Cheers - here's to a very happy 2009!

Cheers - happy 2009!, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We had a lovely New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, even if the temperature stayed around freezing the whole time.

On New Year's Eve we had booked a babysitter so we went into town to celebrate. Had a pleasant if not outstanding meal at About Thyme, a little place near Victoria Station and then walked along to try and see the fireworks at midnight. A LOT of people had the same idea - all the viewing areas on the river were full by 11pm.

So we ended up in St James's Park, which is quite different after dark. From where we were you could see the top half of the London Eye, which was where the fireworks were let off from so we got an ok view and it was not crowded in the park at all. In fact it was kind of eerie and still, as this photo of the pond shows.



Then on New Year's Day Sofia and I went to the park while Jules prepared a roast lamb, with sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, brussel sprouts, carrots and broccoli, which was completely delicious. We chased it all down with trifle, just to make sure there was no danger of starvation!

Today we babysat Sofia's friend Millie, who has a new baby sister, so her dad could spend some time at the hospital. An interesting experience taking TWO toddlers to the park but we managed to avoid serious injury. The two girls walked along hand in hand, which was endearing, and then played 'Row, row, row your boat' from their highchairs in the cafe. Just as they were in the middle of that, Millie's dad arrived to pick her up, so it was nice that they were both looking so cheerful at that moment!