Daddy hits the big 4-0

Palais royale
Originally uploaded by b boy.

Grayson letting the news out of the bag.... Well, mummy says it is the main reason we are over here!
Today we went out exploring again - going to this lovely garden, then this place which had all these black and white posts to jump all over. I got to eat some really nice sweet bread called brioche and after a lot of running around I got really sleepy and decided to have a bit of a nap.
Mummy and Daddy apparently saw this really tall structure whilst I was napping, and to make things worse, they took pictures of me whilst I was catching some ZZZZZ.
After all of this I woke up to find myself in a creperie, where I promptly tried to demolish all the table cloths (they were made of shiny green paper - WHAT FUN!) and eat everyone else's crepes.
Insert innocent Grayson look here....
Mummy and smart sensible uncle (who I like to call Paw - amongst other things) took me to a park, where I got to play with some other kids who spoke in a funny language (not Klingon like me - or so mummy says). One nasty little boy wouldn't let me climb up the steps to slide down the slippery dip, so mummy picked me up, put me at the top and I got to have a slide! (HA! Nasty little boy - MY mummy is sneaky!)
After this, I went home, had some nice food and a drink - then noticed the parental units and SSU were getting dressed up....
And I WASN'T
Then this other strange female person arrived....
And then daddy and mummy kissed me goodbye.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I may not have been on best Grayson behaviour but seriously! These parents take me away from ALL my usual toys, my day care and my wheely bug to a place where the day is night and I am having to wear these different nappies and I don't get to sleep in our nice king size bed and .....

(breathe Grayson... focus.... breathe...)

I perhaps should have handled the situation a little better....

But eventually I was too tired to complain any more, so I went off to sleep. When I woke up - mummy and daddy were in bed with me and all was ok again in the Grayson world.

(Mummy and Daddy edit: We went off to L'Angle du Falbourg for a lovely degustation dinner during which we drank copious quantities of champagne to accompany delightful food. Mummy nearly fell asleep at the table but Daddy managed to keep the Cook flag flying by declaring he needed more champagne!)

A Grayson in Paris

Catching the metro
Originally uploaded by b boy.

I thought I would miss all the cool trains in London but they have equally cool trains here on something called the metro! I get really excited when I see them arrive and do the raising my hands in the air (whilst going woot woot woot) - which seems to be very amusing to all the people around me.
It seems to be a very kissy kissy city here, as strange women keep wanting to pinch my cheeks and kiss me too (I try not to make mummy too jealous).
The four of us arrived in Paris on Monday, settled in to our apartment (near this great big place called the Louvre) and then walked around exploring our neighbourhood.
Daddy had arranged for us to meet Uncle Mick and Aunty Ailsa later on that day - not to mention their tres jolie/belle daughter Sophie. I tried to do my usual moves on her but she didn't seem to be too interested... Hmmm. Memo to self, don't give the gifts TOO early - then I don't have a back-up plan.
But I digress....
After demonstrating to Uncle Mick what he needs to do to baby-proof a home (hee hee hee) I partook of some squishey and went off to sleep. I woke up a few hours later to find myself in a strange bed - naturally as I am a creature of habit I was a bit disturbed by all of this , and made my displeasure known. This elicited the correct response and I was bundled up and taken back to our apartment (via le metro)

Its good to keep the parents in line....

Meanwhile...At St Pancras - Attempting to leave England

Meanwhile...At St Pancras
Originally uploaded by b boy.

Noooooooo.... You can't make me.
I like it here
The floors are ever so shiny, they make really nice chips and I am starting to enjoy the fresh red faced look

I don't want to leeeeeeeeeeeave

Farewell thee London!

But we love our danger mouse
Originally uploaded by b boy.

Grayson again, blogging whilst the parents finish packing for Paris.

Well, we ended up having a rather busy final few days in this cold and windy city. Mummy and Daddy took me to meet Carole and Tom (who have known mummy before she discovered half heads of foils and valrhona chocolate) in South Kensington. Paul came along too. I think he has been getting a substantial education this week regarding the needs of the Grayson - hopefully he has been taking notes and will use them for a sensible practical application very very soon

Hint hint (Uncle) Paul - I LIKE TOYS!

Where was I? Hmmm - lunch with friends. It was quite noisy with all the other kids around - I struggled to make myself appealing to the older woman wearing the "Wear Pink so the boys will blink" top (mummy's note - she was about 5 years old) - although she was the one who came up to ME first. Paul seemed to be taking a lot of photos of me, but then I turned around and realised I was merely being used as a ploy to photograph the unusual looking thing behind me.

Nice try ....Paul!

Carole and Tom took us to Harrods where Daddy bought a scarf to stop him turning blue. They then said goodbye and left us to our own devices, which included finding our way back to the hotel using the underground. (Daddy and Paul had to carry me up and down these really long moving stairs - GREAT fun!)

Arriving back at the hotel, mummy and daddy started getting dressed up. Paul tried to distract me with Trotro and Shawn the sheep. This may have fooled me for a few minutes but soon the penny dropped - MUMMY AND DADDY WERE GOING OUT WITHOUT ME! I tried to put on a sad face but Paul IS rather fun - and I ended up having lots of fun with all my basic needs for squishey and food being met. When I woke up, mummy and daddy were there again so all was well in the world.

Today, Paul, Mummy and myself went out to the Tate Britain. Daddy needed a bit of a rest so we let him lie in bed all day and watch DVDs....this did sound like quite a bit of fun really. I may have been in a bit of a mischievious mood and kept trying to run away from mummy and Paul (well, it keeps them fit)

The other important job we had to do today was to buy some more nappies for me as the supply was dwindling. We got home late, a bit tired so I tried to cheer everyone up by showing them how I could fit into our new suitcase (well nearly). After a few photo ops, Paul said goodbye and daddy ordered some room service tea.

Veges, bread, gnocchi and squishey and I do believe I am off to bed

Tomorrow - I get another stamp in my passport!

Day 2 of Bath and its surrounds - Stonehenge

Stonehenge meets Grayson
Originally uploaded by b boy.

Thanks for the break mummy, I'm ok to start blogging again.

Well, this one will be short and sweet, because it seemed we spent more time in the car than out.
The weather people had predicted it was going to be cold - and they didn't disappoint..
Grey skies, wind chill and not to mention what this did to my complexion. I am 18 months old now. Rosy red cheeks and a pink nose look great on a baby, but I'm a BIG boy now.

Sheeesh. Pass the moisturiser.

We left our nice warm room in Bath and got into the car. I may have fallen asleep for a bit. I woke up and we were STILL driving. After some milk and banana stick we arrived at this great big clump of rocks.

Daddy didn't seem to keen to get out of the car, but mummy told him we should give it a go (and that he should dress more appropriately for the weather - hee hee hee, see I do listen!) After a quick dash to the entrance we walked through a tunnel and got closer to the rocks. Teddy and I thought this was great fun, but Daddy started going a bit blue. Mummy let me walk around for a little bit but it was quite WINDY and I found that the best I could do was shuffle about. In the end, we raced back to the souvenir shop where they had HEATING and so we all warmed up a bit.

Daddy was particularly appreciative of this and after a quick bite to eat, we hopped into the car and drove back to London. Smart sensible uncle came over for champagne and canapes. I got to have some too - YUMMY! The canapes I mean - none of mummy and daddy's special medicine for a few (mummy and daddy note - 16.5) years yet.

Boo

The Bath Experience

Royal Crescent, Bath
Originally uploaded by b boy.

We said farewell (for a brief moment) to our London hotel and set off to Bath, to try the waters and see what all the fuss was about. Ben had a few issues with the car hire people (suddenly realising that "computer says no" is not an exaggerated phenomenon) and had to get a crash course in inserting a UK baby seat.
Fortunately he seems to have mad skills - so it ended up ok in the end.
We took the M4 out to Bath, perplexed by the lack of speed limit signs and a little concerned about all the speed cameras. In the end we slowed down to whatever the locals seemed to be doing, and hopefully we will arrive back home without a nasty ticket.
It was a beautiful sunny day in Bath, so after leaving our bags at the hotel we went for a walk around the town. A meal at Loch Fyne gave us the fishy sustenance we needed to attempt the Roman Baths with a very active, non-sleepy toddler.

Who wanted to jump into the water...
Despite wearing two jumpers and a long coat....

Fortunately we also have mad parenting skills - well, at least when it comes to grabbing Grayson Danger Mouse when he decides he needs to fly into moderate sized expanses of water.
We quickly departed the Baths after trying the water (BLECH) - warm, sulphur flavoured soda water essentially, in a attempt to find dryer pastures.

Our room at Royal Crescent was ready and we were treated to what seemed an old world English experience with butlers, maids and tea delivered on trays early in the morning. The gardens were beautiful, particularly with the late afternoon light and we made good use of them to try and wear G out a bit (success!). G found a new teddy on the bed, which got a good work-out in the cuddle stakes but was able to be left behind without too many tears (a good thing too as they cost about 22 pounds).

After a very nice dinner, during which G awoke once (as his push chair isn't the most comfortable) we went back to our room. The shutters had been closed, fresh glasses of water were placed at our bedside and the covers were turned down.

What could we do but......

zzzzzzzzzz

Grayson at Hamley's

Grayson at Hamley's
Originally uploaded by b boy.

Day 3 in London - Mummy and Daddy with ....Paul bundled me up to go on a boat ride. This was great fun - the boat had lots of spots in many different colours all over it and we got to go past that great big wheel thing again. We stopped off at a place called the Tate Modern. Had lunch and then the real fun began....
We went to this place with even MORE toys than my bedroom
And there were FIVE FLOORS of them

YIPPEEEEEE

I immediately went to the soft toy section, as they reminded me of my parents. Paul put me on this lovely horse, which I didn't want to get off because it made me an extra bit taller. Daddy was transfixed to some guy doing magic tricks whilst Mummy seemed to be racing around putting away stuffed toys that somehow or other got thrown onto the floor.

Hmmm. Wonder who could have done that.

MWAH!

It got even better when we went to the top floor where there were lots of cars and planes and things that FLEW in the air. Daddy and Paul thought the toy shop people were having a bit too much fun with all those flying things. Mummy made some comment that at least they were USING the flying things (mummy note - the remote control helicopter still sits in our storage unit, almost never used) I managed to hitch a ride in this big blue car, although I had to use my persuasive blue steel look to get the older woman out of the driver's seat.

Mummy made some comment about my similarity to Daddy, this seemed to make him smile...

After all this fun we had some tea (and I found some steps to climb up and down) then went home to the hotel for a good night's zzzzz. Off to Bath tomorrow. Not quite sure why we need to travel to go to Bath as we have a very nice Bath in our hotel room.

Strange place this.