So I mentioned posting pictures from Thanksgiving....and that got away from me...so we'll just start from today.
Thanksgiving was a great time to spend with friends. Greg did all the cooking (as most of you know he's the better one in the house, so we usually just leave it up to him...I can bake a cake, but he can make the best food ever).
Here's Levi decorating his own "Big Brother" shirt...I thought it would get him excited about the whole thing. He had a good time with it and so did I.
Here's our big man taking his bike around the backyard.
On Saturday the 27
th we went to the Bury St. Edmunds Christmas Festival. It was an experience…we had to leave early to get there in time to find a good parking space since Greg was on call and he would need to leave fast if called in. So, although it started at 10am we were there by around 930 and walked around as they were setting up. As if to make it feel more like Christmas, it started snowing. Not the flurries we were used to in North Carolina and Tennessee, but a pretty steady snowfall for at least 30 minutes. During that time we took it upon ourselves to go into the Mexican restaurant we had discovered a week or two before and have tea and breakfast. Now it is humorous to me that here we are sitting in a “Mexican” restaurant having a cup of tea and baps. Baps are basically a type of bread with something like sausage or bacon on it. We had our bacon baps…which the bacon here is a thick slice and oh so delicious. So we sat eating breakfast and watching the snow fall outside.
After breakfast we headed up the street to see some more of the festivities and different vendors. They had some really neat things for sale and it’s easy to see how you could get caught up in all there is to see and buy. We found a hot chocolate stand (as shown below) and had some DIVINE hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows. I’m telling you, an addiction has formed :c) I now know why they are constantly drinking coffee, hot chocolate, etc here…it’s so cold and the drinks just warm you right to the core while you continue to go about your daily activities outside. I think in the states we would just go from our car inside and it was never as cold and so we didn’t really need something to warm us up as we walked around outside. Here it’s completely different, you just go about your daily activities regardless of rain or snow. I suppose it might be the same up north or in other places where it rains and snows a lot. All of you, in those climates will have to let me know.
DELICIOUS...
A metallic nativity scene set up outside the abbey. It was really well crafted and beautiful.
Levi walking in the abbey gardens all bundled up.
As most of you know. Levi is not the greatest eater in the world and so because he's in the first percentile he gets to eat whatever he wants, for the most part. Well McDonald's was never on our list of choice establishments in the US, but we must admit that here in the UK (at least every one we've been to) they are amazingly clean, consistently good food and have balloons for the children. The balloons are a highlight for Levi and an absolute pain for Greg and I, especially when we're driving away and it always manages to get in your line of sight. Point being...we occasionally take Levi to McDonald's to eat a cheeseburger and here we are sitting at the kiddie table with him. He can actually eat almost an entire cheeseburger by himself, which for us is quite impressive. Their hot chocolate it also delicious...who knows it might just be Swissmiss, but there's nothing like hot chocolate (not to mention they have a loyalty program...as in buy 6 cups get on free...needless to say, I indulge in the program).
Levi in the snow.
Nothing like trying on daddy's combat boots for size.
Elveden Forest is a quaint little place about 5 minutes from our house. They grow their own Christmas trees and for a few days during December have Newfoundland dogs that will take your tree to your car for you. I was so eager that I was getting everyone out the house so we could be there when they opened. Well, I have to still learn that life is a little more relaxed here and so although we were there for about an hour we didn't actually get the dogs to take our tree to the car because they were late in setting up, etc. Levi did however, manage to get to see the dogs and pet them. He loved the one dog because they put reindeer ears on him and he thought that was just too funny. Here are Greg and Levi getting the tree on the cart.
Levi helping to pull the cart.
Just two of the many dogs they had.
It was a bit tougher for me to get a photo of Levi and the dog, since I was petting the dog and trying to take the photo :c)
I took a picture of the frost...it's interesting the lack of snow, but it still gives the wintery feel with all the frost sticking to everything, including spider webs, etc.
So, as most of you know we went to go get our dogs last week after having been separate for 6 months or so. My parents were graciously watching them at their house while they lived out their quarantine period in the US instead of some kennel over here. On our way to the airport we managed to be about 5 cars behind a car transporter truck that started fish tailing and then just flipped on it’s side and skidded down the 3 lane interstate. It was on the M25 loop which is sort of like the equivalent of I-285 around Atlanta…it’s the interstate loop around London. It was as if we were watching an action movie in slow motion right in front of us. Greg pulled over and went to check on the guy who thankfully was fine. We then figured we’d be there for at least 3 hours or so and so began letting Levi check out all the fire trucks and police cars coming by…as I mentioned we were 5 cars from the accident with no car in front of us in our lane. Next thing you know the police were telling us to turn the car around and head off the off-ramp (slip road as they call them here). We were there for maybe an hour and were quite impressed with how efficient they were at getting the cars rerouted. Here’s a picture of us driving the opposite way to get to the sliproad :c) We thought it was funny….needs the caption, “Do you ever feel like you’re going against the stream” or something of that nature.
Needless to say, we were slightly later at picking up the dogs than we had hoped. But all in all it was a good day and we were glad the man in the truck could walk away from the accident.
Levi was just too thrilled to have Duduza and Iqhawe here with us. We hadn't mentioned it to him since we wanted to make sure everything went smoothly...so all he knew was that we were going to the airport to get a present...and boy was he happy about his present. He kept talking to Duduza and Iqhawe on the way back home and telling them all sorts of things. Once we got home he wanted to show them everything....it was too precious. I think the dogs were slightly overwhelmed with this toddler who know could speak to them since the last time they saw him he only had a few words in his vocabulary. Here's Duduza with Levi on Levi's bed.
I have to still mention that Iqhawe was barking at the TV and so I said, "Iqhawe stop barking" probably at least 2 or 3 times...then out of Levi's mouth comes "Iqhawe time out" ... Greg and I had to hold in the laughter and so I said "Yes, Iqhawe needs to go to time out for not listening" I then proceeded to hold him in my lap. It's interesting to see how he likes to tell the dogs what they should do, we're hearing a lot of "Iqhawe go upstairs, or outside" "Good boy, Duduza" "Iqhawe walk on sidewalk" "Come on Duduza" "Look Duduza" "Iqhawe sit on Levi's lap" "Here you go Duduza" it's just great to see how happy he is with the dogs. As I mentioned before they sometimes wonder off and hide in our room, to get a break from this little man who just wants to pet, hold and play with them.
As far as baby news...none yet. We'll try and update everyone with an email or blog post once there's something to be said, but as for now we're just hanging in there and doing well. We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and gets to enjoy the time with family and friends.
