March 25th was Good Friday, which is a public holiday in the UK, so the kids were out of school.  Richard would have usually had the day off, but anticipating that a baby could be coming soon he went in to the office to wrap up some projects.  (Which turned out to have been a very good idea indeed.) 

The weather was gorgeous and I wanted to take the kids somewhere fun, but easy to manage and close to home.  So we decided to walk up to Greenwich park.  Greenwich park is probably our family’s favorite place in London, and in the Spring it is gorgeous.  We ate lunch at home, packed some water and snacks, and took scooters and footballs and off we went.  I figured all that walking couldn’t be a bad thing for my pregnant self. 

I didn’t know that day that it would be my last day counting only four heads.  But looking back at these pictures I can appreciate that we were entering a new phase of life.  The four older kids are mostly independent of me; I could sit and relax at the park whilst keeping an eye on them, but they entertained themselves and didn’t need me.  Having a new baby changes things, and I’m grateful for the last couple years that we’ve had where we could take Cameron, Eli, Miriam and Simon around London without a stroller, diapers or nap-times.  I’m also grateful that they kids have built-in playmates. We spent a few hours at the park that day and Cameron and Eli played football together virtually the entire time, while Mim and Si ran around together and raced on their scooters.  I don’t think I could have planned a better end-of-an-era farewell party even if I had known.