London Continued

Buckingham Palace gate.

Speakers corner guy.

Hyde Park was amazing. Huge. People everywhere.

Portabello Road Beauty

Portabello Road Oddness

Windows like this were everywhere

How often do you see a carousel right next to a building like this?

I saw Les Miserable. It was incredible and totally cheap. $32 for great seats!

This was at the British museum and was totally amazing to me. It was on the mummy floor. They have like 60 mummies there. It is a body that was buried directly in the sand. It was so well preserved there was still hair. Yikes.

The amazing British museum. It was definitely the largest historical collection I have ever seen.

This adorable pub on Drury Lane caught my eye.

The somerset house ice skating rink - so romantic.

St. Paul's Cathedral.

Now that I am home and have a minute to look back on my London experience, I realize how unique it was. On all the vacations I have ever been on - not one has been such an adventure. This trip was an adventure for several reasons.

1. I was alone for 5 or 6 days of it. I found my own way around the city using public transit (Which was not always very accessible. For example, I was on Notting Hill and it started to pour down rain. I was soaked so I just wanted to get back to the hotel. There was a tube station right in front of me with no elevator down to it. So my only choice was to walk a mile, get on a bus, walk another half mile, and take another bus back to the hotel. In the pouring rain.)
2. It was the first time I have been away from the kids. Around day 7 I started to really miss them. I realized that the memories Chris and I were making together were precious and we can store those in our memories for years to come.
3. It was expensive and I had to turn off my frugal switch. But we found that going to the grocery store on the first day and keeping some general food items in our room saved us a ton. The grocery food there was really cheap. Produce might have even been cheaper than in the states. But restaurants were twice as much. Had a lot of good soups. They love their soup and crusty bread. mmm - so do I.
4. The flight there and back was very long. Its an 8 hour flight and we spent an extra hour on the tarmack - so I caught up on movie watching. 4 in a row.
5. It was great to see a place where things are just older. The buildings, statues, sidewalks, roads, were old and I really valued that.

The adventure had many ups and downs but it was always a great experience. We are so glad we went.

London is Amazing... surprise, surprise

It was freezing at Trafalgar square that night

Westminster Abbey at night

This was taken at the Brighton Pier on the South Coast of the UK

Westminster during the day

I ate pasties growing up. I always loved them and I still do. They are soo good.

Chris and I have been living it up here in London town. Up until today we did everything together. We saw Trafalgar Square, the National Galleries, the show Wicked, took a train down to the south coast, saw Big Ben and a ton of other sights. Chris and I had a ton of fun together, but today the together time had to come to an end because he had to do some actual work. So I went to Westminster Abbey.

I got there by taking the bus. Which took about an hour each way. It was great to tour the Abbey and see memorials for all the people buried there. Newton, Darwin, Chaucer... the list is huge.

The best part was sitting in on their evening worship service "Evensong" It featured their boys choir mixed with readings from the new and old testaments. Listening to those perfect voices that space was incredible. Now I now what that kind of music is supposed to sound like. I sang lots 16 century music in high school and now I can hear what it was intended to sound like.

Christmas Eve and Morning

We had such a great Christmas. The boys are at the perfect age. Tons of anticipation for the actual day to arrive and the day lived up to their expectations. Thanks to Grandma, Grandpa, Nanny, Papa, Grandpapa, Aunt Kris, Michelle, and Justin, our tree was totally stocked.

Chris and I are looking forward to going to London in 13 days as our major Christmas gift. As for Christmas dinner - we made a ham and all the fixings for just the 4 of us. Chris called the ham "hot dog" and the boys actually ate it. So the whole day was a success. This really was a unique Christmas for us. Just our little family. No infants or young toddlers - it was very laid back.

We have tons of video, so as soon as I find a good place to post them - you can see that if you want.

Alex in his new Bakugan jammies

Alex figuring out his Connect Bakugan

Aaron shooting everything in the house with his clone trooper nerf gun

Christmas Eve

While Alex is at school...

Aaron and I play quiet games. The house is still.

Saturday with Friends

The boys making sure my old chair is well used

The boys checking out the sprinkles

Aaron in his usual role - king of something high

We spent last Saturday with a family we love making and decorating cookies. It was fun and actually the first thing we have done this whole Christmas season to get in the Christmasy mood.

The Princess and the Frog

I loved it. Go see it. Thats all.

Plus - (you know I can never write a blog that short) I have been listening to the soundtrack (amazing) all day on lala . You get 50 songs for free. Its pretty sweet. I can send you an invite if you want.

First Snow of the Season

The boys enjoyed the first snow of the season. They woke up, put on their snow clothes, and went outside to play even before the sun was up. After an hour or so they came back in for hot chocolate and pancakes.