Ticking some boxes

This week we have ticked a few more boxes. Charlotte started school and got off to a great start. The school is lovely, small and everyone is welcoming.  Charli received 4 birthday party invitations during the week and when asked if she was a sporty girl or preferred singing and dancing, she belted out a couple of Adele songs giving her classmates the answer right away!!  She is also enjoying this terms sport which is rounders on a Monday.  This involves a bus trip to one of the local sports fields.  School starts at 8.30 and finishes at 3.50 so it is a longer day than she is used to and this caught up with her by the end of the week!

We have organised tutoring for Bella & Ed.  Another big tick. Their tutors are Kane & Cordelia and the focus will be maths & english plus some science for Bella.  They will be schooled from home with about 6 contact hours each week (2 days of 3 hours) plus homework.  

Bella and I have an interview at The Ursuline High School this week, which is where we hope Bella will go to school from September.  Fingers crossed & hopefully another tick!  Getting into schools over here is a complete nightmare, even for the locals.  

I am still waiting patiently to hear from Wimbledon College for Ed and will chase a little harder this week.  I have been told that he is number 1 on the waiting list but I still need to clarify the year level they will offer him.  Ed joined the Old Wimbledonians Cricket Club on Friday and the vast majority of boys in the team are going to Wimbledon College in September so that will be a nice ice breaker for him.

We have bought a car (tick) after managing to find an insurance premium that wasn't going to send us into bankruptcy (tick tick).  Most of the quotes were upwards of GBP2,000 which had us questioning whether it was even sensible to buy a car or just rent one when we needed to.  After lots of calling around I found a decent quote with Elephant Insurance so the car is going ahead - Elephant Insurance, what is that name about? Their logo and corporate image are very reassuring! I have been in stitches about it.

Yesterday we had a wander down the Portobello Rd.  I am a fan of fonts and vintage letter press printing blocks so I was very excited about creating the little DIY artwork above.  For those struggling with  the back to front text it says Isabella, Edward & Charlotte MacIsaac.  I already have Nic & David so I will slot those in along with the letters for L O N D O N and it will be a nice keepsake!! (I am itching for a creative project can anyone tell!)

The variety & quality of flowers over here is SUPERB and each time I pass a flower stand the camera comes out.  Look at those peonies! The last picture in my collage was a shop front in Notting Hill  - in case you cant read it, the sign says "Mungo & Maud / cat & dog outfitters" HYSTERICAL and definitely for posh pooches only!

Mac and I had a lovely walk through a tiny edge of the Wimbledon Common this morning.  The common is 1,100 acres in total.  The houses around the common are TO DIE FOR and the feel is very rural and villagey.  The common is mostly in its natural wooded state with wide tracks weaving throughout.  I was half expecting Robin Hood to ambush us on the path and if you look closely you might see a Womble!!

Bath

We hired a car for the weekend and this morning, very very early (ok it was 7.30am) we set off to the town of Bath, about 2 hours drive out of London.  In normal form, I sleep most of the way and Mac was left without a wing man - it didn't seem to matter, he got us there without a map or sat nav.

We did a walking tour of the town and took in all the Georgian architecture (stunning!) Our guide had lots of interesting facts and explained where the term daylight robbery comes from.  

A window tax was introduced in 1696 and it worked on the assumption that the bigger the house, the wealthier the occupants and the more windows it was likely to have. The tax was unpopular because it was seen by some as a tax on "light and air" hence the turn of phrase daylight robbery. In an effort to avoid incurring this tax many homes including the lovely big ones, had permanently sealed off or bricked in window panes.

Lunch was a quick whip around Tesco's and off to the park for a picnic followed by a tour of the Roman Baths in the afternoon.  Since our last trip to Bath (circa 1997) an enormous amount of excavation has been done at the site revealing many more ruins and very interesting video reconstructions etc.  The kids had a fantastic day and were totally engrossed by the history of Bath.  All told, it was a much more successful day than our trip to the Tower of London!

a day out

On Sunday the weather was the best it has been so far so we headed into London for a look around.  First stop was the Egyptian room at the British Museum.  We couldn't believe how many mummy's were on show including mummified cats, food, birds and a crocodile - who knew!

Next stop Covent Garden which the kids loved for the hustle & bustle, street theatre, lots of shops, ice cream and generally buzzy London feel.

All in all a fun but rather exhausting day!  We caught up with Dino Stephanos later in the afternoon who had flown to London from San Francisco to watch a football match with a side trip to Paris for the French Open  ... as you do!

a school visit for Charlotte

Today Charlotte & I visited Ursuline Prep where Charli will start school on 3 June.  She will do 5 weeks in Grade 5 before the school year ends and she will start Grade 6 (gulp) in September this year.

We took a bus to the next Village to get the uniform, needless to say that was very exciting and Charlotte put her uniform on as soon as we walked in the door.  The school seems really lovely and is quite small in terms of student numbers so there will be plenty of one on one teacher time if necessary. There is a very sweet little fenced off natural habitat in the school yard complete with tadpoles & frogs and just to complete the scene, a little squirrel foraging for food. (We still think they are cute ... this may wear off!).

Settling in

We have been in London one week now which I can hardly belive.  There have been a few frustrating moments - the usual teething problems such as sporadic hot water, zero water pressure, no washing machine, faulty dryer, faulty dishwasher, eating off plastic plates, boiling the water for a cup of tea in a saucepan etc etc. But all first world problems really and they are being sorted out day by day.

After telling the kids that squirrels are everywhere in London, we have failed to see one despite looking in all the right places.  Above is Cannizaro Gardens in Wimbeldon, stunning but not a squirrel in site and yesterday we walked through Green Park near Buckingham Palace and nothing!

The kids were keen to hit the tourist spots yesterday which included M&M world, Picadilly Circus, Hamleys and Oxford St.  Back into the West End on Friday night to see the musical Matilda which is apparently fantastic.

Tomorrow we will visit Charlotte's school, Wimbledon Ursuline Preparatory School and find out about the uniform etc.  Charli will (most likely) start school on Monday 3rd June.  

to the Tower

Today we headed to the Tower of London for a bit of sight seeing and a tour of the crown jewels. I made the mistake of turning it into too much of an English history lesson at which point the kids eyes glazed over and they were resenting our little day trip. A quick side step into the torture chamber seemed to re-ignite some interest and the rest of the day there were threats of being beheaded, stretched, hung, drawn & quartered!!

London bound ...

Three very excited people going overseas for the first time!

Enjoying our time at the pointy end of the plane.  Ed slept for only 3 hours of the 24 hour flight.

We got through immigration & customs in record time - it all felt a little too easy actually.