get away

We decided to go out on a limb and find a babysitter, which is no easy task in a big city where you don't know anyone! Inevitably we turned to the Internet and found a great company dedicated to matching up sitters with parents. They do all the background and reference checks and then after a few interviews, they enter the sitter into the database ready to be matched up with a family based on their experience and location. 

I was divided all week between looking forward to our time out and worried about the babysitting. When Sunday morning came and the sitter got to our door, we could tell she would be a hit. Zehra (she's from Turkey) was bubbly and friendly, and engaged the kids right away. After talking with her for a bit, we were ready to leave sooner than we had planned. The kids were busy playing play dough with Zehra and barely said goodbye! So we were off for three hours of date time!

We had a few ideas planned depending on how comfortable we felt after meeting her and decided to go the mid-distance plan. Off to Portobello market for some leisurely antique browsing and shopping!

Portobello Road Market is one of the most famous street markets in the world (or so we've been told). It's right in the heart of Notting Hill. It's huge and has an assortment of the latest fashions, jewellery, funky home décor items, and cafes. The streets are lined with market stalls, selling artisan crafts and some of the most amazing antiques. Running alongside the market stalls are shops —  independent boutiques, vintage clothing and goods (Mike bought a vintage men's wool suit jacket) and cafes. Besides the shopping, you could spend the day just eating here... From the crepe stands, cupcake shops, and bread stores to the little pizzarias selling gourmet pizza by the slice. We started with pizza, followed by a leisurely latte and carrot cake sitting in a cafe, finished by a lemon and sugar crepe on the street. Mmmmm! 

By then it was time to make our way back home. It's amazing how fast 3 hours can go! But we were ready to get back and see how the kids made out. When we got home, Carter was playing with play dough, and Averie and Zehra were playing hide and go seek. Zehra informed us that Carter took a few breaks to play with them too but kept going back to work on his dinosaur play dough world he was working on. Apparently they did great and only few times did Averie ask for us. Yay!

After saying goodbye to Zehra, we headed to the garden for a picnic lunch. The weather has been so incredible here lately, that we have been trying to soak up every minute of sun and heat! 

Jenn