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!

A Perfect Day in London - A New Series!

This spring the Manor is booked with many guests, and we could not be happier.  In preparation for our guests I've begun thinking about where I'd like to take them in the city.  That spurred a new idea for a new series on the blog - A Perfect Day in London.  

In the next few months I'll share some day touring plans that you can use straight away.  Some of the places you'll recognize, and some will be completely new to you.  If I know a good spot to grab a snack or meal along the way I will certainly share those, too.  

Be assured that the I'm cognizant of admission prices since costs can add up fast.  Some of my best days out are the ones that only cost a ride on the Underground and a latte along the way.  If you like what you read when the first one launches next Tuesday let me know, and I will share more Perfect Days in London.  

Every day can be a Perfect Day in London as long as you are prepared.  Always have a collapsible umbrella in your bag. No matter the weather, dress in layers.  The shade-filled streets and parks can be significantly cooler than the sunny sidewalks.

I Went on an Internet Date

Yes, you read that right.  I went on an internet date.  I am still married.  I’m not cheating on my husband.  He knows all about her and likes her.  He even thinks her family is pretty awesome, too!  

I met her through Instagram's explore photos feature.  I randomly clicked on a London photo on my screen, and the caption immediately drew me in.  The gal had recently moved to London, and her captions rang true of our expat adventure.  She wrote of their plight of living in a temporary apartment with kids, needing to find a house, and needing to get the kids in school.  Those dilemmas sure sounded familiar to me so I followed her feed.  As I continued to follow along with their expat adventure, I messaged her my email address to say I had just gone through the same things, and if she ever wanted help or a sounding board to let me know. 

I did not hear anything for a while as she was busy doing all of the things above (and more).  Not wanting to be an internet stalker, but I continued to follow their expat adventure.  Just a few days later she sent me a message with a nice greeting and wasted no time getting to many of the same questions and face-palm moments I had just a few months earlier.  We swapped a few emails, and after they settled into their house & got the kids in school we made a date to meet.  

That was quite an out of the box moment for me.  I was to travel to an area of town I'd never been to meet someone I befriended on the internet.  No surprise, my husband was weirded out by the whole situation.  He texted me several times during lunch to make sure I had not put myself into a dangerous situation.  

I was only nervous that lunch would be awkward if our true life personalities were not compatible for conversations longer than a three sentence Instagram caption.

It was all good.  While she has a much more exciting & adventurous back story than my little family, we easily made conversation about all things moving to London and family.  We continued to email and text through until the October half-term break when our families had the chance to meet.  We met up for an afternoon at the observation deck at The Shard.  After introductions we became engrossed in the amazing view despite the rain.  
  

Then something spectacular happened.....  

Her girl and my girl started talking, and they did not stop.  At times they talked simultaneously, but neither one cared.  It was absolutely adorable.  The rain really bummed us out so we decided to drown our sorrows in lunch at Covent Garden.  Once we sat down, the adults finally had a chance to talk.  Again, insert the concern for awkward conversation if Matt and her husband could find nothing to talk about.  Turns out the men have some similar job experiences that made conversation easy for them, too!  It was all good.  

So that's the story of my internet date.  In the months since our first meetings, we've gone out several more times with and without the children, and our girls have had a playdate.  They even text every once in a while.  We have big plans for the winter term to find and devour some of the best pastries in London while exploring the architecture and history of the city.  

I'm so happy that I took the chance to use my limited expat expertise to help someone else in the same situation.  The bonus of it all is that our family now has new friends in London.  I'll keep you abreast of the pastry hunt.  

Half Term In London - Touring Tuesday

One thing I really like about British schools is the half-term break.  I suppose I never grew out of the "how many days until the next vacation" countdowns.  Even as a teacher I secretly knew how many days it was until the next day off or better yet week off.  

In Britain the kids get at least a week off during each term (autumn, spring, and summer).  They get almost two weeks off around Easter.  While some of our American friends might be jealous of this time off, you must remember that we only had 41 days of a summer break.  Now, the difficult part of managing this time off is that the entire country has a week off for half term as well.  Hotel and airfare prices reflect this.  Unfair?  Yes, however there is nothing we can do about it.

Matt's work schedule did not allow for him to take time off this half term, so our options were a little different.  I am game for taking my kids on unknown adventures, but I was not interested in navigating a new country & language alone.  So I decided to take the kids on adventures in London.  This October half term was blessed with the most amazing weather.  We debated pulling our or shorts one day, but we resisted.  

Our school decided to tack two institute days on the end of half term so we benefitted from extra days on our break.  All in we had 11 days of togetherness.

Saturday - Youngest Kiddo attended a birthday party for a classmate.  I was happy to attend with him so I could catch up with some of my mum friends from school.  After the party we met Matt & Oldest Kiddo at the mall for some good old 'Merican Five Guys burgers and free flowing Coca-Cola.

Sunday - Our clocks fell back one hour last night so everyone was up and ready to go this morning.  Well after our weekly pain au chocolat that is.  Matt and Oldest Kiddo went out for some together time to Covent Garden while I hung at home with Youngest Kiddo.

Monday - The kids and I ventured far out of our west London confines to the Horniman Museum out in the south east end of town.  I've had this museum on my list for quite some time.  The museum's must see is the over stuffed walrus.  The taxidermist who stuffed the walrus did not know that the species is naturally wrinkly and he filled it to the brim with whatever taxidermists use to stuff animals.  If you did not know that the walrus was overstuffed, it would not really stand out to you, but it was funny to see.  This museum also had an aquarium for an additional small fee.  Besides the walrus, our favorite part of the museum was the gardens.  The Horniman Museum has an edible garden, medicinal garden, fields for running, a sound garden, and great views of the city.  

I don't want to hang out with this guy

Tuesday - The warm weather continued on Tuesday, and we took another trek out of west London to Greenwich.  The boy was thrilled to take the DLR on our journey.  In February we visited this borough and marveled at the Prime Meridian. Today we visited the free Maritime Museum and ate falafel & empanadas from the market food stalls on benches by the River Thames.  

 

Wednesday - Rain was in the forecast for the entire day so it was a good time to go to the cinema (British for the movies).  Plus I think the kids were worn out from all the walking on Monday & Tuesday.  We decided to partake in the cinema's £1.75 feature of How to Train Your Dragon 2.  We'd seen it before so no one minded that the theatre was full of crying babies and wandering toddlers.  After the movie the kids picked out some new fall clothes as the weather will change to dark, cloudy, and rainy before we know it.    

Thursday - Big kudos to Matt for stumbling across the free pumpkin carving at Kings Cross Station.  The station created an installation of 3,000 carved pumpkins to be lit on the terraced stairs by the canal.  The kids each chose a huge pumpkin and created their design.  I have to say that this was the best way to carve a pumpkin since the mess was not at my house.  I was surprised that Youngest Kiddo wasn't upset that we did not bring his pumpkin home.  Some of the pumpkins on display were very creative.

Friday - This was another low key day as Youngest Kiddo was in a foul mood.  After lunch he'd perked up enough to take the bus to run a few errands.  He was really excited when we ran into one of the teaching assistants from his former class.  The kids did not trick or treat as they really did not care either way about going.  Plus, there was only a handful of houses on our street that participated.  Truthfully, I did not feel comfortable taking them to get candy from people we don't know.  Back at The 407 we knew what houses to visit and which ones to skip.  Both kiddos were happy with the candy I bought at the store for them.  

Saturday - I found a source for, what I hope will be, quality tortillas and salsa.  The shop is located near the Portobello Road Market.  As we had never visited the market, today's sunshine was the perfect reason for a detour.  Whoa.  The streets were crazy packed.  With both kids in tow it was not a pleasant experience.  Maybe the market was busy because of half term or the gorgeous weather brought people out of the woodwork, but it wasn't what I thought it would be.  It's nothing like Hugh Grant showed us in Notting Hill.  I'll give it another go in a few weeks just in case our first go was an anomaly.  On Saturday night, we left the kids home with a babysitter for a little shopping and a little wine with a kid-free dinner.

   
Sunday - Again, kudos to Matt for finding free kids admission for the observation deck of The Shard.  This skyscraper is the place for an amazing view of London.  The typical admission (£24.95/adult and £18.95/kid) is out of my comfort zone for what you are really getting, but free kids admission was worth it.  Unfortunately it was a rainy morning and the rain drops messed with the camera's ability to focus.  We rounded off our outing with burgers, cheese fries, and shakes from Shake Shack at Covent Garden.

Monday - Most of the London schools went back today, but we still have two bonus teacher institute days.  I think days of go-go-go finally took their toll on all of us.  Youngest Kiddo slept until 9:30!  The rain falling on the windows and the visible breath of the neighbors walking by did not encourage motivation to get outside. Instead, we decided to don comfy clothes, play Legos, drink hot chocolate, and watch a movie.  

Tuesday - On our last day of half term, we spent a few hours at the Natural History Museum.  The kids' last visit here was on a weekend with every other family in London.  Today, they experienced the exhibits without queues for the dinosaurs or masses of prams (British for stroller).

We had an errand to run down near Knightsbridge Station, so we walked down to Harrod's to see their Christmas display.  Not as posh as I expected, but maybe I missed something in the store's labyrinth of rooms.  Oldest Kiddo was excited to see the Paddington Bear outside of the store that was designed by Emma Watson (you know her as Herminone Granger of Harry Potter).  

We made it back home just before the rain started.  We will make bangers & mash for dinner so the kids have full bellies for a good night's sleep.  Back to school tomorrow!

You Never Know Who You'll Meet - Touring Tuesday

Long time readers will remember that Youngest Kiddo loves transportation.  When we ascended from the metro into the heart of Lisbon he saw the 28 Tram.  He immediately knew what he wanted to do on his holiday.  

The 28 Tram is a popular attraction in the city for good reason.  Its route takes riders past many major sites.  Each time we saw the tram it was jammed with people, so we were reluctant to get on not knowing if we'd be sardined in a group of pickpockets (always my fear) or if we'd get lucky and find a seat.  

Youngest Kiddo waited quite patiently until day two for a ride on the 28 Tram.  Matt thought it would be best if our ride started where the route started for the best chance of getting a seat.

We were not the only ones with this idea.  

The shelter was full of people and the queue began to snake down the sidewalk.  We were committed to ride and stood in line.

After a few minutes the couple in front of us recognized our accent and struck up a conversation.  Over the next hour wait for the tram, we proceeded to talk, and talk, and talk.  

It turned out that we had many things to talk about.  The Californian couple (D&S we will call them) were in Lisbon as part of an anniversary cruise.  At that time they were a bit out of sorts as their luggage had not arrived on their flight.  We felt some compassion for them as it is no fun to wear the same clothes for 24+ hours.  They made the best of the situation and got out into the city.  D&S entertained our kids (and us) with games and stories about their many years of marriage and grandchildren.

When we finally made our way onto the tram, we found spots to sit near each other.  As predicted, the tram became uncomfortably jammed with people.  I held my purse super close and tried to get the man in the photo below to stop speaking to me in Portuguese even after saying, "No Português."  The only words I could understand from him were, "Charles & Camilla."  He had a sour face and made a thumbs down when he said their names over and over.  Apparently he's not a fan.  

Before we morphed to sardines

Eventually Matt and the kids ended up near D&S, and they got to talk for the duration of the ride.  When we reached the termination, we parted ways with an added wish for the expedient return of their luggage.  For such a short time together, we sure had a good time.

A few days later we took a walk down the Avendia de Liberdade toward Parque Eduardo VII.  We chuckled as the kids continued to play the games they learned from D&S while walking among the über fancy shops.  Oldest Kiddo had just mentioned how nice D&S were for showing her the game they were playing.

 

Just a few short minutes later, who do we see walking the toward us on the Avendia de Liberdade?  Yes, D&S.

I'm not kidding.

They were doing a quick bit of shopping because S's luggage arrived, but D's luggage was still missing.  Their cruise ship was scheduled to leave that day, and he could not get on the ship without some clothes to wear.  It was a super short chat, but it was a lovely surprise.  

In the months that have passed D&S creep into conversation now and again.  Mostly wondering if D's luggage ever showed up :)

A4 Update - August 2014

Our #41daysofsummer are almost at the end.  I think we hit it out of the park with the places we saw.

Up a reeeeeaalllly big hill in Lisbon on the hottest day, ever

• The family took a ten-day holiday to Lisbon & Barcelona.  Watch for those posts soon; they are two gorgeous cities. 
• We played tourist in our own city to get use out of our Historic Royal Palaces membership with trips to Kensington Palace,  The Banqueting House, and Tower of London. 
• We also made visits to The Royal Mews, The Museum of London, and a night outing in the gardens by Parliament to see the WWI centenary light display.
• Matt and Oldest Kiddo went to the theatre to see Let It Be.
• On the last day of the month we rented a car to go to Stonehenge.  On the way we detoured to Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey) to have lunch on the South Lawn.
• A little school uniform shopping happened at the end of the month so the kiddos were ready for school in September!

Amazing Kids Travel Book For Barcelona

Traveling with kids requires a fine balance.  The adults want to see museums and cathedrals, while the children want to play at the parks & swim at the hotel pool.  

Oldest Kiddo is at the age where she can assist in the vacation planning.  I am not about to give her the most recent Frommer's Barcelona and ask her to plan out an itinerary.  I sought out blogs and websites with ideas for kids.  Let me tell you a secret.  Much like all souvenir shops sell the same thing, most cities list the same things for kids: the zoo, the aquarium, and the children's' museum.  For us, those are usually reserved as a last resort.  However, the NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam was phenomenal.  

For this trip I found an amazing book that Oldest Kiddo loved.  

Book at amazon.com

Book at amazon.co.uk

Not affiliate links

The book is broken up by area with specific tasks listed.  She had to find fountains, plaques, and different pieces of architecture.  She was engaged on all of our walks around the city.  To be honest, her excitement about the book transferred to us.  We got excited each time one of us spotted what the task asked.

Another great thing about the tasks was that everything was not easy to find.  Some items were off in the distance that we had to search via a lookout point, or  we had to look extremely close at a piece of architecture for one little design.  One item that eluded us was discovered through the window of the office at our rented apartment.  

Sometimes we had to tell her to put the book away.  

The author also has a book for Paris & Rome, so check them out if you are taking the family on a trip!

The 4th of July in London

It was just a regular Friday to most Londoners.  

But to us it was a very patriotic holiday.

We were determined to celebrate the 4th in London, even if fireworks were out of the question.  An American family from the Chicago suburbs recently enrolled at our school, and we've become fast friends.  So there was no question who we'd invite over to celebrate the 4th.

The kids had school on Friday as it was just a regular day to the rest of the country.  As we walked out of the playground, one of the moms asked about the weekend's plans.  

"We are having a little 4th of July BBQ this afternoon," I shared.

"Oh, that's right.  Today is your big day!" the mom laughed.

"Is the 4th a sticky topic to discuss?" I joked.

"Oh, no," she said, "we'll let you have your freedom," the other moms chuckled.

We did our best to have a traditional 4th of July BBQ.  I decorated with streamers since there were no American flags to be found at the party shop.  Matt fired up the Weber to grill burgers and hotdogs.  The thing I missed the most was potato salad.  We ended the meal with apple pie & ice cream.  

The ultimate test of a good celebration?  The kids passed out at the end of the night.