visitors from east and west

From the west (USA), I am blessed to have my college roommate and her husband visiting. 

Today was a blast: we hopped on a bus which dropped us off at Marble Arch.  Dressed in our running garb and accompanied by my running pal Monica, we ran the perimeter of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens....

photo stop in front of Kensington Palace - wonder if Kate and Will were home?

Prince Albert Memorial

Then we paid a visit to the Queen herself (unfortunately she didn't come out to greet us today)....

Buckingham Palace Gates

I have to say it was one of the most fantastic running routes I've ever done:  Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Green Park and St James Park.  We ended at the Starbucks near Green Park tube station (thanks to Julie for the coffee treat!).

Mark had discovered this killer route on the Serpentine Running Club page -
http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/run_routes_01_index.html

 Thanks, Mark!


 Visitor from the east, Patrick from Belgium, and his hotel management class from Liege...I met up with them at the Dickens Inn ( http://www.dickensinn.co.uk/) a great pub and restaurant just on the other side of Tower Bridge.

The Dickens Inn at St Catherine's Docks

It might be getting colder and a bit more dreary here in London, and alas the days are not long enough (dark just after 4pm now)... However, there is still much to do and fun to be had!

Visitors From Switzerland and the Queen herself

Happy arrival!

Mid-October brought a much welcomed visit from our dear friends who live in Switzerland.  They moved from our little suburb in the Minneapolis area to Switzerland just a few months after we moved to London.  We've been sharing success stories, hair-pulling difficulties and interesting experiences with one another ever since they landed (and even beforehand) in beautiful Vevey, Switzerland.

They've kept a fantastic blog which I highly recommend:
http://afamilyinswitzerland-homan.blogspot.com/
A Family In Switzerland
My friend Janna keeps me in stitches with her humor and clever postings, and their daughters add sweet and innocent postings in the mix.

yes the sun does shine in London

 Two fantastic results of their visit.  Number one, I was reminded of what a great city London is, and how we really are lucky to be here.  Their life is quite different (sounds like fresh-air paradise and land of chocolate, mountains and cheese...) in Vevey. They raved about the London sightseeing, the variety of amazing restaurants (not to mention MUCH better prices than in Switzerland), shopping opportunities abounding at every corner, the ability to communicate in their native tongue, the great playgrounds for children....
All this was a nice reminder for me; we've settled ourselves and become blinded under the banalities of the day to day living.  Secondly, I was reminded of how much I miss my friends and family from Minnesota.  It was so easy, so natural, so relaxing to be with them because we've known one another for quite some time....and we just don't have that history with anyone here in London.  Friends and family in Minnesota:  hear me loud and clear!  We miss you!!

Tower Bridge

I am absolutely convinced that when we arrive in Switzerland (for Christmas - hooray!) we will fall in love with all that it has to offer and we'll be hesitant to go back to London.  Switzerland holds some sort of aura of a land of peace and paradise all in one.

Visit to the Tower of London (our first time touring the interior as well!!)

Ancient castle nestled in the bustling modern city

Kids are fascinated by the beef eaters and the guards

Trying to keep the dads from buying too many trinkets....

"why are we standing here...why do kids have to go into every gift shop? they spend more time in the shop than visiting the actual site"

Back at their best

Visit to Buckingham Palace and Changing of the guards
Admittedly, the highlight of the Swiss visitors' time in London was not their luxury accommodations at our little maison.  No, indeed nothing could top the fact that we SAW THE QUEEN.  Unfortunately I was shaking in my boots out of shock and couldn't even respond to get my camera, but we did see her enter the palace, she was in her car, and we were not far away...I do believe she waved at us.

The best playground in all of London - the Princess Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens

Neighborhood stuff!

dinner at Lemonia in Primrose

fun times

crazy kids on the local streets

Ally got to bring Erika to school with her one day!

our preferred mode of transport

Pros on the tube

 What are the chances that two great friends would find themselves ex-patted with their families to Europe at the same time?  I've never heard of such a thing, but it has happened for Erika and Ally, and for me and Janna.  We have been very blessed by this visit from Switzerland! 

happy tea pot

photos from October

Some day to day fun....

Jonah and Ally's rock climbing class after school once a week

Proud band member

How boys wear off energy when living in tight quarters and no yard...head to your park (Primrose)

How girls might get their energy out when there are no trees to climb in your yard...yes, head to the park and find your own tree

Jonah's soccer team playing at Market Road

At Kensington Palace the real queen was crowned

Again at Kensington...Josh liked this room best (maybe Will comes here to play from time to time?)

Jonah's school team

tag in Regents after a zoo visit

Regents Park, my favorite running route

More Regents and good friends

We had a fantastic visit from our MN friends, the Homans, who moved to Switzerland a few months after we moved here....that post will need its own page so stay tuned!

FIRE!

Don't homes in London require fire alarms?

As a renter, I have never thought of looking for smoke detectors on our property.  The all-important devices are so common and expected, I've never actually searched for them.  I just assume they're there.  Problem is, they aren't!

Well, we sure could have used one yesterday.

We were going through the motions of our usual evening routines, getting kids cleaned up, house cleaned up, homework done, teeth brushed, etc.  I assumed the smoke that was winding through the house and tickling my nose was Dave lighting a candle downstairs or something.  But when the smell grew more persistent, I had to inquire "Why are you lighting candles down there?"....to which "I'm not lighting candles" set me into a serious panic. 

Frantic searching revealed that our bedspread was afire.  Seriously.  Smoke was bellowing from it and a large hole, about the size of a fist, had burned through the comforter/bedspread and the blanket underneath.  The thing was in the initial stages of going up in flames!  The source of the fire was a bedside lamp that our son had pushed aside to get to his ipod charger.  What he didn't realize is that when he moved the lamp, the bulb of the lamp was essentially pushed down onto the bedspread.  Those bulbs can be mighty hot, as this one was! 

We are fortunate.  We could have had a house fire.  Instead, I'm feeling lucky I'll just have to shop for some new bedding, and I had to have the windows open for the entire day.  But it has left me wondering - where are our smoke alarms?  Aren't they required in London homes? 

All I know is that I'm heading to the hardware store to pick up some fire alarms tomorrow, maybe even tonight.

Sending your 12 year old on a London city bus....

There are so many things that I have wanted to post about in the past few weeks.
But where has the time gone?
I'm hopeful that in the dark days of the late autumn and through the winter I'll catch up on this blog!  I've been keeping a list of all the things I want to post.


Well, here's the latest.
Dave is back in the US this week for work.  Running the household solo means coming up with creative ways to juggle the kids. Those creative ways might push my comfort zone, but after all, that is what happens in parenting.

Jonah had a soccer game at about the same time that Ally had swim team practice.  For his last soccer game, we took a city bus to the fields.  Two of his teammates were riding the bus to the game also - alone, on the city bus.  OK, I said, must be somewhat safe and possible for a 12 year old to ride the bus alone.  Many London children take public transport to and from school alone at age 11.  Was I going to be comfortable with Jonah doing so?  Time to find out.

I walked him to the bus stop and watched him get on the bus.

The Importance of a Mobile Phone.
We just picked up a reasonable phone for Jonah (and sometimes Ally) to use a few days ago.  This has become a necessity. There were a couple of unfortunate situations which could have been avoided because even I did not have a phone until a few weeks ago.  I'll have to write about those later.

Upon reaching the fields, Jonah was to call me, and he did!  He got there just fine.  When the game was done, he called me again to let me know he was getting on the bus to come home. 

He made it back to our house safe & sound. 
Another successful adventure for the Larsons in London.

happy week

Hooray, I can report that the Larson gang has had a really happy week.

Moi - finally connected to the real world.  Emerging from ancient history, in my hands I hold my very own UK mobile phone.  Finally. 

Dave - a positive week at work!

Jonah - spent the week in Wales, his first school trip.  Although he says they did a lot of work, we can tell he had fun.

Ally - learned she was granted her first choice band instrument.  She'll be learning to play the flute.  Along with that fantastic news, visiting the school this week was one of her favorite authors,Tony DiTerlizzi, best known for The Spiderwick Chronicles, who started his presentation by sharing a photo of himself from Grade 5.

Josh - okay, so his week wasn't as stellar.  He had a Terrible Canker Sore in his mouth - really a monster - he could hardly open his mouth.  Speaking and eating, two of his favorite activities, were not particularly comfortable.  However, he continues to love school, friends, and scootering down the sidewalks.

Hooray for a great week.

Launching into a new school

What a life change we've all undergone as school started this past week.

For me it has been a long-awaited moment to breathe a bit... and actually organize this mess of stuff that came with us to London.

For the kids, it has been an easy and happy start to re-connecting with kids their age.

We love to walk to school.  Well, to be honest, I love to walk to school.  Completely foreign to our experience, I find it renewing to get out there for a bit of exercise first thing - I swear it is also helpful for the kids to get their motors running!   We also get time to chat; and unlike car time, there is no radio, ipod, etc that distracts us.  Not all students at ASL walk to school; kids come from all over London actually, but about 60% live nearby.

Josh's teacher is very sweet.  He seems to really love school, especially lunch time and playground time.  Two 1st grade boys live within a block of us - one is Indian and one is Japanese.  They're already great friends.

Ally's homeroom teacher is from Australia.  She seems to be searching for a good friend & I'm praying that will happen.   She's so friendly and easy going and has met lots of classmates who she really likes.  We need to find some who actually live nearby as well.  She is excited about the possibility to participate with the Middle School Newspaper, she loves the art program and is taking Spanish.

Jonah's teacher is from - are you ready? - St. Cloud, MN.  Hilarious to find those connections.  We're so grateful that he's got this fantastic teacher.  Mr. Anderson & his wife & their two children have lived in Brazil & Austria over the past 15 yrs, teaching at the American Schools there.  He's also the swim coach.  Jonah has a beautiful new laptop, some kind of Mac Notebook, upon which he will be doing a great deal of his work.  Apparently, in class they use it up to 50% of the time.  He seems SO happy with the school, he's got a renewed interest and energy for learning (his teachers are so much better than last year! =)).  I'm grateful that I took the past year to work with him and I think he's matured immensely, however he does seem to be spending an awful lot of time on his hair these days.  He is excited about Robotics (apparently a very popular program at ASL) - note to cousins: maybe he'll finally learn that legos are cool....  Jonah's best friend so far is French Canadian - they met the week before school started at soccer camp.

A bit about our impressions of the school.  It's a super happy, everyone smiling & greeting you, kind of place.  The kids all seem very friendly also.  Although greatly American, as you can see by the kids' friends so far - it's also very international!  I'm most thrilled to learn that parents can use the library - SO MUCH better than the local libraries, I can't even begin to tell you.  Also we're thrilled that essentially everything is included with the tuition (which thank the Lord we don't pay, holy buckets!) - right down to the notebooks, pencils, field trips, gym uniform, ETC.  There is no uniform for daily use, I wish that there were.  Athletics & after school programs start in the next couple of weeks.  Jonah will try out for 7th gr. soccer.
  

For me - I joined a health club (but woe is me, I miss LTF and YMCA, nothing like it).  I've done two pilates classes.  Lonesome for my running pals in Minnesota (Janna and Heather...I miss your companionship on our a.m. runs!), and feeling a bit awkward asking random people, "So do you run?", I actually posted an ad on the school website bulletin board entitled "Thursday morning running partner wanted".  And low and behold, I found my sweet pal Monica.  I feel much more comfortable chatting & getting to know other moms when we're running & sweaty compared to after school pick up when I see so much Prada, Gucci, Fendi, Louis Vuitton vs. me in my ratty t-shirt and jeans.  But frankly, there are many families like us and a great deal of the staff at ASL have children at the school, so there are plenty of typical families we can relate to. For the moment, we just feel so intensely GRATEFUL that the kids are ALL TOGETHER, and that they are at this highly regarded school, we're just praising God that this worked out.  Since January, when we learned about this move, our lives have been in a bit of a state of constant change and now we've got some sort of routine started-  it has been a tricky past 8 months.  Especially with regard to schooling - from what was supposed to be a calm year with me spending time with Jonah, to pulling everyone out of school, to homeschooling everyone, to Ally at the little British school around the corner... we've experienced Public School, Private School and Homeschooling all in ONE YEAR.  Now we're feeling a sense of calm & routine.  Hooray!

The calm won't last long as the homework kicks into full gear soon....