An English Welcome

We had a great trip to NYC for the AALS conference, with a bonus of seeing my brother Matthew and his family.  Maya (his 4-year-old) and Caitlyn were adorable together:

We arrived in London around 10 am on Tuesday morning.  A driver took us to our place in North London, and we received a warm greeting from Michael, who owns the house we are renting.  Before dealing with any logistics, he offered us some tea.  Well, when in Rome (or London...).  We sat down for a nice conversation.  Caitlyn explored the kitchen and even found a spot for a "play" kitchen for herself (with various pots).

The house is larger than we expected.  We have a nice small backyard and a beautiful view from a second-floor deck.  Here's what we saw in the backyard:

Alas, the fox would not tell us what it says.

Here is the view from our deck:

Michael then drove me around the neighborhood to see it.  We are a short walk from the Archway neighborhood, with lots of shops and restaurants, and about a 10 minute walk from both the Crouch End and the Highgate Hill neighborhoods.  So there will be a lot for us to explore!  Bari and Caitlyn did not come on the drive because Caitlyn was pretty tired.  She loved the fact that she has a real bed, not a crib:

After the drive, Michael left, and I went on a walk to explore some more.  Here is our street sign:

In the evening all of us took a walk around the neighborhood.  We have a couple of convenience stores right around the block, so we shopped for a little food there.  Then we hit up our local pub, the Charlotte Despard, for our first English pint:

 Back at home we ordered in some delicious Indian food.  All in all, it was a very successful first day!