Hi All,
It has been a crazy week getting caught up with work and sleep after Florida, hence my delay. I am sure that everyone has been waiting with unprecedented anticipation;) Well, wait no more. It was an incredible week at the beach. We landed in rain on that first Saturday afternoon, but the sun and humidity attacked with full force and it was beautiful and HOT the remainder of the time. We stayed in an awesome beachside resort called Watercolor in Santa Rosa Beach. It was a perfect place for the little girls to play and swim and there were ample pool and beach bars to keep us adults fairly preoccupied. One of the highlights was our first night. Ann and I arrived around 6 to find the Knapp clan had already taken over the "Library" and had a personal waitress in charge of quenching all thirsts. We started to get a little wound up before dinner and took that same enthusiasm into the restaurant. Well, my family is loud without cocktails, so add in a few, and it is a recipe for chaos. We have been known to clear restaurants in the past. We were actually clapped out of the restaurant when we left that first night by "Barry Manilow" and his family. It was not really Barry, but we nicknamed him that since at that time he appeared very similar. The funny part is that we continued to run into Barry the rest of the week and would refer to him often, and the fact that he did not look like Barry Manilow at all!!! Anyway, after the raucousness of the first night, we settled into a nice daily routine of switching between the beach and the pool and enjoying the sun. It was so much fun playing with all of the little girls all week. We played in the ocean and the pools, and went sand crabbing almost every night on the beach. That was always one of my favorite memories as a kid growing up, so I am so glad to see that all of my nieces are enjoying it too. I can't say that we caught the "Attila the Hun" of sand crabs, but we made some great efforts. They are growing up so fast. It is hard to be as far away from them all when they are at such fun ages, but that is why we have to take advantage of that time. Beyond that, we found some great restaurants like Caliza in Alys Beach(Picture Below) and the Red Bar in Grayton Beach. We could not have asked for a better week. There was unfortunately one low spot. Summer vacation also means the annual golf tournament, usually two 18 hole rounds with a two-man scramble format. The teams have always been myself and Mike Graham versus my dad and Michael Oliver. Let's just say that my team has sacrificed many strokes and the amount seems to grow more every year, but it has always been a very close match. It just happens that Mike and I have never lost. Well, we were sitting pretty good after round 1 this year, feeling fairly confident about our position going into the final round, and then the unthinkable happened. We lost the front, the back, and the eighteen on Championship Friday. You know the term signifying the start of the Revolutionary war, "the Shot heard round the world," well this was the loss heard round the world. Perhaps it was complacency, perhaps the extreme heat, perhaps giving too many strokes, but bottom line, we lost it. I think Mike and I felt more defeated than Tiger Woods on that fateful Thanksgiving evening after being chased with a 5 iron and crashing into the neighbours tree. I know they say all dynasty's must come to an end, but this was a tough one to swallow. I will say that we were gracious in defeat and the winners were very modest in their victory, albeit my cousin emailing me from STL this week to tell me he heard that we lost:) No, in all seriousness, it was an incredible vacation. Thanks mom and dad for another great week full of memories.
I guess that is about it. There was one temporarily lasting effect from vacation, and that was getting the shakes at about 11am on Monday-Wednesday from not having a cocktail by then!!! We are here in London this weekend, looking forward to a relaxing couple of days. Annie has to make a quick trip to Frankfurt on Monday and Tuesday for "work." I have a feeling it is really just for bratwurst and kraut, but I won't question this one. We are off to Copenhagen, Denmark next weekend, so if I do not post before then, there will be one the following week.
Cheers
Kevin and Ann
Maldives
Friday, 29 July 2011
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Saturday Funday and New Planned Euro Adventures
Hi Everyone,
We hope that you are having a great week. It has been typical summer weather here in London with a lot of clouds and temps in the 60's. We are off to Florida on Saturday for the Knapp Summer Vacation in Watercolor, and incredibly excited about sitting on the beach and relaxing, as well as a few rounds of golf. We are psyched to see my whole family, including 5 energetic little girls. Ann just got back late last night from a quick 36 hour trip to Paris. She has been working so much and can't wait to completely shut off next week, well as much as a Senior Director can do!!
This last weekend was the first weekend without visitors and scheduled plans, so we thoroughly enjoyed taking it as it came. We have to give a shout out to Ann's cousin Brittney and her new husband Steve. They got married on Saturday in Elkhart Lake in Wisconsin, so we sadly had to miss a great time.
Our main goal on Saturday was to get some trips planned for ourselves. We have a lot of visitors arriving again in August and continuing into November, so we needed to take advantage of some of our free weekends and also good weather in Europe. We were able to get the first weekend in August booked for Copenhagen, Denmark, and then the last weekend in August booked for Tallinn, Estonia, on the Gulf of Finland. We have heard fantastic things about both of these places. We also got our trip booked this week to Dublin with our good friends Patrick and Susie when they are here visiting in September. We are also taking an unbelievable cruise with my parents at the end of September leaving from Istanbul, Turkey, cruising through the Turkish and Greek Isles and finishing in Athens. I may or may not return after that trip!!!
So, after our productive morning, we decided to head up to a village just north of London called Hampstead. Our friend Beth came with us, and wow did we find some incredible places. We stopped for lunch in an awesome 19th century pub called the Garden Gate. They had a beautiful beer garden. I had been told by a co-worker about another pub called The Spaniards Inn, which was just on the North side of Hampstead Heath( a huge park and green space). We walked from the Garden Gate up around the Park and found this incredible Inn. The Spaniards Inn is a traditional English country pub that was built around 1585. The pic on the top is of Ann and I standing outside of this place. They had one of the most amazing beer gardens that I have ever seen. If you are visiting us in London, please insist on going there. I do not need much of an excuse. Anyway, after a pitcher of Pimms in the sun, we decided that we should not interfere with the good vibe that we had rolling, so we continued the pub crawl into another area of London called Angel. A few pubs later, some great cuban food at a place called Cuba Libre(unoriginal name), and another pub or two after that, we had ourselves quite a Saturday. It was completely spontaneous, and as you know, those are some of the best days.
I guess that about wraps it up for now. Since I will be on holiday next week, so will the Blog. I will make sure and have a good update from Florida when we return. As always, we miss you all and can't wait see you soon or later.
Cheers
Kevin and Ann
We hope that you are having a great week. It has been typical summer weather here in London with a lot of clouds and temps in the 60's. We are off to Florida on Saturday for the Knapp Summer Vacation in Watercolor, and incredibly excited about sitting on the beach and relaxing, as well as a few rounds of golf. We are psyched to see my whole family, including 5 energetic little girls. Ann just got back late last night from a quick 36 hour trip to Paris. She has been working so much and can't wait to completely shut off next week, well as much as a Senior Director can do!!
This last weekend was the first weekend without visitors and scheduled plans, so we thoroughly enjoyed taking it as it came. We have to give a shout out to Ann's cousin Brittney and her new husband Steve. They got married on Saturday in Elkhart Lake in Wisconsin, so we sadly had to miss a great time.
Our main goal on Saturday was to get some trips planned for ourselves. We have a lot of visitors arriving again in August and continuing into November, so we needed to take advantage of some of our free weekends and also good weather in Europe. We were able to get the first weekend in August booked for Copenhagen, Denmark, and then the last weekend in August booked for Tallinn, Estonia, on the Gulf of Finland. We have heard fantastic things about both of these places. We also got our trip booked this week to Dublin with our good friends Patrick and Susie when they are here visiting in September. We are also taking an unbelievable cruise with my parents at the end of September leaving from Istanbul, Turkey, cruising through the Turkish and Greek Isles and finishing in Athens. I may or may not return after that trip!!!
So, after our productive morning, we decided to head up to a village just north of London called Hampstead. Our friend Beth came with us, and wow did we find some incredible places. We stopped for lunch in an awesome 19th century pub called the Garden Gate. They had a beautiful beer garden. I had been told by a co-worker about another pub called The Spaniards Inn, which was just on the North side of Hampstead Heath( a huge park and green space). We walked from the Garden Gate up around the Park and found this incredible Inn. The Spaniards Inn is a traditional English country pub that was built around 1585. The pic on the top is of Ann and I standing outside of this place. They had one of the most amazing beer gardens that I have ever seen. If you are visiting us in London, please insist on going there. I do not need much of an excuse. Anyway, after a pitcher of Pimms in the sun, we decided that we should not interfere with the good vibe that we had rolling, so we continued the pub crawl into another area of London called Angel. A few pubs later, some great cuban food at a place called Cuba Libre(unoriginal name), and another pub or two after that, we had ourselves quite a Saturday. It was completely spontaneous, and as you know, those are some of the best days.
I guess that about wraps it up for now. Since I will be on holiday next week, so will the Blog. I will make sure and have a good update from Florida when we return. As always, we miss you all and can't wait see you soon or later.
Cheers
Kevin and Ann
Monday, 4 July 2011
Happy Independence Day!!!
Since today marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and ultimately our freedom from the Kingdom of Great Britain, I thought it would be fun to note some differences that have emerged since our separation 235 years ago. Beyond the obvious stereotypes(Fact or Fiction??) of driving on the other side of the car and road, inferior use of dentistry, less than stellar food, Warm Beer, and the love of British Men taking baths and always wearing bowler hats and carrying umbrellas, we have had to adopt many new words and phrases, despite all speaking English.
British ----- English
Aubergine ------- Eggplant
Hand Baggage ---- Carry on Luggage
Crisps ------- Chips
Torch ------ Flashlight
Queue ------ Line
First Floor ---- Second Floor
Biscuit ----- Cookie
Chemist ----- Drug Store
Rubbish ---- Garbage
Dustbin ------ Trash Can
Lorry ------ Truck
Dustbin Lorry ------ Garbage Truck
Ironmonger ------- Hardware Store
Lift ------ Elevator
Chips ----- Fries
Diary ----- Calendar/Schedule
Fortnight ----- 2 weeks
Toilet ------ Bathroom
Boot ----- Trunk
Trainers ------- Tennis/Running Shoes
Cooker ------ Oven
Bits and Bobs ------ This or That
Give it a Play ------ To Try Something
Crack On ----- Get Moving
Natter ------ Chat
Dodgy ----- Sketchy
Pissed ------ Really Drunk
"
If you fancy a pint and a natter later about the bits and bobs of your brilliant life, let's crack on with scheduling(pronounced "SH"eduling) a time in our diaries over the fortnight. We can get pissed in a really dodgy pub with some cheeky blokes and after I would be keen to ride in a dustbin lorry to the ironmonger to nic a torch. Don't forget to wear your trainers which are in your hand baggage in your boot!!!!
Happy Independence Day!!!!
Kevin and Ann
British ----- English
Aubergine ------- Eggplant
Hand Baggage ---- Carry on Luggage
Crisps ------- Chips
Torch ------ Flashlight
Queue ------ Line
First Floor ---- Second Floor
Biscuit ----- Cookie
Chemist ----- Drug Store
Rubbish ---- Garbage
Dustbin ------ Trash Can
Lorry ------ Truck
Dustbin Lorry ------ Garbage Truck
Ironmonger ------- Hardware Store
Lift ------ Elevator
Chips ----- Fries
Diary ----- Calendar/Schedule
Fortnight ----- 2 weeks
Toilet ------ Bathroom
Boot ----- Trunk
Trainers ------- Tennis/Running Shoes
Cooker ------ Oven
Bits and Bobs ------ This or That
Give it a Play ------ To Try Something
Crack On ----- Get Moving
Natter ------ Chat
Dodgy ----- Sketchy
Pissed ------ Really Drunk
"
If you fancy a pint and a natter later about the bits and bobs of your brilliant life, let's crack on with scheduling(pronounced "SH"eduling) a time in our diaries over the fortnight. We can get pissed in a really dodgy pub with some cheeky blokes and after I would be keen to ride in a dustbin lorry to the ironmonger to nic a torch. Don't forget to wear your trainers which are in your hand baggage in your boot!!!!
Happy Independence Day!!!!
Kevin and Ann
Sunday, 3 July 2011
London Visitors, Olympics 2012, and Priscilla
Hey Everyone,
It has been a crazy couple of weeks here in London Town. We have been here for the most part, albeit for a short trip to Rome for Ann last Wednesday through Saturday for some leadership meetings. Most excitingly, tourist season has started and that has brought our 2nd wave of visitors. I have to give a shout out to Rae. Rae is the cousin of my good friend Rhett in St. Louis, a.k.a Kevin Gallagher's lesser half!!!! Don't hurt me Rhett. Rae is here in London studying for 3 weeks through her university. I met Rae and her friend Ellen after work last Thursday and we had a really fun night out on the town. We called Kevin and Rhett during the nights' shenanigans, so that made it even more fun.
Last Saturday, my Aunt Melissa, my cousin Sarah, and her friend Lauren arrived. Sarah is starting med school in a couple of weeks, so Sarah and Lauren are on a little Euro Tour and made Hotel Knapp one of their stops. My aunt has a good friend here in London(Jane), so she flew over to spend some time with her as well with us. Quick note about Jane. Jane has been living in London and working for Bloomberg for 25 years. She is a trip. Even though she carried around a purse, most of her important posessions(Blackberry, reading glasses, maps, other misc items) were stored conveniently in her bra. It sure beats a fanny pack!!!! Anyway, the girls had spent the week before in Florence(met the cast of Jersey Shore!!!), and then left today for Croatia, Bosnia, and a final stop in Southern France before heading back to the States. We had so much fun while they were here. The first part of the week they had dedicated to Wimbledon. After one bungled night of camping out for tickets and getting kicked out for leaving their tent, they successfully camped out a 2nd night and were rewarded with Centre Court tickets on Tuesday where they saw Sharapova and some other great matches. The other great win from Wimbledon was their new friendship with Zohan, the Isreali adonis who was camping next to them. Zohan apparently loved to show off his chiseled body, especially when my aunt was looking!!!! My aunt was bringing the cougar to camping;) Beyond Wimbledon, the ladies took some great day trips to Cambridge and Windsor, and made their way around London. The highlight of their visit for us came yesterday. First, we did find a great new restaurant in Notting Hill on Friday night called Ark. The food was great and it resulted in multiple bellinitini's and some chocolate martinis. I thought that was worth mentioning. Anyway, yesterday morning, we got up and the 5 of us took a river boat cruise from Central London to Greenwich on the Thames. If you are not aware, Greenwich is known for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian(0 Degrees Longitude) and Greenwich Meantime. The City holds a lot of significance in British Maritime history, including being the home of the Royal Naval College. They had a really great open air market and we hiked up to the Royal Observatory where you can straddle the 0 Degrees Longitudinal line and also see incredible views back over the South Eastern part of London. It is absolutely well worth a visit. After boating back from Greenwich, our mission was to get last minute tickets for a theater matinee. We had a short list of what we were hoping to see, and we ended up getting tickets for our first choice. We went to see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It actually just started on Broadway a month or two ago, and if you ever have a chance, it is way beyond hysterical. So, basically, it is about 3 drag queens and their adventure on a road trip between Sydney and Alice Springs in Australia. It was incredibly crass and inappropriate, which made it perfect, and the music was phenomenal. It was all classic hits that you would recognize. I have never seen so much crotch grabbing and heard more references for gay sex!!! The costumes were amazing as well. I was one the few males in the theater, and even fewer straight males, but that environment made it even more entertaining. After the show, we found a great hole in the wall bar in Soho called Frevd with outstanding coktails, and then we ended the night with dinner at Rules, the oldest and most traditional English restaurant in London. It was opened in 1798. Thanks to Melissa, Sarah, and Lauren for coming to visit. They were such gracious houseguests and we had so many laughs and fun experiences. Thanks as well for re-introducing us to "nurnies."
The other great news that we got this week is that we finally were allocated some tickets for the Olympics next Summer. We had been disappointed by being a part of the 1.2 million out of 2 million that did not get tickets in the first attempt, but we managed to get a semi final women's volleyball match for next August 11th. We are definitely looking forward to that. We will hopefully have a chance to buy some more tickets as it gets closer. The other highlight of the week for me was our yearly Apple EU/UK staffing team meetings here in London. We had all of our Recruiters and HR Ops team in from Spain, Italy, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and Switzerland. We had all day meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and great dinners out on Tuesday and Wednesday night. On Wednesday night, we had like a top chef challange. We split into 7 teams and we were at a restaurant where you prepare and cook your own dinner and then eat it. This was way beyond my expertise of heating lean cuisines in the microwave, so I polished off a bottle of wine and delegated to my teammates. I did contribute some far superior cleaning skills though. It was such a great experience to be surrounded by even more people from so many different cultures and language abilities, and in reference to one of my first posts over here, I am finally feeling confident in giving out handshakes, hugs, and double cheek air kisses where appropriate.
We hope that everyone has a great 4th of July tomorrow. That is quite obviously not celebrated here and in fact not even mentioned!!! I was giving some of my British co-workers trouble this last week about kicking their butts. They were none to pleased, but I got some good laughs. I will have to say thanks to some of my French co-workers tomorrow since they lent us quite a bit of assistance in defeating the Brits. I think that was the last useful thing that the French have done though;)
Cheers
Kevin
It has been a crazy couple of weeks here in London Town. We have been here for the most part, albeit for a short trip to Rome for Ann last Wednesday through Saturday for some leadership meetings. Most excitingly, tourist season has started and that has brought our 2nd wave of visitors. I have to give a shout out to Rae. Rae is the cousin of my good friend Rhett in St. Louis, a.k.a Kevin Gallagher's lesser half!!!! Don't hurt me Rhett. Rae is here in London studying for 3 weeks through her university. I met Rae and her friend Ellen after work last Thursday and we had a really fun night out on the town. We called Kevin and Rhett during the nights' shenanigans, so that made it even more fun.
Last Saturday, my Aunt Melissa, my cousin Sarah, and her friend Lauren arrived. Sarah is starting med school in a couple of weeks, so Sarah and Lauren are on a little Euro Tour and made Hotel Knapp one of their stops. My aunt has a good friend here in London(Jane), so she flew over to spend some time with her as well with us. Quick note about Jane. Jane has been living in London and working for Bloomberg for 25 years. She is a trip. Even though she carried around a purse, most of her important posessions(Blackberry, reading glasses, maps, other misc items) were stored conveniently in her bra. It sure beats a fanny pack!!!! Anyway, the girls had spent the week before in Florence(met the cast of Jersey Shore!!!), and then left today for Croatia, Bosnia, and a final stop in Southern France before heading back to the States. We had so much fun while they were here. The first part of the week they had dedicated to Wimbledon. After one bungled night of camping out for tickets and getting kicked out for leaving their tent, they successfully camped out a 2nd night and were rewarded with Centre Court tickets on Tuesday where they saw Sharapova and some other great matches. The other great win from Wimbledon was their new friendship with Zohan, the Isreali adonis who was camping next to them. Zohan apparently loved to show off his chiseled body, especially when my aunt was looking!!!! My aunt was bringing the cougar to camping;) Beyond Wimbledon, the ladies took some great day trips to Cambridge and Windsor, and made their way around London. The highlight of their visit for us came yesterday. First, we did find a great new restaurant in Notting Hill on Friday night called Ark. The food was great and it resulted in multiple bellinitini's and some chocolate martinis. I thought that was worth mentioning. Anyway, yesterday morning, we got up and the 5 of us took a river boat cruise from Central London to Greenwich on the Thames. If you are not aware, Greenwich is known for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian(0 Degrees Longitude) and Greenwich Meantime. The City holds a lot of significance in British Maritime history, including being the home of the Royal Naval College. They had a really great open air market and we hiked up to the Royal Observatory where you can straddle the 0 Degrees Longitudinal line and also see incredible views back over the South Eastern part of London. It is absolutely well worth a visit. After boating back from Greenwich, our mission was to get last minute tickets for a theater matinee. We had a short list of what we were hoping to see, and we ended up getting tickets for our first choice. We went to see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It actually just started on Broadway a month or two ago, and if you ever have a chance, it is way beyond hysterical. So, basically, it is about 3 drag queens and their adventure on a road trip between Sydney and Alice Springs in Australia. It was incredibly crass and inappropriate, which made it perfect, and the music was phenomenal. It was all classic hits that you would recognize. I have never seen so much crotch grabbing and heard more references for gay sex!!! The costumes were amazing as well. I was one the few males in the theater, and even fewer straight males, but that environment made it even more entertaining. After the show, we found a great hole in the wall bar in Soho called Frevd with outstanding coktails, and then we ended the night with dinner at Rules, the oldest and most traditional English restaurant in London. It was opened in 1798. Thanks to Melissa, Sarah, and Lauren for coming to visit. They were such gracious houseguests and we had so many laughs and fun experiences. Thanks as well for re-introducing us to "nurnies."
The other great news that we got this week is that we finally were allocated some tickets for the Olympics next Summer. We had been disappointed by being a part of the 1.2 million out of 2 million that did not get tickets in the first attempt, but we managed to get a semi final women's volleyball match for next August 11th. We are definitely looking forward to that. We will hopefully have a chance to buy some more tickets as it gets closer. The other highlight of the week for me was our yearly Apple EU/UK staffing team meetings here in London. We had all of our Recruiters and HR Ops team in from Spain, Italy, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and Switzerland. We had all day meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and great dinners out on Tuesday and Wednesday night. On Wednesday night, we had like a top chef challange. We split into 7 teams and we were at a restaurant where you prepare and cook your own dinner and then eat it. This was way beyond my expertise of heating lean cuisines in the microwave, so I polished off a bottle of wine and delegated to my teammates. I did contribute some far superior cleaning skills though. It was such a great experience to be surrounded by even more people from so many different cultures and language abilities, and in reference to one of my first posts over here, I am finally feeling confident in giving out handshakes, hugs, and double cheek air kisses where appropriate.
We hope that everyone has a great 4th of July tomorrow. That is quite obviously not celebrated here and in fact not even mentioned!!! I was giving some of my British co-workers trouble this last week about kicking their butts. They were none to pleased, but I got some good laughs. I will have to say thanks to some of my French co-workers tomorrow since they lent us quite a bit of assistance in defeating the Brits. I think that was the last useful thing that the French have done though;)
Cheers
Kevin
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