Rugby

Another rainy morning - imagine that - so we had a pretty low key start to the day by taking a walk along High Street Kensington. 

... then this evening we did two things I never thought we would do:  1.  watched 6 nations rugby (France vs. England) and 2.  took Lulu to a local pub to watch the game with Romain and a couple friends. 

Unfortunately the outcome of the game was not favorable for the French ... but Lulu didn't seem to mind.

The sun came out today!

Today was the perfect day to go for a nice walk, and so we did!  The past several days have been rainy and gloomy, so today's 55+ degree F weather was much needed.  Our vitamin D levels may have even increased, as the sun decided to make an appearance. 

Earlier this week, while being cooped up in the apartment, we tried to figure out differences in vaccine schedules between the US and UK for little Lulu.  You'd imagine all countries would follow the same schedule, but that would just make things too easy.  Oooh, NHS, I think we're going to have a rocky relationship. 

Anyway, we made the most of today by walking along Cromwell Road/Brompton Road up to Harrod's.  On our way we passed the Natural History Museum which must have been giving something away - the line to get in was wrapped around the block!  It seemed to be mostly parents with children in line, and I remember Hilary mentioning that schools are on holiday this week, so that must explain the masses of people. 

As for Harrod's, I had only previously been to the food halls and today we toured the rest of the ground floor - and wow, what a collection of luxury goods!  You could do some serious damage shopping in there.  Maybe someday ... instead we decided to go buy a ham and cheese sandwich from Paul.  And it was delish! 



Natural History Museum

   

Rainy weekend

For our second full weekend here Romain, Lulu and I experienced our first typical rainy London weekend all together and we tried to make the most of it!  If nothing else, we were able to count on Lulu's smile first thing in the morning to cheer up the day, but getting her to go to sleep was another story (that's been more like a London rain shower the past several evenings...). 

Included in this weekend's activities was a trip to our local Sainsbury's, a stroll down Sloane Street to Peter Jones (with a quick peek in the window of Graff Diamonds, oooh la la), a nice juicy burger at Byron Burger on King's Road, and a trip to Whole Foods on High Street Kensington.  The last two making it almost feel like we hadn't left NYC!  We also cooked up a stock of food for Lulu in her Beaba Babycook (thanks, mom!).  For any new parents interested in making their own baby food, I highly recommend the Beaba.  You can steam, blend and reheat/defrost all in the same machine and it's very easy clean-up.  Leave it to the French to come up with a great product! 

We weren't able to get any good photos around town because of the rain, but here are a few from our time indoors. 

trying spinach for the first time

  

and toes for dessert

Happy birthday x 3

Today is the birthday of three very special people in our lives, my mom (Grandma), Axel (Uncle Axel), and my late great grandfather, Poppop.  As mom says, there are only 365 days in a year (sometimes 366) so there have to be some shared birthdays.

Happy, happy, happy birthday to all of you! 

xoxoxox

Strolling along the Serpentine

We lucked out this week as it just so happens that Clara's school is on break, allowing us to spend some quality time with her and Hilary.  They have shown us several of the kid-friendly places to go in SW London.

Today we strolled along the Serpentine in Hyde Park; saw the Princess Diana memorial, the Prince Albert memorial, fed the ducks (well, mostly seagulls, crows, pigeons, and swans - quite a diverse crowd of birds!), had lunch at a sweet cafe overlooking the Serpentine ... almost as cute as Penelope, and went to the playground to finish off the afternoon.  The cafe will be a great place to go to in the warmer weather to enjoy lunch on the terrace. 

London winter weather has been far milder than I ever anticipated.  Although I do enjoy a good snowfall from time to time, I'll take this weather over what is offered back home anyday!

Thanks for a wonderful afternoon, Hilary and Clara!

Sienna along the Serpentine

Sienna and Clara waiting for lunch to arrive
(And Sienna's first time in a high chair ... she seemingly liked it!)

Happy Valentine's Day

We spent this morning at the London Wetland Center with Hilary and Clara and had a great time looking at birds and playing on the playground.  It's nice to have a sister in law and cousin in town to spend the day with - and an added bonus that they have a car to get us out of town!  

Wishing everyone a happy Valentine's day!   We promise that later blog posts will have more photos of Lulu around London - not just of her in her stroller.  :)

Our first week

It's hard to believe we arrived in London only one week ago.  And one very productive week it was!  My mother in law, Catherine, was here to help us settle and she was a bigger help than we could have ever imagined.  We even managed to find another apartment in one day (it's insane how quickly real estate moves here - it gives new meaning to the idiom, he who hesitates is lost!).  Lulu has been a real trooper.  Below is a photo of her in front of our apartment on Hogarth Road. 

Assuming everything goes according to plan, we'll be moving to Fulham, close to Parsons Green in early March.  We can't wait!  It's a charming, yet modern first floor of a maisonette; 2 bedrooms with a large kitchen/living area with a back patio.  Romain and I still talk about how much we miss NYC - there's really no other place like it - but you can't find properties like this one there.  We may even be able to buy a blow up pool to put on the patio for Lulu this summer. 

Five months today

Dear Lulu,

Happy 5th month birthday!  We love you more than you can ever imagine.

Love,

Mommy and Papa

Move out day

The movers came yesterday and packed all our things away in a container.  Something tells me we won't see any of it for a good six months, but we're ok with that.  Lulu and I shoved as much as we possibly could into our luggage - Romain keeps reminding us that London isn't a third world country, and they sell everything we could possibly need or want.  I'm holding him to that!  

Here are before and after photos of our beloved apartment that, up until yesterday morning, we called home.  See you later, NYC!!