Pond Jumpers: October 2007

Well everyone...it's been one year yesterday that we arrived in London...31 October. Wow. The old cliche "time flies" may be unoriginal but it is indeed true. Last year we were corralling the girls onto the airplane and this year hauling their rear ends up and down the streets of London in search of some sweets!

Earlier this month we participated in a little Halloween parade through the Hampstead High Street with some fellow expats in the area. It was a kick seeing all the kids dressed up on a Saturday early in the month. I think we confused a lot of the Brits since half of them don't pay much attention to Halloween and they all probably freaked thinking it was that night and they had no sweets. The kids were able to show off their "fancy dress" which is what they call it out here. Avery dressed as Stephanie from the television show LazyTown. She won "Best Costume" at the parade and brought home a big bag of goodies to play with which she was really "chuffed" with.

As for Sloane...well, Sloane didn't get to pick out her costume. I took the liberty of picking it out for her because I felt it absolutely necessary that she dress as her alter ego.

The Devil.

The Devil and her daddy.

The next day after the parade we decided to head out of the city and delve into the countryside. Actually it's more like going to Long Islands from New York City but I have to say that it felt like the country. We found a farm that allows you to pick your own fruit and vegetables and they had a pretty big pumpkin patch. We spent the day walking through the fields trying to find the best pumpkins that would look nice on our front stoop. We also managed to grab some gourds, squash and sweetcorn. Growing up in a small town (me) and suburbia (Matthew) we never truly understood the concept of getting out of the city. We never could figure out why city folk were in awe when they came across cows grazing in wide open fields. That is until we lived in London. The air smelled cleaner, the sky was clearer and our pace was slower. It was a nice break from craziness of London despite being only 18 miles away.