Wonderful Discoveries

There are certain things we expected when we moved here that while different and unique, were not surprising.  Riding on double decker buses and the tube, wearing uniforms to school, smaller fridges, doing laundry more often, visiting museums, walking to parks, etc.  There have been other things, that have been unexpectedly, amazing and wonderful.  Here are a few . . .

IKEA - I suppose IKEA in and of itself is not a surprise.  But the amazing thing about the IKEA here is that not only do they have all the usuals - meatballs, play area, a million things that you want to buy - but they also have amazing delivery service.  AMAZING.  After a 6 hour day at IKEA (including lunch and dinner), I finished up my order and paid.  I did not have to go to the self-check area - I just told them which larger furniture items I wanted.  It was 6 PM.  By 11:00 AM the next morning it was all delivered to my house.   All of it!  Amazing!

The kids with a few special items each for their new rooms.  And 3 new huge dogs.

CLOSE - We knew we were moving into a close, a residential street without through access, and in the center of it was a green space.  What fun when my kids discovered this fantastic, huge bush in the center of it.  They immediately made it into their fort and rearranged sticks and rocks and twigs within it.  A couple days later they were happy when some neighborhood kids were out playing football and climbing as well.  They taught the kids how to climb to the top and stick your head out of the bush.  We are looking forward to enjoying the close even more as the weather gets warmer.

Our favorite climbing bush in the close.

Everyone has a branch to hang from.

OCADO - Before moving here, I'd reached out to some other mom's who had lived in London inquiring about what they did for groceries.  All replied quickly and dreamily, "Ocado."  I finally tried the online grocery service myself, and it was a total game changer.  I will never, ever, ever venture to the self-check-out line with 4 children and 15 items again.  I just order all the groceries I need online, and they deliver them during the hour time slot of my choosing.  I can change my order up until about 8 hours before they come, so if I realize I do or don't need something it's easy to adjust.  They bring the groceries right into the kitchen in color coded bags.  Prices are as cheap as the other grocery stores for most items, their selection is huge, and with a family of 6 it is easy to spend the minimum for free delivery.  When they deliver, they hand me a receipt with all the food they delivered, listed in order of expiration dates.  It is heaven.  Seriously.  If we need groceries in heaven, there will be Ocado.

Heaven on earth = Ocado Delivery 

Happy delivery man.  Happy kids.  Happy mom.

NEIGHBORS - One of our most fervent prayers before moving, was that Kaylee would find a friend. We were blessed to have wonderful neighbors in Bellevue, in particular Kaylee's best friend for the past 3.5 years.  She is a bit shy and it can be hard for her to make new friends.  When our next door neighbor here stopped by to introduce himself, we were almost speechless when Ed told us they had 2 daughters, Miriam, who is Kaylee's age, and Rose, who is Abby's age.  We have since enjoyed walks to and from school with Ed and his wife Rachel and they are the epitome of lovely British neighbors.  When we asked to borrow a cutting board, they gifted us one as to welcome us to our new home.  They found out we were sleeping on air mattresses and happened to be getting rid of a futon, so hauled it over to our house for us.  They've loaned us hammers, held packages for us when we were out, and gave us their extra milk when they left town for a holiday.  We have enjoyed reading Ed's book and highly recommend it.  Yes . . . he's an author who also works in film & TV production. So we are delighted to have wonderful, interesting, kind new neighbors.  And most importantly, Kaylee has a new friend.        

Ed's book - he's currently working on a sequel

Kaylee and Miriam having a snack in their box fort. 

We are looking forward to many, many more wonderful discoveries during our time here!