A4 Update - April 2016

Being back in America is no where near as fun as last April.  

Matt had the most exciting month. He spent a few days in Paris wooing a fancy schmancy customer, while having pastries near the Louvre.  He said it was a planning meeting. Riiiiight.

Our Spring Break trip to Orlando continued. The Florida sunshine was so nice.

Our living room furniture arrived!  We retired the IKEA chair & John Lewis couch upstairs to the office. We can finally unpack our other decorative pieces now that there's somewhere to put them. Matt's mom is visiting next month so I hope to tap her decorating prowess for ideas.  

Both kiddos had their birthday. Oldest Kiddo wanted to update her room, so she picked out a bedside table and new linens. She also got some new clothes and accessories. Youngest Kiddo is still easy to shop for.  He was thrilled with Lego and books. When did they get so big?

Summer is on it's way, and the neighbors keep telling us to just wait for the summer heat.  We say, BRING IT ON!

A4 Update - March 2016

We've worn shorts a ton in March.  Thought you'd like to know. 

 

The painter finished the hellacious job of patching & painting the living room, hallway, stairs, and main floor ceilings. Geesh that was a big job.  

Holly continues to volunteer at Youngest Kiddo's school once a week in the library & classroom.

We were supposed to have friends here for Spring Break but sickness in the house changed those plans. Once everyone was assuredly healthy, we hopped in the car for our first road trip to join our friends in Disney World. Oldest Kiddo was so happy that she could ride everything solo. The adults were just happy to be together.  

Youngest Kiddo started swimming lessons. 

We finally bought furniture for the living room. It should be delivered in just ten short weeks. Until then we continue to hobble by using a card table as a TV stand.  

Matt traveled a bit this month to Alabama & Indy.  

Matt's doing a great job working projects around the house. He built new shelves in the garage to replace the awkward ones we inherited. 

On the landscape front, a new surprise seems to pop its head through the mulch each day. There is quite a variety of plantings with no discernible theme, so Matt is formulating his master planting plan.

A4 Update - February 2016

February can be drab, but we have some incredible sunrises & sunsets.

The kids had two days off this month due to inclement weather. One day was from another ice storm, and the second was for a horrendous tornado outbreak in the Mid-Atlantic states. Wake County schools announced a three-hour early release at 10:30am on the day of the tornadoes. Everyone was nervous as a day of decision to release students early is not an easy task for a school district to undertake.  

Matt traveled a ton in February.  This time all in the USA.

The family went to a Carolina Hurricanes hockey game, and it was a ton of fun! The audience was engaged during the whole game. We even saw the Stanley Cup at the ceremony celebrating the ten year anniversary of the Hurricanes Championship.  

Holly started volunteering at Youngest Kiddo's school. She is starting in the library and hopes to get into the classroom soon.  

Speaking of Youngest Kiddo, he needed new shoes. Apparently his size 13 trainers no longer fit his size 3 feet!  Going for parents of the year on that one. 

We continue to make the house our own. Matt installed a new Elfa organizer in the master closet, which is phenomenal. The painter started at the end of the month to bring the house out of the mid-1990's. The electrician made sure all the proper outlets were GFCI connected. The fireplace technician cleaned up the unit to remove about 20 years of dust and insects. 

To round out the month, the laborious task of furniture shopping is in full force. Ugh.  

The highlight of the end of the month was an excursion to one of the many nature preserves in Raleigh. This town is full of parks. The kids loved jumping over the fallen trees and throwing rocks in the lake.  

The warmer weather is moving in, we've already had a few 70 degree days.  

A4 Update - January 2016

Today is my first chance to open Blogger to write a blog post. It's been a super busy month!

The family rang in 2016 with a sleep over at our college friends' house. Time with friends was just what we needed after the busy holidays with family.  

We arrived in Raleigh on 4 January. The flight from Chicago was comically short. Without any furniture at the new house, we spent the first week in a corporate apartment.    

Our container arrived on 15 January, and we promptly slept in our new digs. Happy to say that by the end of the month almost all of the boxes were empty (the photo above is only about 1/3 of the boxes).  The only boxes left are those that await a home on yet to be purchased shelves.    

The return to reality happened fast when we bought two cars. Public transportation just isn't the same as London. ;)

I thought enrolling the children in school would be a piece of cake compared to London, but I was mistaken. Look for a post about that soon, but so far both kids are happy with school, whew.

Maybe that's because they hardly attended school once they enrolled. They started on a Wednesday and promptly had an early release day that Friday. Then the next week brought Martin Luther King Jr. day, an institute day, and 2 1/2 days off due to a huge ice storm! All told they went to school 8 days in January. No need to call the truant officer, it's all good now.  

Matt traveled back to Europe for meetings in Dublin & Warsaw to finish up pursuits he started before we left. Hopefully his travel back to Europe isn't a trend.

Holly's parents spent a week at the house helping with a few home improvement projects. Dad was brave to climb the extension ladder to wash the windows that seem to be 100 feet off the ground. Mom used her sewing skills to make Oldest Kiddo a Greek dress from a bed sheet for class. They also kindly returned the items we stored in their basement whilst in London. The Kitchen Aid mixer has returned, and it already made cookies & muffins.  I sure missed that machine.  

The home improvement projects don't stop. Some are to fit the way we live such as replacing the grossly inefficient master closet organizer.  Others are imperative such as the bathroom sink that leaks into the cabinet below.  That's the joy of home ownership, right?

The weather in NC is absolutely gorgeous, aside from the ice storm a week ago.  We had lunch on the deck the other day when the temperature was 72F.  Not a bad thing for January.

Stay tuned to see what February holds. We need to get out and about in Raleigh to enjoy our new home town!

A4 Update - December 2015

While the London expat adventure is officially over, it does not mean the adventure stops.  The theme of December was Leaving London.

Holly sold many household electronic items that could not come back to America.  Happy to know that someone in London is enjoying our alarm clock & blender.    

Both kid had Christmas shows at school, which are always interesting.

We attended several going away events with our much loved friends.  

The week of December 14 we had the pleasure of spending time with movers, a professional cleaning team, and the landlord checkout clerk.  Happy to report that the checkout clerk was pleased with the condition of The Manor.  

Our final flight out of Heathrow was after lunch on Friday 18 December amid many tears from the whole family.  

The tears dried up as the strong sunshine of Aruba hit our pasty skin for four days in the sun.

Christmas was spent among our family & friends.

That's a wrap on 2015!

A4 Update - November 2015

Things are coming to an end in London.  While there is a lot going on behind the scenes, it really doesn't look like it in the month recap.

* Youngest Kiddo had a friend birthday party, 6 months late.  His birthday falls during a school break so we've just kept them a family affair.  However, when he sadly asked if he was ever going to have a party with his London friends I had to set something up.  The best part?  Another school mom was behind on her child's birthday too, so we threw a shared party.  

* The landlord listed our house with a realtor which means we have to deal with people traipsing through our house.  While I am not vested in whether or not it gets rented I still feel it's nice to make sure there are no embarrassing piles of dirty laundry hanging around.  Youngest Kiddo has a way of getting his dirties in the most random places.  

* The family took one last trip before the movers arrive.  We spent a long weekend in Oslo, Norway.  It was not as cold as we anticipated, but the exchange rate was way more expensive than we anticipated.  Good thing the beauty of the city took the sting off the Norwegian Kroner to US Dollar conversion.  

* We're trying to make the best of every last weekend.  Everyone has made a Before We Leave London Bucket List.  My list is pretty short since touring the city was my job for the last two years.  The rest of the family, however, has a lot to see.  Matt took Oldest Kiddo to the Churchill War Rooms and loved it. Youngest Kiddo wants to ride the Emirates Cable Car and take a Thames River Boat.  Oldest Kiddo wants to tour the HMS Belfast war ship that's docked near the Tower of London.  The rainy weekends have kept us from doing this, but we have a few more days to try.      

A4 Update - October 2015

We changed the clocks back an hour, and now the sun goes down at lunchtime.  You think I'm kidding?

*Holly & Oldest Kiddo took a day trip to Paris.  It might be one of Oldest Kiddo's favorite days of our whole time in Europe.  

*The kids went to various birthday parties.

*Matt & Holly went to a taping of the Graham Norton Show, which is one of our absolute favorites.  

*Matt was gone from London only 8 days during the month.  That's not too bad.  

*The kiddos had a half-term break.  We split our time between seeing the city and movies on the couch in pajamas.  
*Holly saw the incredible Ai Weiwei exhibit at the Royal Academy 

*The kids trick or treated.  Halloween isn't observed by all households, but from the noise on the street past bed time the older kids loved it.  

*Oldest Kiddo continues to love middle school (weird).  She attends different clubs each day after school, such as art, drama, and orchestra.  

*Youngest Kiddo is obsessed with building everything with Lego.  He likes the prepackaged sets, but he's having a blast with creating his own ideas.  

A4 Update - September 2015

Now that a majority of the tourists have left London, the daily touring has resumed!

Oldest Kiddo started secondary school.  She looks quite smart in her new uniform.  I think she might be one of the few kids in the world that actually likes middle school.  She takes the city bus to and from school each day with heavy texting in the morning to coordinate bus times with friends.  Her school goes through high school so there are some really big kids in the lunch line; she was a bit disturbed that several of the boys sported a mustache.

Youngest Kiddo is now in Year 2 (1st grade in the US).  Since his sister leaves earlier, I have about 45 minutes of time with just him in the morning.  He still is not a fan of leaving his toys to catch the bus, but it's certainly less hectic with only one kid to get out the door.

While the weather is still nice we've ventured way out of our end of town.  The first journey was to Crystal Palace to see Waterhouse Hawkins' dinosaurs.  I've had this picture book for years, and I was happy that we could see them.

On another sunny Sunday the kids enjoyed the massive slides at Victoria Park.

Holly took another tour of Buckingham Palace, The Geffrye Museum, and The Ben Franklin House.

The final series of Downton Abbey started!  

A4 Update - August 2015

It's almost back to school time!!!

Two of our very best college friends visited us for a week!  We showed them just about all there is to see in London.  

Holly and the kids took a day trip to Brussels with another mom and her kids.  We did not do a ton, per se, but we saw the highlights and ate frites, waffles, and chocolate.  

Matt spent a few days in America, but not too many. 

Holly and the kids went to a production of Bugsy Malone.  My kids loved that children made up much of the cast.

Several sites from the must see list were seen: Kyoto Garden in Holland Park, Primrose Hill's view of the city, the houseboats of Regent's Canal, and the Magnum Ice Cream Pop Up shop in Covent Garden.  I'll let you guess which spot the kids loved the most.

We had a great picnic in Hyde Park with quality people watching.

Summer is just about over, but thankfully the weather has been great to be outside!  The month ended with a day trip to Cambridge.  

A4 Update - July 2015

Happy Summer!

The kids had their last day of school on 17 July.  That officially started #our48daysofsummer!!!!

Oldest Kiddo was one of the leads in the Year 6 production We Will Rock You!  She played a very sassy Scaramouche, and her hard work paid off as she rocked it for three shows!  The rest of the family is ready for a break from Queen songs for a while. 

On the last day of school we left for a get away to Northern Italy.  Matt used up all of his holiday time on our last trip to Italy, so he worked from our Airbnb home for the week.  No one said working from home had to be your own home.  The kids swam everyday, and everyone ate way too many carbs (if that is such a thing).

Matt was only in America four days for the second month in a row!

Holly and the kids watched Back to the Future at Royal Albert Hall with a live symphony.  Aside from the lack of air conditioning, we loved being inside the great building to watch one of our favorite movies.

Matt went to the Formula 1 race in Silverstone.  

Holly braved the queues to see the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum.  It was such an amazing show, and I hope it tours the world.  

August is set to be jam packed with fun while the sun is still shining into the evening hours.........  

A4 Update - June 2015

Yeah, yeah, I'm a little behind.

Oldest Kiddo went on a three day school trip.  She was completely wiped out from canoeing, climbing, abseiling (rappelling down a rockface), mountain biking, and a whole lot of friend time.  

Holly happily finished working on the school summer fair; it was a full time job for a while.  The school community had fun, and there was plenty of Pimms all around.  

The kids had a day off from school, and we left the city limits to pick strawberries.  

Matt's sister and her husband visited The Manor for a week, and it was brilliant to have them here.  Oldest Kiddo was sick for some of their visit which hindered our ability to tour with them.

London experienced summer with a heatwave of above 85 degrees.  When you don't have air conditioning, it's awful.  Thankfully it only lasted a few days and then we went back to the low 70s.  

Let's see what July brings!

A4 Update - May 2015

The days are getting longer!

The Colosseum in Rome 

Our friends from America finished up their visit the first few days of the month.  We sure loved having them stay with us. 

Oldest Kiddo celebrated her birthday with her friends on a guided Harry Potter walk of the city.  The guide was phenomenal, and my girl was so happy to act out a scene from the movie with him.  The video takes place at Leadenhall Market which doubles as Diagon Alley.  They are acting the scene where Harry asks Hagrid how he is to obtain all of the supplies for Hogwarts.  Listen closely for her British accent, it's adorable.  

The kids continue to be busy at school.  Oldest Kiddo's grade took their standardized tests, and she's happy they've ended.  The British schools sure spend a lot of time revising (British for reviewing) for the tests. She's pumped for a two-night outdoor trip in a few weeks.  Youngest Kiddo's reading is taking off, and he is still in love with Legos.      

  

The kids had a week off for the half-term break, and we spent the week in Florence & Rome.  Posts on that gorgeous trip are on the way.  Now we need to start planning for summer, which does not start until the middle of July for the kids.  

Matt and I have returned to finding ways to keep the sun from waking us when it peeks in our windows at 4:30am.  We sure don't complain when the daylight sticks around until almost 10pm.

Bring on the summer!

A4 Update - April 2015

April was filled with fun.

Both of our kids celebrated their birthdays. The small distance between their dates makes for a busy month. Thankfully they are easy to please; Oldest Kiddo was thrilled with books & clothes and Youngest Kiddo Legos, Legos, Legos.

Holly's sister & nephew visited for ten days around Easter. They got the full tour of London.  

After the family returned to 'Merica, we spent the last few days of the kids' Easter break in Berlin.

Matt was only gone one day this month, such a difference from last month's 15 days.  

The month rounded out with another set of visitors to the Manor from 'Merica.

Youngest Kiddo lost his two front teeth, but only one was available for the Tooth Fairy.  He swallowed the first one with his breakfast!

A4 Update - March 2015

Marching into Spring

Flowers are blooming everywhere!  Daffodils started popping up early in the month, and now crocus and hyacinth are wild in planting beds and open garden spaces.  

We had our neighbors over for lunch.  This was a huge step as it's really hard to make connections with your neighbors in London.

Holly planned a night out with some school mums that included seeing the musical Once and a fantastic post-theatre tapas dinner.

We got to spend time with visitors from America.  Holly's sister & nephew arrived at the end of the month for a 10-day visit.  Also, Holly's former principal was in town for spring break so they were able to meet up for a drink.

Oldest Kiddo received word that she has a place at our first choice secondary school in the fall.  The whole family is relieved since many of her primary school friends were also accepted to the same school.  

Holly stalked kept track of the public appearances of her friend, The Duchess of Cambridge.  The Duchess visited Downton Abbey at the studio where they film the downstairs scenes, and Holly happened to be free that morning to venture to the studio.  Katherine played it cool and didn't cause any jealousy by pretending that Holly wasn't there.  

Matt was in London for only fifteen days in the month of March!  He split his time across Denmark, Italy, Paris, Dublin, Canada, and of course America.  We've got a family holiday planned for April to make up for the lack of family time.    

The weather is almost warm enough to leave the house without a coat.  Almost.

More visitors to come next month!
  

A4 Update - February 2015

It snowed in London!  It was a laughable quantity, but the kids sure loved it.  

The family took a half-term trip to Dubai.  We've coined it as the holiday that really, really tried

Our landlord replaced our oven, which was very much appreciated.  The one we had took over forty minutes to preheat to 350.  The new one is ready in ten minutes.

Matt traveled half of the month with one of the trips back to 'Merica.

Oldest Kiddo started attending Saturday School at one of the local schools.  She gets to learn about a new topic each week.  So far she's learned about the solar system, German, the human body, Spanish, and Judaism.   

We did a kid swap with our friends so they could go out for a few hours without paying for a sitter.  We shall send our kiddos to them in a few weeks for our day out.  

Youngest Kiddo had a field trip to the Southbank & London Aquarium.  It was a culmination of their unit on buildings.  The kids loved seeing Parliament, The London Eye, Westminster Bridge, and riding the train into the city.

The days are starting to get longer, which is such a relief.  We can now make it home from school before the sun sets.  

A4 Update - January 2015

Happy 2015!

It took us longer than expected to get over the jet lag from our Christmas trip to 'Merica.  Matt had quite a difficult time as he had to return to NYC less than a week after returning from Christmas.   

Oldest Kiddo performed a short singing solo in her class assembly.  She was nervous, but she sang beautifully.  

Youngest Kiddo signed up for two clubs this term.  He is still in football (soccer in 'Merica) and chose Spanish Club.  Oldest Kiddo did not like any of the offerings this term so we spend the time without her brother at a cafe up on the High Road.  

I quit my job.

Matt was on a roll last weekend and booked the family in for a few trips.  If our time is up in December then we must use every term break for travel!  You'll be shocked with one of travel destinations.  Stay tuned!

We got snow!!!  Well, it was really sleet that accumulated on our patio table.   I caught a little video of the snow the next day.  So happy it did not stick around.  

The good news about the end of January?  The amount of daylight we receive in London increases dramatically.  That's good news since waking the kids up for school is no fun right now.  

A4 Update - December 2014

Farewell to 2014!  December was all about Christmas....

• Our family took a chilly walk through Kew Gardens to admire the Christmas lights display.
• The kids had their Christmas programs at school, and Holly helped put on an amazing outdoor Christmas Fair with the PTA. 
• We traveled back to America for two weeks to celebrate the holidays with our families and friends.  
• Matt and I snuck away from the cold holiday festivities to spend five days in Cancun

A4 Update - November 2014

Happy One Year in London!

Us at the Tower Bridge

• We made it to the one year mark on the 14th.  Happy to say that one year in everyone is happy and healthy.  We are so thankful for all that we've seen and done in this year.  
• The kids had a half-term break at school.  We spent the week touring far and wide around London.  
• Holly picked poppies at The Tower of London.
• Thanksgiving was a non-event at our house.  It was just Thursday in Britain; the kids had school and Matt worked.  We made a big batch of baked ziti over that weekend so we could experience a food coma.    
• Matt spent a few days back in 'Merica.  He packed in visits with family, attended a colleague's wedding, and even squeezed in a bit of work.  Of course he found time to stop at Trader Joe's and Target for some essentials.  And by essentials I mean TJ's pumpkin bread mix and M&Ms.
• At the end of the month, Holly took a day trip to Paris with two mums from school.  We took a 7:01 train from St. Pancras and a 10:15pm train back home.  We walked, walked, ate, and walked.  
• London is starting to look like Christmas.  We took a Christmas lights walk on the last Saturday of the month.  The different streets sure put on a good show.  

A4 Update - October 2014

October was the most tame month we've had since moving here!

• The first few days of the month spent with Nana as she wrapped up her visit.
• Matt & Holly spent a weekend in Stockholm Sweden.
• Holly volunteered for two of Oldest Kiddo's school trips to the Victoria & Albert Museum and the British Museum.  Taking 20 kids on the Underground is exhausting.  
• The kids had their autumn half term break, and we kept the kids busy!

A4 Update - September 2014

We said goodbye to summer this month.

• The Kiddos returned to school at the beginning of September.  Oldest Kiddo gets to wear a tie with her uniform.
• Holly visited Buckingham Palace during the summer opening, and it was more spectacular than you could imagine.
• There was a spider invasion in London.  All windows were sprayed several times to discourage their entry into The Manor.  One got in, and I nearly had a heart attack.  
• The Duchess is going to have another baby!!!
• Nana visited for a few weeks.  We saw The Book of Mormon, visited many palaces (we visited all but Kew), went to Paris (!), and revisited the big tourist locations.