T'was the Week before Christmas

Although we are just about ready to fly home to celebrate Christmas with our family and friends tomorrow, I wanted to share with you some things we have done recently to get into the Christmas spirit in London. It finally is beginning to feel a bit like Christmas here as it is snowing as I type this. Of course the temperature is a bit different than what its been in MN and IA - its 32 degrees today and the Londoners are whining! I hope you enjoy the pictures and little stories. See you soon!

A couple of Sundays ago, we make the little trek to Regent Street (the famous shopping street in central London). We got off the tube at Oxford Circus and walked down to Piccadilly Circus with a stop on the way at McDonalds for dinner. It was busy, cold and cool to be in the London hustle and bustle at Christmas. The lights were pretty great too.
Some of the lights on Regent Street.

Sophie has a self-imposed restricted diet. Anytime she will try anything new is a major accomplishment. Here was the mess after the first time she devoured a chocolate covered coookie (how is she possibly related to me?).

Another Christmas treat: her first sucker (a lollipop here). We went to a little Street fair in Chiswick one Saturday afternoon. It is near where the girls take their dance classes, so we popped in to look at all the fairy princess gear pictured in the background.

Southfield Primary had their Infant Nativity (Christmas Program) last week. All the classes had a song to sing and the older kids had a few speaking parts to reinact the birth of Jesus. Yes, Abby goes to a public school. No, there is no separation of church and state here. I would estimate that about 40% of the kids there are not Christian. It doesn't upset me at all, since we obviously celebrate Christmas, but as a former social studies teacher I take issue with the principle. Anyway, I know this isn't a great picture, but its with my night vision feature on my camera. I wanted to show you how Abby looked the ENTIRE time of the Christmas program, although usually she was actually waving to me and Sophie instead of just looking to make sure I was watching. See the bottom of this post for a video of her class' performance.

Here is Abby just after her triumphant 2nd ever stage performance. She loves the attention and was so proud! Also on the docket at Southfield Primary that week was the famed Christmas Bazaar where all the kids get to go shopping for presents for their family and see Santa as well. They bring pocket change and the proceeds go to the PTA. I was able to help out (as I have joined the PTA) and see Abby with her 6th grade "elves" helping her shop for us. It was fantastic. It is important to note that she did buy presents for all of us, but found a My Pretty Pony that she couldn't resist getting for herself without any guiding presence of a parent! She's played with it everyday since. :)

Here we are at our family Christmas. Sophie had been sick all weekend but perked up long enough to open a few larger presents that we aren't packing to bring to MN/IA. She also loved the jingle bells the most she stole off the front door. As you can see, we all dressed up for the occasion!

Some of the highlights were a set of exciting and motorized kitchen appliances to be added to the gourmet restaurant in the playroom. Even when Sophie was too tired or weak to sit from her being sick, she still wanted to play with the blender while she was laying down! That takes dedication - good job Auntie Kristin on the gift! Abby also got an electronic piano she had been eyeing that has several different sounds, beats, a working microphone and a record feature. I'll post from video of that perhaps on my next post. Sophie got a pretty cool ladybug play tent from Ikea. The rest has to wait until Christmas!

I think the picture of me next to Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace now falls to second place for bad pictures I am somehow willing to post of myself. I just wanted to show the "Sunday Roast" I was able to pull off for our mini-Christmas celebration. It included a pork loin in a brown sugar glaze, roast parsips (which I constantly called turnips), peas, gravy and yummy Yorkshire puddings!

On December 3rd, Tim had his first of two work holiday parties. I had only met a couple of people that work with Tim, so I was the sole spouse invited to come along. The party was in nearby Ealing at a Polish restaurant. Not surprisingly, it was more raucus than the Christmas parties I have attended for work. Of course its been a long time since I have done group shots of vodka too.

No, that's not Polish Santa. That's Ian. He took a bet that he could change clothes with the server before the end of the night. We accepted the candy-pelting Santa instead. By the way, the server got all the wagered money for being a great sport.

No, that's not a Polish Grandma. That's Ian. This has to do with the first bet. And no, this wasn't the server's outfit either.

Tim's team near the beginning of the night!

Here is a little video of Abby singing at her "Infant Nativity" at school. Forgive me. This is the first time that I have both edited a video and uploaded it onto Blogger successfully. Its not difficult, but its my first time regardless!

Halloween Princess and Cat

Although it is clear Halloween isn't nearly as big of deal here in London, there were still plenty of activities for us to do and get in a spooky mood! On Tuesday we went to a local kitchen store to decorate cookies. The girls had a great time with our friends Shelly and Sarah slathering frosting all over yummy spider and bat cookies.

The week leading up to Halloween was also Half Term, which means there was a week off from school because Autumn Term was half over. There were a lot of kids everywhere, but also many things for us to do. The local branch of the public library even had a craft (glueing glitter to a styrofoam ball to make spiders, no less) so we were busier than a normal week.

They were so proud of their sweet creations! But loved eating them more. When we first moved to the UK, neither of them liked gingerbread, now both chow it down.

Sophie dressed up as our cat, Charlie. I couldn't talk her into putting on her paws or giving up a magic wand... so not an exact replica.

There they are, my two little goblins. We dressed up twice Halloween week - once for a friend's party on Wednesday and then, of course, for Halloween.

I can't tell you how much I love Abby. I wish she always acted the way she looks in this picture. She doesn't. Sometimes I think she is too smart for her own good but I guess a little spice in a girl is a good thing. Her little friend Ines who was in Teddies daycare and then in her afternoon nursery at Southfield Primary left to go to morning nursery. I asked Abby who she played with now that Ines is gone - she said a boy named Aaron. I asked her if he was nice to her and she said "yes, he does whatever I tell him to do". Oops, maybe I have created a monster! I then asked if she was nice to him. She said yes.

Halloween night we decorated cookies and ate a few too many right before bed. It was a late night, but a special treat. It was an all day project, as I was rolling out the gingerbread that I made the day before all afternoon while we were doing Halloween Skype calls with Tim's family.

Here is Miss Abby's gorgeous creation. Before the artwork was completed, it was a gingerbread jack-o-lantern with cut-out eyes, nose and mouth. Those holes quickly were filled up with sugar and butter and food coloring.

I think Sophie was literally crying over spilled milk in this picture. After a long day we almost didn't go trick or treating. We decided to go on the way to pick up Thai take-out. It sounds horrible, but there were only a few houses on our street that were open for business anyway. Halloween night wasn't the same as in MN!

Gran Canaria

While my parents were here in early October, they encouraged Tim and I to take a short vacation without the girls. And, while we love Abby and Sophie dearly, they didn't need to mention this idea twice. Off we went to the Canary Islands (Spain) off the coast of Africa. We left at the crack of dawn on a Friday and returned late on the following Tuesday. It was fantastic with perfect weather and friendly people.

Tim and I enjoyed nightly walks along the boardwalk above the ocean. The sunsets were spectacular and the lows were in the 70s. No sweaters at night were required!

Here is part of our giant resort that we stayed at. The Lopesan Villa del Conde. It had 5 pools, one was salt water and a full spa that we took advantage of. Sunday morning we laid by the pool for a couple of hours after breakfast and then went to the spa. We decided to go on the relaxation curcuit which was 4 different "stations" around the spa: a vitality pool, a kniepp pool (very cold water while you walk on rocks), 2 steam rooms and a sauna with aromatherapy and finally a gravity pool with the same salinity as the Dead Sea. While we waited for our final treatment, a couples massage in a cabana looking out on the ocean, we had fruit smoothies and sandwiches in the sun.

The rest of the time, we really just slept in and read a couple of books each (by the pool, of course)!

However, this is as close as Tim and I got to the ocean. It really was a pool vacation, based on our location on the island.

Enjoying another sunset.

Our first successful self portrait (after we discovered the "self-portrait setting" on our camera. Who knew?

Abby's Birthday

Guess who came all the way from MN to celebrate with us? Noni and Papa did! Tim had to be in the US the week of Abby's 4th birthday, but that disappointment was dampened by the excitement of having two of our favorite people visit. Abby's birthday started out with a good traffic jam on the way to airport that left Noni and Papa waiting for quite awhile for us to get them. Sorry! We got them settled and then took the daily walk to Abby's new school for her afternoon nursery program. It is about a 20 minute walk but Abby absolutely adores her time there.

We decided that there would be some time to open presents before school (and a quick hug from our VIPs).

One of my favorite things to do with Abby is to bake. Banana bread is our specialty, though we can make cookies and cakes too. She didn't have an apron, so I gave her a cool one, just from me. Tim and my other present to her was a scooter. She had been begging for one since we arrived here and most kids have them. It definitely makes our daily long walks to school go a little faster and she is really pretty good at riding it too!

The pile of presents before she dug in.

The next Saturday, we had a party for her with a few friends. Our two American friends came - the Johnsons and Becklers as well as our lovely neighbors with kids nearly the same age as Abby and Sophie. Abby and Amira (the neighbor girl) like to giggle through a knothole in the fence separating our yards and now we walk back and forth to school together most days.

Late Summer

Happy Fall Everyone! I thought I had better post a few last summer photos before all our fall ones are up and running. As you can see, the girls are doing pretty well together. As Sophie talks more and more (and gets bigger) they play very nicely together. I can see by this time next year they will be even close to the same page with using their imagination and physical skills. I am glad they are just two years apart!

This picture of Grandma Anne and Sophie was taken in our playroom just before we brought Anne and Pat back to Heathrow to send them off to Iowa again. Boy, is Grandma silly! We had a wonderful time with Anne and Pat here. They were amazing guests and I hope they had a great time too. Anne was able to see most of the major sites of London and Pat did some adventure seeking on his own as well. The week went too fast!

Looking at books with Grandma before the good-byes.

This is Winchester Cathedral. We popped over to Winchester the weekend between Choi's and Grandma's visit in August/September. It is quite a site - plus it plays a good-sized role in Pillars of the Earth, a book that Tim and I really liked, so we wanted to go see it. Jane Austen is one of the many people buried inside.

Abby was our tourguide.

King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table table. You can find this in the castlel ruins in Winchester. It was pretty cool. I didn't know this existed still, much less that it was in Winchester. Apparently I need to watch more Monty Python.

Maya and Abby near the river in Windsor. We had a great day touring the castle (the oldest castle still in royal use) as well as walking around this charming town. Put it on your to-do list when you come visit! We were also able to tour Buckingham Palace with the Chois, go to the Natural History Museum and see those dinos as well as send them on a Hop-On Hop-Off tour. We loved having them here. It was great to catch up with my sister and the kids absolutely loved having their cousins here!

The lovely Choi family inside Widsor Castle. I think Maya especially enjoyed the tour as she loves to learn, likes the idea of queens, kings and princesses and is also patient and studious enough to listen to the tour. Not bad for 61/2!

Farrells Back in the US

Auntie Karla, Greta, the girls and me

Uncle Josh and the girls

Cousin Beth and Max

Buddies Grace and Abby

Most of my boook club

Michael, Julia, Bob and Kathye

The Barleys

Ice cream with Grandpa Mike

Fun farm chores!

Abby felt safer with a cow than a scary giraffe

Abby jumping in with Christin and Auntie Dawn

Pizza with the Selbitschkas

At the Zoo with our buddy Aidan

Sophie feeding the giraffe (AJ wasn't interested)

Colin's baptism

All the picnic kids minus little Colin

Anne's kids and in-laws

Tim's regular golfing buddies

Angie and Baby Lauren

Although we have been back in London for almost two weeks and life has gotten back to normal, we all still talk about our time in MN, IA and IL and can't wait to go back home again soon. For our girls, Tim and I have started to refer to London as home and MN/IA as a trip, but I have to admit, its not something that comes naturally!

Having never taken the girls on the flight BACK to the US, I was quite nervous to see how it would go. The daily flight from Heathrow to MSP leaves here at 2:25 pm and arrives in MN around 5:30 local time (but that's 11:30pm London time). As an adult, I like this flight - watch a couple of movies, eat a snack, take a cat nap and its over. There is no pressure to sleep! The girls were troopers and enjoyed their fill of Nickelodeon TV (way to go NWA/Delta!). Sophie took a short nap and they both fell asleep in the car on the way to my parents and woke up at 3:30 the next morning - pretty good!

Tim had an immediate and needed guys golf day. The weather did not cooperate for a full day of golfing and boating like was planned but the golf and company was good and he had a good 14 hours of Tim-time to recharge. On my first day, my good friend Angie and her 6 month old baby, Lauren came over and experienced toddler and pre-schoolerhood. Yikes! My girls were so excited to meet Lauren and I found myself on the other end of the situation where the baby is getting too "loved" by over-zealous kiddos. It was fantastic to see them and wish I would have gotten to spend more time with Angie! She was my roommate for several years after collge and we have been through a lot. She just moved back from a few years in CO and now I moved away on her. Maybe by the time we are 40, we can spend more than 2 years in the same city together.

Our first weekend was fabulous! We got to see almost our entire immediate family at a picnic near Julia and Michael's. The kids played on the playground and all the adults were able to catch up. The next day was Colin's baptism at the Bascilica and so we got more time with Tim's side during the festivities. By the end of the weekend, the girls were fully adjusted and I had come down with a nasty sinus infection (good thing we got travel insurance)!

My sister Kristin came to spend time with us on Monday and after one dose of antibiotics I was feeling great. We got to catch up a little and visit Maya and Henry's daycare which is a farm with ponies, llamas, goats, chickens, two pools, playgrounds galore, etc. What a way to spend a summer! Abby went with and didn't want to leave.

I got to play volleyball with the girls I have spent every Tuesday during spring, summer and fall for the past 8 years (maybe 9?). Tim went into work and had a happy hour... We also went to our favorite haunt as a family - the MN Zoo with Matt and Avery Barley and Molly , Aidan and Liam Siebert. We had a great time wth good friends and feeding the giraffes (one of the highlights of the trip!). An unfortunate thunderstorm kept us from enjoying Lumberjack Days in Stillwater with the Selbitschkas, but we still went for yummy pizza!

We left for Iowa during our second weekend in the US and spent the first night in Ames visiting the Kleins. It was a nice half-way stop and the girls can't get enough of Ben and Katherine. The next morning we left for the Quad Cities and Kleins followed us down later in the day. Friday Anne had a picnic at park across the street in honor of all the family in town for the Bix 7. Great Grandma was there as well as most Blean aunts and uncles and several cousins. It was great to have dinner with them and swim in the pool! Saturday we spent much of the day at Great Grandma's farm in IL which was another highlight of the trip - the girls had a fabulous time outside feeding the cows, looking at flowers and picking up apples for the goats. Sunday we were able to spend some time with Tim's dad and go out to Whitey's for ice cream! Yummy. Monday we were off back to Ames after some quality time with Anne and Pat.

The following day I spent the entire time with my good friend Karla, helping get her house ready for her second child who is coming in mid-September. We had a great day catching up, sorting clothes and eating Chipotle. Volleyball was canceled for the night, so Karla and I got together with another volleyball friend, Tasha for a chick flick. Perfect day. Tim and my parents with the kids and Maya and Henry went to Como Zoo and played.

Wednesday, just two days before our vacation was over, my mom, sister and I headed to Stillwater for tea and were tharwted by the thriving tea business and lack of reservations, so our tea ended up a lunch. It was fun anyway - and nice to be kidless for another few hours. That night Tim and I had invited most of our good friends to meet us at Chino Latino and we had a fabulous turnout and are blessed to have such great friends. People stayed out late on a school night, enjoyed spicy foods and drove back from cabins just to see us! We felt so blessed.

In the last few hours of our trip home, I was able to get together with my book club, who got together just to see me (thanks!) and Tim was able to get one last round of golf in with his good friend Josh. Finally, my cousin Angie, her sister Beth and her two kids - Grace and Max and my aunt and uncle (Jarv and Mary) came to see us before we left for the airport. The kids loved playing together and it was fantastic to see family. Karla and Greta also stopped by for more hugs and kisses as we loaded up the car!

We don't know when we will be home next, but look forward to it and, of course, loved every moment of being back in the midwest. This fall we look forward to 4 visits from friends and family (one down, 3 more to go) and we are already hearing rumblings of plans for next spring and summer visitors. Keep on coming!