Kernovich Abroad: February 2013

Thursday 28 February 2013

I Heart LDN

I'm having an "I love London" kind of week. I was a little reluctant at first to fall in love with my new city as there were many annoyances of life here versus life in Chicago. But it's starting to come together and I'm starting to really love this city. Now if we could only do something about the weather, cost of living, and distance from friends & family, I would never leave! I'm just really starting to love the little neighborhoods within London. There are so many of them and each one has so much character. I realized my love this Tuesday when Alison provided her babysitting services and I went for a tourist day out on the town. I had booked a ticket with the Hampstead Women's Club to travel up in the Shard, a new building that is now the tallest in the European Union. Unfortunately, and typical for London, the day was cloudy and we couldn't see a thing from the top. It was still cool to be one of the first to travel up as the viewing deck just opened in February and we were one of the first groups to go up. The great (and slightly unbelievable) thing was that they gave us a full refund since there was no visibility so I can go back on a clear day! After the Shard I went to JJ's office and met the people there and we got to have a lunch date. Then after lunch I wondered around the East end by his office. The East end is where all the cool, trendy artist types live. I went to Spitalfields Market that has been around in some form since the 1600s. Today it is a big open air market with all sorts of shops, clothes, jewelry, books, vintage stuff, restaurants, etc. I had so much fun wandering around looking at cool stuff. I ended up buying a new black (and very fashionable) winter coat for half price and left happy. On my way home I stopped in TK Maxx. That's not a typo, TJ Maxx must have already been trademarked here or for some other reason they decided to change the J to a K. It was the same store format, etc as it was in the states. I was curious so went in but didn't find much.

Then while waiting for the subway, satisfied after a lovely day, I saw this billboard and realized that I do Heart LDN!

Now the other big news that has me in a chipper mood is that I'm going to be a working woman again! I spoke to the Managing Director at Watco, a sister company to Rust-Oleum and he loved my proposal and wants me to start next week! I will work for them as an independent consultant so now I'm busy finding out what in the heck I need to do to cover taxes here and in the US. Hopefully that doesn't become too complicated. I couldn't be happier. The things they want me to work on are right in my wheelhouse and I think it will be a great fit for both parties. I'm going to average 10 hours a week which is super manageable and I'm really looking forward to using my brain in a different way other than the typical "How am I going to clean up this giant mess" kind of way I'm currently thinking in "mama-mode." I have a bit of guilt about my own excitement of leaving Tyler once a week, he really is a great kid, but I know that this is the best for both of us and I'm feeling so lucky to have this perfect opportunity.

This weekend, to top off a great week, we are headed to Covent Garden as our Tube stop adventure continues. We will go there in the afternoon as a family and wonder around. We will also be searching for same day theater tickets for that night since we lined up a new babysitter to come over Saturday night. I had met a girl from New Zealand back in January so we decided to have her come over Saturday so that we have a couple babysitting options available to us. We are also going to have her come back in a couple weeks so JJ and I can catch some March Madness where ever they are showing it. Looking forward to that and hopefully some warm weather coming our way!

The Shard viewing deck in the clouds

Diagram of the Shard

Me at the top in the clouds. There is an open air part with no ceiling which would be cool if you could see anything.

Looking up from the open air viewing

Spitalfields Market

A shop in Spitalfields displaying Mum's Day gifts (weird that Mother's Day is in March here....)

An example of "How am I going to clean up this mess?" The answer was a mid-day bath and lot's of cleaning wipes.

Handsome boy!

The sun was just right to capture his silhouette with his head as the O in LOVE backwards. The sun went down too fast so the picture didn't turn out as cool as I saw it.

Monday 25 February 2013

Costco Joy & Aquarium Wonder

We had a nice weekend and are all still recovering from our ski trip last weekend. We finally got confirmation for our Zipcar membership last week so we rented a car for a couple hours to go bulk shopping at Costco in Watford about a 25 minute drive from our flat. Now this sounds strange for me, since I absolutely dreaded going to Costco in Chicago, but I was so excited to go shopping! I do online grocery shopping and basically do all shopping online so I told JJ when we got there that I just wanted to cruise each and every aisle. We got there right when they opened and filled up our cart rather quickly. Near the end I got so excited that I lost my phone for about 10 minutes. Panic ensued, but JJ ended up finding it near the children's books. The driving went much smoother this time than when we had previously rented a car and we didn't get lost once! After that big outing, we just chilled the rest of the weekend and stayed close to home. Last night, in honor of the Oscars, we rented Argo (good Oscar pick apparently!). It really was a great movie - I was so tense the entire time. At the end I turned to JJ and said, "Holy crap I can't believe that really happened." I guess I wasn't paying attention at the time that was happening since I was just born :)

Today we had a nice outing at the London Aquarium. I've been wanting to to go there for a while and Tyler's interest in animals has really peaked lately so I figured he would like it. We met Andrea & Nathan there (JJ's coworker's wife and son) and had a lovely time. The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago is much bigger than the London aquarium but that didn't matter to Tyler, he absolutely loved it! He has this hilarious new way of showing excitement by making a funny surprised face with a big circle opened mouth and saying "woooooow." He gave an especially big "wow" on Sunday when I brought out a big plate of pancakes to the breakfast table, and he gave a lot more "wows" today. Usually in public he is a little timid and doesn't walk anywhere without holding on to your hand but at the aquarium he enjoyed running from tank to tank and exploring everything. We had to end the trip a little early because Tyler missed his morning nap and he was fading fast but he had a very exciting two hours there.

Tyler loves the truck at the park. Check out his cool shoes (thanks Chicago crew!)

I think he will enjoy watching Daddy play "football", he couldn't stop watching these guys at the park

Costco! Tyler was too preoccupied with the loads of people walking in when they opened to look at the camera.

OK guys, I've had enough shopping, and pretty soon there won't be room for me in the cart!

South bank across the river from the aquarium

Not really excited about the aquarium yet...

London Eye right next to the aquarium

Wow!

Again, wow!

Sorry for all the same pictures, I just thought him pointing at the fish was too cute!

Turtle!

Wow - a seahorse!

Wow - penguins!

Big T and Nathan in the shark cage viewing the sharks

Wednesday 20 February 2013

French Alps

Bonjour! We had a lovely 4 day, Valentines, JJ's Birthday, weekend in the Alps. I remember the first time I went to Colorado and sat on the mountaintop, just taking in the beauty and thinking that it was one of the most beautiful places on earth. I had several more of those moments in the alps. The area that we went to, Morzine & Les Gets (pronounced le jeh if you want to sound like a local, if you want to sound like an American pronounce the s's and t), was massive and so much bigger than any ski area that I've been too. In the mountain range, you could ski to about 8 different ski resorts and you could even ski to Switzerland. There were mountains where ever you looked. And the trees were huge and everywhere. This was a big snow year for them and the snow was over 2-3 feet deep in many places.

We stayed in a little chalet a couple miles from the town of Morzine. The managers of the chalet were a British couple who were about our age. They lived in the basement of the chalet and you could tell that the chalet was their livelihood and they wanted to make their guests feel comfortable at all times. Breakfast, tea (with cakes and snacks) and dinner was included in the price of the room. Tyler got a freshly cooked pancake every morning so he was happy as a clam. And dinner was really gourmet every night. The woman cooking, Elisma, was only 25 and I was amazed that she had the skills to cook so well already. Oh and she broke both wrists snowboarding the week before which barely slowed her down. She also made a kids meal for Tyler and the 2 other girls staying there a bit earlier and Tyler had a clean plate nearly every night. Staying in the chalet with us was a British family that had 2 girls ages 6 and 9 and they also brought the grandparents. Tyler loved the girls, especially the youngest one who liked to sing. The last room was occupied by another British couple. We were a bit of a novelty as Americans. It was the first time they had ever had Americans stay at the chalet, most of their guests are all British. It was hilarious to hear them get excited about our accents. I have never in my life had anyone tell me that my Michigan nasally accent is cool. They loved it. The guy running the chalet, Dave, asked me to say, "This one time, in band camp..." from the American Pie movie and he was cracking up. He told us that he knew Tyler was cool when he strutted in in his little Puma track suit the first day. It was a little strange staying in a cabin with folks that we didn't know but by the end of the time we had gotten to like everyone quite a bit. The last night Dave and Elisma ate with us and we all polished off several bottles of wine. JJ and I had intended to go out to check out Morzine night life but we ended up staying at the chalet because we were having fun. It turned into a dance party and we were up dancing with everyone until 4am! What a fun way to close out the weekend, by made for a tired travel day the following day!

JJ and I ended up snowboarding 2 full days and had a great time. I realized that I will probably never be actually good at snowboarding, and I'm absolutely terrified every time I go down the mountain. But I love the atmosphere so I guess I will keep trying! JJ is becoming quite the skilled snowboarder and he enjoyed hitting some little jumps :) It was a more difficult ski resort as the alps are much steeper than what we are used to in the US but we stuck to the easier hills and had a lovely time. Tyler stayed with a nanny that we had come to the chalet. She was Scottish and he ended up doing really well with her both days. We took him sledding in back of the chalet, but the snow was so deep that he just kind of ended up getting stuck. He seemed to like it though and his impressive locations of "firsts" is adding up quickly. First he eats his first spaghetti dinner in Italy and now his first experience sledding is in the Alps! It's pretty good to be Tyler Kern!

This week it is back to reality and non-stop laundry to catch up from being gone. We continue to get packages in the mail for Tyler's birthday and that has been really fun. JJ even has TWO boxes of Cheez-its here sent to us by both Kris & MB and the Chicago friends. Yesterday I went to Surrey to speak with the Managing Director of a sister company to Rust-Oleum. We had a really nice chat and it sounds like I may be able to pick up some project work for them. I have to figure out what in the heck I'm going to propose my "consulting fee" will be, I just want to at least make a bit more than what we pay our babysitter :) And our babysitter Alison continues to work out perfectly. Tyler spent the full day with her yesterday and had an amazing time. I was home for about an hour of it and stayed downstairs but I could hear him running through the house playing peekaboo with her and squealing in delight.

I can't help but feel really blessed with how things are going so far. It just seems all connected and meant to be right now. I'm blessed to have the opportunity to work part time potentially fall in my lap, I'm blessed to have such an amazing person available to watch Tyler here (and also watch him before we left when we found Lili), I'm blessed to have the opportunity to travel around Europe. And now to top that all off we are lining up visitors to come soon! My mom and aunt have confirmed their trip in April and I can't wait. It also sounds like JJ"s dad may be planning a trip here as well. So much to look forward too! Here are tons of pics from the trip!