December 2017

December in the UK brings very short days along with cold, gray weather. Thank goodness for the holiday festivities which help to lift spirits and brighten moods. The kids got into the spirit with some baking and fondant Christmas decorations.

The Co-op is the local grocery store in our village which is about 15 minutes walking from our house. We love being able to walk to the village and will certainly miss that when we get back to the US.

Time to take out the advent calendar. This one was handmade by Grammy and is very special to us.

Can you believe we had snow in December??!! This was quite a storm for the UK, it snowed most of the day and a few inches accumulated. Schools were closed for 2 days and we couldn't get our car out of the driveway. Plows and snow shovels are non-existent here so the roads were almost impassable for a couple days. Haven't had snow ball fights for two years so the kids took full advantage of the snow 😀

In mid-December we spent a day in London enjoying Christmas festivities. We started in Hyde Park with the Winter Wonderland carnival. The kids found an open table tennis game en route to Hyde Park (Marble Arch in the background).

Loved the rides at the Winter Wonderland carnival!

Our next stop was Harrod's, London's biggest and finest department store. We discovered that Harrod's has an amazing toy section with full-sized Lego creations on par with the Lego Store!

This is a model of Harrod's made out of Legos!

We found a delicious Chinese restaurant for dinner. It was inside a hotel and in the hotel lobby there was a gingerbread London!

London attractions made out of gingerbread

After dinner we went to see Handel's Messiah at Royal Albert Hall. What an incredible choir - hundreds of people singing accompanied by a live orchestra. It was amazing.

Heading home on the tube, quite rare to see an empty tube station.

Christmas morning was full of excitement as the children opened stockings and presents. It was a quiet day this year without visitors, a very relaxing Christmas. Feeling very blessed.

This playground is a short walk from our house - nice to get out for some fresh air.

November 2017

In early November we took a trip to Scotland while the kids were still on school break. We spent a few nights in Edinburgh then a couple days in Inverness. We loved Scotland and hope to get back there again sometime.

We had a full day at Edinburgh Castle and learned lots about the castle. The tiny chapel there, called St Margaret's Chapel, is the oldest surviving building at the castle, built around 1130. We even saw the crown jewels of Scotland.

Windy day!

The castle at night

The kids have a way of finding toy stores no matter where we go! We stumbled upon this floor of toys in a department store.

One day we went to see the Royal Yacht Britannia, a yacht that was once used to transport the royal family. It was fun to see the queen's quarters and those of her family. She was quite practical and didn't want the rooms to be too lavish, a testament to her character.

A Rainbow!

Following along with the audio guide

We stayed in an apartment in Edinburgh that worked out perfectly - thank you Expedia! Outside the back window Carson and John admired the cars that belonged to our neighbors.

On to Inverness! We took a train a few hours north to Inverness and what a gorgeous day for a train ride. We were treated to amazing views of Scottish countryside the whole way.

First impressions of Inverness - COLD, much smaller then Edinburgh, has almost a small-town feel to it, people very friendly.

We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast in Inverness and this is their cat, Milo. We snuck Milo into our room for a few minutes to get our 'cat fix'. The kids sure miss having a cat.

This is when we know Rachel is unpacked, her pillow looks like this. The Welsh Corgi was purchased at the Royal Britannia, sold in the gift shop since it is the favorite breed of Queen Elizabeth (she has owned more than 30 corgis as queen).

Look what Grandma found! A branch of her church in the middle of no where.

We rented a car for the day in Inverness to have a look around. We drove out to Loch Ness where there are still many tourist traps attempting to give you the 'real' story of the Loch Ness monster. Seems obligatory after coming all this way, so we stopped for an hour to hear about Nessie then carried on to Urquhart Castle, seen below. This beautiful remains of a castle was fun to explore and offered great views of Loch Ness.

Sheep in the road, we had to ask them to move over so we could get by.

Back at home near London, we spent an afternoon in Windsor with Grandma. Rachel's drama club had their production in Windsor and while she was doing her last dress rehearsal, the rest of us paid a visit to Windsor Castle just down the street. We learned that when the flag is flying over the castle (as seen in the picture below) it indicates that the queen is in residence at the castle. She often spends weekends there. BTW, this is the castle where prince Harry will be married in May 2018!

Here is Carson during a rugby game at school, wearing his school rugby uniform. He is learning to tackle better. Rugby is just ok for him, he prefers football (called soccer in the US).