Tim and his girls - Abby had just "helped" me frost the cake!

A pretty cool dragon in Salisbury.

The Salisbury Cathedral

The Avon

Its bigger than it looks in these pictures...

The first view of Stonehenge...

Hi All -

It has been a little while since I wrote. Not sure who reads these or if they are even interesting! I guess I can print them off as sort of a journal of our time in London if nothing else.

The first week of June we spent missing our May guests. We were so fortunate to have had five people stay with us last month. As Tim mentioned, my parents and aunt and uncle stayed with us for two brief stints on either side of a trip to Norway. We had a wonderful time hosting them and hope they enjoyed their time here too. They were terrific sports in our chaotic house with us wanting to show them all around everywhere. Tim's cousin Brian also spent some time with us and really made an impression on Abby. All are welcome back anytime and we still miss them terribly... BUT we have such a busy summer coming up, we hardly have time to cry. Upcoming events include: a weekend trip to North Yorkshire, Abby's dance recital, two weeks in MN and IA, Kristin and family in August, Anne and Pat in September and my parents back in October!

Monday was Tim's birthday and Best Buy here (this must be a UK thing) gives off birthdays. It was a school day for Abby (which is a whole other story for another day) and so Sophie, Tim and and I went and had a quick breakfast on the high road and packed up the car for a road trip to Stonehenge and Salisbury. We highly recommend this as a day trip for all who come visit us. We really had no idea what to expect. I was picturing Stonehenge off a winding road, up on a hill. Nope, in a farm field, just off the highway (see pic) - making it even more surreal. The tour was interesting and was a great place for Sophie to stretch out her legs. For lunch we drove about 10 miles to Salisbury which is a medieval town and as picturesque as you drive into it. It has a famous cathedral there and lots of cute pubs and shops. The highlight for me was that the Avon River flowed through it - one step closer to Stratford-Upon-Avon. Definitely a place Tim and I would like to revisit!

Tales from Tim

Hi all!

It's been awhile since my last (OK, only) post, so I thought I would share a few updates. I'll start with a few fun things we've been up to lately, then share a few things going on at work.

I took a day off work yesterday (Friday) and had a great golf adventure! Joe Benitez, who is our Head of Retail Services, is a member of a golf club called St. Pierre, which is in Wales. Joe hosted 7 of us from the office to a round of golf at club. Our tee times started at 8:00, and it's about a 120 miles from my house to the course. Three other guys (Bob, Scott and Carl) met at my house at 5:00AM (!), and we headed out. After stopping for a bacon sandwich (mmmm) and coffee, we arrived at the course in Wales around 7:30. Once we realized that we had 4 Americans and 4 Europeans, it was obvious that we needed to to play Ryder cup format! It was an absolutely fantastic morning, and the course and views were beautiful. Unfortunately, my golf was neither fantastic nor beautiful, and I'm sad to report that the Americans fell. Needless to say, a bitter rivalry has formed that will (hopefully) carry on for years to come!

We had a great time our visitors a couple weeks ago - we had Doug, Carol, Jarv and Mary with us for two weekends (bookending their visit to Norway), and in between, my cousin Brian stayed with us for a few days. We really enjoyed both visits, and were able to play host at home, and join everyone for some sightseeing around the city as well. One location that exceeded my expectation was the Imperial War Museum, which we visited with Brian. It's not the most child-friendly museum, but I would definitely recommend it to any visitors who enjoy history.

Sarah and I got to have a wonderful date night while the Watnemo's were in town. We went out to dinner at an amazing Thai restaurant that we had visited once before, called Patara, near Soho. Then we went and had our first London theatre (sp!) experience, as we saw a show called We Will Rock You (which was my choice). It was the same concept as Mama Mia, which was a musical play set to Abba music, except that We Will Rock You was entirely set to the music of Queen! I thought it was amazing - the vocalists, the story, and the band (it was all live music). Sarah was slightly less enamored (I think the story was a bit too sci-fi-ish for her, and somehow she managed to fall asleep at one point, despite the rock and roll). Anyway - it was a great night out!

I'm continuing to try and enjoy as much of the local food and drink as possible, which is a rather enjoyable task, I must say. I've lost track of all the great British Ales I've been able to try, although I had a new one last night called Flowers Strong Ale, which was really very tasty, and less bitter than most. I also had my first Nepalese cuisine last week - which was fantastic! I'm learning the difference between various types and styles of curries (Indian, Thai, Morrocan, Lebanese, Nepalese, etc). Two of my coworkers, (and frequent dining partners) Mike and Stuart are very willing culinary tour guides.

We also learned that Mom and Pat will be visiting us in September, and we're really looking forward to that! It sounds like Doug and Carol may come back again later in October as well. We are also hoping to see Choi's some time in August.

Not sure if Sarah has posted this or not, but the four of us will be back in the States the last two weeks of July, primarily for Colin's baptism. Julia and Michael asked me to be Colin's Godfather, and I am very excited and grateful!

In other news, work is going very well - and our supply chain work is really starting to heat up. My project and task lists are growing much faster than I can get them completed. I hope to bring my Demand Planning team to the states in August to spend a week with their US counterparts. I think it will make a huge impact to the team to be able to experience both the Best Buy store experience, as well as the role of their US peers in the corporate office.

Well, I'm surrounded by fussing children at the moment, so I should sign off. Sarah and Abby are off to shop for my birthday (woo-hoo)! Sorry for the lack of photos, but I'll try better next time. TTFN (ta ta for now)!