istanbul

"Istanbul, not Constantinople" is one of Tim's favorite songs now.

We took advantage of a four day weekend over Easter to visit Kelly, Martin and Megan in Istanbul.  Johannes was in Colorado working with his uncle for a school internship type program.  We missed him but thoroughly enjoyed his lego.  I will never tire of Istanbul, to a large part I'm sure, because I get to see it from the comfort of Kelly's lovely penthouse.

Luke actually tries to make music rather than just pounding on the piano.  He tries but doesn't succeed.

Yummy

City life

Markets that even Tim enjoyed seeing.

The view from the balcony.

We bought two small Turkish carpets from this man who couldn't resist giving Tim's cheek a pinch.

The carpet shop was near the Aya Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

The boys liked the ferry ride much more than the carpet shopping and mosque viewing.

They also enjoyed the playground on the island where Kelly and Martin have their summer home.

Really, both of them are too big for these but they had a race nonetheless.

The deck on the island.

Thanks Kelly, Martin, Megan and Johannes!  See you soon in Colorado.

boat ride to greenwich

After a week of unpredictable spring weather, Saturday was glorious, so we headed into London and onto a bus boat for a ride down the Thames to Greenwich.

We got on the boat at Westminster, just across from the London Eye.  At this point, they didn't know about the open air seating upstairs. We waited until after they ate their lunch to go out there.  This is the first time we've taken the boat bus instead of the river cruise, and I recommend it.  It's less expensive, the line is shorter to board, and you still get chirpy commentary.

Note the blue sky - the first of many we hope.

For a future outing, we plan to take the tube to St. Paul's and walk across the bridge to the Tate Modern Art Museum.  It's free and the Tate is an interesting building, so it shouldn't be too painful for the boys.

Once Luke found the open air spot, he stayed here for the rest of the ride (an hour).  Of course he wanted to hang as far over the railing as possible. 

The Golden Hind - a replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship

The Tower on the way down the Thames.  On the way back - about two hours later - the water level was at least six feet lower.

The Tower Bridge.  Friends of ours went to a wedding meal in the bridge.

The Greenwich Meridian.  Neither of them were interested in what we tried to tell them about time and the significance of the place, but I think Tim, at least, will remember being here when he learns about it in school.

The London skyline from the observatory in Greenwich.

spring

We've had two glorious weekends in a row now.  For the first, we went into London on Saturday and attended a BBQ at the home of friends in Aldershot on Sunday.

Luke and Tim, Big Ben, sunshine and flower.

Nelson Mandela on Parliament Square.

Abraham Lincoln on Parliament Square.

St. Paul's in the distance.  That's on our list of places to visit in the near future.

On the bridge at St. James park with the London Eye in the distance.

Daffodils in St. James park.  Waiting for dad to bring ice cream!

The home of Kate and Paul Higgins.  Kate and I started work at ACS together this year .  Her son Daniel is in Tim's class.  Her husband Paul teaches math at the middle school.

We went to the pitch and putt course at school on the second weekend.

wisley gardens

My friend and colleague has season passes to Wisley Gardens, which is not far from Esher.  Her son, Daniel, is in Tim's class, and they are good friends.  We met them at the gardens today and checked out the butterfly pavilion.

 I kept Luke out of nursery today so that he could join us on this outing. 

Just one of the many butterflies that we saw today.  They flew around our heads, landed and stayed still so that we could marvel at their colors and also just hung out.

Tim was very careful not to touch the butterflies or their habitat.

We got to walk behind the waterfall as well as in front of it.  Luke is watching Tim on the other side.

Tim, waving to Luke and me.

I thought yesterday was a miserable weather day, but today makes yesterday look like the epitome of mild.  At one point there were so many puddles on the sidewalk and the wind was blowing so hard, that it was blowing the water out of the puddles and up into my face.  Guess how I feel about this?  

rain, sun and a walk

 We take a lot of walks here. 

Sometimes we get tired of walking.

locally

our local golf course is a nine hole course that is used as much by neighbors to walk their dogs as it is by golfers.  luke likes to play in the bunkers and steal the flags.  so far we haven't been scolded but i'm expecting it.

there are four pubs within sight of each other and within walking distance of our flat.  one of them was closed when we arrived, and this one has since shut down.

our local provides a lovely place to spend a warm evening, enjoying a pint and some quiet.  we get this for a few seconds before...

...our view turns to something a bit noisier and more familiar.

Tim has shared with us his system for making friends.  When he sees a kid, he goes to him/her and says, "Hi, my name is Tim.  I'm five years old."  It's not what I would call the best way to make friends, but it seems to work because Tim is rarely without a 'friend.'  Last week, this system resulted in us meeting the parents who are in the process of purchasing The Greyhound, one of the pubs within walking distance of the flat.  We hadn't been there yet.  The couple has no experience running a pub and are taking a risk, but they are enthusiastic and seem to have a plan.  They have two young children and the whole family will move into the quarters above the pub this month.  They are going to sand the floors and refurbish the toilets, and then open for business.  We went for a pint yesterday so we could do a before and after comparison.  It's a beautiful old place that will easily become our local.  We've never had a personal relationship with a pub owner.  Could be a good thing...

luke fell asleep just after take off on the virgin flight to london while tim checked out the gift bag

The first time I moved abroad, I was single and focused on simplifying my life.  Mom and Dad let me put everything I owned in their basement, and I packed four oversized bags and headed for a new life in Sofia.  A lot of other things contributed to the relative ease of that move: the airlines still allowed TWO checked bags for free, the airlines still fed you domestically for free, the airlines were just nicer; I was moving to a completely foreign country so the school provided a lot more services to the new hires; I didn't have two children; I didn't own a home and then get it ready for rental before leaving; there's more but it could get ridiculous and I think you get it.

The last time I moved abroad, I had a husband and a 9 month old.  But it wasn't too bad.  We'd been planning for the move for over a year and had worked out all the details and saved loads of money in preparation.  We moved in with Mom and Dad. We owned a small flat and didn't have anything that we weren't using.  This four bedroom home has managed to collect all kinds of 'just-in-case' items.  The process of deciding to trash, give away, sell, pack for storage or take with us has been tiring.  We didn't store anything when we left England.  It either stayed in the flat for the renters or went with us.  We didn't trash or sell much because we really only had what we used.

We have said several times through this process that it's been hard because I got hired late in the season, but I think that even a February result would have meant the same down-to-the-wire life we've had this last week.

But it's done now and we've made it to England as an intact and happy family unit, and so much of the stress has disappeared.  I think I've stopped clenching my jaw.  I went to the dentist in the midst of the last minute packing because I thought I had a loose filling.  No - ligament damage from stress clenching.  You'd think I'd have noticed, and I did once the dentist pointed it out.  The pain is lessening.

I researched baggage on line for both our airlines, American and Virgin.  I called them.  I was prepared for being charged by each airline $150/bag over the one per passenger limit.  Imagine our joy when we checked in at DIA and was told that A. we'd only be charged by one airline and B. instead of paying for 6, yes 6 bags, we'd only have to pay for 2.  No we did not ask for an explanation.  Even better, car seats are free and we had them in a bag with our golf clubs, so the whole lot came free.  We checked 11 bags and had a carry on and personal item each.   I don't really want to do it again.  The sad thing is that once we're in our flat and have it all put away, the flat will look nearly as empty as it did before we arrived since it's mostly clothes.  Computers and toys make up the rest.  Thanks to the Viners we'll have some camp furniture.  After packing and storing our house of stuff, we're actually looking forward to bare necessity living.  Any bets on how long that will last?

pretending to sleep