Happy anniversary to us!

Here we are, back at our hotel in London. We have a lovely little spot in Notting Hill, just a few blocks from Hyde Park with its Diana Memorial Playground. The first few nights we spent here at the beginning of our trip were riddled with the wakefulness of jetlag. Last night, though, we all slept like babies. Esme was thrilled to return here, because it was someplace familiar to her, and Emil could be anywhere as long as he's with Mom.

Today is a special day for us. It's Jacob's and my anniversary, and although we have no babysitter lined up and no plans for a fancy dinner anywhere, I think we have a perfect day planned. Really, what better way to celebrate our anniversary than with the two most tangible manifestations of our relationship? I look at Esme and Emil, and I see myself and Jacob, and more than that. I see my brother sometimes in Esme's looks, and at other times she gives a coquettish glance that is straight from Jacob's grandmother Gigi. Our two families are combined, and it is a wild, surreal experience watching our children grow. Already, their personalities are budding. Emil, at 7 months cruising around furniture and climbing stairs, will someday climb mountains just like his Grandpa Jim. And Esme, she has an intense way of studying things and digesting the world around her that is so much like my mother.

Anyway, I'd better get up to the hotel room and relieve Jacob. I'm sure the kids are climbing the walls by now. We'll get them to the playground soon so they can climb pirate ships and the such, and then we'll pop into a couple of stores in the afternoon before we go to high tea somewhere. Tomorrow, we're off to Barcelona.