Autumn in London (1 of 2)

So far, we're enjoying having seasons (ask me again in February, and that might change :).  The autumn weather has been here since about mid-September and it seems to make all of the seasonal treats and activities even more enjoyable.  In California, I would drink hot pumpkin spice lattes in 80 degree weather just to make it feel a little bit like fall.  Here, there is no need to pretend it's autumn, the weather tells you it is!  And, hot soups and chowders and pumpkin treats feel natural at this time of year.  So, we have been enjoying all that the season has to offer.  

In addition to all of our normal activities (music class, cooking class, swimming lessons, football lessons), we have been getting ready for Halloween, of course!  We had a pumpkin carving playdate with some friends, we went to an early Halloween party, and we went out to a farm in Surrey where we picked our own sweet corn and saw lots of other crops, including pumpkins!  We made a delicious chowder with the corn we picked and have made lots of pumpkin treats in the last month (my favorite!).  And, we celebrated Chris' birthday this month!  It's been a while since we've been able to celebrate his birthday together on his actual birthday, so it was nice to finally be living in the same place and be able to celebrate together!

Happy Halloween everyone!  Nathan is very excited for Halloween, so look for another blog post after Wednesday with lots of pictures of our little dinosaur!

Here are some pictures of us enjoying autumn:

He made a chicken in cooking class! 

Nathan and Aiden

Carving pumpkins with Aiden and Brice.

His fifth haircut and he finally enjoys getting it cut!!

At the coffee shop.

A Weekend In The English Countryside

After spending three months with us here in London helping us to get settled in, Uncle Casey left on Friday.  Nathan became really attached to Casey, so Chris thought that a weekend in the English countryside might help to distract Nathan from the fact that Casey is no longer here.  We spent a great weekend relaxing in Hertfordshire at the Hanbury Manor.  It was really nice to get out of the city for a few days and breathe some fresh air and see the beautiful scenery.  We went on walks through the grounds of the hotel, found the tennis courts (Nathan didn't want to leave those after he found an old, discarded tennis ball), enjoyed the indoor swimming pool, and found a really good pub that had the best Sunday Roast we have had so far. Nathan also loved the fact that our hotel had a golf course - we could barely keep him off of the putting green.

Our little getaway seemed to do the trick of taking Nathan's mind off of Casey.  That is, until we got home.  As soon as we got in the door, Nathan asked "Uncle Casey?"  We had to remind him that he went on airplane home to California.  He understood and seemed to move on, until this morning, when he woke up and asked if Uncle Casey was "night night" in the living room.  I guess it might take a while before it fully sets in :)

A lazy morning in the room with his Elmos watching him play on the IPad.

In front of the Sow and Pigs - the best English pub we have been to so far!

Picking apples

More apple-picking

Bye bye Hanbury Manor.

Like father, like son :)

Uncle Ryan Comes To Visit

Last weekend Uncle Ryan came to visit us.  We had so much fun with him!  Nathan could not get enough of Uncle Ryan (poor Casey was old news while he was here)!  We took Ryan to lots of London's famous sites, had some great meals, and we even took Ryan and Nathan to their first English Premier League match - Fulham vs. Manchester City.  Uncle Ryan also got to go to Nathan's football lesson on Saturday.  Nathan loved having both of his uncles there!!  We were sad to see Ryan go home, but we can't wait to see him again in December.

Sadly, Uncle Casey also left us today.  After three great months, it was time for him to get back to California.  It was such a special experience for Nathan to get to live with Uncle Casey the last three months.  The two of them became really close and Nathan was very sad to see Casey leave.  I think Casey was pretty sad to leave Nathan too.  The house just doesn't feel the same without Casey here :(  He was such a big help to us and so much fun to have around.  We already miss him!

In other news, we got our first experience with NHS this week.  On Friday, I noticed a lump on my knee just below my knee cap.  It got progressively worse throughout the day until Friday night it was quite big, red, hot, and very tender.  I made a quick call to Uncle Tony and he said I should probably go in to see a Dr. sooner rather than later in case it was a joint infection.  So, Chris and I headed to the local urgent care.  Four hours later, they told me that it is either a skin infection or bursitis.  So, they decided to treat both by putting me on ibuprofen and antibiotics.  This worked wonderfully until Thursday when it flared up again.  Luckily, this time it was a week day and I was able to schedule an appointment with the GP.  He switched up my antibiotics and put me on a different anti-inflammatory and sent me for an x-ray just to make sure it's not a joint infection.  So, the saga continues.  But, it does feel like it is starting to get better.  And, the great part is that all of this has been completely free - gotta love government health care :)  I will keep you posted.  I guess this is an occupational hazard of being a stay-at-home mom :)

Buckingham Palace

Tower Bridge

Nathan's favorite spot in Harrod's Toy Kingdom

Fulham vs. Man City

Nathan modeling his gift from Grandma and Grandpa Valdez

Little Kickers

Nathan's new favorite restaurant - Zuma

Life In London

Life in London is quickly becoming our new "normal," so I figured I should jot down all the things that make living here unique - good and bad - before it all just becomes so routine that I don't notice it anymore.  

And, for those of you who follow this blog solely for the adorable pictures of Nathan, I have included some of those too :)

Things we love about living in London:

• We love being back in a real city (sorry, but LA just is not a real city) where we can walk everywhere or take public transportation.  We love just walking around our neighborhood and exploring all of the little parts of it that we haven't seen yet.  Plus, there is so much to do here - museums, historical sites, etc.
• There are so many beautiful parks and gardens here to explore and play in.  
• European travel - it is so easy to travel around Europe from here.  We have already been to Barcelona (1.5 hour flight) and Paris (2.5 hour train ride).  And, we have a trip planned to Marbella, Spain (2.5 hour flight) in November.
• Weather - well, this one is a pro and a con.  It's kind of nice to not have all of the crazy heat waves that we had in Pasadena.  And, so far, I am really liking having seasons again.  Fall is definitely here now - the weather is brisk and the leaves are changing color and falling off the trees.  But, we did kind of miss summer, we didn't have too many hot days here.  And, I am reserving the right to retract this one, come the middle of winter :)
• Our garden - our flat is working out so perfectly for us.  Having the garden right outside our backdoor for Nathan to run around in is perfect!  It's like having a huge backyard for him to play in!
• British people - everyone here is so friendly and helpful!  

Things that are "unique" about living in London:  (Chris said I shouldn't do a blog-full of complaints, and I'm not.  These are just the things that have taken us a while to get used to.  I do really love living here, even with these quirks!)

• No electrical outlets in the bathrooms (apparently there is a law against having electrical outlets in the bathrooms) - yeah, so this means no hair dryers, curling irons, straightening irons, or even electric toothbrush chargers in the bathroom - fun!
• Combined washer/dryer - it is almost impossible to find a flat here with a separate washer and dryer, instead, they all have combined washer/dryers.   They hold about 1/2 of the clothes that a normal washer/dryer holds and it takes about 6 hours (not kidding - I have actually timed it) to run a full wash and dry cycle.  This means I do laundry pretty much every single day!  Oh, and we also have a drying rack so that we can hang-dry clothes.  Believe it or not, this is sometimes easier than drying clothes in the machine, because for some reason, the clothes get so wrinkly when they are dried in the machine.
• Smokers - everyone here seems to smoke all the time.  You can't walk down the street without inhaling a ton of second-hand smoke.  And, every once in a while it creeps into our apartment through the vents.  We bought an air purifier for Nathan's room to make sure he is not inhaling too much of it.  
• The metric system - so annoying when you are cooking using an American recipe (which all of mine happen to be).  Thank goodness for Google.  I am constantly looking up Fahrenheit to Celsius conversions and ounces/pounds to grams conversions.
• Grocery shopping - everything here comes in smaller packages than what we're used to.  There is definitely no bulk buying (and you really couldn't anyway, because the refrigerators and freezers are smaller here).  So, if it's something you go through a lot of in a week (like milk for Nathan), you have to make sure to buy several at one time.  The other tricky part about grocery shopping here is the language barrier.  Although, technically, we speak the same language that they do, it is not entirely the same.  Many things, especially food items, are called something else here (or they just don't have what you're looking for and you have to research what a suitable replacement is).  Here are a few things I have learned so far:  a zucchini is a courgette; they don't sell graham crackers here, but you can use digestives as a replacement; powdered/confectioner's sugar is called icing sugar here; if you want the kind of bacon we get in America, you have to buy the streaky bacon; etc.  Chris always wonders why it takes so long for me to do my grocery shopping (I do it on-line).  He doesn't realize it's because I have to do research every time I do my shopping :)

And, what you've all been waiting for - the pictures :)  These are some pictures from August (I know, so late, sorry) that I forgot to post before:

When it was still warm out, Nathan loved having picnics in our garden! He always asked me to "eat outside; night night outside" (meaning he wants me to put the blanket outside).

Being silly with his toy bins.

He finally likes vegetables again after going on about a 6-month vegetable strike.

Eating lunch in Holland Park.

Playing with an oversized chess set in Holland Park.

Taking a break on our walk.

And, a few more recent pictures and videos:

This is what happens when the weather changes and your son still insists on having a picnic - you convince him that it's way more fun to have a picnic inside!