White Christmas 2009

We awoke to a snow-covered village on Friday, Dec. 17, the last school day before the holidays. Marshall & Maggie missed school that day but John had to walk to school and was NOT very happy about it. We were even tardy because we kept thinking it would be closed...we weren't the only ones and many children didn't come to school that day.

On Christmas Eve, the adults walked up Cheveley's High Street to our local pub, the Red Lion. We met other friends for a few drinks around lunch time. This is a tradition for many of them and we were thankful to be included. Our local pub has been remodeled and it just re-opened this week. Everyone is excited to have a pub serving real food in our village and not just a workman's pub.

Later that day, we gathered the children and walked back up the High Street to St. Mary's Church for the crib service. It is a family service and the children fill the crib throughout the service. John was asked to bring the angel to the crib (manger) and he was the first . The Christmas story was read and we sang a Hymn and then something was added to the crib. Many of John's friends participated in the service. Here is a picture of the crib at the end of the service. It was a beautiful service and a great way to spend Christmas Eve.

We all gathered around the tree and opened one present that evening....Maggie says "It's a tradition that we get to open one gift on Christmas Eve."

Brussels - New Years Eve 2009

Brussels was the last stop on our journey. We just planned one day and would then grab the Eurostar home for the 1st. The building behind us is the Town Hall and they had a spectacular music and light show with all the lights flashing and the colors changing. Dinner was comprised of Belgium waffles from the Christmas market just off the square. While they were not quite on the diet list, they were good.

We made our way towards one of the more famous tourist sites: the Manneken-Pis. It is quite funny the sense of humor here as you would imagine.

We walked past many restaurants and there were multiple displays like this one. Just teasing you to come inside and dig in. From there, we made our way to a festival area where there was a Ferris wheel, ice skating, and all the trappings of a proper Christmas Market.

The most unusual find was one particular street performer that is shown here mid-trick while MJ and John watch. John helped him with some tricks during the show and he struck up a conversation with us as the crowd broke. The funny part was that he was from all the way across the pond in Kentucky. He was an hour and a half from where we lived in Indiana. My how small the world was.

As we tend to be a family that rocks and rolls harder than most on New Years Eve, we figured we would stay up till breakfast and would dine on some most excellent Belgium Waffles. Instead, we were home by 10:00 and Maggie was the only one that actually saw a firework at midnight. She tried to get Vivian up to see them but mom decided she would just stay in her warm bed and could watch the lights reflect off the ceiling. This lasted about thirty seconds and she was back in dream land.

The waffles did get dominated by the Skelton family but it was not after a wild all-nighter in Brussels...

Delft: Vermeer and The Girl with a Pearl Earring

The plans for this side trip started years ago when Vivian read the Girl with the Pearl Earring. We then, of course watched the movie (one of those date moments when Marshall is willing to watch a girl movie). We capped the whole Vermeer thing off with a coffee table book of his work (that is somewhere packed away in the states). Delft is about an hour from Amsterdam by train and is a quiet little village. We had a nice lunch in the square. One nice lap around the canals, a quick visit to the Vermeer center and a stop by visitors information and we were just about ready for home. Unfortunately, most everything from Vermeer's history has been built over and his work is scattered all over the world. Amsterdam and The Hague have some nice pieces but the rest are scattered from Windsor Castle to Berlin to Washington DC to New York.

One of his works was drawn from this vantage point over the city. It didn't quite look the same in 1661 but is a nice shot of the tower.

En Brugge

One of our stops over the holidays was in Brugge. I must lead into this one by sharing that our neighbors loaned us the movie, En Brugge, just before the holidays. It is quite a dark comedy and is definitely not appropriate for kids. It does show the area off and it is a lovely little town. It poured freezing rain except for about 30 minutes of our whole stay. If you watch the movie, you will get the joke about what they say about Brugge. The picture is of the Christmas markets and also has the tower that is part of the movie.

Brugge is one of the most postcard moment places this side of Disney. The canals are quite awesome. We'll facebook the pictures as they are so many to blog. It is one of those places that that is much less about history and is much more about hanging out. We stayed in a really cool little hotel. The owners ran the place and the kids favorite part of the trip was hanging out in front of the fireplace in the dining room. We stopped in after a long cold day and played cards(Rook) at a table in front of the fire. We had the only family room in the hotel which meant one double bed and three singles in our room. It was quite the romantic experience for Mom and Dad. We did have a cool view out of our window (picture of Maggie sitting in the window) and the tower looked really cool all lit up at night.

Amsterdam - 2009

Our Boxing day adventure started out with a trip on the Eurostar to Amsterdam. This has been on the tour list and it didn't disappoint. Of course, with temperatures hovering around zero, we spent most of our time bundled up in our ski gear. We did have a really cool apartment that was just around the corner from the canal shown in this first picture. What was really cool were the boat houses. A tour guide told us there were over 2000 all around the city but they have stopped issuing permits so what you see is what you get. As we made our way around town, we were walking past this supermarket. The shelves were slightly interesting; and then we saw the cat. And yes, the box was labelled cat. And in case you are asking, of course Maggie wanted to buy it and bring it home.

No trip is complete with out a visit to the local Hard Rock Cafe, overlooking one of the canals. This one had some particularly nice mementos handing on the wall. When you think about it, I suspect a great number of rock stars like to visit Amsterdam. Favorite things to do where the canal boat tour (mainly because it was warm) and the whole family really liked the tour of the Anne Frank hiding place. This last picture is just the reminder that Vivian likes anything purple. Here is a back canal with a purple set of flats and it just had to become a Kodak moment.

The Netherlands and Belgium are famous for their pancakes/crepes. We enjoyed the Belle Helene, which was pancakes with pears and chocolate while the boys ordered the Josselyn, bananas and chocolate. Maggie chose mint pancakes with whipped cream that were green!

Christmas 2009 - getting ready

The skies were kind to us today and rains held off long enough for us to make the 2nd annual trek to Elveden for our Christmas tree. We were told today that you must name your tree after the dog that delivers it so this year, the Skelton Yuletide greenery is hearby named Fizz. This big fuzzy rug is only 14 months old and was actually the cute little puppy that people played with last year.

We did the quick selection, grabbed some roast turkey and cranberry jelly sandwiches from the cafe, and then watched the sky decide it had been kind enough so we jumped in the Volvo in time for the rains to come visiting. Kind of sad to think that this will be our last visit with the big old shaggy dogs. We then proceeded home, built a fire and are spending the afternoon decking the halls. MJ did let us know that it would be much more fun to go and cut our own tree. He is obviously too young to remember our excursions to the tree farm in Indiana where we would lay down this 12 foot monster every year and then we would proceed to yell and fight as we tried to get the way-too-big tree through the way-too-small door.

Mom and Dad also snuck in the annual PPD Christmas party. Graham and Alison shared a ride with us to the Winter Wonderland themed party. The meal was nice and the party was quite festive.

Barcelona, Spain

During half-term, we decided to head south in search of some sun and fun. Barcelona was our destination. We found a really cool apartment in the l'eixample district. We had a really cool set-up with 2 bedrooms and a loft where Marshall and John slept. The architecture was amazing and every corner offered up new sites. This shot is from Montjuic. There is an amazing castle/fort on the top of the hill and it overlooks the harbor. During the civil war in spain, if you landed in the prison here, you were more than likely never seen again. This shot is from one of the walls of the castle. Barcelona experienced a great redevelopment as part of the 1992 Olympics. After we took the funicular and then a cable car to the peak of Montjuic, we toured and then began a trek down the hill. This walked covered some of the coolest parks and playgrounds we have uncovered. There were slides built into the mountain side. We came upon a ropes course about half way down the hill. They had a zipline that chewed up a nice chunk of time. Mom and Dad even found a nice little cafe where we could sneak off for a drink while the kids played. Tibadabo was another treat. We had both just read a book called Shadow in the Wind and it speaks of Tibadabo. You take a tram to the top and there is an amazing church and wrapped all around it is an amusement park. Of course, game over when the kids saw that. Just picture the view from all the rides looking out over Barcelona and the harbour.

We took a day trip to Montserat which is a monestary that is about and hour and a half trainride outside of Barcelona. You take a very high cablecar ride to the top and you can explore the grounds or take hikes around the miles of trails that lead up into the mountains. We spent an entire day up in the hills. Weather was most excellent.

Of course, Barcelona visits are not complete without a whole dose of Gaudi. We took in the major sites like La Familia Sagrada, Park Guell, and the block known as the Quarry. We posted a bunch of pictures on Vivian's facebook page. This is a great place to check them out. The Gothic district is the old city center and there are excellent remains from the Roman times. Friday night was a celebration weekend and there were rock bands set to perform in squares all over the district. Of course, we melted down before we got to enjoy the late night of celebration but it was still cool to see it all getting started.

The Honey Monster

There is a particular literary character that has been an adopted member of our family from time to time. He tends to show up in the mail from America and asks us to take him to places where we can capture photos to send back with him to the states. He goes by the name of Flat Stanley and thanks to Lilly and Cousin Hannah, we have had some good times with Flat Stanley. John arrived home this week with the a UK version known as Honey Monster. He comes home with a journal and our job is to take him on an adventure, snap photos, and then John is tasked with a creative writing exercise to document the whole escapade.

We figured it was time to hop down to London to see if we could drum up some trouble so here is John

and Mr. Monster on the Tube heading into

London.

We decided to get a little political

exposure on this trip so we stopped into Hollywood to see Gov. Schwarzenegger. Of course, based on California politics, he had to change into Terminator mode just to survive. We also nipped into a matinee to catch Grease. Probably also worth pointing out Maggie's hair that is left

over from the Friday night birthday makeover at the salon in Newmarket. Lily turned 12 and everyone got fancy locks.

SoHo seemed to be hopping so we added a picture of Monster with the Chinese lanterns that were hanging. We added shots of him with Big Ben and the London

Eye but the crown jewel was when we got

to Covent Garden. It tends to be loaded with street performers and this time was not different. As we were heading home, we came across a juggler with a unicycle. Of course we were drawn in and before you know it, Dad and John were both in the show. The kicker was that John made five pounds for helping out. We'll try to get the video up on facebook.

Cambridge

Dad decided to take a mental health day as the autumn season is getting more and more hectic. Kids were thrown on the bus and John was walked up the High Street to Cheveley Primary School and we were off to Cambridge to do what grown ups would do.

We took a tour of King's College. If you ever stay up on Christmas Eve, you can catch Carols at King's. It is evidently heard around the world. The chapel is exceptional and King Henry VIII completed the chapel and along with Anne Boleyn gave the organ and it is one of the coolest ones

we have seen on our journeys.

Probably the most fun for the day was

seeing what appeared to be the first year students on campus. They were

all in their gowns and

it took us both back to college. One

aspect that was an interesting topic for discussion was around what a diverse set of dorm mates you would have it you came here to school. There were truly people from all around the world. In case you are wondering, this

is from King's campus and the tall bloke is wearing a kilt.

The picture with Vivian looking out over the courtyard is what looks to be a dormatory block. Just imagine spending your university days here. Just to the right is the River Cam and behind us is a large green you see in the top picture. Quite an amazing experience for a 19 year old. As Vivian

is missing her 20 yr. Furman reunion this year, today really brought back some memories.

It is awe inspiring to think of the impact Cambridge has had on the world when you consider the learning and teaching that has roots based here. We visited Emanuelle College where John Harvard studied. He later came to America and founded some small University up north. Sir Isaac Newton was a fellow here and there is even a tree that is

a cutting from his famous apple tree. CS Lewis was at Oxford but finished his career as a fellow at Cambridge. For Uncle Mackay, we thought we would show you what being a fellow

allows you do to. Basically, you get the best parking space for your bicycle.

If you every wonder what the punters on the River Cam do before their shift starts, now you know. They hang out at the backs (what people call the space behind the colleges) and enjoy some time with their friends before their shift starts.

Mom's 10K for Cancer

It was a beautiful autumn Sunday. Mom and a bunch of her mates (that's what we call them) ran in a 10K race at the Ickworth House. It was a charity event to raise money for cancer research. Here are four of the girls after the race. Vivian was able to dedicate her race to someone and she ran for her cousin Sherry that has been an inspiration to us all as she has shared her journey through her treatments with us all. She is a true champion.

The house and the grounds are excellent. It is only about 10 miles from our village and we have

visited several times. It is a magnificent tour and

the family still lives in part of the manor. I can link back to our past visit and you can get a feel for the site. Here is a site of the private chapel that is on the back side of the estate. It will give you a feel for the running course and also some of the elevation that the runners had to navigate.

All in all, we are proud of mom and she hit the

time she was aiming. We can also add that she had some quality time in the hot tub to take the the tiredness away.

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