The end of spring term at Cameron House had two artistic highlights as the kids participated in their spring concert and a national choir competition. Their spring concert was at St. Luke's Church in Chelsea (Charles Dickens was married here) and it was a beautiful program of singing, performing instruments, and poetry readings. Dominic's artwork was selected to be the cover for the program. We were so proud of them both. The Cameron House choir had also been selected to be part of a national charity choir contest that was held at Royal Festival Hall, along the banks of the Thames [View Full Entry]

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We had the opportunity to honor Pam's exceptional mothering on the UK Mother's Day which is earlier than the US date. We had a wonderful brunch at the Charlotte Street Hotel where Elena had been previously for a birthday party. Following brunch was a showing of Mamma Mia movie in the hotel's own movie theater - we had a great time! We visited Pam's office at Starcom nearby. You'll see the three new Mother's Day plants in the window that are now 'greening' her office. [View Full Entry]

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In March, Pam and Kerri met for a wonderful girls' weekend in Paris. They filled their time with great food, shopping, and soaking up the atmosphere of a city they both love so much. Mark and the kids enjoyed brunch at Sukh's flat and a visit to his sister's house in the London suburbs. The kids loved playing and digging in a backyard again! [View Full Entry]

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Dominic took to the catwalk this week for the Class 6 fashion and art show highlighting the decades of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. His Hawaiian shirt and neon green string tie that I found at a local charity shop were meant to represent the 80s - remember Wham?? He did a great job and played the part well. This was the culmination of their history unit. Henry, his teacher, surprised the class by dressing up too - as you'll see in the picture. But the 80s music they played still seems like it should be current pop music to [View Full Entry]

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This past weekend we discovered a wildlife preserve in the middle of London. The London Wetland Centre is a huge wetlands reserve located right along the Thames and close to our house in southwest London. There are beautiful walks through natural landscapes, and amazing water birds from all over the world. The kids are quickly becoming our family photographers, but I opted to include the one picture here with people in it - the other 100 are of birds. For those environmentalists in the crowd, you might want to check it out: http://www.wwt.org.uk/centre/119/london_wetland_centre.ht [View Full Entry]

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Last week the kids had a week off for mid-term break and we took a trip to sunny Barcelona. We rented an apartment that literally overlooked the famous cathedral designed by Gaudi - La Sagrada Familia. It was amazing. We wandered the many small streets of Barcelona and enjoyed late night dinners and Spanish tapas. Dominic celebrated his 11th birthday in Barcelona and said it was his best birthday ever. We spent a relaxed afternoon in the Park Guell and then went out for a Chinese dinner, Dominic's favorite. The warm weather and relaxed days were great for all of us! [View Full Entry]

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As many of you read, London had their largest snowfall in 20 years this past Monday. After our kids never having had a snow day in Evanston, they had their first here in London. We saw the 3-4 inches of snow Monday morning when we got up, but we were all ready for work and school before we got a call from school that it was a snow day because the teachers couldn't get there since the all buses and the Tube were suspended - so we weren't going to get to work either. We joined friends from school at their [View Full Entry]

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Our flat in London feels more like our home now that we had our first official visitors - Grammy and Papa! We had a full 5 day visit with sightseeing in Chelsea and the city beyond. Highlights included a visit and lunch at the Victoria & Albert Musuem, pizza and ice cream at Harrod's, the British Museum, riding the London Eye at night, visiting St. Paul's, Chinese New Year in Chinatown, and visits with Sukh and Ian. We introduced them to Bus 11 - it's the bus that takes you from our house across London! After bragging about the warm weather [View Full Entry]

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This weekend as we explored London, we went ice skating in the courtyard of a government palace building called Somerset House right in central London along the Thames. The snack bar was serving champagne and mulled wine, the torches were lit all around the rink, and for beginner skaters, you could select between the plastic penguins you could skate behind, or you could hire an "ice guide" that would take your kids skating if you didn't want to! We chose to do it the old-fashioned way, and had a great time skating together. We visited the Tate Modern art museum where [View Full Entry]

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Knowing that we couldn't wait long after we arrived to visit Pam's best friend Kerri in Belgium, we preplanned this weekend before we left to take the Eurostar to Antwerp, Belgium. We have a wonderful time with Kerri, Filip, Margot, and Ella and visiting their new house for the first time in Antwerp. For the kids there was an indoor pool, Wii video game, and pet bunnies, so we weren't sure we'd get them to leave! We had a great time catching up, eating amazing food prepared by Kerri and Filip, and Mark and Filip taking an extended bike ride all [View Full Entry]

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