Swan Song

Sarah came over Thanksgiving, which was extra nice because Austin went back to NC for the holiday. She flew in on Thanksgiving day, and we had dinner with some lovely American friends from church. Now I'm wishing I had a picture because it was so nice to be in a real house eating proper American food with other displaced people.

That weekend also coincided with Sarah's 35 birthday. The next day we had the first celebratory outing, to the ATP World Tour Finals tournament which were in town at The O2. And, as you can see of the following picture, we had good seats.

It was pretty fun to sit right up close. First there was a doubles match, in which the Bryan brothers (pictured below) lost to Bhupathi and Paes.

Then in singles, Berdych beat Ferrer in an exciting match. Seeing it right up close like that you can appreciate how hard they hit. Fortunately there were a lot of really good points.

The next day was Saturday, and that was the day that we officially celebrated Sarah's birthday. It started off with breakfast at the flat, which consisted of doughnuts for the kids and Sarah's favorite Greek yogurt and muesli, neither of which can you get back here in the states. You can see that Rippy was pretty excited about the whole thing:

Later in the day Ainsleigh and Sarah and I sent off for our fancy girl day. First we went shopping for Ainsleigh's and Leslie's upcoming Fancy Party in posh Richmond. Ainsleigh found a dress right away at Monsoon. She got this dress, a white feathered cape to go over the top and silver sparkly shoes.

Then we got on the tube and took Ainsleigh to two art museums that she had yet to visit. First we headed to the Tate Modern, where we had a great lunch. Unfortunately one of the main exhibit rooms was closed, so I was glad I made it there twice previously. Here are Sarah and Ainsleigh crossing back over the Millennium Bridge.

In front of St. Paul's

Then we went to the National Gallery. This was the first time I went there. Here is Ainsleigh at the entrance overlooking Trafalgar Square.
Then the three of us went to dinner at Gauthier Soho. At one point we had plans to go to Paris for the weekend, but then with Austin going back to NC that was not going to work with the kids. So, we went out to an amazing French restaurant instead. Here was the fall vegetarian tasting menu.
Yep. It was an eight course meal. It took about three hours. And it was AMAZING.

They seated us in a private room--perhaps an ironic setting since we aren't even wine drinkers.
Ainsleigh had a bit of a hard time with the fancy food (no, I did not get her 8 courses). Fortunately the fruit was a little more accessible.
After eight courses, the last two of which were desserts, we thought we were done, when they unexpectedly brought in this:
It was unbelievable--definitely the best meal Sarah or I have ever had by miles.

If you're ever in London and want a fancy night out, Gauthier is the place! Also, they have a surprisingly affordable lunch menu (25 GBP for 3 courses is well worth it and a steal in such an expensive city).

York & Oxford

I was able to go up to York twice--once with Sarah during her first trip and once with the kids in early November. There were more pictures of the town in Sarah's blog post. Here are just a few of the kids:

Ainsleigh's main wish was to walk on the city wall:

At the National Railway Museum:

A few weeks later I went to Oxford to present at the British Soctiey for Research into Learning Mathematics conference (an international math ed conference). It went very well and I was invited to submit an article in a very good journal as a result of my presentation. Presenting my research at Oxford was certainly a high point of the time in England.

The outside of the Bodleian Library, which has a great tour:

It was nice to have some time to walk around the day before the conference. Still, I will always love Cambridge much more than Oxford.

Tower of London

The best kid London outing was a visit to the Tower of London. It was more interactive than the other palaces we had been to and it even held Rippy's attention--the main key to everyone's enjoyment.

From the outside, looking across the moat

There were plenty of armories and cannons:

And even the occasional Knight

And, of course, Tower Bridge

I really don't envy people who try to take good pictures of London--you would need to do some heavy editing with all the clouds and flat light. Much better to just take photos of London at night--and then photoshop them until they no longer resemble reality. So when you see pictures like this...

...you now have it on good authority that, no, London never looks like that. It is brought to you by the magic of digital photography. This is what Tower Bridge actually looks like:

Slightly different.
These two pictures are also a good analogy for what many people assumed living in London was like compared to what it actually was.

Uniformity

As you know, there was a lot of discussion about Ainsleigh's (ridiculously expensive) school uniform. In case you forgot, here is what the summer uniform looked like. It comprised of a short sleeve dress, red money belt, embroidered cardigan, white or red socks, and black heelless shoes.
For arrival and departure, they also wore a hat and a blazer, both of which were embroidered with the school crest.
The angle never quite worked with the ponytail, and since it was a requirement to pull hair back (with a red hair tie), the hat was always at an awkward angle.
Then there was the winter uniform, which I think was the better of the two. This consisted of a long sleeve blouse, gray jumper, a different hat (which I believe to be a substantial improvement compared to the summer hat), tights, the money belt (which she isn't wearing here), cardigan, blazer, and an overcoat.

There were also other miscellaneous clothing articles in the uniform. There were multiple PE uniforms which included an embroidered polo and embroidered sweat suit, and even a swimsuit and swim cap. I'm sure there were also other things I'm forgetting, such as the severely overpriced art smock that just came back to mind. There was a fleece jacket, which the girls are wearing here at a class field trip to Hampton Court Palace. I'm pretty sure they only ever wore it to field trips and on the coach (that's right, coach--not bus) to the swimming pool once a week. As a South African mom who was also new to the school said to me, "They're going to need a separate uniform to go to the loo pretty soon."

Peering out into the courtyard (displaying a non-standard issue bag):

It's an ensemble fit for meeting a King:

Here is the last uniform picture. This is one I took following an afternoon trip to the Richmond Hill Bakery, which we frequented often as it was on the way to Rippy's school.
This is my favorite picture of Ainsleigh in London:

Halloween

After our trip to Italy the kids and I flew from Milan to NC. That was the longest flight and of us have ever been on, and I'm happy to report the three of us (and everyone else on board) did just fine. Rippy flies west far better than he flies east.

Our trip home coincided with Halloween, Ainsleigh's favorite holiday. She wanted to be a flying monkey (from the Wizard of Oz) but graciously agreed to be a witch when there were only a few hours left and I still hadn't started on her costume. So, this year we had Spider Man (as per Rippy's superhero obsession) and a witch.

Rippy showing off his muscles:

We also hosted a party and Ainsleigh got to see her best friend, Caroline.

Back in London and decorating cookies on Halloween proper:

Rippy insisted I post this silly picture of him, which was his favorite one from the festivities:

Italy

We took a trip to northern Italy in October. We did a lot of driving and saw a lot of churches and that's about the summary of the trip. Here are a few cute pictures.

Rippy eating the best spaghetti ever:

Ainsleigh discovered real olives (she still prefers the black ones in a can):

The kids climbed on the edges of many cathedrals:

Lake Como:

Genoa:

The Mediterranean (Ligurian) Sea, south of Genoa:

The market in fair Verona:

As good a place as any for a stroller nap. I love this picture:

Milan

Ainsleigh was very taken with all the fanciness in the cathedrals:

Feeding the pigeons outside the cathedral:

After about a week the kids and I flew out of Milan back to NC for a week. Still, I don't think I would recommend northern Italy when traveling with two young children.