Thanksgiving & Holidays

Although it seems like old news by now, we're finally catching up from the holidays and the new year. Although the Brits don't celebrate Thanksgiving, we made a turkey and all the trimmings and had a few American & British friends over to celebrate--and a family member too to follow tradition. My dad arrived the week before to celebrate his birthday and visit us, so we were really lucky and felt a little less homesick at the beginning of the holiday season.
sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner
grandpa carving the turkey

London during the holidays is so festive and gorgeous. There's always lots to see and do. Here we are feeding the birds at Hyde Park after seeing a debutante exhibit at Kensington Palace. We found out that British swans are quite brave and bold when you have good bread....


but Rome had them eating out of the palm of his hand-- literally.
We went on a ride up in the London Eye and were lucky to time it right in-between rain storms to capture sweeping views and clear blue skies...
and went to see the holiday displays on Carnaby Street
and the stunning window displays of Fortnum & Mason.

Unfortunately, grandpa couldn't stay for Christmas but we made the most of it with a pre-Christmas gastropub dinner and lots of present opening on Christmas morning after a visit from Santa

Rome couldn't wait to play with his toys and started composing music on his keyboard and recording it on his mini ipod

Then we went to Christmas dinner at our friends Sid, Louise & baby Ashwin's house.

Rome had fun playing with the other children

and wore the crown from the Christmas cracker. The day after Christmas, Boxing Day is also a holiday here in the UK and so we headed up to Edinburgh, Scotland for "Hogmanay" the largest new years celebration in Europe! Stay tuned for more photos and videos soon !!!

Fall colors

Southern California in the Fall -- sunny. brown. hot. I had never seen such brilliant Fall colors until this past weekend. Rome, Daniel and I went to the Cotswolds, about 90 minutes west of London, for a quiet, romantic weekend. Athough I took about 100 pictures, I wish I had taken more.... most of the villages in "the wolds"were built in the 14th century and grew very wealthy from wool trading. Many of the original buildings still remain and the sheep are still in abundance, as well as pheasants, churches, cobblestone roads and green fields. I'll put as many pics as I can fit in here for you to see how gorgeous and charming the countryside and all the little villages in between are.

As for Halloween, if you're wondering what people in England do, scroll down to see pics from our night. Although there were a few trick-or-treaters and events last year, we decided to go and seek out some fun and ended up at a family resort down on the cliffs of Dover. They had a big party with entertainment and a costume parade. Rome won a lollipop in his monkey costume and we all had a very cheesy, bizzare but very entertaining night (mainly just from watching Rome dancing with all the kids in his monkeysuit). The next day we visited the famous white cliffs and Dover Castle and then a wild-animal park that was created by one of the landed gentry who started to do captivated breeding of endangered animals -- now there are tigers, elephants, lemurs, buffalo, gorillas and lots & lots of monkeys roaming around on the 600 acre estate. Rome had the best weekend ever!!!!
driving from village to village in the countryside

the bridge at Bibury

Arlington Row in Bibury

sheep in the meadow
tea and Rome's snacks at an old Inn

Broadway village

telephone booths in Broadway

Daniel & rome at a 400 year old Inn

Sunday traffic in Broadway

the Horse and Hound

Rome with the sheep

and cows

residential window displays

and shops

Chipping Campden

houses along the main road on Chipping Campden

stately mansions

town square

(notice everything is made from the same stone)

a cottage in Bibury

old stone walls that run throughout the Cotswolds

with the ducks at Moreton in Marsh

Halloween in England

Here are a few pics from our Helloween weekend in Dover

at the Halloween party

dancing with all the kids

the white cliffs of Dover

lemurs

London Calling

So we still have a lot of catching up to do from June -- the Secret Garden Party festival, our trip to San Francisco and Los Angeles (which we are still collecting photos from-please send me some if you have any) and many other fun things from the summer but as the clocks are jumping forward now, so am I- going straight into Fall. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to return to summer and write about our California trip soon. Until, then, here's what we've been up to in London....

We decided the only way to get over being homesick is to go out and do really cool, fun things that we can't do at home in the US. The weather has actually been nice enough to make that happen as well (how nice of it to stop raining for a bit?). So here are some pictures to show you why we love it so much here. After seeing them, I'm sure you'll understand.

For instance, where else can you go for a pub lunch and then run amongst wild deer in a city park? Or visit working castles with moats, aviaries and black swans? Or have your two year old sit on a 2,000 year old art treasure? How about see a falconry show and then duel with other kids in the King Arthur playground? Or chase peacocks and get so close you can see them doing their private business--and get it on video? (no joke- see it below). Or where else would you go sightseeing for the day--in a cemetary? This is just a taste of what this city (and countryside) has to offer.....

black swans from NZ
riding the ancient art treasures waiting to see the falconry show

deer mating season in Richmond Park on the outskirts on London

see the deer and the high-rise buildings behind Rome? This really is just outside the city!!