England Trip!

On Boxing Day (or the day after Christmas for us Americans), we left snowy Frankfurt and headed to England.  We went to England to see our English and Australian friends whom we met in Switzerland.  Kind of "it's a small world after all!" but true.  The English Balkoskis and the Australian O'Briens were our neighbors in our apartment complex in Switzerland and were our first and still are, our closest friends in Europe.  Our kids ran back and forth between our apartments like Becky, Kelly, and I used to run across the street.  It was perfect-until we all had to move.  At least Germany and England aren't so far away, so we've been able to meet up with both families a few times.  But, this trip will be the last time all 3 of our families will be on the same continent for a LONG time as the O'Briens are on their way back to Australia as I type.

Visting our friends was the main reason for our trip, so we didn't do much sight seeing.  Aidan was ecstatic to be back with his BFFs William and James, and Lainey and Lucy are so much alike in someways you'd think they were sisters, and Teddy is just so sweet and has fun with all of them!  Even we adults get along fantastically!  What are the odds of that?

So after just one quick day of seeing sights, and some full-contact shopping in London, we spent most of our time in Wimbledon and in the English country. Here are a few pics of our day in the big city.

We have already done the big touristy-sightseeing trip in London, so this time we wanted to get the more "authentic" English experience.  So, the first thing we did is go to a Pantomime.  A Pantomime is like a play but where the audience interacts with the cast.  They are geared towards kids and the kids are invited to yell out things to the actors on stage.  We went to see "Peter Pan" in Wimbledon because it was close to our friends' house and it was starring none other than the world's cheesiest actor, David Hasslehof, as Captain Hook!  Seriously, how could we pass that up?  It was a hilarious show, if a bit off script, since included a very gay pirate who loved to dance and make quite adult innuendos.  The humor was like in the Shrek movies, jokes for the kids and some that go over their heads for the adults.

After the show, the Bailkoskis came to pick us up in London and take us to their place in the country so that we'd be out of the way for the movers to come back up the O'Briens stuff the next day.  But before we left, we made sure to get some good pics of everyone all together one last time.

Kirsten and Bob live near Reading, England, about half way between Oxford and London.  They live in a really tiny village, kind of like the one in the movie "The Holiday" where Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet house swap.  Their village is complete with thatched roof houses like this one, an ancient church, a cozy pub, and not much else.  It was quite pretty, but so foggy most of the days we couldn't truly appreciate it.  I think we'll have to visit again in the summer! While there, we did a few side trips like this one to Oxford where Kirsten and Bob took all the kids to a science center while Jason and I explored the city, had a drink in the oldest pub in Oxford, and shopped.

They also took our kids to another pantomime; this time it was "Sleeping Beauty" in Reading.  They didn't have enough tickets for us, so we did more shopping. 

(Do you see a pattern here?  I made up for not going to the US over Christmas and shopping, by doing it in the UK!  I brought home nearly 2 suitcases of new stuff, including 2 frying pans and 2 woks.  Who does that??  But the day and week after Christmas in the UK is like the day after Thanksgiving and the week after Christmas in the  US combined!  I had so much fun getting great deals at stores that aren't in Germany, like the Gap, that I could barely control myself!)

We ventured out one night to the little pub in their village for some fish and chips and a pint of ale.  Yummy! I wish we had pubs in America like this.  They are so cozy and there is one in every little village.

We stayed in England for New Year's Eve.  We were supposed to have a little party at their house and meet some of their friends, but poor Teddy got sick, so it ended up just our 2 families.  But, we had a great time anyway.  William, Lainey, and Aidan stayed up until midnight playing Wii (especially the new Michael Jackson game-even the adults had fun with that one!) and we sent up a hot air balloon with our wishes for the new year in their back yard.

My kids got addicted to the fun of Christmas crackers, and they even had a giant one to open on NYE along with party poppers filled with confetti that I'm certain Kirsten will be cleaning up until the next New Year's Eve! 

It was a great week spent with great friends!