Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

First off, there must be a waiver granted for the number of pictures we put up of Isabella in this blog. We had a wonderful December preparing for Christmas. Although Paul did a good deal of flying, he also got to have the 21st through the 2nd pretty much off. Christina and Isabella kept busy with different play groups and festive events, and of course with all of the shopping for Christmas. I am afraid to say that with all of the presents from Santa, family, and friends our dear daughter got a regular spoiling this Christmas (but you will see this in a picture later on...). Anyway both Paul and Christina got to take Bella to see Santa for the first time and she did wonderful. When all other kids were quickly sent to tears at the mear thought of this large red-suited man holding them, Bella went so far as to hold his hand during the picture.From this point on, whenever she see's an older man with a beard she quickly identifies him with "Santa, Ho Ho Ho." After sitting with Santa, she got her first Christmas present of the year! It was a nice, relaxing week leading up to Christmas, which was a definite change of pace for all of us. On one evening walk to see the neighborhood Christmas lights, Bella correctly identified her shadow on the ground. After staring at it for about ten seconds she let out a true horror film type scream and collapsed to the ground. For the rest of the walk she would not be put down, nor would she stop talking about her "Shadow on the ground" and saying "Bye-Bye Shadow". Mom and Dad where left with the difficult task of explaining that her Shadow going bye-bye was not going to be a very likely event.
At about 6am Bella woke up on Christmas morning, and we were able to hold her off for about 20 minutes before it was time to go downstairs. After we did our gift opening (note it is still dark out after we are done opening presents), we completed the morning celebration with Christina's tradition of Egg's Benedict for breakfast. In the afternoon we went over to a friends house for a wonderful dinner. We met about 25 of our friends there and had a great time the rest of the evening drinking, eating, eating, and socializing. We are now looking forward to the New Year and to our next set of visitors who will be coming in January! Bella cant wait to see Nono, Nona, Auntie Sarah and Auntie Nae Nae. Hope all had a wonderful Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

(Had a video to load but ran into technical difficulties, sorry :(

Where was November...

Wow, it has been a long time since our last blog and we have a lot to tell. But as pictures are worth a thousand words and all, we are just going to put a lot of them in to save us some typing. As soon as Paul got back from his TDY to Vegas, we decided to take a short trip down to the southwestern part of England. On the way down we stopped at Stonehenge, which was cool to see (although honestly if you have seen the pictures, you've seen it).
We then made our way up to RAF Fairford, which is another military base located in the town of Fairford where we stayed the night. The town was quaint and wonderful, home to the oldest stained-glass windows in all of the UK. The next day we made it over to the city of Bath, which is a really neat city. They have the remains of an old roman bath that was built there due to the natural hot springs back in 100 AD. It was really cool to see some of the old bridges, churches and other old architecture around the area as well.

Finally it was time to head home...so we could celebrate Christina's Birthday! Paul took Christina out to a nice hotel for lunch, and then they got to go to see a movie as well. It had been a long time since they got to do this, so it was a special treat (thanks again Sara!). Then in a few more Days, Opa came! On the day he arrived we went in to London to see some sights, but it was a cold day and Bella was having a hard time so we had to call it a day early on.
After that Christina and Bella took Opa around to some of the sights around town over the next couple of days. Then we all got to spend Thanksgiving together over at the Houston's house, which was a great time. The next day we wandered about the campus of Cambridge and saw some beautiful sights. Finally we all got to take a trip around northeastern England to see the Ely cathedral and the Castle Rising castle. We all loved having Opa out here as our first visitor, and Bella really enjoyed getting to know him again.

And then the final good news of the month, Christina is pregnant again! And as Gary will appreciate, the due date is the 4th of July! So please keep Christina and the Baby in your prayers, and ttfn (ta-ta for now!).

Bonfire Night...

Today, November 5th, is a British holiday known as GuyFawkes' Day or simply "Bonfire Night." The story goes that in 1605 Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the British Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder. He, and his band of fellow conspirators, were caught after one of the group sent a letter to King James of England warning him to stay away from Parliament. Guy Fawkes was imprisoned and eventually put to death for his trouble, although modern British people remember him as "the only man ever to enter Parliament with honest intentions!"

The day is celebrated with bonfires and fireworks making it feel a little like the 4th of July in November. In our little neighborhood, fireworks have been going off all weekend and Bella has become quite accustomed to the "boom" but is finding it a little difficult to fall asleep.

We also enjoyed our other fall holidays...Halloween and All Saints Day. Bella and Christina dressed up for a Halloween party but decided to wait another year for trick- or- treating. We did, however, get lots of trick-or-treaters this year and Bella enjoyed handing out candy and eating her own pop pop (lolly pop). She wasn't too excited about some of the scary costumes and insisted that Christina hold her every time the doorbell rang. The highlight of the evening was a little boy who held out his pail saying, "can I have some sweets, please," in the cutest little British accent. Bella looked pretty cute herself as a "little peanut." She tolerated the peanut costume, which was a last resort since she didn't want to wear her kitty ears that matched Christina's black cat costume. We also did some pumpkin carving and Bella loved taking on and off their "hats." Bella and Christina missed Paul during this time especially, but look forward to seeing him on the 6th....yeah!


With Paul gone, Bella and Christina have been venturing out , meeting new people and making new friends. But Bella's favorite guy is still her best friend Kyle (pictured with Bella to the right) who is a couple months younger than her, but not any smaller. Fortunately, Christina and Paul get along really well with Kyle's Mom and Dad, so we get to spend a lot of time together. It has been nice to have close friends here, especially as the holiday season approaches and we find ourselves away from family and friends back "home."



Finally, Bella is very excited to welcome another cousin, born to her aunt and uncle, Jon and Duquesa Lamers, on November 2nd. Elliot is welcomed with love by his big brother Jerome and all his family near and far. Congratulations and we look forward to meeting you in January.

Fall Fun...

Although the weather has been getting a bit cooler here, we have been enjoying some rather gorgeous fall days. Our new favorite past time is exploring the many footpaths that go throughout the English country side and along the small river that runs through Mildenhall. In just a short 15 minute walk from our front door, we are surrounded by a still and tranquil beauty that is quite breathtaking. Our favorite spot lies just beside the water overlooking an open pasture where horses and cows graze freely. Bella enjoys feeding the ducks and watching the horses and Paul and Christina enjoy the chance to get out of the house, breathe in the fresh fall air and take in the serene views .

We didn't end up making it to Stonehenge or Bath yet since both Bella and Christina came down with a pretty nasty cold. So we have some pictures from our walks and a few of us just hanging around our house and garden (i.e. front and back yards). Bella has been having lots of fun dancing lately and she gets pretty into it... enjoy the little video:)

We hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween and if anyone happens to be in Vegas give Paul a call because he will be there on a trip till November 6th. Bella and Christina will be missing him much, but plan on staying busy with Halloween parties and playgroups. I am sure they will manage to fit in a few walks along the footpaths too. Enjoy this beautiful fall weather!

The Ladies Return...

So Christina and Bella have returned from there trip to Portland. And there has been much rejoicing (yeah). They had a great time and Bella did really good on both of the trips. They were lucky enough to get bumped up to business class on one leg, and have an extra seat next to Christina on all of the other legs so that Bella never actually had to be the lap child that we paid for. The wedding went well for all and we have some pictures to share from that. Bella was a flower girl, and she walked down most of the aisle by herself before needing some of Mom's help to make it the rest of the way. Paul definately wishes he could have been there. And not only did Christina and Bella get to be in a wedding and visit old friends, they got to spend a few days with Aunt Jessie as well! Jessie flew out to meet them and both Christina and Bella really appreciated the time that they got to spend with her out there. Once again Paul wishes he could have been there. On there final day together they all got to go out to the Oregon Coast, which they all enjoyed in their own way (Bella tried to start a new sport of sand swimming, alas to no avail!) All this time Paul spent around the Mildenhall/Cambridge area, seeing what the life of the bachleor was like out here. As much fun as those few days were (no pictures neccesarry) he is really glad to have the ladies back once again! We are now planning on doing a trip to Stonehedge/Bath this weekend, so we will write with more after that adventure. Oh yeah, and before Christina and Bella left we painted our living room and bought new couches, a chair, and a rug. So we will include a picture of that as well.

Getting Set Up...

So we are all getting settled out here in our new home in the UK, and as part of that we have decided to start a blog. This way we can let everyone know how we are doing at once, and it will be easier to post pictures of Bella and the like from here (Now all we have to do is learn how to do all of that...). Anyway Paul is settled into his new squadron and just got finished with his mission qualification, which basically means that he is deployment capable now. He is getting to fly a decent amount (about 2-3 times per week) which he is enjoying a lot. Christina is settling in well also, and starting to meet some new people around the squadron and around our new neighborhood. She is having fun getting our house set up and decorated to her liking, and is starting to find some play groups to bring Bella to as well. Bella is doing great, but she is a bundle of energy! As fun as it is to have a very outgoing, smart, and vocal 14 month old, it is also pretty draining Mom and Dad. But we are enjoying every minute of it all the same. Bella is saying a bunch of words now, but is not really putting them together into phrases yet. She is walking and climbing everywhere now, and loves to read books. Currently Christina and Isabella are in Portland for our friends Amy and Dave's wedding, and are having fun visiting friends out there. Hope everyone is doing well and we will post again soon.