Happy Christmas!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas as a family this year, and we stayed in London so we get to enjoy Boxing Day tomorrow. Two Holidays in a row, what could be better?

We hope you all had very enjoyable Holiday experiences, and best wishes for the New Year.

By the way, we finally allowed the cats to try catnip this year. Under close supervision they did okay for a few hours. But, we haven't seen them in the last 5, so they obviously didn't know when to say when.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We couldn't believe that this was our second Thanksgiving here in London. We spent the holiday with our friends and fellow ex pats, Dave, Velana, Jeff and Jessica. Dave and Velana were so kind to host and make all of the traditional Thanksgiving foods! Everything was delicious!

The rest of the weekend we spent getting ready for Christmas! We bought a cute little fake tree and had a great time decorating the tree and our flat. Although we are sad not to be coming home for the holidays, we are thrilled about our upcoming arrival! We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and we will be thinking of you!

Spa Day

Esther and Laurel were so kind to throw me a spa day baby shower!! We had so much fun. It was an afternoon full of pampering, delicious food (including M & M cookies, yum!), and wonderful company. I am so thankful for these special friends I have met here in London!!Thank you all so much for being a part of the day! Esther and Laurel, what an event- thank you so much for such a fantastic day!



Esther and Velana

Laurel and Anne

Kris

Anna and Jill

Anna and Anne

A Little Sun and Snow Makes the Baby Grow

Just a few pictures of our recent adventure across town! We finally made it up to Regents Park and Primrose Hill, which are in London but feel miles away. We were happy to see the sun and surprised to see the snow!!

Check out the belly on this one!

Bright and Sunny Brighton

For the last warm weekend in England (until June) we decided to take our first trip to the English coast. So the four of us (Mike, Annie and the two of us) headed south to Brighton for the day, which is only about an hour away. It was nice to see the water, the pier and sunny skies. What we didn't expect was a cute little town with a gigantic palace in the middle of it. The Royal Pavilion was truly royal until Queen Victoria sold it to the city of Brighton for a song (the palace wasn't her cup of tea). In the next several weeks we hope to get out of London more and experience the English countryside.

Flat Crawl

This weekend we had our first ever flat crawl! This entailed moving from flat to flat in our building, working our way to the top, where each flat prepared some delicious food to share with everyone. It was SO much fun and we hope to do it again very soon. We feel extremely lucky to have such amazing neighbors. We sure lucked out!

We started at Alex and Alex's where we had a German feast- sausage, pasta salad and pretzels, yum!! It was truly an authentic Frankfurt treat!



We then moved on to Jill and Kanna's where we ate delicious curry chicken wraps and veggies. Jill, I would love your chicken recipe!!!



We were then on our way to our flat where we had chocolate fondue. I ate so much choclate, Baby S was pinging around my stomach until the wee hours of the morning.



Our final stop was at Anne and Sandy's. We finished with a beautiful cheese spread with dried fruit and olives. What a way to polish off the night of delicious eating. And there were even pasteurized cheeses!!



Thanks so much everyone for such a fun evening- we had a lovely time!!!

Nils Goes Home

That is, to Norway, where he reconnected with his roots.


After a lovely time showing Russell and Joanne around London, the four of us were off to Oslo, Norway. Norway is just beautiful and what a treat to be able to see this part of the world!

We started off our trip touring around the Sentrum of Oslo, exploring the differences and similarities with other major cities. One difference which we weren't prepared for was the cost of everything, especially coming from London. Lets just say we can give some good tips on free parking behind the Royal Palace and Embassy Row. And also, don't worry about the "toll booths" as you can't pay even if you want to (the bill will come later). The pizza (we couldn't help ourselves before taking the picture) came in at $40, and the lovely hot chocolate you see was a steamy $9, and the ONE beer Nils had was a gulp inducing $ 17. The 25% tax doesn't help, but its worth it for the Norway experience.

You can see in the pictures below that we visited the adorable village of Drobak known for its Christmas history, where mail from children is delivered from around the world (we noticed, Japan, Russia, USA, etc.) to Julenissen (the Norweigan Santa Claus -check out this site for more info http://www.emb-norway.ca/facts/Traditions/Christmas/julenissen.htm).

We also went to some lesser known places, including the best Mexican restaurant in Norway and the Resistance Museum. The history of Norway is truly amazing, and Nils was ready to jump into the viking ships and head off to sea.

We had a wonderful trip, and recommend Norway as a great place to visit for everyone. Just don't buy anything. :)