Slacker

A long overdue update....

To all of my 3 followers on this blog, I have been a slacker, and I believe punishment may be required....I need to stay up late several nights in a row to finish all the half-written blogs that I have started and left in the "draft" files!

Honestly I have a great respect for those people who run a daily blog!  Going into this, I thought I'd be posting often.  Reality is, I rarely post!!  Perhaps my expectations need to be lowered.  I fear pushing that "post blog" button because I suck at writing, and all my errors (grammatical, spelling, poor sentences, etc) are exposed to the public. Gaw!

So, in a nutshell, what adventures have the Larsons had since my last post in November??

NOVEMBER
Just prior to Thanksgiving, we had two sets of friends who came to London.  One family from Edina and a couple from Boston (MN natives).  SO much fun sharing London with friends! 

super fun to see a pal from home, and why not try navigating this great city the way we do, on a Razor scooter!

their favorite activity (better than the London Eye?  British Museum?)

yummy Belgian waffle at Belgo Centraal

http://www.belgo-restaurants.co.uk/

In front of a little Christmas tree in Covent Garden

 

 

 

 

After 8 months in London, we finally went on
The London Eye.  The queues were ridiculous and what the sales person said would be a 20 minutes wait was in reality a 45 minute wait, so it was dark when we entered our little capsule which circled us high above the Thames for amazing views.

Gotta go to Cyber Dog when you're in the Camden Markets

Nothin' like market food (Camden Markets)

Our favorite "just round the corner" spot to take visitors - Primrose Hill.  We're in love with this park!

 At the same time we had our friends from Boston in London (they left their five children back home, much to the dismay of our kids).  They also visited friends outside of London (who live in some kind of English Mansion, where they wisely spent several nights).  Noble vegans they are, we had a fantastic dinner at Manna Restaurant in Primrose Hill.


http://www.mannav.com/

The six of us had a night out in Kensington - first dinner at Whit's, then cocktails at Babylon.  For Dave and I, a proper night out in London - doesn't get any better than this!

http://www.whits.co.uk/

http://www.roofgardens.virgin.com/en/the_roof_gardens/babylon

Unable to celebrate a real Thanksgiving, we took advantage of a low travel time to make a memorable trip to Istanbul.  There's a post coming dedicated to that experience...

DECEMBER
Holiday preparations, card writing, swim meets, and preparation for a Christmas vacation to Switzerland (see post dedicated to that!) where our dear friends are living....

Now here we are mid-January. 

A couple of people have asked "what do you do all day?" - being an ex-pat, you'd think I have lots of free time to read, explore, exercise, make gourmet meals, ETC....

Unfortunately I feel like I'm spending a great deal of time at my computer (not blogging, obviously). 
In November and December, it was doing as much research as possible for our vacations (especially looking for good deals - not easy with a family of five!). 

After the holidays, I spent a lot of time searching for antique bookcases on-line.  I'm tempted to buy something off of Ebay, but haven't found the perfect bookcase yet.  Still looking quite regularly.

Then I spent many days in a row seeking out information about where we might go for our April vacation - the kids have two weeks off and we'd like to take one week to explore somewhere new.  However, April is essentially the busiest (and therefore most expensive) travel time for Brits.  Students have long breaks, most schools 3 or even 4 weeks of vacation!  Prices are high and you've got to book early....

Finally, it took me quite some time to find good activities for Joshua.  With no yard, no "street play", and a very small house, the kid needs some physical activity!!  We all do, but Jonah and Ally already have their sports and activities.  I'm thrilled to report that he now plays soccer three times per week and has swim lessons once per week.  Hooray!!

You'd be shocked to know that I do the vast majority of my shopping on-line.  No car, and a pain carrying anything home, nearly everything we get is on-line!  I love to go shopping, just for fun, not necessarily to buy anything, on Oxford or Regent Street or out to Westfield Mall.  Fantastically fun to browse.  

Also you'd be surprised at how much walking we do.  Whereas all my pals in MN are lamenting the time they spend in their vehicles, I must say that same amount of time is spent walking, biking and scootering my kids to and from their activities.  And I'm happy to tell you, I LOVE IT. 

And most recently, banging my head trying to decide if we should pursue moving - not far, no more than 8 blocks - to a larger place.  We'd be moving away from our love (see above, Primrose Hill park) but we'd gain lots of space and be a bit closer to school and the leisure centre (where Ally has swim team and I go to the health club and Josh has most of his activities).  The prices in NW8 (our post code) make me gag, and I recently realized the same rent we pay here could buy us quite a massive place in other areas (alas, isn't this the common frustration for all homeowners, renters, etc!).  Darn it anyways!  Location, location, location...makes me puke!!


And moi, what is my typical week?  Vaguely:
Monday - cleaning day, organize the family life for the week, try to attend yoga class 12-1, laundry and cooking
Tuesday - Bible Study at the American Church in London, takes me nearly all day, catch up on emails, laundry and cooking
Wednesday - health club in the morning, kids have early dismissal from school, at 2pm, often a day for school meetings, volunteering, etc., laundry and cooking
Thursday - run with my running partner, errands, occasional lunch with friends, laundry and cooking
Friday - try to make it to my Pilates class in the morning, computer time in the afternoon, laundry and cooking
Saturday - Jonah and Joshua play soccer in Regent's park, Dave and I try to get a run in, kids need to do their homework, often there are playdates, sleepovers (or begging to have them), birthday parties, the rare social event for me and Dave - more likely a date night for the two of us (we love to try new restaurants, the kids stay home and watch a movie!), laundry and cooking
Sunday - Church in the morning or day trip, Ally swims in the evening, finish that homework!, laundry and cooking

Moms out there, can you relate to the "laundry and cooking" stuff? - completely consuming, I feel!  Between the household chores and my sincere efforts for fitness, not much free time remains....

When I write this down, you'd think that there is ample free time...

I guess I'll really make an effort to blog more!!
Unless we move, then I'll be on hiatus for months....