Actually moving in

This morning we decided that it would be best for us to take a bus down to a couple of furniture stores to check out what’s out there before we go to IKEA tomorrow.  We found a place in Balham that has pretty decent pine furniture for a pretty good price.  We are probably going to buy that but we want to see what else is out there first. 

After checking out a couple of places we went back to corporate housing to pack up and move out.  It took much longer than I thought it would.  How much work should it be?  We only brought 9 bags.  Well, Mark was right.  It took us hours to pack everything up.  We had completely unpacked everything and we had acquired all kinds of new stuff since we moved in.  I’m glad that Mark insisted we give ourselves extra time because if it was up to me we would have had to fill a cab with a bunch of grocery bags full of odds and ends. 

We also used the time to take advantage of our last bit of internet time to try to get the internet setup.  Apparently there are all sorts of hoops to jump through to get wifi set up.  You have to know the phone number at the house and you have to wait for two weeks for someone to come over and set everything up.  SO… I will be without internet for a while and of course we’ll have no tv (or should I say tele).  Taking advantage of internet access proved to just highlight the pain of not having internet down here. 

Since we didn’t use the time on the internet ordering groceries to be delivered today we have none to speak of in the house so we went on a walk to find something to eat and happened upon a Nepalese restaurant.  I had never had Nepalese food but the menu looked great so we checked it out.  Oh my… I LOVE Nepalese food.  Since I’m terrible with geography (sorry Mom), I didn’t realize how close Nepal is to India.  The food is similar and quite delicious.  I can’t wait to go back.

Tonight will be the first night in our new house.  I am already noticing things about this house that I didn’t notice when we walked through.  The windows are all single pain and there are big gaps where lots of air comes through.  Luckily it’s not cold yet so it won’t be too bad, but winter might be a little crazy.  No wonder the previous tenant had a hot water bottle next to the bed!  I also noticed that the door to the cellar (basement) doesn’t open very easily at all.  You have to wiggle and wrestle with the skeleton key to get it open.  It has gotten a bit on my nerves, but can imagine it to be crazy later if we don’t figure out a trick. 

After sleeping here we’ll see what we think.

Moving Day

I know what you're thinking...




Our new place couldn't possibly have lived up to the ridiculously high expectations that I had going into our move.




You're absolutely right.  Almsot everything about the experience today was disappointing.

The movers showed up 2 hours late because they had issues with their brakes, so while we were waiting in an empty house with no toilet paper, handsoap, drinking water, internet or toys for Vivian I had time to explore things like: how solid the windows are (answer not at all solid in any way), do the doors actually close (eventually after much maneuvering) , how many boards in the floors squeak (not just squeak but actually sink on one side and raise on the other like a see-saw) when you step on them.

When the movers arrived I was still relatively optimistic until they finished bringing in the boxes and said, "So, do you want any help unpacking?"  I don't mean to be a spoiled princess, but when we are paying (OK, we're not but someone is) about $8,000 for an international move and they state in the contract that they pack AND UNPACK you my expectations are set a certain way.  Now, there are some extenuating circumstances here: we have NO furniture to unpack into.  We brought two arm chairs with ottomans which will not really fit anywhere comfortably and one tiny dresser which almost doesn't count.  That being said, I still feel like we packed WAY TOO MUCH.  When our kitchen stuff was being unwrapped (by Mark, me, and the movers) I was thinking, "Seriously?  We need this many mixing bowls?"  We have been living in corporate housing with exactly zero mixing bowls and we're still doing pretty well.  Now that we have six I should really be mixing A LOT of stuff or I'm just going to feel silly.

The guys who were here to move and unpack us made it seem like we were asking the world of them to unpack us so we just told them to leave once we verified that none of our valuables were damaged.  I felt silly asking them to stay and do what we thought they were supposed to do.  It turns out that they were supposed to do exactly what I thought they were supposed to do.  An unpack should take an entire day.  The container didn't arrive until 11:10 a.m. and they were gone by 2:15.  That is most definitely not an entire day of work!

I freaked out several times during the day.  I cried because I felt so silly that I thought this place was heaven on Earth and it turns out to just be a normal old house with character and a cherry tree in the back.

Last night I was explaining to Mark how I was feeling.  This house isn't just a place to live for the next 12 months.  It's almost everything I have to be excited about.  Of course I have Vivian and Mark, but I know them.  This place is new.  I can organize it, decorate it, explore it.  I don't have anything else like that here (that I don't have to leave by noon in order to get Viv down for her nap).  I don't have any adults to talk to after the match last night.  I don't have any adults to talk to about how crazy it is that there is so much heavy metal currency (coinage) in the UK.  I don't have any adults to talk to about anything... ever.  Except if I brought my club card with me to buy groceries... and NO... I do not have a club card.  Mark gets to laugh with his coworkers about how to find babysitters, what to do with change and where to find a good pint when you have kids.  I have NOTHING.  NO ONE.  Except Mark, and luckily he talks to me and has people who are nice and friendly and apparently like him quite a bit.  Someday I'll probably be in that situation, but realistically it might take me an entire year to be able to have a casual conversation like that with someone.  Luckily I have a kid which will help me meet people, but it's nothing like having your desk right next to someone else - who happens to be British.

We are back in corporate housing tonight.  We decided that rather than sleep on an air mattress in a room full of wardrobe boxes because we don't have anywhere to hang clothes (no closets so we have to buy wardrobes) in a house with no tv or internet connection we would just come "home" to corporate housing where at least we know what to do.

At one point today I told Mark that I just really miss our house in Oak Park.  At least there we have a place for everything.  The doors don't squeak or get caught on the carpeting.  We can peak in on Vivi while she's sleeping without causing a huge disturbance and the cabinets in the kitchen were built for short people instead of giants.  I cried when I said that (not the thing about the giants... the thing about missing our house in Oak Park).  Let's be honest.  I never wanted to move.  I loved our house.  I loved our life.  I love the park, the yard, the community, the potential.  I loved everything about it.  I still love our dear friends.  London is an adventure that I know will be good for us in ways that are sometimes painful, but at the moment when I was standing in the kitchen crying, I just really wanted to be "home."

This is the absolute opposite of how I expected to feel today, which is what makes it even harder.  If I had mentally prepared for the disappointment of moving into the house that I was so excited about it might not have been so difficult, but alas, I did not prepare myself correctly.

Now, we're going to bed.  We're going to sleep until we wake up (let's be honest, until Vivi wakes us up) and then we're going to move our 9+ suitcases down to our new home, go furniture shopping so we have someplace to put all of our stuff and pick up the crib (called a cot here) that I bought off Gumtree (basically craigslist)... oh and keep unpacking.  Should be a pretty laid-back day...

...And just to comment on Vivian.  I think today was the best day of her life.  We unpacked all of these toys that I don't think she had been actively missing but was thrilled to see again.  She played happily for hours in her new room with all of the stuff we unpacked.  We finally got her down for her nap an hour late but she was up 90 minutes later.  I think she's going to be quite happy with a real house from here on out!

Walk-through!

(Formatting issues with this post... I'll work on it later)  Today Vivian and I went down to Balham for "inventory" which is basically a walk-through prior to us moving in.  The clerk who did the inventory was named Kelvin and he was incredibly thorough.  It makes me realized that we need to be really careful so that we don't get dinged when we move out.  He noted in his 100 page document that there was hair in the plug hole of the bathroom sink.  Glad he's looking out for us!

Fireplace in the guest room

Fireplace in the master bedroom

The window shade in Vivi's bedroom

My view out to the garden while I 'm cooking

My view while I wash dishes

After going down there yesterday I am even more excited!  We walked through the house which was better than I remember it.  The doors are really heavy solid wood.  The bannister along the stairs is solid wood and beautifully carved.  The fireplaces (in each room) are adorable and although they don't work it will be fun to put pictures on the mantels!  The nooks for dressers and wardrobes are bigger than I remember and will probably be perfect for the furniture that I want to get.  I could go on and on but this is boring compared to...



The garden!!!  When we went into the garden I was blown away again.  It is so beautiful and the tree in the back that provides so much shade is a cherry tree and the cherries are ripe!  I was completely freaking out (and I have gone back through and edited this paragraph so that every other word isn't in all caps... that just gets obnoxious... but seriously, I'm SO excited).

CHERRIES!

The Cherry Tree

View of the back of the house from the covered patio

Vivi and I stayed outside for a long time looking at all of the potted plants and the potential for roses, tomatoes, pole beans and anything else that grows really well in pots.  And of course, lots of flowers.  There is so much beauty there already but I have been dying to dig around in the dirt lately and this year Vivi will be so much fun to garden with!  I'm so glad that we have the gardening equipment that Emily and Etienne got for her for Christmas!  (Thanks again guys!)

Back patio area where we plan to put a garden stove!

She had a blast out there playing with the "funny rocks."  There are pebbles all over the place (which make it quite lovely) and she really likes playing with them.  There are also all kinds of little treasures buried around the backyard (oops... that backyard slipped through.  No one says that and I'm really trying to conform), so she'll love exploring back there.  When I was in the garden taking all of these pictures I was really wishing Cheryl could be here with me.  We are gardening buddies and she would love this!  I will take and post lots of pictures, I promise!

View from the "Dining Room" 

Kelvin, the inventory clerk, was amused by how excited I was about the house.  I was telling him it was just so much nicer than our house in Oak Park.  He was surprised.  He thought that houses out there were much bigger.  I said that ours was built in 1966 so it just doesn't have the same character that this one does.  He laughed and said that in the winter when the windows are drafty and you're freezing because there's no central heat and air then we won't care about the character.  That will never happen to me! :)


So, now I've spent a bunch of time gushing about our new place instead of packing up the one that we need to get out of by morning (technically we have until Sunday morning, but I would really rather not come all the way back up here when we could be out furniture shopping!).

Fun Normalish Day

Vivi and I didn't do anything crazy today but we had a great time.  We walked to the market (my foot seems to be fine when I walk, just not when I twist it or squeeze the sides of it) and found a playground on the way back!  I wish I would have found this sooner, but we haven't been suffering for lack of entertainment.

She loved the swings and the tunnel and jumping down a little hill (she's quite the jumper these days).  There seemed to be a lot of moms who didn't have British accents.  I'm not quite sure what they were but they were transplants like me.

Playing with her new gifts

During Vivi's nap we got a package delivered with a birthday present from Nana and Boorah.  When she woke up we dug in and found loads of amazing toy kitchen pots, pans, utensils, an oven mit, fruits and vegetables in crates and an egg carton toy.  Vivi is in heaven.  She's been cooking up a storm ever since.  It's going to go perfectly with the play kitchen that we're getting for her once we're in our new house.  I can't wait!  I had a play kitchen when I was little and it was really fun.  The pots and pans are even red enamel!  They would go perfectly in my kitchen (I'm actually a bit jealous)!


Tonight when Mark got home Vivi told him all about the new presents that she got and showed him how she cooks with her pots, pans and utensils.  She knows all of the names of the utensils and is quite a culinary artist already!  She is at SUCH a fun age with the pretending and communicating.  It is definitely exciting to be a part of all of this!

Gratuitous Vivi shot playing with olives on her fingers

Health Care!

Vivi and I traipsed down to Balham this afternoon to register with a GP in Balham.  In order to get any care you need to register with a doctor's office (often called a Surgery - still don't quite get it) near your home.  They have "catchment areas" for each office, so if you find one online that looks amazing you might not be able to be a patient of theirs because you live too far from their office.  I called one place and it was literally 3 blocks away but I didn't make the cutoff - weird.

The website informing you of your options is called NHS Choices and it's extremely helpful.  In your search for a GP you type in your postal code and up pops a bunch of options with ratings on every single tiny aspect of how this office operates.  Since this is a national system the quality control must be pretty effective, or at least the patient surveys are very thorough.  So, I went through the list, narrowed it down to 3 places.  One didn't work because we were outside of the catchment area so I selected a Surgery nearby our new place.  Vivi and I took the bus down to sign all of the paper work.  I was actually able to fill out and sign paperwork on Mark's behalf.  I filled out family history and everything. That would NEVER happen in the US.

Every person who registers with a GP is automatically entered into a patient group which, I believe, are the ones who answer the surveys and opt to form advocacy groups etc.  If you don't want to be in that group you have to check a box.  I definitely want to be in that group.  I love seeing how they do all of this.

Ironically, on the bus on the way down to register for a GP I stepped weird and think I might have sprained or broken my foot.  I have never had the kind of shooting pain that I'm currently experiencing - not even with my knee after surgery.  I didn't mention it when we went to the doctor's office because it was feeling a bit better, but on the bus ride home I  moved it weird and an electric shock went up my leg.  I'm really hoping I'm not incapacitated for the next few days.  I have way too much to do!

So, first impression with the health care system here is a thumbs up.  I scheduled appointments for Vivi and I on Friday to get all of our basic information on the charts and to drop off our medical records.  Everything so far seems efficient and user-friendly.  I'll keep you posted if things change.

What a fantastic day! (except that England lost)

We had the best day today!  This morning we went over to Kensington Gardens just to have a laid back walk through some beautiful green space.  We bought some London walking cards when we were here in March (cards that highlight several neighborhoods in London and give you specific directions about where to go, what to eat and which places to check out).  Today we chose the Kensington Garden walk and took the bus rather than the Tube.  Since Mark was with us I didn't plan our travel as thoroughly as I do when it's just Viv and I so I didn't pay attention to which bus stops lead up to the stop we needed to get off on.  We ended up getting off the bus 4 stops too early, but it worked out so well!

We got to watch some young kids learning how to ride horses, walked through what seemed almost like wild, untamed nature (which of course it was not) and happened upon a little garden called the Allotment.  It was a vegetable garden with chickens, compost and all kinds of lessons about gardening for children.  It was wonderful.  We stayed in this little garden for probably an hour.  Vivi was mesmerized by the chickens and loved walking up and down the little stairs created by railroad ties.  It inspired me and made me extremely anxious to get into our house and get into our garden!

We walked over through the park to the Kensington Palace which I was dying to tour.  There is a museum inside with apartments of royals set up.  I love that kind of thing.  It highlights Queen Victoria, whom I know very little about, and Princess Diana who lived in the palace for quite a while.  The gardens in the front were gorgeous and everything was just perfect.  It was so much fun.  I didn't actually buy tickets to take the tour because we didn't have time to really linger, but I will definitely do this soon!

Hands in her pockets... a new development

This afternoon we just sat around and played with Viv and then tonight we let her stay up through the first half of the England-Italy match in Euro 2012 because she LOVES watching football (and because she took a 3+ hour nap).  The match was amazing.  It went into overtime and then they lost in penalty kicks at the end.  It was disappointing, but honestly England got farther than anyone thought they would.  The Euro cup has definitely got me interested in football and I look forward to figuring out which premier league team we're going to follow.  I've heard you really need to think it through and make an educated decision about who you'll follow or else people won't respect you.  Football is a HUGE deal here.  It's insane.

Mesmerized

Mark and I were talking tonight about our time here so far.  We came to London with plans to make some changes in our lives for the better.  We have realized that we have done that in a lot of ways and plan to remain intentional about improving ourselves every week.  When we move to Balham things will be different, but we still plan to take advantage of what London has to offer in terms of culture, history and learning.  It really has been fantastic in that regard and we look forward to learning all kinds of new stuff once we start living our real life.  I'm excited about it.

Fun Saturday

We have been really excited about this weekend.  It's our last weekend here in Westminster before we move and become real people. :)  Today we took advantage of our family time by doing tons of stuff.

We took the Tube to the London Bridge stop and went to Southwark Cathedral.  There was a choir rehearsing so we sat there listening to beautiful music in an absolutely beautiful cathedral.  It fueled my desire to go to church once we move down.  Vivi sat on a seat for about 20 minutes just listening to the choir with rapt attention.  She wasn't completely quiet because she really hasn't mastered whispering when it's appropriate.  We kept telling her to whisper but she kept saying in a loud voice that a choir was singing (Mark taught her about the choir).  As we were leaving they started singing "How Great Thou Art."  Killing me.  I love that song!

The Borough Market is just outside the cathedral so we went over there right after.  This market is all food.  It was amazing.  There were so many stalls full of cheese, olives, sausages, chocolates, produce and prepared foods.  We tried some yummy stuff today and promised to come back after we're not vegan anymore.  (It was quite tempting but we were strong.)

After coming home for Vivi's nap we decided to go to the Aquarium.  Mark has heard so much about how much Vivi loves the aquarium, he wanted to see it for himself.  And he did.  Viv acts like an expert there now.  She checks out the fish, says, "More fish" and moves onto the next station.  She touched the starfish and sea anemone like a pro, pointed at all the sharks, loved the sleeping sea horses and spent quite a lot of time watching the penguins (the ones that weren't asleep at least).

Standing over the shark tank

Touching the starfish

She loves pretending she's asleep

One of the few pictures of her that was relatively in focus (no flash allowed in the Aquarium)

We came home, fed Viv, put her down and ordered Indian food.  O M G.  It was delicious.  I wish we'd found this place sooner.  Now I'm going to be a bit bummed to leave here just because of our access to this restaurant.  Everything we ordered was vegan and it was fantastic.  Spicy enough that my nose was running but I wasn't wishing I was dead (it's a fine line).

Tomorrow I'm really hoping we can make it to the Tower of London.  I'm a bit obsessed with the Henry VIII time period and there is a lot of Henry VIII history at the Tower of London.  We'll see if that happens.  Either way... YAY WEEKEND!

Splashing in Puddles

For Vivian's birthday, Mark's parent sent her rain gear.  It's adorable!  She now has matching umbrella, rain coat and boots with polka dots.  To say she loves it would be a drastic understatement.

So our activity for this morning was to go out decked out in rain gear and searching for puddles.  It rained all night last night and this morning we had a surprisingly difficult time finding puddles.  I guess that means that London does a good job with drainage.  Bravo London.

We found a little park near our flat that used to be a cemetery.  St. John's Square had a history sign up with information about how it was a cemetery for hundreds of years and finally had to shut down because of overcrowding and issues with people stealing bodies for dissection.  How weird to draw attention to that!  I guess these Brits are just very matter of fact about that kind of thing.

Eventually we found a big puddle and Vivi had a great time splashing and splashing and splashing.  She loves walking around her her umbrella like a cane and splashing that in the water as well.  It cracks me up.  (I will upload pictures of that later.)

I have decided that I'm going to learn a bit about photography.  We have this fantastic camera and this amazing location... I should be taking advantage!  I did a slight bit of research and learned about the law of thirds.  I'm going to look like quite the amateur but at least I'm trying.  (Please note that none of the pictures taken count for quality composition... I've not done the research yet.)

So, I put her down for her nap today and she cried because I made her take off her boots.  She actually threw a couple of fits about her rain gear because I wouldn't let her wear them constantly.  This should be interesting!

Vivian is TWO today!

I have copied this blog post from The Life and Times of Vivian Adams blog.  It's a private blog for me to record the funny things she says, but now that we're Becoming Londoners too, there will be some overlap like this:

Today Vivian is two years old!  So, here is a snapshot of her life:

The most defining characteristic of Vivian right now is her vocabulary.  She talks nonstop about all sorts of things.  She has lately been describing things with adjectives that she makes up.  Last night she bonked her head on a bowl so she has been saying that the bowl is very bonky.  She says that water is watery and if you jump in it you will get watery.  The sharks at the aquarium are swimming in really sharky water.  She loves reciting the books that she's read (and mostly memorized).  I would say that reading is probably still one of her favorite things to do.

Favorite stuffed animal: Neemonah of course!

Favorite toy: Bubble wrap (that we grab from the boxes at Tesco) and/or iPad (favorite apps: Elmo's ABC, Animal Fun, Fish School, I Hear Ewe and all of the opening pages for Angry Birds, Cut the Rope or Plants vs Zombies where music plays.)

Favorite physical activity: jumping - the girl just wants to jump and jump all day long - especially when there is fun music playing or there is a puddle nearby.

Favorite food: well, when I asked her what she wanted for dinner for her birthday she said "pickles for dinner."  She also really loves pasta (although we don't eat it very often), oatmeal/porridge which she has literally every single morning with a banana, lentil soup, dried cranberries (dried fruit of any kind) and crunchy crackers.

Favorite saying: "Ducks and Fish splash (sounds like fash) in the water."

Favorite animals: Dogs are definitely number one followed closely by fish

Favorite books:  This is probably whatever book is new enough to her that she doesn't yet have it memorized.  Last week I bought four new books The Snail and the Whale, The Gruffalo, Monkey Puzzle, and The Smartest Giant in Town.  They are all by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler and they're fantastic.  She also really like The High Street and Helping-Out Day. Hooray!

Vivian is an awesome little girl.  I said from when she was tiny that I thought we were kindred spirits and I still believe that.  Mark remarks often that he thinks she is a lot like me.  Well, I take that as a compliment because I like her very much!

There was a polar bear on the corner across from Parliament Square today.  It was fake but looked very real.

This morning to celebrate her birthday we went to the Aquarium.  As we were getting ready she found a brochure from O2 phone company that has rubber duckies on it.  I'm not sure exactly what happened but she ended up throwing the brochure and then getting mad when I took it away and being mad when I gave it back to her.  It was quite the scene.  Eventually I took it away completely and put it out of her reach.  Then she lost it and threw a full-blown toddler tantrum.  It was quite the introduction into her third year of life.  She laid on the floor in the hall way screaming for so long that I finally picked her up and put her in her pack and play.  She stayed in there screaming for a few more minutes.

Meanwhile I hear a knock on the door.  Our next-door neighbor, whom we had never met, stopped by to make sure everything was alright.  I have never heard noises from any of our neighbors and I thought it was because the doors and walls were so solid.  Apparently it's just because they don't have children! YIKES.

This water is so sharkey!

Eventually I got her calmed down and we went to the Aquarium which was fantastic and then we had a picnic on the porch with our thai noodle dishes from Neds Noodle Bar.  They were great!

Getting settled in for our Birthday Lunch picnic on the porch

Trying the salty pickled ginger.

This is the face she inherited her from her father: trying new things face. She took two more helpings after this..

Happy Birthday Smiley Bean!

This afternoon Mark is coming home early from work with balloons (Vivi's only request for her birthday present) and then tonight we're having pasta and pickles and the cake that I ordered yesterday.  Should be a fun family celebration.

We are definitely happy to have Vivi in our lives and I know it's only going to get more fun!

Dinner, cake and presents were super fun.  We had spaghetti and mini gherkins (which were disgusting... England does olives very well, but pickles here are GROSS).  Vivi loved everything.  She ate almost half the jar of little pickles plus her entire plate full of spaghetti (Girl can EAT).

Pasta and Pickles

After dinner we lit the candles and sang and had some of our fancy cake.  It was pretty good considering it was vegan and gluten free.  To be honest it's not really worth it.  If you're going to eat cake, just eat cake!  Oh well... now we know.

Blowing out the candles

Vivi had a great time blowing out her candles.  She told her dad all about her day at the Aquarium while we ate cake and we also got to talk to Nana for a bit.

After two pieces of cake (in retrospect that wasn't a good idea.  She has been complaining about a hurt tummy ever since) we opened presents.  We didn't buy her a present for her birthday because we plan to get her a play kitchen and it would be silly to get one here and then have to take it apart, move it in a cab and set it up again at our new place.  So, there was just one present to open.  Mark's parents got her the cutest rain gear ever.  She is thrilled.  Tonight when she went to bed she was begging to leave her boots on and cried for a long time because we made her take them off.  Tomorrow I'm kind of hoping it rains... she would LOVE to splash in puddles with her new boots!

So happy with her new rain gear!

She's still awake babbling in her bed.  Sugar before bed is not a good idea, but it only happens once a year, so we're not too worried about it!



Happy Birthday Sweet Vivian.  We love you so much!

Waiting for deliveries

Today we didn't go anywhere because we were waiting for some deliveries.  I thought I needed to stay home all day like when you're waiting for the cable guy and they tell you they'll be there between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. That's exactly what happened today but no one ever came.  I kind of forgot that when you live in a high-rise they just drop the mail off at the front desk.  So... we stayed home all day for nothing and learned, once again, that it's just not a good idea.

Vivi is experimenting with fashion these days.

Vivian was fine.  We had a picnic on the porch and played some games like Ring around the Rosy and set up ramps to roll balls down.  I am the one who was the problem.

Picnic lunch on the porch.

I have been really enjoying my time here so far.  Partly because we were here for a couple weeks before Austin and Kristin came and I knew that they were coming.  Now we're on our own and I'm realizing that I just don't know anyone.  I mean, I know a couple of people's names and faces, but I don't know them and I definitely wouldn't call them crying because I'm lonely.  In the morning before the US is awake I have no one to talk to and yesterday that became very real to me.

So, I started downward spiraling a bit thinking of all of the terrible things that I could think about being in London and cried for a while.  After Mark came home I yelled at him a bit for no reason, I calmed down, apologized, stopped feeling sorry for myself and was much better.  I guess it's inevitable that I'm going to feel bummed out from time to time while I'm here, but I don't want to take it out on Mark!  I have decided that the most important thing for me to do is GO OUT.  It's challenging to go out every morning.  It gets tiring and it's a lot of work to get places with Viv, but it's worth it!  I get to see fun stuff, Vivi gets to see fun stuff.  I get to take pictures of her being super cute and then we come home, have lunch and she goes to sleep while I get stuff done.  So far it's a pretty magical system and I need to keep it up even after we move to Balham.

Lesson learned!

Natural History Museum

Today we decided to take a trip down to the Natural History Museum.  When I asked Vivian if she wanted to go see some skeletons of dinosaurs she said, "That sounds amaaazing!"  I laughed out loud.  Where does she come up with this stuff?  (Um, I think I know the answer to that.)

We took the Tube and it wasn't too bad this time.  Some nice people helped me with the buggy so that I wasn't struggling as much as usual.

The museum was great.  Vivi loved the skeletons of the prehistoric sloths and dolphin/fish.  She kept wanting to go back and look at those over and over.  She also liked the bird room (a bunch of taxidermied birds), especially the eggs, and the Ecology room with a spinning Earth and water cycle video art presentation.  It was really a great time... until we got to the little deli for a snack.  I have fairly strong opinions about making sure that children in restaurants don't just stand up and run all over the place while they're supposed to be eating.  When I tried to enforce those rules, she just freaked out and started completely screaming.  So, we packed up and left and she finished her apple in her buggy after she calmed down.  When that kind of thing happens I can't help but think that we should just stay home, but I still think she needs to learn how to behave and won't learn it if she isn't exposed... Am I completely off-base here?  Should we just stay home?

Mark is out at a pub with his co-workers at a work sponsored event to watch England vs Ukraine in Euro 2012.  I am home watching the match as I type.  It's a little less intense when you're blogging and watching, but it's still a good match.  I don't know enough about the sport to actually know what's going on in the middle, but I can understand what happens when they get close to the goals. :)  It's exciting!  GO ENGLAND!

Westminster Abbey puddles

This morning we said Goodbye to Kristin and Austin.  I was so sad to see them go.  We have had so much fun with them!  We all walked them to the Tube stop this morning and I cried as we walked away.  I'll miss them!

Vivi had ridden very sweetly in her buggy all the way to the Tube so I let her hold my hand and walk on the way back.  It was a bit nerve-racking because it was morning rush-hour so there were people walking quickly and purposefully past us all the time.  I held very tight to Vivi's hand.  Once we got to Westminster Abbey things opened up a little bit and Viv noticed a puddle that looked quite inviting, so I let her splash in the puddle.  This girl had not eaten breakfast yet, and must have been starving, but she stood stomping and splashing in the puddle for at least 15 minutes.  I took a bunch of pictures and videos.  It was too cute to pass up.  Splashing in a puddle in front of such a beautiful and historic architectural marvel.

We have been talking to Viv about her birthday which is coming up on Thursday.  We have mentioned to her that she is turning two and are trying to teach her how to show two on her hands.  It's pretty cute.  She just can't quite get that yet.  She has informed us that she wants cake and balloons for her birthday. I think she might remember that from when we celebrated Mark's birthday the week before our moving sale in Oak Park.  (That was a crazy week.)  I am really excited for her birthday.  We're not getting her actual present until we move into our house, but we are going to have a bit of a celebration with just the three of us.  I'm looking forward to it!

Afternoon Tea

I realized today that afternoon tea is almost entirely for tourists, but I don't care one bit.  It was SO much fun.  We got all dressed up - Kristin, Vivi and I were in dresses with bows / hats in our hair, and Mark and Austin were in full suits.  We were way over dressed at The Wolseley but who cares?  We had a blast.  We had finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and home made strawberry jam, strawberry tart, cheesecake, pistachio something, coffeeish chocolate layered thing and a pink and yellow checkered cake.  Wow... it was delicious.

We thought that after tea we would go to a pub to watch Euro 2012 and order something substantial, but when we left we could barely move because we stuffed ourselves silly.  (Kristin, Austin and Mark are still there, but Viv got kicked out at 8 p.m. because she was a babe so I brought her home and put her to bed.)  Ah, pastries!  I will try to post pictures, but I didn't take any so I have to wait until Austin sends me some.

Last night Kristin, Austin and I went to a casual wine bar near Trafalgar Square/Charing Cross called Terroirs.  It was delicious.  Small plates of French-type food that was really yummy.  I'll definitely go back and take Mark.

Kristin and Austin leave tomorrow to go back to California.  I'm going to miss them so much!  We've been having so much fun with them and knowing that they would be here so soon after we arrived made it easier to leave when we did.  Now they're leaving and we have to wait until September when Mark's parents visit to see anymore friends or family.  In the meantime we have a lot of exciting stuff going on (like Vivi's second birthday on Thursday!) but we will still really be missing all of our loved ones back home.

This has been a fun Father's Day weekend with Mark.  We started our celebration on Friday with Pub Night at home and have just been celebrating him all weekend.  Happy Father's Day to my wonderful Pops.  You're the best and I love you!  And, to Mark's dad.  Thanks for teaching Mark to be such a great man!  We love you both so much!  I should sign off before I start crying.

We Saw the Queen!

Today is the day chosen to celebrate the Queen's birthday.  I mentioned it yesterday but for a refresher, the celebration of a monarch's birthday is celebrated in May or June in hopes of better weather.  This celebration is called Trooping the Colours.  It consists of a parade from Buckingham Palace along The Mall (The Mall is the name of a road) to the Horse Guard's Parade.  There are several waves of marching bands, a bunch of foot soldiers and tons of horses.  At the end of the parade comes the queen.  In the past she has ridden mounted and during the ceremony she rides up and down the ranks officially inspecting them.  But, she's 86 so instead she rode in a closed carriage.  We got pretty decent placement in the east end of St. James Park.

The ceremony itself was pretty cool, but the energy was nothing compared to the Jubilee.  We went in hopes that it would be a bit of a makeup for Mark since he missed the Jubilee.  We also thought that Vivi might think it was fun to watch all of the men marching and then eventually the horses.  We were wrong.  She was very interested in the boys next to us who were having loads of fun playing with their smart phone / cameras.  They were Air Training Cadets in full uniform, but were really just cute 10-11 year old boys having a ton of fun.  After they were chastised and had to stop having fun she shifted her attention to the ever entertaining bubble wrap.

We got to see the Queen although we really only saw the side of her hat.  She probably wears those huge hats so that people can tell it's her!

Vivi was having fun, I promise.  This is her with her new favorite toy - bubble wrap.

We had fun and it was a very British occasion.  I feel like we've been lucky to see so many exciting events.  I did check the calendar and it looks like there are quite a lot of these official events throughout the year, but summer is definitely the busiest for Queen Elizabeth II.

Pub Night at Home

England played Sweden tonight in Euro 2012.  We knew that going to a pub with Vivi would not happen so instead we had Pub Night at home.  I went to the market and did my best to find decent nacho ingredients.  I met with enough success to make decent nachos, but if we're ever going to have good salsa or guacamole again I'll definitely have to make it myself!

Pub Night was a huge success!  England beat Sweden and we had a fantastic time.

I noticed a few new things about London that I find interesting.

First, the commentators are brutal.  They made some incredibly blunt remarks about the players, the plays and the team in general.  At one point they said that one player was the only person on the team with a brain.  It was great.  I love the blatant honesty... I can really get into the way this works around here.

Second, apparently the Brits in general are quite pessimistic.  When they were talking through the predictions for the tournament the commentators were asked what they thought England's chances were.  They said, "Oh, absolutely not.  No chance."  Blunt and quite pessimistic.  Mark said that it's a thing.  Brits are pessimistic.

After the football match the news came on and it was great!  Actual news about the world boiled down enough to actually understand what's going on.  I know that they have a 24 hour news cycle here too, but the evening news was pretty quality.  I might start actually watching the news now!

Now we're watching this late-night show Graham Norton and it's hilarious.  I am enjoying myself quite thoroughly!

Perfect Fountain and another Accidental Adventure

This morning I did not intend to have an adventure with the Royal Mail post office but I did, although that's not the accidental adventure I'm referring to in the title of this post.

I went to mail a package to a friend this morning and after taping it completely up so that it takes only the sharpest knives to open I was informed that you are not allowed to mail refrigerator magnets overseas.  Seriously?  Refrigerator magnets?  The magnet I was trying to send said "Keep Calm and Carry On" so I followed it's advice and maintained my composure while this extremely rude post office worker mumbled answers almost intentionally so that I had to say "WHAT?" in my loud American voice.

Eventually that was all settled so Viv and I strolled over to St. James Park again to check out the "ducks and frogs splashing in the water" that Vivi loves so much.  I have never seen a frog there, but I'm also not a hawk-eyed two year old.  Viv, as always, was completely entranced by the squirrels, pigeons and ducks and we didn't have anywhere to be so we just lingered, enjoying the absolute majestic beauty of this park.  I don't believe I'm exaggerating when I say this is probably the most beautiful intentional green space I've ever walked through.  (I remember a gorgeous green river gorge with a waterfall that we hiked to in Oregon when I was younger, but that was just pure nature... this park is planned.)

While we were standing on the bridge looking at the ducks, I drew Vivi's attention to the fountain (she loves fountains).  She said, "That is a great fountain.  That is a perfect fountain... awesome."  I died laughing on the inside.  She cracks me up.  I love the little comments that she makes.  She has been putting her own thoughts together lately rather than just repeating what we say and it's so much fun!

We continued walking along the lake until we got to the east end of the park where apparently the ceremony for the Queen's birthday will take place tomorrow.  I did a bit of research and they call it Trooping the Colours.  Her actual birthday is April 21 but traditionally they celebrate a monarch's birthday in June no matter when they're born in hopes of good weather.

Tomorrow the place will be packed with people (including us if we get over there early enough), but today there were just your normal tourists snapping pictures of the mounted guard!  We walked right up to the front and go to see the entire ceremony of the changing of the horse guard.  (I didn't realize it but that courtyard/arena is just on the other side of the main street that we ride the 88 bus along.  It's the Horse Guard's Museum.)  It lasted 30 minutes and was actually quite boring as far as action goes, but Vivi loved the horses.  She kept looking at the horses and just laughing.  I'm not sure what she was laughing about, but it made me laugh too.  After a while the pebbles on the ground were more interesting than the horses, but what do you expect?  Pebbles are quite interesting!  We watched them walk all the way out of the courtyard/area back onto the street and apparently head back into the barracks near Hyde Park that we visited on Wednesday.  It's all starting to come full circle!

On our way home, it started raining and pretty much soaked us both to the bone by the time we arrived.  I learned another valuable lesson today.  Bring your umbrella everywhere no matter how sunny it is when you leave.  I guess that means I need to buy an umbrella that is practical for our strolling tendencies.