Keira's SF Birthday Celebration

We opted to wait and open Keira's birthday gifts once we got back from London. We figured it would be something fun to distract us from the vacation blues. Keira apparently has a lot of little friends and now has a plethora of new toys to play with at home. Thank you to everyone for your generosity, good wishes and love for our little girl.

What fun would presents be without a cake!
Check out this video of our messy little girl.



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London/Trip Home to SF

What an amazing family trip to celebrate Keira's 1st Year. The week in London went by way too fast but considering we had a 1 year old we were able to do A LOT while we were there. The flight home went well. Keira did not want to sleep but we lucked out with an extra seat and were able to spread out a little bit. Naveen and Keira walked up and down the aisles making new friends, Keira sat quietly for the 45 minute bear documentary, and the flight attendent made sure to make the rounds with the free beer for Mom and Dad. I am not going to say that traveling with a newly walking toddler is easy but after you unpack, get the laundry done and get over the jet lag, you look back at your pictures and realize that it was worth it.



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London/Day Eight

Our last full day in London... We spent the morning at Hackney City Farm. Cool concept... basically this is a farm right in East London where families can go to hang out. There is a bike shop, a pottery studio and a cafe that serves a traditional English breakfast (with eggs from their chickens!). City Farm also has beautiful grounds that you can come help garden and lots of animals for the little ones to check out. We spent a few hours just hanging out. If we lived in London, this would definitely be a place we would come back to often.



Since we were in East London we thought it might be fun to try and find the flat I used to live in when I was living here in 1999. It is amazing how much development has happened as much of the area did not look familiar to me. Just when we were about to give up and head back we ran into a nice man who confirmed we were going in the correct direction and sure enough we found Thoresby House!

After hopping on the tube we made our way to Trafalgar Square and the National Portrait Gallery. Naveen was excited that the Irving Penn exhibit was there so we thought we better take a peek. We had a quick snack in the cafe, where Keira made a friend and scored a free banana, checked out the bookstore and the photography.

Video from Trafalgar Square



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London/Day Seven

We thought a day trip would be a fun family outing so we hit the road and headed out to Cambridge. It was only about an hour train ride out of King's Cross and Keira did great on the train.



She had a lot of fun watching the countryside whizz by her window seat.



Once we got to Cambridge we did all the usually touristy stuff, checking out the amazing buildings and taking lots of pictures. Keira had fun teetering around the grounds at King's College and making new friends.



We even went for a punting tour down the Cam River. Keira loved it, not because of all the historical informations and beautiful architecture but because we saw lots of DUCKS!



Not sure the rest of the people in our boat were as impressed at her quacking and pointing but we thought it was cute.

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London/Day Five & Six

We spent Saturday morning at Borough Market.


What a cool place to go get your groceries for the week. Everything looked, smelled and tasted so good. It might be worth moving to London just to be able to do your weekly shopping there!

Naveen had a lot of fun taking pictures with his camera.

We also found the *best* coffee at Monmouth. The cafe had a line that went around the block and it was well worth the wait. It reminded us of some of our favorite coffee places in the Mission.


Sunday was a lazy day for the three of us. We had a yummy brunch, walked around SoHo, did a little shopping at Carnaby Street and then met Sharon for a tradition Sunday Roast. Yum.

The Pub was super kid friendly with a highchair and bottomless bread basket for little K. She certainly is enjoying her carbs while in the UK!


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London/Day Four

Keira's 1st Birthday Celebration continues...

We spent the morning wandering around in search of City University. For those of you that don't know, I spent the spring semester my Sophomore Year in London. It took us a while to find the University but once we did, it looked exactly as I remembered it. Of course we snapped a few pictures and then it was off to the London Google Office for lunch.



As we suspected the food at Google was quite good and Keira enjoyed walking up and down the halls making friends with all the distracted employees. :) After lunch we headed over to Buckingham Palace so that Keira could check out Queen Elizabeth's digs, but unfortunately Keira fell fast asleep. We did manage to get a family picture so at least we have proof that we took her there!


After a beautiful stroll through St. James Park, we made our way to the Rose Garden in Hyde Park for Keira's Birthday Cupcake. Of course we were the dorky parents who had on party hats and sang "Happy Birthday" in front of a bunch of stranger but Keira loved it and we were able to take some fun pictures.


The day didn't stop there. With our sugar high we thought it might be a good idea to motivate and make our way down to see the London Eye. This tourist trap was not here back when I was studying in London and we heard from a few reliable sources that it was actually pretty cool. It is basically the equivalent of taking an elevator up to a really high building. The pods are made of glass and you have spectacular views of London during your very slow rotation. A bit pricy but worth checking out if you are ever in London.


And after that we were officially done for the day. Keira was ready for bed and we were happy to get some food for "take away"

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London/Day Three

Day Three... April 8th... Keira's First Birthday!

The sun was out and the three of us spent the day at The London Zoo. As we thought, Keira loved all the animals. The big cats were her favorite, but she also enjoyed the Petting Zoo. Every time she heard the sheep "baaa" she would scream and they would all run as far away as they were able. During lunch we noticed that Keira was mesmerized by the Carousel and she throughly enjoyed her first ride (on the tiger) with her dad. The animal show was a bit hit as was her first taste of ice cream.

For dinner we went out to Churchill Arms where we had *amazing* Thai food in the back of this very busy Pub. Getting back late, poor little K was exhausted from her busy birthday. We decided to hold off on the official birthday cupcake until the next afternoon. She had no trouble sleeping through the night tonight!

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London/Day Two

Our second day in London was a bit chilly and the forecast called for rain so we thought a trip to the Tate Modern might be a good choice. Keira loved checking out all the people on the tube and made it her personal mission to say hello to just about everyone. With "hi" being her new favorite word she certainly was in a great position to practice saying it over and over again. It was amazing to see how many people would take time out of their busy day to say hello and give little K a smile. She was our "goodwill ambassador" for the entire trip.

The museum was as spectacular as I remembered it from ten years ago. So much art. It was fun to share the afternoon with Naveen and Keira. We had lunch up on the top floor of the museum in the Cafe - something I would not have been able to afford as a student when I was there last!

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Arriving in London/Day One

The overnight flight to London with a baby was a new experience for us. The good news is that once you arrive at your destination you quickly forget the long uncomfortable flight with a semi sleeping baby balanced on your chest. :)

We landed in London on April 5th (Naveen's actual Birthday!) The driver took us to Sharon's flat and after cleaning up we headed out for a celebratory pint and yummy Italian dinner. We all had a bit of jet lag and that first night was a long one since Keira felt like she should be up for the day at midnight. We had some quality family time trying to keep our newly walking daughter from crashing into walls and corners in the middle of the night. Luckily, Keira decided that more sleep was a good idea and we all got some much needed rest.

Our Official Day One consisted of finding a latte, walking around Kensington Gardens, which included afternoon tea at, The Orangery, taking a little siesta mid-afternoon and ending our day with the obligatory stop at Piccadilly Circus for Fish and Chips at an English Pub. Yum! Keira enjoyed the mushy peas before falling asleep in the Ergo.


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365 Days of Keira

Happy 1st Birthday to our Sunshine!


You have changed our lives forever. We love you!


Thank you to everyone who has joined us on this adventure.

My, oh my, how our little bunny has grown!

Easter Sunday - April 12, 2009


Easter Sunday - April 4, 2010

Happy Easter!

It is hard to believe that this is Keira's 2nd Easter! Last year we came home from the hospital on Easter Sunday. This year we have a noisy little girl who is walking! It is amazing how quickly they grow up. Saturday night, Keira and I dyed some eggs for the Easter bunny. Sunday morning Keira had fun with all the toys and plastic eggs in her Easter basket, then we attempted Easter mass at Mission Dolores. I say attempted because we made it halfway through the service before our loud little girl was ready to go! Mom and Dad grabbed an Easter latte, packed up the rest of our suitcases and headed down to South Bay for Easter Brunch before heading to SFO for our flight to London.

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Naveen's Birthday

We celebrated Naveen's Birthday a little early this year. Keira and I surprised him after work - we all went out for some sushi at one of our favorite places, and then had a mini celebration back at home.

Naveen's first birthday as a dad!



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