Home Again!

We’re back! Sorry I was unable to post while gone. I didn’t take my laptop and we were busy pretty much the entire time. We arrived home late Saturday night. Yesterday we had church and then had our Christmas with Brad, Mandy and Piper. Today is cleaning/laundry and catch up day.

I did finish 1 and 1/2 pair of socks, mostly while flying. “J” kept us super busy playing and talking and just general FUN so not much was accomplished while there.

Alex picked us up at Heathrow at 9:00 a.m. after we flew all night. No sleep happened overnight. On the way to their house in London, we stopped in Windsor to tour Windsor Castle. We visited a sweet little cafe where we had amazing cinnamon rolls and the guys had coffee while I had hot cocoa. Alex had bought tickets so we could go through all of the state rooms in the castle, but photography wasn't allowed. I'm so sorry. It was absolutely beautiful, glamorous and exactly what you would think the inside of a castle would look like. One of the rooms we went through was the china room. Oh my! So many different sets of china. Many of you would be thrilled to see the teacups alone. The priceless works of art, (originals), were so beautiful. I don't have enough adjectives to adequately describe the castle. As you can see, the day was a beautiful one too. I just had a light sweater on and was very comfortable. We didn't go to sleep until 10:00 that night so it was a long two days but it got us on track without jet lag. A hint to avoid jet lag is to stay up on the day you arrive until bedtime in your destination. Then sleep and get up in the morning. It almost always works out to not have any issues at all. Most people are like me and have more problems going east to west, so last night I didn't sleep as well here at home, but I did sleep round the clock on Saturday, our first night home. Last night I was awake from 2:00 a.m. to 6 a.m. Not fun.

As luck would have it, we arrived just in time for the changing of the guard. It lasted 45 minutes and was very ceremonial with lots of pageantry. I do have a video but blogger wouldn't let me load it. I have no idea why.

Here we are, Dennis, me and our baby, Alex.

We arrived on Thursday and had a quiet weekend of reaquaintiing ourselves with their neighborhood and little "J". She's 3 now and warmed up to us right away which is amazing because we hadn't seen her for over a year. I'm so grateful for FaceTime where we talk to her at least once a week. She knew who we were right away. At 3 she's fluent in English and Japanese and can count in German. Alex only talks to her in Japanese and her nanny is Japanese. At school they speak English of course. Her accent is an interesting mix of Japanese, British and American English! Ha!

The next Monday we went to the Cotswolds for 3 days and 2 nights where we stayed at a pub in Coln St. Aldwyns. It was lovely. A beautiful room with plenty of room for Alex, “J” and us. Our DIL had to work and was unable to go. Breakfast was included and it was wonderful. We crammed a LOT into those days. We visited almost every village in the Cotswolds. We got brownies from a shop that sent them to the moon with the astronauts. (They were delicious AND expensive.) I bought yarn and a tote bag from a shop in one of the villages. I'll show you a photo in one of the following posts. 

This is where we stayed.

The courtyard outside of the pub where there is some dining, a bbq and that round thing is an old well with a grate over the top.

 

Our room is on the left on the first floor in the photo below. You drive through that archway to enter the parking area.

The last night we were there we were walking into different pub for dinner when Dennis fell and cut his head open at the eyebrow. The following are three photos of the progression of the healing process over the last week or so. And no, a pub isn't only for drinking. The British use it for an extended living room. People meet there and play board games, cards, eating, drinking, etc. Dennis hadn't had a drop to drink. We think he missed the last step because of his trifocals and it was fairly dark. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him flying through the air and then blood was everywhere. The owner of the pub came out and cleaned the eye, and put a pressure bandage on it to stop the bleeding because it just wouldn't stop. He also had the staff call an ambulance. Later that night he called Alex to check on Dennis. They were in no way responsible, but they were very caring and we ended up going there for lunch the next day when we took them a thank you gift of some of those very expensive brownies mentioned above.

We ended up cancelling the ambulance because the bleeding was stopped and drove him to emergency ourselves. It was our first experience with the NHS and it was a very good one. We were there less than an hour where they glued the cut shut and bandaged him up. Everyone was very kind and efficient and would you believe none of it cost us a dime?! We were so very grateful for Alex knowing "the ropes" of how to get us there and registered and for the staff who took such good care of him. As you can tell, it's not a straight cut so glue was a better option than stitches.

A few days later and it was all changing colors. He told everyone that "the other guy looked worse." Ha!

And the worst day of all. Isn't that nasty? Imagine wandering around London, going to tea and caroling services with an eye like this. He's a great sport though and kept on going. Just like the energizer bunny. He did have quite a headache for a couple of days, but didn't let it stop him.

We also went to the zoo in the Cotswolds. It was so much fun. The weather wasn't great. In fact, by the time we finished it was blowing a cold north wind and raining fairly hard. Alex rented a scooter for me because my back was not happy with all of the activity we had been doing. It was really appreciated and that way I didn't slow them down by having to rest constantly.

Our favorite was the penguins. You really were this close to them. No telephoto lens on this photo. They were maybe 2-3 feet away! I love penguins and find them highly entertaining. We got to their enclosure just in time to watch them be fed. Since we were the only people there, the zookeepers talked directly to us and let us ask all the questions we wanted.

What a great experience we had.

This is "J's" favorite. The rhinoceros. And again, we were this close. No telephoto lens. Only a 2 foot ditch and a 1 1/2 foot fence separated us. I admit to being a little nervous.

We were told that these cottages are the most photographed spot in the Cotswolds. If I were to move to the UK, this is the area we both like the best and would consider moving to. The chances of that are very, very slim, though we do think it's beautiful there.

Just across from the cottages above is a coffee ship where we got breakfast rolls and I got hot chocolate. I just had to show you my hot chocolate. Look at this. It was SO good and a work of art. That pink thing is a marshmallow! Probably the best hot chocolate I've ever had. I just had to share it with you.

Another place we visited on that trip was Oxford. Oh. My. Goodness. The beautiful buildings there were indescribable. Look at this one. I should have taken notes and written the names of the buildings down. Since I didn't, I guess you'll just have to admire the architecture. All of the following photos were taken in Oxford.

Look at that stonework. So fancy. We had just eaten lunch in a small cafe and when we walked out, this was the first thing I saw.

The next two photos are at Oxford University and where the Harry Potter movies ballroom dance lessons and infirmary were filmed. It was stunning.

Just look at this ceiling. It has hundreds of coats of arms for different families. I don't remember the requirement to have one there though.

I couldn't get over the beauty of this place.

This is the Grand Staircase from the Harry Potter movies.

And this...is the Dining Hall in Harry Potter. It is ridiculously beautiful!

I have more photos to share with you but this post is way too long already. I'm sorry I haven't posted or read your blogs very much but...life, you know? We have such a small amount of time with our kids over the pond that we were spending every moment with them that we were awake. Dennis did lots of house projects with Alex while I played with "J". They rebuilt the front gate, repaired chairs and a door. "J" discovered that Grandpa could fix "anything" so brought him broken toys and hair ribbons that the clips had fallen off of. Ha! That kept him busy. Our DIL had to work quite a bit, but was working from home so at least we were able to see her a lot. Alex worked a lot at night and before we woke up. We have such great kids. Hard workers and they love us too! They would love for us to move over there, but then we would be away from Mandy, Brad and Piper. That wouldn't work either. 

I'll be back soon with more news from the trip. Take care and I'll be trying to catch up on blogs tonight.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

Two More Sleeps

That's what we used to tell our kids when there was something exciting planned. Vacation, Birthdays, Holidays, Grandpa & Grandma coming, etc. Well, we have two more sleeps before we leave for London so I decided today that I should pack. Dennis got the suitcase out a couple of weeks ago and put it on the guest room bed. I admit to having placed just a couple of things on the bed next to it, but that's it. I didn't really pack anything until today. I decided I should probably start to pack something. Well...it's a good thing that we each get a free checked bag on this flight because by the time the gifts were packed, there was room for a couple of pair of underwear and that was it in that first suitcase! Ha! 

I'm also taking Papa's favorite sugar cookie recipe and cookie cutters so I can bake cookies with "J". I'm really looking forward to that. Alex has made reservations for us to stay in the Cotswalds for a few nights which I'm really looking forward to. 

On Saturday evening we had our 2nd annual gingerbread house decorating party at our friend Amanda's house. She has her place decorated so beautifully. She's an avid quilter, crocheter and does gorgeous embroidery. She is the lovely lady that we went to Kentucky for her Masters Degree graduation last summer. I thought I would share a few photos of our masterpieces.

Everyone was concentrating deeply to learn construction techniques. Amanda had a huge selection of candies and glitter for us to choose from.

Here are the finished products. Aren't they something else? This is the group of people that Dennis rides his bike with in the summer. 

We all decided this was the winner! Angie is the artist.

From left to right: Dennis, his cousin Curt, Curt's wife Barb, our paster Jeff, Amanda and Jeff's wife Angie. These are also the people we camp with a LOT in the summer.

Jeff made the broken down old truck. He owns GMC's and Dennis has a Ford. It's a running joke between the two of them as to which is best. So Jeff says this is a broken down FORD truck with last years Christmas tree in the back!

I think Dennis did a great job on our house. My hands were shaking a lot that night, so he did most of the decorating and I took pictures. We had pizza beforehand and spent a lot of time laughing and making messes. Good friends are wonderful!

I'm sorry that we won't be here for a lot of things that are happening at church this month. The children's Christmas program. A caroling party for church members that are not able to get out and about. The Christmas Eve service and a few other things. But I also know that we're going to have a wonderful time with our kids and experience the holiday for the first time with our sweet daughter in law's family. Her parents are wonderful and I'm looking forward to spending time with them.

I'm not sure how much I'll be online in the next couple of weeks but I'll try to check in now and then. I hope you all have a blessed Christmas season, always remembering the Christ child and the reason we celebrate this day.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

It's December!

 How can it be? It was just Friday two days ago! The days are flying by. Only 4 more days before we fly away and I haven't even begun to pack, but I did finish wrapping gifts for our family here, so I can call that a finish.

I thought I would show you some of my snowmen decorations that I've put out since we'll be gone for Christmas. I'll leave them out for most of January too.

Below is a blanket I made a few years ago. and on the island is a snowflake garland that I crocheted about 25 years ago.

Below is a wooden replica of Jesus's tomb with the stone rolled away. It was made by the son of my blog friend Pamela from "Closed Doors, Open Windows" on my sidebar. Benton does beautiful work.  He also made the tray that sits on the island that Pamela sent to me for my birthday. I just received the tomb a couple of weeks ago and was going to pack it away until Easter, but then I thought about it. Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birth, Easter of His death. Without one there isn't the other. And we wouldn't have salvation without that empty tomb. So I decided to leave it up as a reminder, every time I look at it. Thank you Benton! It's beautiful!

The quilted snowman picture was given to me a few years ago by a good friend in Spokane right after we moved back to Omaha. She used to make lots of quilted items for craft fairs for years.

I cross-stitched these snow bunnies about 40 years ago! I actually made two of them and gave one as a gift. 

I have lots and lots more snowmen still packed up with the Christmas decorations. I'm not getting everything out this year since we'll be gone until almost New Years.

The view from my chair. The orchids just began blooming again a couple of days ago. There are seven more buds ready to open up.

Zoeys favorite spot on these cold winter days. I'm sure going to miss her when we're gone next week. Of course she's staying with her favorite people, next to us. Piper, Lizzie, Mandy and Brad.  It's been so cold here. Yesterday was 0 F when we woke up!

I'm working on this prayer shawl for the University Med. Center right now. I have about eight more rounds to go and it will be done. It will be 70 inches long and 22 inches wide. I made 8 granny squares, joined them together lengthwise and have just been crocheting round and round.

These socks will be my airplane knitting and I hope to finish them by Christmas. I started them but won't work on them until we leave. I've switched to my Knit Picks dpn's because TSA has never confiscated them. I'm not sure if my metal signature needles would pass through security.

Below is a finished prayer shawl that still has to be washed and blocked. 

Last week we ended up with 8-10 inches of snow depending on where you measured. More is forecast to arrive tomorrow. These two characters had their winter coats of snow on them and were peering into the condo like they wanted in. :-) On the left is the cast iron squirrel and on the right is a little cast iron bunny.

I'm taking Dennis's favorite sugar cookie recipe and cookie cutters and I'm planning to make cookies with Baby "J". I've never had the opportunity to bake with her before, so I'm really looking forward to it. Lots of good memories to be made in the next few weeks.

Hopefully I'll be around, but if I disappear for a bit, don't worry. I'l return soon. I want to enjoy every moment I can.

Blessings and love,

Betsy