random memories

Thursday was a day that everywhere I looked the most random things kept popping up and reminded me of people back home in the states. Bare with me on this one because this is definitely going to be my most random post.

Grace and I started our morning in a cafe (today's choice was Paul). This brings me to the first person who I thought about- my cousin, Samantha Henry. She has recently spent time in Paris. I believe she was taking a class. Samantha, please correct me if I'm wrong on the comment section. She fell in love with macaroons during her travels. You may remember a previous post where her mother, Aunt Donita, and I went to several French cafes in Chicago seeking out macaroons to be brought back to Kentucky for Samantha. This was also the scary post about the waitress who spilled the hot tea pot and coffee on the 1-year-old girl! While in this cafe, I noticed the delicious macaroons so in Samantha's honor I had to try one. Unfortunately, I now share the same appreciation for macaroons (specifically raspberry flavored) as my cousin. Thanks a lot, Samatha! ;)

After breakfast, we were just strolling along, following cool looking buildings and areas. (Mom, don't worry- I'm surprisingly getting really good at using a map and I keep track of where I am...well, most of the time.) Oops...except for that one time this week where I thought I was lost. More on that later.

As I was saying, Grace and I were strolling around and walked toward this particularly cool looking building, which ended up being the Natural History Museum. I later found out there are about 3-4 museums next to each other and they're all FREE! Perfect activity for Grace and me to explore. I do think I was more excited to check out the architecture of the actual building than what was inside. For school-age kids this would be a great afternoon outing/field trip. (Once a teacher...) Everyone else seemed to agree- the place was filled with families and school field trips. It reminded me of the Chicago Field Museum- they even had their own "Sue" dinosaur welcoming you in the front hall. Side note: The founder of Sue is from Munster, Indiana and graduated with my mother-in-law, Maureen!

cool looking building

main entrance to the London Natural History Museum

This brings me to the second person who I thought about- Matt Nierengarten. This placed was filled with cool interactive exhibits of natural disasters, evolution, etc. Not to mention the many animals and creepy crawlers they had preserved. Grace's favorite exhibit was the sparkly, shiny room filled with precious stones- we may have a problem in the making. I was just picturing Matt's head on a swivel constantly looking round and round. It made me think about his many "at home science experiments" from Kathy Eberle like the skull head he puts in water near Halloween and shows everyone who stops by how big it grows. 

Speaking of the creepy crawlers, this brings me to the third person who I thought about- Dawn Buckley. She was the former art teacher at Elliott Elementary School in Munster (my Mom's former school as well as my elementary school). You may remember my former post about Grace's play date with her two beautiful daughters. On Wednesday evenings, Dawn has been teaching an art class for kids and adults with disabilities. I think she said the age is anywhere from babies to 28 years old. I thought this would be a perfect activity for Matt and I to do together while Grammie Mo and Grandpa Den hung out with Grace, but things got a bit hectic the last month I was home. Hopefully her art class continues to be a huge success and we make something real cool when I get back. Dawn, how cute of an idea is this to incorporate science into teaching the color wheel? I could have seen you and Julie Glavin collaborating on a cool unit.

What was supposed to be a quick view of a free museum, ended up being over 2 hours...oops! We then headed toward Kensington Gardens. Talk about a huge, beautiful, active park! I'm pretty sure I will get myself lost in there. I was trying to follow the signs to see Princess Diana's waterfall memorial and playground- either the signs/paths are confusing or I need some help. I did run into the Peter Pan statue, which brings me to the fourth person who I thought about- Mrs. Casciari. In the past couple of months I have had the pleasure of getting to know Rachel's family, especially her mother. Grace and I might possibly refer to her as the Disney lady from now on. My first Disney experience (I was pregnant so does that mean I can count it as Grace's 1st too?) was with Michael, Rachel, and Mrs. Casciari in California. We had such a blast with her. When Grace was born she bought her a a Minnie Mouse sleeper, which currently fits and she wears all the time. I'm pretty sure she expects us to come back to Cali with Grace to really see Disneyland-- okay, twist my arm... Right before our move we were all at Rachel's new fabulous apartment in Chicago actually watching the Royal Wedding and the one thing her Mom reminded me that I had to see with Grace is the Peter Pan statue since the story was based out of London. Well, Mrs. Casciari, I'm proud to say I can check that off my list after 3 days of moving here. :)

Alright...this is it for now. I warned you this was going to be random.