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.

When Life Gives You Lemons

Sometimes you would rather suck on them than make lemonade.  That's the mood I've been in lately because the family is set to move back to America in December.  

Matt's two-year contract will not be extended as we really, really hoped.  The reason for no extension stems back to a company merger nine months ago.  That left a surplus of employees in Europe and a shortfall for help in America.  On the plus side America needs more people, and my guy is just who they need.  

Hang with me while I be selfish for our family for a moment.

Selfish Point #1 - We love living in London.  The city setting works well for our family; public transportation and delivery services keep our no car family running day to day.  Come on, the history that we walk by every day constantly awes us.  On the walk to school alone we pass by several WWII bomb sites, and our house is well over 100 years old.  When you visit places around the city to realize that many of the buildings are over 600 years old, it becomes apparent that America is just getting started.  

Selfish Point #2 - It took us a long time to get The Manor to feel like our home; rented accommodations are never near as inviting & cozy when you can't really make it your own.  White walls and subpar appliances aren't my cuppa.  The Manor finally started to feel like a home in March of this year - that's sixteen months.  

Selfish Point #3 - Leaving friends is never easy.  Upon moving into The Manor, we quickly found out that it was extremely hard to make friends as adults.  The neighbors are polite, and we only hit it off with a few.  We created a quality support system with the families at school, which was a life saver on so many occasions. I also have an amazing friend that I met through Instagram who became my partner in city touring shenanigans.  Our girls became good friends in the last year, too.    

Selfish Point #4 - Oldest Kiddo started middle school in September, and we hoped that we could stay through the end of the school year.  You remember middle school, right?  The most awkward time of your life.  We want to make sure her transition from UK schools back to a US schools is as smooth as we can make it.  It won't be perfect, but we'll try darn hard to make it so.

Selfish Point #5 - The biggest reason I have to be a sourpuss - We are not done here!!!  A UK home base facilitates travel to Europe with short, and often cheap flights.  Yes, we've traveled to a lot of stupendous places: Amsterdam, Rome, Paris, Brussels, Dubai, Berlin, Italian Lakes, Florence, Stockholm, Barcelona, Lisbon.  There are so many more places we want to see!  We will squeeze in one or two quick trips before we repatriate, but there are so many things to get done before that can happen.  Yes, yes this is a first world problem.  

As I've gone through the stages of grieving our pending change, I also have to remember that it's not about me.  Matt's job brought this opportunity to our family, and we have to do what's right for the family.  If the next stage in his career happens to be in America, then that's where we go.

Now that I'm ready to make the lemonade, there are several things to which we look forward.  First we get to decide where we will live.  If you recall, we sold The 407 in the Chicago suburbs so we can live wherever we choose.  The only thing we need in our new town is easy access to an airport for Matt's work travel.  There are several things that would be nice, such as little or no snow.  We've started researching houses in different cities to see what our dollar will buy.

Positive Point #1 - We will be back near our family and friends (somewhat).  Regardless of where we decide to move, our family will be closer to us than to London Manor.  Despite the amazing things we've seen and done in London, it's been hard being away from our families.  We've missed holidays, birthdays, and simple weekend picnics.  Sadly, we've said good bye to three very close family members in our time here.  On the other hand, we've happily hosted several guests at The Manor and shown them the city that we love.

Positive Point #2 - A move back to America presents opportunities to show our kids more of their home country.  Although the ease of travel to Europe greatly diminishes when we return, that won't stop us from returning when we can! 

Positive Point #3 - It sounds cheeky, but I so look forward to proper pizza & Mexican food.  London just doesn't understand the fine points of a quality taco or salsa.  Although I've gotten quite good at making my own.  

Send good thoughts our way for a smooth transition back to 'Merica.  

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.  

Whirlwind Week in London - Touring Tuesday

The Manor was host to two of our very good college friends for a week.  They'd never been across the ocean before, so they were up for anything!

We did not spend hours in any one place.  I tried to take them in for the highlights so they could get a flavor for all that London has to offer.  I had to keep track of time to return to our borough to retrieve Youngest Kiddo, so you could actually spend more time at the venues if you so choose.  I think our itinerary proves that you can just about see it all in one week (I listed the day's starting tube station in case you want to try our itinerary).

Sunday - arrival day Tube: Westminster

Pick up at Heathrow
Lunch at home
Westminster sights (Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, London Eye, River Thames)
Walk Whitehall to Trafalgar
Walk Trafalgar to Covent Garden & Seven Dials
Pub in Covent Garden 

We created a loose plan for the day since we had no idea how much (or little) sleep they had on the flight.  Luckily they had a few hours and were game to get out into the city.  I think the Westminster area is a great first stop because you see so many iconic structures in one spot.  A few drinks in the pub was a nice way to end their first day.    

Monday - Tube: Knightsbridge

Harrods

Victoria & Albert Museum

Natural History Museum

Walk to Kensington Gardens (see Royal Albert Hall & Albert Memorial)

Tour Kensington Palace

We chose to spend some time in Knightsbridge & South Kensington for their first full day of touring.  I thought it would be best to start at Harrods right at opening to walk the food halls, see the Egyptian staircase, and handbag department before the other tourists even finished their coffee.  The architecture in many of the museums is part of the charm.  The main lobby of the Natural History Museum is beyond gorgeous.  We had to queue outside the museum for about 20 minutes, but that gave us the chance to see all of the different tiles, gargoyles, and motifs on the building.  

Tuesday - Tube: Green Park

Changing of the Guard

Take away Pret sandwiches in Trafalgar Square

Tour Buckingham Palace

As much as I love the royals, the Changing of the Guard is not actually something you need to do.  Prior viewings had a well choreographed entrance of the fresh guard and an amusing concert with everyone's favorite God Save the Queen (also known as My Country Tis of Thee for the Americans out there).  Sometimes they throw in a contemporary tune or even the James Bond theme.  This particular day was uncharacteristically abysmal.  The band played sporadically, and it was just a big let down.  So we chose to waste no more time on that.  However, we did get a great view of the outgoing guard as they followed us down The Mall toward Trafalgar Square.  The highlight of the day was the summer opening of the Buckingham Palace State Rooms.  This year's theme had the ballroom set up for a state banquet; I'd sure like to be invited to one of those!

Wednesday - Tube: Kings Cross

Walk through Kings Cross & St. Pancras Stations to see the architecture & Platform 9 3/4
Camden Market (big thumbs down)

Walk to Primrose Hill and pass by Regent's Canal (big thumbs up!)

Piccadilly Circus to see favorite shops (Liberty, Fortnum & Mason, etc)
Self-guided pub crawl thanks to Yelp recommendations

I never get up to North London during the week because it's not the easiest to get there and back in time to pick the kiddos up from school.  So I was happy that the guests wanted to see that part of town.  Primrose Hill's view of the city is worth the gluteus maximus work out to get to the top.  Skip Camden Market and go for the fun shops off Piccadilly & Regent Streets.

Thursday - Tube: Monument
View The Monument (climb the 311 steps if you feel adventurous)

Tour Sky Garden (prebook your FREE tickets)

Leadenhall Market (Diagon Alley scenes from Harry Potter movies)
Borough Market 
British Museum

The Sky Garden at 20 Fenchurch Street is one of my favorite spots in the city (tickets are FREE, but you must prebook your time slot).  I highly recommend this over the London Eye due to cost and ambiance.  Then we walked to nearby Borough Market to see its lovely, historic food market with many diverse food options.  Be sure you bring cash if you go as not many stalls take cards.  We ended our day at the British Museum for my favorite must see items: Elgin Marbles (George Clooney's wife is trying to help get these returned to Greece), Egyptian Mummies, and the Room of Enlightenment.     

Friday- Tube: Tower Hill

Tower of London
Tower Bridge
Walk across Tower Bridge to St. Paul's
Pub in Richmond for dinner without the kids

We sent our guests to tour the Tower of London and met them for lunch at Wagamama Tower Hill.  Our walk from the Tower Bridge down to the Tate Modern gave a great view of the city.  Please admire the great view of St. Paul's before you cross the Millennium Bridge.  Since we spent so much time in the city during the week, we picked a pub out in Richmond for dinner so they could see another facet of Greater London.  

Saturday - Tube: Hammersmith

Fish & Chips @ Kerbisher & Malt

Bishop's Park for playtime and see and hear the Fulham stadium crowd

home for Pimms and dinner

Our guests' final day in London was certainly less eventful than the previous days.  We went for lunch at our favorite chippy (British for fish & chip shop), and ended the day with a stop at a park on the river.  Everyone took a turn playing on the equipment (although the adults realized that spinning rides aren't for us anymore) amidst the sounds of the nearby crowd as Fulham played Brighton and Hove Albion.  We spent the rest of the evening at home, eating, drinking Pimms, and laughing with our friends one last time. 

Then the week was over.  Their cab arrived at 5:30 Sunday morning to usher them back to Chicago.  It was a memorable week that I know none of us will forget.
  
What didn't we do?  I know it seems impossible that we missed anything.  Here's what I'd add with a few more days:
*West End show - There are always great shows in London, but I just never get around to booking tickets.
*National Gallery - Ran out of time
*River Thames boat ride - Ran out of time
*Afternoon Tea - I could have made it work, but I still can't stomach the £35+ per person at a proper spot for tiny sandwiches and a few bites of cake.  Yes there are cheaper options, but I feel you have to do this right or not at all.  
*A picnic in the park - The sun really never came out to make this a worthwhile event.  Sunny picnics in the park have the best people watching.  
*London Eye - Skipped this on purpose because the Sky Garden is free and they have snacks!

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!

Paris Times Deux - Touring Tuesday

Last fall I had the pleasure of going to Paris. 

Twice.

The two-hour Eurostar train ride from London's St. Pancras Station couldn't be easier.  If you book your ticket well in advance, you can get a round trip for £79 ($120).  Another bonus to the Eurostar is that when you disembark from the train at Gare du Nord Station, you are already in Paris and can get started with your touring immediately.  If you fly it can take well over an hour from Charles de Gaulle Airport to get into Paris via public transport.  No one has time for that on a short visit.

The first of my trips to Paris was with my mom.  She was planning to visit Paris with some of her friends, but unfortunately that trip fell through.  So Matt knew that she'd appreciate a short side trip when she came for a visit in September.  He booked us for one night at a hotel close by the Arc de Triomphe.  The goals of our trip consisted seeing as many iconic structures as our feet could handle and eat along the way.  We lucked out with gorgeous weather.  With our limited time we only went into the Musée d'Orsay, and I am so glad we did.  The museum is a beautiful old train station, and the art is gorgeous.  We liked the place so much we decided to have lunch in the cafe, and it was delicious.  

It may appear that a majority of our caloric intake was from sugar, but we did have four square meals while in Paris.  Breakfast in the hotel was standard European pastries, muesli, coffee, and fruit. One lunch was at a terrible cafe a few blocks off the Champs Élysées, but dinner completely made up for it.  We ate at a little place where we could see the chef cooking our meal and practically licked our plates. 

I can't share mom's trip to Paris without showing you this scary van.  Stay away children, stay away.

The second visit to Paris was with two mums (that's British for moms) from school.  This trip was planned for the first weekend in December.  It's not the most ideal time to go, but we were willing to take our chances with the weather.

The thing that was different about this trip........we went to Paris for the day.  

We left on the 6:30AM train and returned on the 10:30PM.  We did not tour any museums, but we sure saw a lot of beautiful spots.  Even though it was the first Friday in December, not all of the trees had dropped their leaves.

Notre Dame is a stunning building.  The bridges covered in locks are not as stunning.  I think the concept is a smidge overdone, but that's my opinion.  

The Christmas market was up and running along the Champs Élysées, and we made a pit stop for a glass of champagne.  It gave us enough buzz to keep walking to get to the  Eiffel Tower.  Once we made it to the spot in the photo above, our feet refused to move much further.  We hopped on the Metro in search of dinner.   

One of the moms talked to the French man sitting with us on the train to tell us where we should eat.  At first he thought she was joking, but when she wouldn't drop the subject he gave us a few places he liked.  It did not cross our minds that the places he recommended would not open until 8PM so that did not work for us to make our return train.  We stumbled across a restaurant that made us all happy, and our feet thanked us for the short respite.  

Our ride back to London was significantly quieter than our ride into Paris, but we made the most out of our few hours.    

Would I go back to Paris?  Oui.
Would I do a day trip again? Oui.

As if you needed another reason to why Europe is great.