Paris avant le grand départ

Hi!  It’s been awhile since I’ve been here, life even in Europe gets busy especially when you have two little ones running around.  And in case you haven’t heard, we have left old world Europe after 7 years for new world California! We are back home again. The time finally arrived and as they say in the corporate world, “it is with mixed emotions” that we have made the decision to get the family back to California. But before we did one last long haul flight, we took the final chance to visit our favorite city, Paris.

Paris was and always will be special.  We loved our time there and having gone back for work multiple times after moving to London we knew that we needed one last trip before leaving. Wanting to recapture the feeling of living there, we found an airbnb one block from our old house so that we could enjoy the neighborhood just like old times.

Couple of must do’s were on the agenda.  1 - Get proper baguettes, croissants, et viennoiserie aux amandes!  It just isn’t the same unless you are in France. 2 - Fromage. Lots of cheese was a must because again, it just isn’t the same unless you are in France.  3. Wine. If you need an explanation here, well I can’t really help you.

With full tummies we also had to do a bit of sightseeing and in particular Joséphine wanted to be sure to see the Eiffel Tower. We made sure to walk around and get some pictures.  From there we took a leisurely walk down the river, stopping for a snack and a moment to enjoy the views.

We also took this last chance to do family photos with Katie who was the photographer we found when Joséphine was born.  We always loved her photos and with Elaine having joined the party we were able to capture a few pics with the whole family.

Being back in Paris was a great reminder of how much we enjoy the city.  Paris will always be a second home and a place we will look forward to returning to someday soon!  

Tannaci’s Visit and Happy Birthday Elaine!

Before moving home, we had the pleasure of the Tannaci family stopping by for a visit. They were on their way back to Saudi Arabia after their summer in California and decided to break up the trip with a week long stop in London. On Saturday we all headed over to Regent’s Park for some time on the playground and lunch at the Regent’s Bar & Kitchen. Regent’s Park was on our list of places to see before moving and the Tannaci’s were happy to go along. What a beautiful park! I’m so glad we didn’t leave London without visiting it. The girls loved playing at the playground….the tall slide was a particular favorite. And we had such a lovely lunch sitting outside with beautiful weather. As we only saw a small portion of the park, we could certainly go back and explore so much more.

As a bonus, we also got to celebrate Elaine’s 2nd birthday during the Tannaci's visit. Happy Birthday to a fun, spunky girl who makes us laugh everyday and has fun playing with, and trying to keep up with, her big sister. We love you so much Elaine!

And on the last day of their visit, Josephine got a special treat and stayed home from school so she could go to the Natural History Museum with her cousins. I got to meet up with them for lunch and it sounded like they all had a fun time.

Overall it was a great visit and all of the girls had a blast playing together over the week. In fact it was so great that Josephine was crying as we waved goodbye to them as they drove off to the airport.

Arizona, California and Mexico

Similar to what we did with our friends for all of our 30th birthdays, we all planned another trip to Mexico to celebrate our 40th birthdays. This time everyone had to get babysitters as we left the kiddos at home and had a kid-free 5 night trip to Mexico. It was amazing!

We planned a two week trip around this so in July we first flew from London to Arizona where we could spend time with Nate’s Grandma Nancy. She hadn’t met Elaine yet so it was a must-do trip. We enjoyed time visiting with her and letting the girls get to know her better. We of course had to make a stop at our favorite Mexican restaurant there.

From Phoenix we flew to San Luis Obispo where we went to my parents'. Of course we had an obligatory first stop at Firestone and then it was off to San Miguel. It was lucky timing that my sister and her kids were all visiting my parents at the same time so that made it extra fun for the girls to hang out with their cousins.

Nate's parents also made the trip down to San Miguel so there was lots of excitement around the house!

We were there for 3 nights before Nate and I took off for Mexico. With the exception of one quick night in London when we were house hunting, Nate and I have never spent a night alone away from the kids since Josephine was born. We were overdue! And my parents were nice enough to watch the girls while we were away.

We met up with Kristine & Aaron, Louis & Keelin, Dave & Angie and Christian in Cabo San Lucas and all stayed at an all-inclusive, adults only, resort. It was pure heaven!! I have to admit though, it probably took a good two days before I really got used to the fact that we were there with no kids. I got to just lay around and read a book, work out as I pleased and eat with no interruptions. We had an amazing time! We ventured off the resort once for dinner at Javier’s which Nate had heard was highly recommended and then secondly to spend time on a yacht that we rented for 4 hours. That was a highlight for sure!

Happy 40th to us!

As all good things do, it was time for it to end and go home. But we missed our little goofballs and were excited to see them when we got back to San Miguel. And eventhough they had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Julie and their cousins, they were thrilled to see us when we got home.

We were only there for another night before heading back to London and attempting to deal with the horrible thing that is jet lag. Back to reality…

It's time...California, here we come!

Well the time has come for us to finally make the move back home again. After 7 years and 3 different countries, we are (mostly) ready to go back home. It’s something we’ve been thinking about for a while and the timing just felt right. We’ve been in London for just over two years now. And while Nate's new role has been great for him, he started feeling ready to move on. And with the girls, we just felt it was time to be closer to family again. So, in just a week we pack up our things and move back to the Bay Area. I found another position within Google, very similar to what I’m doing now but on a different team, and have already started work on that team from London. Nate will quit his job here and find something new once we move back. It’s sad for sure as we do like London and we love our neighborhood and have enjoyed our life here these last 2 years. But we always knew that we weren’t going to be here forever. Movers come August 29 and after spending 5 last nights in Paris, we fly home! It’ll be the end of one adventure but just the beginning of a new one.

June - A Month of Visitors

Our June was quite a busy and fun one! We didn’t go anywhere but we had lots of people come to us. It started first with a visit from the Tannaci family. They were on their way back to the US for the summer and stopped in London for 2 nights, luckily over a weekend. On Saturday we went over to the Hampstead neighborhood, walked along the high street and gathered some food and treats for picnicking. We then wandered into the Heath where we found a playground and camped out there for a bit while the kids all played. They had a blast! We then wandered around in the Heath (it’s huge!), walking around little ponds and watching the ducks before heading back home. And then they were off and away early Sunday morning.

Just a few hours after the Tannaci’s left, the Lamson’s then arrived! They were with us for 10 days. And that first day was Polo in the Park at Hurlingham. We’ve lived here for 2 years and haven’t gone to this yearly event either of those years so this year we wanted to be sure not to miss it. And it was so fun!! The Lamson’s rallied after a quick power nap and we spent the afternoon there. It was family day so they had tons of stuff for the kids like a big blow up slide and a bounce house. There was tons of food as well and then of course it all finished with a polo match. I’d never been to a polo match before so that was fun. And the kids got a kick out of seeing the horses. It was rather hot and not a ton of shade so by 3pm we were done and headed home.

The Lamson’s did their thing during the week while Nate and I were at work. The following weekend we took turns going out. Kristine and I went out Friday night for a girl’s night in SoHo and Nate and Aaron got out on Saturday night. Saturday was fairly mellow with lunch near the river and some play time for the kids at Wandsworth Park. Sunday was Father’s Day so we all relaxed, especially the boys, and ate a yummy dinner, compliments of Kristine.

They left Tuesday and we had 3 nights before Ehren, Julie and Everett arrived on Friday. While Nate had last seen them for Matt and Sabita’s wedding, it has actually been a few years since I had seen them. So it was fun to have them here for a visit. Again, the weather in London has been really warm and sunny so Saturday afternoon we picnicked at Parson’s Green and then dinner at Tendido Cuatro, a favorite of ours. Nate left early Sunday to head to Boston for work so the rest of us all ventured over to Bishop’s Park to let the kids play in the water and sand there.

And before we knew it, they were off Monday morning and John, the last of our month of June visitors arrived late that night. He has the opportunity to play in a series of concerts in Aix en Provence through Vanderbilt so made a stop in London before starting that. Minus a minor delay with baggage that never made his connecting flight, he toured around London seeing the major sights. I managed to get tickets for us to Hamilton for that Thursday night, which was a highlight for sure and so amazing!!! John’s a huge fan and knows that play inside and out while I didn’t know much beyond the hype going into it. But I absolutely loved it!! And even better going with such a big fan. His last night in London we took him to our neighborhood pub spot, The White Horse. Can’t leave London without a good pub meal. And then early Saturday morning he was up and off to France. We figured out that it had been about 7 years since we last saw each other so was great catching up.

And there was our June. It was a whirlwind for sure and so much fun seeing so many of our friends and family.

A Tuscan Holiday

One of the vacations we were most looking forward to this year was a trip to Tuscany, which we took at the end of May. Together with Ron, Lindsay and Lauren, we rented an amazing villa just a 5 minute drive from Montalcino. Both Ron and Nate turned 40 this year, within days of each other, and we thought it would be a perfect way to celebrate.

Before meeting up with Ron and Lindsay in Tuscany, we first flew to Venice where we stayed with our friends Vika and Martino in Padua (just about 40 minutes from the Venice airport). It’s a smaller town, but not too small, and a perfect way to start our Italian holiday.

What wasn’t quite perfect though was our journey there. Elaine threw up all over me on the plane (of course I didn’t bring a change of clothes for myself so had to sit there in vomit soaked clothes for close to 2 hours). She then proceeded to throw up in the car on our way to Padua and then one last time about an hour after we put her to bed that night. Other than the throwing up, she didn’t seem sick at all. She didn’t have a fever and acted and ate normally. So who knows what was going on. But it left a lasting impression on Josephine who was traumatized by all three vomit events. After that, any time Elaine would make a small whimper, Josephine would dart away from her afraid that she would throw up yet again. She even said to me “Mommy, I don’t want Elaine to come next time.”. Poor Elaine!! And I suppose poor Josephine too.

So we had a fairly mellow Saturday in Padua and got to wander around the city and eat at Martino’s amazing pizzeria. And then Sunday we were off on a 4 hour drive down to Montalcino.

As soon as we pulled up to this villa, I was in heaven. It did not disappoint!! The view was incredible. Exactly what I imagined and hoped for. It had a swimming pool as well. And we had a whole week ahead of ourselves. We didn’t plan too much as we wanted to make sure we could just relax. One of the days we arranged a half day wine tour. We visited the Terralsole winery and had a very thorough tour and tasting followed by lunch in Montalcino. We shipped some of their wine back to us in London and it tastes even better now than when we did the tasting.

And the best thing we did for ourselves was arrange for a private chef to come to the house. I don’t think we would have thought of this except that the Airbnb host suggested it. We did this on 2 of the nights and it was fantastic. The chef comes to your house with all of the food, prepares it, serves you a multi-course meal and then cleans up and leaves. We put the kiddos down for bed and then the four of us could relax with a restaurant quality meal. Again, the best decision we could have made!

Otherwise the week was indeed quite relaxing. We would venture out briefly in the morning….generally to explore Montalcino. Then back in time for Elaine and Lauren to take a nap while we’d all go in the pool. Josephine (and Elaine for that matter too) loved the pool and had a blast!

Everything was perfect. Doing a Tuscan holiday had been on our list since we first moved to Zurich and it completely lived up to the dream. And doing the trip with such good friends made it that much better.

Italy is such a great place to visit. The food is delicious, the people are so friendly and they love kids and it’s just beautiful. I’d go back to this same place again in a heartbeat.

Josephine and Mommy Trip to North Carolina

Back in September Ava asked me to be her confirmation sponsor. I of course was honored and immediately said yes. This also gave me a great reason to go visit the whole family in Apex, NC. Being that it would be a fairly quick trip, Nate and I decided that we didn’t have any interest in bringing an 18 month old on an 8 hour flight and deal with jet lag so it was decided that Elaine and Nate would stay in London. This meant that Josephine and I got to have a trip of our own with some quality one on one time.

We headed out for just about a week. Josephine was so excited for the trip! It had been since Christmas since she’d been on a plane and this girl loves to be on holiday. She did great on the flight out there but did seem to max out on her Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig with about 2-3 hours left of the flight.

We had a great week hanging out with family in Apex. My parents came out as well as Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Andy. Josephine loved just being at the house spending time bouncing around a basketball, riding a trike and jumping on the big trampoline in the backyard. We’re not so used to having yards to play in.

We also got to do a bit of sightseeing. We explored Duke University and the Duke gardens. I just love East Coast college campuses! And we went into Raleigh. We visited the North Carolina history museum and wandered around the state capitol building. Of course we had some good ol’ bbq. And then of course the Confirmation ceremony.

Overall we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and it was such a great mommy and daughter trip too. Josephine had a blast playing with Ian. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with family. And on top of that, North Carolina was a state I had never visited before. Such a fun trip and I can’t wait to go back with the whole family.

And that's a wrap

And New Year’s in Vienna

After our Christmas in London, we all packed up and on the 27th headed to Vienna where we stayed until the 1st. Vienna is a charming, beautiful city. It was cold of course, although no snow. And their Christmas markets were still up which was a treat. We had two Airbnb’s within a 10 minute walk of each other, just slightly outside of the city center. 

In a nutshell, here’s what we did:

• Explored the city center
• Walked around the Hofburg Palace
• Enjoyed warming up with hot chocolate and treats in little cafes
• Visited the Haus der Musik, an interactive sound museum. The highlight was a room where you could actually conduct an orchestra. The kids loved this.
• Went to mass at the beautiful Kirche St. Peter
• Caught a bit of the opera (Hansel & Gretel) which was being projected on a big screen outside the Opera house
• Ice skating near city hall
• Ring tour via the city tram
• And for NYE, Julie and family made an amazing dinner and later that night at midnight when the kids were already asleep, we enjoyed one of the best fireworks shows from our apartment window.

We really enjoyed ourselves although Elaine gave us a run for our money when it came to sleep. For about 3 nights in a row, she woke around 1am and was up for a good 2-3 hours. We eventually decided that she was probably over stimulated with all of the activities with her cousins and sister around. Of course it took us a couple of extremely sleep deprived nights to figure this out before we made any changes.

But all in all we still had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed Vienna.