Daily Life

**I am so sorry for not posting more in the last few weeks. The blogger I am using and my internet connection here in London are not letting me post pictures, which really help explain the posts. I am going to write a couple of new posts and will add pictures if and when it lets me. I apologize for this, as I know the pictures make the story. Anyways, I hope you are all doing well and we miss you guys!! **

 

Life in London is definitely different than our life in the US. Everything from the size of our apartment, to the street we live on, to the food that is available is different. I'm not saying its bad or good, its just different. Here is a typical day:

 

Colston decides to wake up around 6:00 in the morning, which is much earlier than in the states. We live directly across from a grocery store so I think when they make their morning deliveries, the noise wakes him up. He then comes and watches "toons" in our bed until its time for Kyle to get ready for work. He goes in later here in the UK than he does at home, so Colston and I are awake and get to spend time with him. It has been nice to eat breakfast with him and just get an hour in the morning with Kyle! I will miss this when we return home.

 

After breakfast, Colston plays until nap time. He loves playing with his train, balls, cars, and the newest members of his toy collection, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters. We have to watch Mickey Mouse every day. He also loves to look at books. After nap time, he has a snack and begins his daily task of carrying toys from one room to another, then finding something in that room and carrying it to a new room. He does this for hours! He usually does some dancing, jumping, and singing, too. He has discovered how to climb on the furniture and is now trying to learn how to jump. We have been working on names of family and friends, counting, singing songs, learning colors, and learning body parts. He now says hello when we walk into a store, and says bye-bye, waves, and blows kisses when we leave or when Daddy goes to work. Every day, he is doing something new.

 

Kyle normally comes home for lunch, which Colston and I really enjoy. After lunch, we play, color, paint, dance, and read more books. Then, its time for nap #2. After the nap, its time for another snack and more playing, especially with his blocks (another favorite pick up and deposit in various places around the apartment :) ). Then, we get around and head to the grocery store.

 

The store is directly across from our apartment. We go every day and we usually go in the afternoon. If you go in the morning, at lunch, or between 5 and 7 PM, it is soo busy and its too hard to manage with the stroller and all those people! Here's an idea of how busy our street gets at 'quiting time'. On weekends, the street is completely quiet. The grocery is basically the only store open on Saturday and Sunday on our street. Anyways, if we need to go the drug store or doing any shopping, this is usually when we go. It has been different having to go to the grocery every day, but it has also been kind of neat changing how we do things. One difference is in their berries. They are so big and sweet! Though the store doesn't have such a big variety of products, they have what you need, and that is all. We have some new favorites that we will miss when we go home, like these apple crackers and their lemonade. 

 

Another thing that is different is their fast food. Unlike in America where it is burger and fries, here it is all fresh foods. One of the biggest fast food chains is Pret A Manger (there is one below our apartment) and they are basically on every corner. They carry only fresh made products, made in the store every day. At the end of the day, whatever is left is donated to the homeless shelters. You don't feel weighed down after eating there, so I have quite enjoyed this difference. 

 

Back to our day...we come home and make dinner. Kyle comes home, we have dinner, Colston gets a bath because he looks like this after most meals, and then Kyle plays with Colston before bed time. We also FaceTime with our families during this time. FaceTime has made the move a lot easier! I would highly recommend it for anyone that is going to be away from family and friends. After Colston goes to bed, Kyle and I relax with watching TV, playing video games, and I learned how to crochet! I only wish there was a craft store with yarn near us, but I have not found one close by.

 

Life is different here in London, but it has been so much fun! It has been a neat change and we have enjoyed seeing Kyle a little more. Kyle is learning so much and has really enjoyed learning about his company. Kyle has also picked up a few British phrases. When we come home, you will have to listen for them! ;)  We only have a week and a half left in London and then we are off to Zurich and a vacation to the Amalfi Coast in Italy and to Zermatt before he starts work in Zurich. We are very excited! The time is going quickly and it will fly by in Zurich, as we have something planned every weekend from now until we come home! Well, that is all for now! Talk to you soon! 

London Sightseeing with Mom and Dad Bauer

Hello!! Its been a while...we've been pretty busy so let's back up to our first weekend in London...

A few things we have learned about London:

London is such a wonderful city! It is big without feeling big. Could you get lost when out on a walk? Sure, but there is always a friendly Londoner just around the corner. Speaking of getting lost, very few roads and intersections are straight here. When London was built, the people paid very little attention to making roads straight or kept the size of the road consistent. So, they ended up with a maze of roads that makes it very difficult to drive, let alone them driving on the other side of the road! At every crossing area, they have painted on the road "Look Left" or "Look Right" so that you don't forget!! I think we are finally getting the hang of it (though my first instinct is to look left then right!

Most of the buildings are not over 5 stories tall, except for the few sky scrapers. Like the Swiss Re building. It is 40 stories high with a bar/restaurant on the 39th and 40th floors. You have to be somebody to get to go up (or know somebody who works at Swiss Re ;) ). Lol! No, you either have to make reservations a couple weeks in advance or know a Swiss Re employee who can get you in.

After Dave and Renee finished their two week tour of Europe, they returned to London for the weekend. It was so much fun!! Colston was so excited that they were here!! And that they brought a surprise:

Colston loves his new Ferrari hat and shirt!!

It was the first time Kyle and I really explored London, and Wow!! What a neat city full of history, architecture and big city life! We decided to take them to the Tower of London first:

Then, London Bridge:

It just happened to go up when we were about to cross!!

We walked along the river looking for something to eat and happened across a little cafe in a covered, but open, shopping area. It served French cuisine and it was wonderful! Colston saw the lemon on my plate and decided to give it a try:

It was too funny!! We walked back to our flat across London Bridge, giving us an awesome view of Tower Bridge.

The next morning, we decided that we were going to go see Big Ben, the London Eye, Parliment, West Minster Abbey, etc, which are all near eachother. We decided to walk there...wrong decision!!! It was a long walk, but we did get to see the city a little better. We saw many old buildings and walked through several gardens, all along the river. We found a red phone booth:

And saw St. Paul's Cathedral:

The first big landmark was Big Ben:

We actually got to hear him ring. It was really neat! Then, we just happened upon the Royal Stables and caught a few guards on duty:

We decided then that we were going to see Buckingham Palace the next day, so we headed up to Piccadilly Circus, where we had lunch, and saw Trafalgar Square:

 and Regent Street to do some shopping at Hamleys Toy Store:

Wow!! It was 6 floors of toys for kids of all ages. At the top was the candy store. We will have to bring Colston back!

After a few more stores, we decided to take the tube back home. Once you get the hang of it, it is actually one of the easiest, and by far the fastest ways to get around. We had dinner at a place called Fish!. It was my first fish and chips...I may try them again somewhere else to see if they are any better...

The next morning, we took the tube to Victoria to go see Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard. Here is the Palace:

There were so many people there, and we were even a little early. We couldn't see much:

But we did get a good photo-op when the soliders were leaving the palace:

After they marched out, we headed out to the monument in front of the palace:

We had lunch and then decided to walk to Harrods (the city's largest department store) and the Science Museum. All along the way, we saw so many neat buildings and cars! (I now have a new idea for my front porch, but you all will just have to wait and see til I get back home! :) )

Monday morning came too fast! Kyle was able to get us to the top of his building before Dave and Renee had to take off (I forgot my camera...). The views were absolutely amazing!! You could see London in all directions. It was breathtaking! Here is a picture of all of us in front of Swiss Re the night before:
 

Then it was time for the good byes...I know we will be ok, its just hard in the moment when you know they are leaving and we are staying. I guess we will just have to look to the future and our next visitors in a few weeks!! Anyways, our weekend was jampacked, but it was very enjoyable! I can't wait to do some more exploring in the coming weeks!!

Our London "Flat"

 

Life as we know it is a little bit different here in London. Let me take you on a tour of our "flat," located above a sandwich shop in the City of London.

 

Here is the master bedroom:

And the view from our room. It looks out onto a fire escape and during the day, there are businesses that I can see through the windows.

Here is our bathroom. It is pretty spacious:

With a great, big tub, Colston asks for baths all throughout the day! I like how high it sits to give him baths, but when you are climbing in and out of it when your feet are wet, it becomes kind of dangerous.

They made sure we were still connected to our best friends, Trent and Katy. The sink and toilet are both made by "trent"

Here is our kitchen. It is small but functional.

I do not drink coffee, so at home we have a Keurig. Here in London, we have this:

 

I wasn't quite sure how to use it but figured it out quickly. You heat the water in the electric kettle, put the ground coffee in the bottom of the press, add the water, and press down. I think I can handle that!

 

 Another thing that is different is the washer and dryer. Here, they are the same machine. You set the washer settings and the dryer settings and push start. It doesn't dry the best, but it works!

 

Here is Colston's room. He cried and cried that first week when we would try to put him in the pack and play so we decided to put the mattress on the floor. He LOVED it!! He is now very excited to go night, night!

 

 

Here is the living/dining room. We spend most of our time in this room.

 

 

Out our window, we can see the monument built to remember the great fire of London.

 

 

And across the street is the grocery store we go to most days. It is different here in that we go every day to get our food for that day. We have found that their strawberries and raspberries are so, so good! One of Colston's new favorite words is "hapberry" (raspberry) :)

 

Speaking of Colston, he has figured out how to climb up on the couch all by himself! He's getting too big too fast!!

 

 

Though our life is different here, we are settled in and are enjoying every minute! Now, its time to go exploring!