How time flies!

It's been a busy few weeks in the Bremer household... Ric finally took his certification test (and hopefully passed), which means that he'd have the UK government's blessing to run a financial planning team (or something along those lines...). I started a new job and spent a week in SF doing orientation and meeting my new team. Ric's mom came to visit and we all went to Verona for a few days (which was basically a non stop food and wine fest). And I've had my first week with the new team in London.

Oh, and even more importantly... this weekend James ate Indian food for the first time (loved it), had Persian food for the first time (loved it) and saw live music for the first time (did his cute "guitar" motion which is basically wiggling his fingers in front of his tummy).

Will post pictures shortly, but wanted to get a quick update done before another three weeks go by!

Changes

Most of you know this already, but after nine amazing years at Sparkpr, I will be leaving to join a new company... it's not normal these days for people to stay with one company for so long, but both Ric and I were lucky to end up in places that we loved right out of school. Our jobs have given us many opportunities to grow and learn new things, and we've been able to live in what I think are two of the best cities in the world. I will miss Spark very much and the change is scary, but it's time. And who knows, maybe after a couple years, with new experiences under my belt, I'll come back to Spark better than ever...

This also means that we get to stay in London for another couple years at least. We weren't quite sure whether that was the case with Spark, so in this new job it will be nice knowing that we don't have to go anywhere for a while. We love our new house, James is really settled in, and life in London is pretty good. So it makes sense for us to stick around a bit longer. Once we leave, that's it! Unless we get British citizenship I guess... Now we've just got to get him into a school...

James is growing like a weed and turning more into a "little boy" every day. He's very happy and calm most of the time, but he sure knows what he wants. Which is usually food of some sort. He loves reading his books, running around outside, going down slides, and doing "grown up" things like wearing shoes. He's also gotten pretty good at naming things - eyes, nose, ear, mouth - and making animal noises (when he's in the mood he can do a pretty good rooster, elephant, tiger/lion, and cat). He also points at every baby that he sees now and says "bay bay". It's very cute.

Ric's been busy studying for a big finance certification exam (or something like that) for the past month. It basically means we haven't seen much of him lately. But hopefully that will all be done in the next two weeks. Then we get to celebrate a wonderful visit from his mom and we're all jumping on a plane together to spend a few days in Italy. After cold rainy days in London for most of the summer, we're definitely looking forward to some sun.

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Strep

James got his first case of strep throat this week.... it's really the first time he's been sick sick. After days of extremely high fevers (like 102 degrees) and multiple trips to the doctor, we finally pinpointed the cause and got him on antibiotics. The good news is that he seems to be feeling 100% better (see photo below for proof that he's back to his old self). The bad news is that he's broken out in red bumps, which the doc thinks means he's allergic to the medicine he's on. We're going back again this afternoon to try a different antibiotic.

London vacation

Ric and I had a nice little vacation in London this weekend. I was going to surprise him with dinner and a night in the newly opened Boundary Hotel on Friday, but James's case of strep throat threw a wrench into that plan. So we postponed things (and I told him what I had been secretly planning) and headed to East London on Saturday evening. Another kink in the works came when we checked into the hotel, only to find out that they had given our room away (a long, un-interesting story that I won't bore you with here...). We ended up in the Hoxton, right down the road, so all was not lost. We still managed to have dinner at the Boundary and were both pleasantly surprised with the restaurant. Very cool atmosphere, and yummy food. The highlight was definitely the charcuterie tray, from which we got to pick and choose the terrines, charcuterie, rillettes and accompaniments that we wanted for an appetizer. Delicious! We also sampled some English and Scottish oysters (preferring the Scottish variety), and Ric enjoyed bone marrow and snails, alongside his beef fillet. I went for the less adventurous, but equally tasty Dover Sole.

The next morning, after a great night's sleep and no alarm clock waking us up at 7am, we headed back to the Boundary to have breakfast at their Albion cafe. It was nice to have a little time to ourselves and the night is something we'd definitely like to do again!

In front of the Hoxton Hotel



Breakfast at the Albion Cafe

The moral of the story is....

Ric and I bought James a few new books this weekend, including Jack and the Beanstalk. I'm not sure how many of you have read this story recently, but we were both surprised at the lessons it teaches. To recap:

1. Jack and his mom are poor, so Jack heads to the market to sell their last cow
2. Instead of doing what his mom asked, he trades the cow for magic beans from some crazy man on the street
3. The beans grown into a beanstalk, and Jack climbs to the top - where, for two consecutive days, he robs the giant living at the top of all his gold
4. The giant tries to chase Jack after the second ransacking, but Jack cuts down the beanstalk and gets away scott free

So kids, if you ever need money, trust a crazy old man who tells you his beans are magic. And steal as much gold as you need, because you'll get away with it! That's way better than making an honest living...

Too funny!

Espana

We're finally getting around to uploading our pictures from Spain! We had a great time, it was much better than Paris and I think the lesson was that countryside beats city when it comes to traveling with James. We stayed at a hotel out in the middle of nowhere... about a 45 minute drive from the Malaga airport and 45 minutes from Granada. It was perfect! Lots of room for James and his buddy Mack to run around (we went with Evan and Lexa and their son Mack, who's a couple months older than James). Green grass. A fountain in the courtyard to splash in, a pool, dune buggies to ride, bikes with baby seats, and trails for walking. With James eating "normal" food now, we didn't have to worry about making his own food. He had ham croquettes, Spanish cheese, olives, lots of fruit plates, hamburger, and a lovely roast chicken. The kid ate pretty well! And the hotel had babysitters so we ate out two nights at different restaurants on the hotel grounds.

The flight home wasn't fun. James didn't want to sit still for a single minute and the aisles on EasyJet planes are NOT wide, so walking around with him was tricky... some people are more tolerant of little baby hands on their legs than others. And we discovered that James likes to pat people's heads when he sees them from above - especially bald ones. But it was "only" three hours, so we survived and were still really happy that we made the trip.

It was also really fun traveling with another family. Having them around to hang out with and James having a friend to play with was great. Wish we had more friends with babies over here to travel with! You Americans need to make the cross-Atlantic journey to spend your summer in Europe!!! :) Our next adventure is to Iceland at the end of April for 9 days, then Verona in June for a few days. Hopefully both of these trips will continue the good streak we're on after Spain!

Here are some highlights of the pictures we took, but the full set is on Flickr as usual. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelbremer/

The hotel



View from the top of the hill in Antequera



Ric and James in The Alhambra



Wandering around the Alhambra



Rachel and James



Playing in the courtyard



Beautiful buildings!



At the hotel, being funny



Enjoying a fruit plate while mom and dad enjoy a glass of wine



Sunnies



The fam



James and Mack playing in the fountain



Ric and James ready to ride in the dune buggy

Injured reserve

Looks like I'm going to be out on injured reserve for a little while until we can figure out what I've done to my knee. I wish I had a cool story like I hurt myself heli skiing in Switzerland or cliff jumping in Costa Rica, but it's much less exciting than that... After taking about two years off from running I decided to get back in the game. I had it all worked out... the timing worked out well with my schedule, the distance wasn't too long or too short, and I got to run through the Heath in the morning with it's beautiful scenery. Perfect! Except going from no running to four days a week didn't agree with my body and as a result I have excruciating pain in my left knee. I saw a doctor today who referred me to a knee specialist, where I'll have to get an MRI. Hopefully it's nothing that some rest and physio can't take care of, but better to be safe than sorry.

In the meantime, I'll have to keep my exploration of Heath to a slow walk...

On the road again...

After swearing we'd never do a short weekend trip with James again (I'm sure you all remember the Paris debacle)... we just booked a short weekend trip with James - and we leave a week from Friday! Call it selective memory loss. Or denial. Or maybe we're just crazy!

This time there will be a few differences, which is how we've justified the whole thing. We're heading to Spain, not France (Grenada to be exact), we're staying outside the city in a hotel that has garden, grassy area, pool, etc, we're going with another family, James can walk now, he can eat real people food... Who knows if these things will be enough to change our minds about quick trips with the little guy, but we're hopeful!

We've got a few other trips on the horizon as well - Iceland for the last week of April, a weekend on the east coast at the end of May, and potentially a couple days on the Italian coast in June. Not sure what's happened, but I think we've gotten the travel bug again. We're not good at staying put for more than a month or two! I think it will be so much better now that James can walk, but we'll see!

Viajante

Ric and I ventured to the far reaches of East London to try a new restaurant that we had been hearing a lot about. The chef came from El Bulli - consistently ranked as the best restaurant in the world - and opened up Viajante in a restored Town Hall building in Bethnal Green. Now, Ric and I are happy to travel to out of the way places for a good meal, but when I had to walk 40 minutes further East from my office (which is already pretty far East), through council flats and deserted streets, and past a bicyclist who ran into me then yelled at me for getting in the way, I arrived more focused on why the chef decided to put his restaurant in the middle of nowhere than looking forward to the food we were about to eat. A glass of champagne calmed me down a little bit, and I was happily ready to focus on the food, but when the menus came they offered us the choice of 6, 9 or 12 courses. That's it. No hint of what might make up those courses, no a la carte option to at least get a feel for the type of food or get excited about. And no wine list to look at. So, after lots of discussion we opted for the 9 course. I don't mind when a tasting menu is kept secret, but I would have liked some glimpse into what we were in store for (which you can usually get by looking at the a la carte choices).

The food was very inventive, adventures, unique... and some of the course were delicious. But others, like the raw venison, were just a little much. I've included the top secret menu below (which you're given after you've finished the meal) in case any one else wants to venture into the far east and try it out... at least you'll have some idea of what to expect!

Thai explosion (amuse bouche)
Scallops with carrot, mustard and watercress
Charred leeks milk skin, and leek ash emulsion
Braised salmon skin and friend aubergine
Lobster, potato, confit egg yolk and saffron
Sea bass toast, garlic kale and S. Jorge
Venison (raw) in hay, cauliflower and onion
Roasted squab with beetroot and pistachio
Desserts

I've pasted a few pictures below, but they're pretty low quality so you can check out this (much more professional) food blog if you'd like to see more! http://www.thelondonfoodie.co.uk/2010/05/london-restaurant-reviews-viajante.html

Venison



Salmon



Squab (and Ric)

Lucky boy

We all know that James eats better than most of us, but just in case you needed a reminder, here's a pic of the fish pie Ana made him today for lunch. It makes me hungry just looking at it! Yesterday's menu included scrambled eggs for breakfast and pea soup for dinner, which he loved. Of course. Also turns out he's a HUGE fan of kiwi...

Walking video

I finally managed to post some videos of James walking on Flickr... go check em out, it's hilarious! We made them private, so you have to be a connection of mine on Flickr in order to see them. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelbremer/

Hairs cut!

James got his first haircut on Sunday. Let's just say that he's not a fan of the barber's chair... luckily it was a pretty quick process because he screamed the entire time. I think the poor hair cutter was traumatized. But he really needed it... the baby locks were getting really long! He now looks so nice and clean cut! Hopefully it won't grow quickly enough that we have to do that again anytime soon!

A couple "after" shots:

He's walking!

I'm going to gloss over the fact that I haven't blogged in more than a month (including the Christmas holiday and our whirlwind tour of the Southeast) and skip right to the exciting news that James is walking! He's been taking a few steps here and there for a couple weeks, but only if you tricked him into it. For a while, you could tell that it scared him and he really wasn't interested in doing it any more. Then, this past week, he started to enjoy it. You still had to force him to try, but when he'd take 4 or 5 steps, he'd smile and laugh.

As of today, however, James is getting up and deciding to walk on his own... so I think we can now say it's official! And he can make it pretty far on his own. Ric said he turned around and James was up walking from one side of his room to the other (of course I'm not there to see this in person!)...

We're really excited about this development and it feels like it's been a long time coming. Make a note for the baby book... James walking, 13 months!