- Nov 26, 2009 - L turned 22! Shocking... J, being the wonderful husband and man he is, made it a super special day by giving me gifts at the crack of dawn in bed - an awesome blue scrapbook with all the necessary doodats to make (or attempt) a wedding album. I'm a little nervous about this, mostly as 1)I haven't done any scrapbooking before w/ all the lil bits of paper and what nots 2) I used to mock the scrapbooking society, and now I'm joining them...too hypocritical. When I got home from work J surprised me with a candy message "J loves L" which flash back to my 21st he did the same thing, only he had spelt it out on the beach in rocks! Jarom a romantic? yes, you heard it here first! :) Being it a Thursday night and we had to attend mutual (played bench netball, so fun!), the next evening we went to the brilliant restaurant Cappuccino's (finally came to E.L!!) and had THE BEST Basil chicken in the world - NO EXAGGERATION - it was heavenly! First time in a loooong while I've actually eaten all my food 'like a good girl'! :)
- Dec 15, 2009- Packed 3 bags and boarded a plane for ENGLAND! We both REALLY needed a rest, and spending 3 weeks in a foreign land with no responsibilities was nothing short of awesome! It all began though with our flight being cancelled to London, so we had to make a pit stop in Frankfurt, Germany. Wow, Germans are intense... But it began snowing there and it made us really happy! The greatest part of this entire trip though was spending much needed time with L's family! We had a lot of fun! Here's some of the many highlights:
- Stonehenge & Avebury - yep, in real life! It's in the middle of nowhere - fields stretching for miles on end. So the Q is what was its purpose? why was it built there? why in those shapes? (insert theories here) Interesting fact: majority of the stones are gone due to tourists chipping off pieces of the rock for souvenirs (with an i). @ Avebury there was another little hidden gem - a mega OLD (more than a 1000 yrs to be precise) church surrouned by equally mega old tombstones. Gives me thrills just thinking about it! J brought up an interesting point, wouldn't ya just LOVE to see what those people buried look like? maybe they were preserved in a different way that could give insight into human development.... or is that too weird? lol.
- Peterborough Cathedral - we spent 2 days with J's Grandma (who resides in Peterborough) and on the Monday we toured this amazing cathedral built in 1112! Can anyone comprehend how OLD this place is!? It is absolutely beautiful inside! And Katherine of Aragon is buried there which makes it THAT much cooler. Later we had lunch at Marks & Spencer's (thanks Grandma!)
- London Temple - special for our family! What a blessing to go there!
- Windsor Castle - L's favorite! How lucky are the royal family?!
Check out how breathtakingly beautiful it is inside!
...yeah there are no pictures. Camera's were prohibited.
- London - we spent a day in London with L's mum. We saw Buckingham Palace (smaller in real life), Westminster Abbey, Hyde Park, Tower of London, London Bridge, London Eye, river Thames, houses of Parliament, heard Big Ben, rode the underground, ate Subway & Krispy Kreme's, went on a bus tour around London, and rode back home on the train to Ascot. We LOVE London! Wish we couldn't spent more time there. Next time!
- Old Trafford - J's highlight was going to Old Trafford with Martin to watch a LIVE footie match between Man U (J's team) and Wigan (if anyone is a fan of them, please let me know..haha)!! They were fortunate enough to have a special dinner at the club and tour the stadium! And to top it off Man U won 5-0! Thanks M for making J one happy man! J also saw one of his fave mission comps - Chris Goble.
- Bath - Another favorite of L's! L and Mum stayed overnight in Bath - yes, THE BATH that Jane Austen wrote of in all her novels. And I can add my witness that it is spectacular in every way! I loved the vibe of the bustling town. Mum & I had the ladies-in-waiting tea at the Jane Austen Centre (check Mr. Darcy! That dude was hilarious- he was singing carols!), followed by endless window shopping, taking pics of the Royal Crescent and braving the cold at night for a tasty dinner. We even managed to write our 2nd Tartan book! What inspiration!
More pics coming soon!!
- Scott's day - J & I spent a day with Scott doing things he enjoy ed. Started off watching 'Alvin and the Chipmunks - the Sqequal" followed by a game of ten-pin bowling (how does an 8 year old manage to beat 2 adults??) and indulged in some Burger King at Princess Square. Just to add in here because it really was quite something, we were referred to as Scott's parents TWICE! Once at the bowling alley, the other at B.King where a lady told her little boy that I probably fell pregnant at 16, which explains why we're so young...sheesh! To add to the affect, when it was time to leave, J announced rather loudly to Scott, "Come on Son!" Scott of course was perplexed. :)
- Stratford-upon-Avon- Ah good Ole Shakespeare! Picture Stratford, and then erase that from your mind, because its TOTALLY different! There's only 1 house - Shakespeare's, and the rest? money sucking shops full of touristy gimmicks that people like us buy! Scored a SWEET pink tartan blanket & magnet. Yep, we're THOSE people. :) Love the "As you like It" Cafe! Tip: Check out the awesome Christmas ornament store there!
More pics coming soon!! - Christmas- what a glorious day! Started off with the usual opening of gifts. We were all really spoilt! sneaky pofadders! ;) THANK YOU! L's fam LOVED the Crous House English Adventure book we made them. For lunch we had the traditional roast lamb with all the trimmings and spent the rest of the day lounging about.
- Some of our fave stores there-99P store (cheap Horlicks, sweets etc), Next (clothing store), W.H Smith, Tesco, Curry's (where we bought our WII and games). Our Rand surprisingly bought us plenty!
- Tips when touring England: do whatever it takes to see all this beautiful country has to offer! You won't regret it! Ride the tube! Wear thermals! Visit Eton - really nice! Have a pasty! Try the caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks! Ride a tourbus to see all London has to offer - great insights from locals! If its snowing like mad, don't drive on the roads (unless you're from a place with worse snowy conditions)! Eat @ Mark's & Spencer's! Check out the Oracle in Reading! And buy 2L bottles of soda instead of in cans, its cheaper that way. Also, don't go to the potty at Waterloo station...
It was a brilliant holiday - more than we could ever have imagined! Thank you family for making it possible! We feel so blessed! Returning to SA was a little hard, knowing our restful period of doing nothing but sightseeing and watching countless episodes of Golden Balls, Total WipeOut USA, and The Crystal Maze was over. In addition to leaving L's fam behind. SAD! Yet at the same time we were relieved to be back in normal temperatures!! The coats and scarves have been stashed away and out came the shorts and t-shirts! We'll leave out the details of us having to put on layers and layers on clothes in order to make the baggage limit at the airport and smelling like hobo's due to the unbearable humidity... fun times! Can you believe we left with 3 suitcases and returned home with 5!? thats a good indication our trip was a success! Crous House, its now your turn to visit us! That same week in returning home was our Ward Temple trip which was so successful and so spiritual. It set us off on a good note for the year. Lots of things to look forward to this year, like the WORLD CUP! So here's to a happy a new year!
