Visitors!

One benefit to living in London it's a destination for a lot of tourists.

So our friends and family come to see it... I mean us... I mean London.

WIN WIN

The month of April in particular was a revolving door around here.  And then we got another couple in May. We LOVE playing tour guide around here, and these folks didn't disappoint.

Round One: My Mom and Grandma

My mom texted me on a Sunday night, asking if she could come and visit.  She arrived four days later.  And, she came with a stowaway of sorts - my grandma!

Oh my stars, we went and went and went. Windsor Castle. Hampton Court Palace. Blenheim Palace.  The Cotswolds (think charming country towns with little houses topped with thatched roofs). Jersey Boys musical. Bath.  We also enjoyed several croissants and some shopping.

All in just over a week's time.


 
Four generations of ladies take London by storm; Grandma meets Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn at Hampton Court


Peppa Pig Snuggles; shopping with two crying girls

Grandma meets a Windsor Castle guard; Caroline gets in some reading time with Oma


My grandma is a talented online scrabble player. And Caroline would NOT let her sit in peace to play her games. Caroline was sure she could help out with the "wetters."



This is Blenheim Palace, a colossal country estate near Oxford.  It is the birthplace of Winston Churchill and the historic home of the Dukes of Marlborough.  Definitely worth a visit!



We all took the train out to the charming little cathedral town of Winchester.  The cathedral itself didn't disappoint - beautiful and grand.  And the town?  Cobblestone streets, a market, and even a fabulous tea shop?  Yes, please.



It was SUCH a joy to see my grandma spending time with the girls. Like any great-grandmother worth her salt, she came bearing gifts: dress-up clothes and a princess book.


This puts my mom's total visits to London to THREE! Love it.

Round Two: Sarah, Jason, and Holland

Years and years ago, back when I lived in Indiana and actually blogged consistently, I struck up a friendship with another blogger, who happened to be married to one of my colleagues.  And over the years Sarah has become one of my dearest friends, despite the fact that we've never lived in the same place.  It was especially fun to both welcome baby girls into the world this past December.  So when we found out that Jason had a business trip planned in London, Sarah and I immediately schemed for her and baby Holly to tag along.  And it WORKED.  Hooray!


We enjoyed London. We ate a lot. We nursed babies. We shopped for little girls' clothes.  We talked and talked and TALKED. It was such a blessing to spend face-to-face time together and love on each others' babies.

Sarah, if you're reading this, any chance you can come back next year?

Round Three: Phil and Katie

Phil is one of Josh's oldest and best friends.  They first became buddies back in third grade, became buddies again in high school, and still remain close.   Phil was Josh's best man, and Josh was Phil's.  Phil and Katie had already been planning to take a trip to London before we knew we were moving here.  So it worked out really well that they could come stay with us! 

And come to find out, this London trip was also a babymoon for them.  Extra exciting!  Congratulations to you two!

We had a blast together.  Josh was able to get tickets to a Tottenham Hotspur match (pro football/soccer) which is Phil's favorite team.  We enjoyed Camden Market.  And Hampton Court, the Tower of London, good food abounding, Richmond, Borough Market, and basically all around downtown London.

We all also share a common bond with Phil and Katie:  we're major Harry Potter nerds.  And wouldn't you know, much of the Harry Potter movies were filmed just 45 minutes from our home.  So OF COURSE we went on the Warner Brother's studio tour, getting to see movie sets of the Great Hall, Diagon Alley, the Griffindor Common Room, and Umbridge's office at the Ministry of Magic, to name a few.  And an amazingly cool model of the castle they used for filming aerial shots.  Fascinating.





Phil and Caroline on the Hogwarts bridge


Cupboard under the stairs!


Hogwarts model


The Night Bus; the Dursley's house

Round Four: DeeDee and Chris


A few weeks after Phil and Katie left us, we enjoyed yet another visit from old friends.  I've mentioned DeeDee and Chris a number of times on this here blog.  Most recently here.  During our years at the University of Michigan, Chris and Josh lived together in a house with some other guys, while DeeDee and I lived four doors down in a house of girls.  DeeDee and I actually shared a dorm room as well.  So we go way back!  And - even better - we've made a point to get together as couples (and now, families!) regularly ever since.  Chris and DeeDee didn't let an ocean stand in their way of a visit this time around!  But they did leave their boys at home this time.

We once again enjoyed a blissfully hectic tour of London - and beyond.  We hit up Borough Market, the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Bath, Windsor Castle, the London Eye, St. Paul's, and a variety of other things I'm surely forgetting.

Caroline desperately wanted to ride on the "Wondon Eye" so DeeDee and Chris graciously took her; DeeDee and Juliet about to visit the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London


All four of us dressed for the part at Hampton Court Palace; Chris, DeeDee, and Juliet meet a Beefeater, Tower of London


Chris' request: visit the historic Black Friar Pub; DeeDee and Chris babysat the girls so I could nap (bless 'em!)


We met early in our freshman year at Michigan - almost 12 years ago!  And we've been close friends ever since.


Windsor Castle.  If my memory serves me, one or both of my children were screaming, so we moseyed around Windsor while the LeComptes enjoyed the castle in peace.

DeeDee and Juliet; the four of us Browns (it's nice to have ready-made photographers around so I can actually get in a pic from time to time!)


Whew!  What wonderful memories we made with all of these people.  The late nights watching Jim Gaffigan stand-up.  The meals out.  The tube rides and jokes and my grandma putting a tiny bit of makeup on Caroline's face in the mornings (the day she gets into my makeup I'm blaming you, Ruth Sharpless!)

But what I remember most about all of these visitors is that they loved on us.  All of us.  They did our dishes before I realized there were any to do.  They played with the kids while we showered.  They made meals and took turns baby wearing and helped us clunk clunk clunk the double stroller down the steps to the Tube stations. 

And they really, genuinely, took interest in our girls.  Not just in a helping me and Josh way (although that was appreciated!)  But they took the time to coerce Juliet to smile and play dollhouse with Caroline.  They snuggled the baby and talked Peppa Pig with the big girl.  Nothing made me feel more loved than when I saw our friends and family loving on and enjoying Caroline and Juliet. 

In fact, in hosting so many fabulous guests I learned a lot about how to be a good guest in someone else's home.  I can only hope I am as much an encouragement as these folks were to me.  Thank you, each one of you.  Your visits meant more than you know.

Come back anytime.

Christmas in London

So we're well into January.  How 'bout a (mostly boring!) Christmas recap?  It's more for me than for anyone who cares to read this.  But since it was Christmas, and Christmas in a foreign country, no less, I know I'll want to remember how we celebrated the birth of Jesus.

Get ready for some awful iPhone pics as well.

So London gets gussied up for the holiday.  Everywhere you look you can find huge trees, lights strung up over shopping districts, and Salvation Army bands playing carols on street corners.  And lots of craft fairs.  I was quite charmed by the whole thing!  And you know what?  Everyone says "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Christmas" here... no PC "Happy Holidays" for the Brits!  Of course, Christmas here in the UK focuses more on "Father Christmas" (A.K.A. Santa) and the commericalization of the holiday more than the birth of Jesus... not unlike the US. But hey, I still enjoy the lights and hustle & bustle and overall merriment of the season.



 
Above: Sloane Square, Chelsea, Left: Jubilee Market Hall, Covent Garden, Right: The Jack Daniel's take on a Christmas tree, Covent Garden


The Christmas Market
From what I understand, these are a major wintertime attractions in Germany.  And copycat markets seem to have creeped over to the British Isles as well (although I understand the ones in the UK have got nothing on the ones you can find on the continent!)  Sweet little stands selling everything from mulled wine to knit hats to fake snow.  Caroline and I met some friends at one in early December at the Southbank Centre, and it did not disappoint.  It's a really pretty spot just down the river from the London Eye, with the Houses of Parliament just across, and boasts a carousel to boot.  And the fair-style food?  YES PLEASE.  I'm already looking forward to going back next year for the warm doughy cinnamon cyclone thing we enjoyed this past year.






Winter Wonderland
Hyde Park ramps it up a notch with some pretty intense festivities.  Christmas market shops and treats plus all manner carnival rides and ice skating and even a German "biergarten".  We made the mistake of taking Josh's parents on a Saturday afternoon.  WALL TO WALL people.  But fun nonetheless.


Carol Service at St. Paul's Cathedral
This was high on my priority list for the season.  I mean, how many times do you get to go to a Christmas service in a gorgeous historic cathedral?  Not to mention you usually have to pay to get into St. Paul's, and this event was free.  The Saturday before Christmas they offered a family friendly option, so along with my in-laws we loaded up the kids (including 10-day-old Juliet) and took the Tube downtown for the service.  We even saw our friends, the Floods, there!  And the service was beautiful.  Not too long or short, with fantastic music and even a little Christmas message which was preached by someone wearing a donkey costume.  Worth standing in line in the rain, to be sure.








At Home
Decorations were admittedly basic.  A cheap fake tree that stood about three foot high.  Homemade (by both me and Caroline) garland.  Candles and holly and felt stockings with the kids' initials appliqued on them.  But for the first time Caroline was old enough to teach her about Christmas.  We read books about the story of Jesus' birth every night.  Josh's parents brought her a toy nativity set to play with.  And we opened the boxes of an Advent calendar each night.  Obviously her understanding of the magnitude of the event is very much limited, but it was fun to hear her point out Mary and baby Jesus as we were reading the stories. I'm looking forward to establishing even more Christ-focused Christmas traditions with the girls as they grow up. 

Presents!
Caroline drew on her recent birthday experience and was an old pro at opening gifts.

PRESENTS!  She yelled on Christmas morning as she ran to her stash.

But we quickly found out that with her, at this age, LESS IS MORE.  We opened presents with both Josh's parents (Christmas Day) and my parents (Boxing Day) and learned that she was only interested in the first couple of gifts.  And was completely content and excited to play with those first few, leaving the rest in a gift-wrapped heap next to her.

Notable favorites: a Peppa Pig stuff and an Abby Cadabby (not to mention utterly obnoxious) tea set.







Oh, and a three-wheeled scooter.  Here in London you find toddlers on them everywhere.  Here's hoping Caroline learns how to use it soon.

Juliet?  She got a stuffed animal.

Okay, and an outfit, and a couple of ornaments.  She was super excited.

But I'll just count her as one of MY favorite Christmas gifts of 2012.  She's such a treasure to us and we LOVED having her in our arms on Christmas day.

I tried - and mostly failed - to get a couple of family-ish pictures of us on Christmas.  I even dressed the girls in matching outfits two days in a row.  Can you tell?  Nope, me neither.  Such is life with two very small kids!  And even though I have yet to achieve that "perfect sister picture" that I have in mind, these shots still make me smile.
And my personal favorite: Squinty me, who had taken off her festive red sweater to cook and forgot to put it back on for picture time.   Yawning Juliet who was apparently "over" picture taking to such a degree that she put her hand in front of her face.  And tired/overstimulated/not interested in sitting still Caroline.  Yes, folks, this is real life.

A VERY late Merry Christmas to you all.