswolds because I had a Thursday meeting in Birmingham. Birmingham is about a one and half hour train ride from London, so on Wednesday I loaded the family on the train with me. We spent two nights in Birmingham, famed for its early entrepreneurial role in the Industrial Revolution, now laced with old canals and warehouses and more recent waves of redevelopment. On Friday we...