The Colonel's Review

Today I went to a dress rehearsal of Trooping the Colours, a military ceremony commemorating the monarch's birthday. It is a huge undertaking, and they conduct two full dress rehearsals so that they don't screw up in front of QEII. Apparently, she really knows her stuff and if it's not perfect, well, I imagine they get sent to the Tower of London brig or something.

Our rehearsal was called the Colonel's Review; he stands in for Elizabeth. There were one-thousand-plus troops, both on foot and on mount. First, "Elizabeth" arrives promptly at 11am in her horse-drawn phaeton and inspects the troops. Then, they march around a lot - in slow time and in quick time - to the various marches played by ten different bands. They are in full ceremony gear - meaning most have that giant woolly hat on. After various formations by the foot and mounted soldiers, the queen promptly departs as the clock strikes noon - much like Cinderella. Not sure if her phaeton turns into a pumpkin if she stays any later.

My friend Chris entered a lottery for tickets and happened to get great seats. We would have been far away from the actual queen, but we had a great view of all the soldiers and their synchronous steps. I was personally obsessed with this one soldier who served as a marker for the others; they all marched around him. He couldn't move for the entire ceremony, and it did get a bit hot. Tracy, our one British attendee, told us that one year a soldier passed out from the heat. They're not allowed to move him so he just lay prone on the ground for the remainder of the ceremony. I imagine Elizabeth was not pleased with that performance.

We were also concerned with all the horse poop. I really expected there to be some sort of ceremonial, golden pooper-scooper, but the soldiers just had to stand in it and march through it. Ugh.

It was really a spectacular event. As Tracy said, "this is what the British do best. It makes you proud to be English." I can see why.

Here's what Chris blogged about the event.

Leete's Island: It's a Done Deal

Can you hear that? It's the beer chilling and the Bob Marley tunes playing in the background. We're officially owners of a cottage on Leete's Island. We'll be there in less than a month!!! Yippeee!!

London: One Year Down

We've officially been in London one year now. I have to say it started out a bit rough - hello, Chelsea? But, we've settled in, made some great friends, Owen has arrived and we're feeling more at home. We still miss family, friends and New York A LOT, but we don't regret our decision to come one iota.

We started out with ZZ, in Chelsea, amongst the beautiful people. We ate chicken shawarmas every other night from our favourite Lebanese place and hung out at the St Luke's playground with the Spanish children in their pressed linen playsuits. We were overjoyed to get out of the dismal corporate apartment on Draycott Place and settle in Hampstead. Unfortunately, we couldn't keep ZZ with us forever.

We figured out the healthcare system through trial and error. The pregnancy care here was worlds better than the care in the US - my consultant was fantastic, the midwives at the hospital were top-rate and the food at Portland, yummy. We survived the NHS and Owen's visit to the hospital.

We've had lots of visitors, coming to stay or just passing through:
Lindsay Kerby (ZZ)
Jeff Kerby (2x)
Mom and Dad Fitts (2x)
Leslie and Natalie Kerby
Brooke and Jen Schmoll
Amy Bess
John Kuhn
Mike and Lauren-Beth Kassinger
Bill Fitts and Blake
Mimi and Daddy Russ
Kurt Stemhagen
Paige, Jim and Lilly Burton
Buck Wachtel
Pete Geary
Jake Ward

We've had some fun road-trips:
Brighton
Wales
Florence
Paris
Edinburgh
Isle of Skye

Margot kicked the bottle (milk), upgraded to a big-girl bed, potty-trained, became a big sister, made some friends, and starts nursery in the Fall. Owen, well, he arrived and ate and cried a lot. He had his first solids this week. (He's much happier these days.)

We're looking forward to our extended summer vacation in the US, but know we'll be ready to come back to our life here come August.

Check out our most recent photos.

Cheers.

Highland Living

We're officially Highlanders now - no, not the immortal ones from that ridiculous movie Andy loves. We explored the Highlands, drank Scotch and ate haggis last weekend with our friends, John Page and Kate Mackenzie.

John and Kate have retired to Isle of Skye, Scotland, with their two kids, James (3) and Faith (1). They have a beautiful home with 110 acres including: lawns; a walled garden with roses, herbs, fruit and veg; a wilderness garden; grazing fields, pool house, gardener's cottage, hiking paths and breathtaking views of Strathaird Peninsula and the Cuillin Hills. It's an amazing place for kids (and adults).


Their home was formerly owned by Ian Anderson, the flute rocker from Jethro Tull (eat your heart out, Steve Kerby). He has moved beyond one-footed flute-playing, and makes millions from his salmon farms in the area.

Inside, the house had more rooms than we could count. The highlight: a fabulous oil-fired AGA stove. Besides keeping us warm, it was used to make some fabulous meals, including the afore-mentioned haggis (quite yummy), roast chicken, venison stew (from a deer killed nearby) and black pudding (a really rich blood sausage). A vegetarian heaven!

We had a blast hiking the grounds - ducking for cover between sun, torrential rain, hail and sun again. We visited the local town, with one store, and saw the boat taking tourists out to view the seals and scenery. Looked a bit chilly out there.


We had an amazing time - we felt like Fresh Air Fund kids out for the summer. We can't wait to go back and explore some more. Andy wants to go to the Talisker distillery and hit some Scotland links.

See all our photos here.

We've Got Leete's Island Fever

So, we bought a cottage on Leete's Island last week. We're as shocked as you are. It all happened in a matter of three days, and thanks to the strong persuasive powers of Jonathan Page (on the seller, not us).

It's a great 3-bedroom cottage, overlooking the water, only two doors down from Father Jim. We haven't even seen the inside of it yet, but why the heck not. We are due to close on June 1 - yippee.

We're counting the days until our summer holiday - it's 39 days.

A few key photos here:

Mother's Day

We celebrated American Mother's Day on Sunday, May 13 (we missed the UK one).

Here is my first macaroni art, beautifully designed by Margot:


Technically, it's fusilli art, but I love it anyway. Andy let me sleep late, which is what I wanted most of all. And, he and Margot made a fantastic pancake breakfast.

The Burtons arrived later that day from Spain. Unfortunately, Lilly had gotten ill while in Spain: vomiting, diarrhea and arrived in London with a 103 degree fever. So, Paige spent her first Mother's Day in the Emergency room. Lilly was fine; they deemed it was a virus and they were okay to fly home the next day. Anyway, that's what it is to be a mom. Spending your special day cleaning up poop, fretting about your sweet baby and trying to catch pee in a cup.

We wouldn't change it for the world.

Edinburgh with Children: Bodily Fluids and Screaming

So, the Burtons arrived on Friday with their adorable baby daughter, Lilly, aged 8 months. Margot had been anticipating Baby Lilly's arrival for weeks and was totally stoked. She is a real sweetie and can produce more boogers than her body weight.

As soon as the Burtons arrived, we left for Edinburgh. They followed us. We took the bus to Luton Airport and got in the back of the long line to check-in. Owen proceeded to scream like I was sticking pins in him. After about five minutes of this, the counter person asked the family with the wailing child to please proceed to the front of the line. So, that worked out for us. The rest of the passengers looked really psyched. After we fed and calmed him down, we got on the plane. Owen managed to scream for the entire one hour flight - thank God it wasn't any longer. I looked like hell by the time it was over - and needed a stiff drink - darn that nursing.

We found our hotel, next to the Hooters strip club, in downtown Edinburgh. Actually, it was a really great hotel, just had a lot of ladies in stiletto heels with large silicone bosoms taking smoke breaks outside. Owen was agog. Anyway, with a 3-month-old, an 8-month-old and a 2-year-old, it was pretty crazy trying to get anything done: someone was always eating, nursing, pooping, fussing or sleeping. We managed to do about one thing per day and we all collapsed in bed by 9pm or so each night.

Edinburgh Castle was beautiful, and we had a surprisingly clear and pretty day to explore. We all wished we had read a little more Scottish history so we knew exactly what we were looking at. But, it was really cool anyway. We had fish-and-chips for dinner and passed out.


On Sunday, we walked through the Prince Street Gardens below the castle. The weather teetered between rain and torrential rain with sporadic sunshine. So, we'd walk a little, find shelter, walk a little more. We had fun at the playground, the guys climbed the Sir Walter Scott monument and then we hit a pub. We were quite a crew with four adults, three wee ones, a double stroller, bags of baby paraphernalia. Me, nursing on a bar stool. Lilly, eating some creamed baby food on another. We definitely made ourselves at home. After that, we visited the queen's palace in Edinburgh, Hollyrood Palace. It was really cool, but Owen and Lilly were pretty fussy. Oh, and we had to nurse again. I've exposed myself all over the United Kingdom at this point. On the way home, we passed a beer garden with a giant big screen TV showing the Arsenal-Chelsea match. We walked by. After Andy asked us about six times, "should we stop in for a quick one?" we got the hint and popped in for the end of the match. It was a tie, I think, giving Man United the Premiership title.

On Monday, we were too knackered to do anything so we took it easy. Plus, it took all morning to pack all the baby stuff. We flew back to London and Owen only screamed for part of the flight.

The Burtons hung around in London for a few more days. We visited the Imperial War Museum - very well done, but a tad depressing - and some more playgrounds. They did Westminster Abbey one day as well. On Thursday, they headed out to Vigo, Spain, to visit some friends. They were back on Sunday for Mother's Day (see next post for details on that) and then flew home on Tuesday.

Margot keeps asking when Baby Lilly is coming back. We had a great time with the Burtons - they can come back anytime.

See more photos here.