Happy 2013!

After a month and a half without internet, we're finally "connected" again!  A lot has happened since my last post, so I will try to briefly fill in the gaps.  On November 30, we moved to a new flat (same neighborhood, just about a mile down the road).  We really love it here.  It's bigger, brighter, and most importantly, smoke-free (we were having issues with second-hand smoke coming in through our bathroom vents at our old flat).  Oh, and it's right upstairs from the kids' club, so it's an ideal location for us, especially during these cold winter months.  

Shortly after our move, we left for California for the holidays.  Chris was there for about 2 1/2 weeks and Nathan and I got to stay for about a month.  As always, the holidays were a bit hectic, but it was really nice to spend time with family at Christmas-time.  Overall, we had a wonderful trip and it was so great to be able to spend time catching up with friends and family who we hadn't seen in six months.  It was also really nice to enjoy some warm wether in the middle of winter.

When we came back from California, we arrived to a blanket of white.  Although it was quite a change from the California sun, we had lots of fun with our first "snow weekend."  Nathan especially loved throwing snowballs!

The snow didn't stick around too long though and this past weekend was actually really pretty and warmish (a high of around 47 degrees).  So, we took full advantage and had a family date day.  We took Nathan to the London Eye and got a bird's eye view of London.  I was a little nervous that he wouldn't like it and we would be stuck for a half hour in a capsule above London with a kid who was whining to get off.  But, he loved going up in the "bubble" and looking down at the water and trying to find our "home" from way up there.

Here are some pictures from the last couple of months.  Now that we have internet again, I promise it won't be so long between posts.  Happy New Year everyone!!

Decorating our baby Christmas tree.

Having fun at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland.

Our neighborhood at Christmas-time.

More fun at Winter Wonderland.

Having fun with poppers on New Year's Eve.

Enjoying the California sun!

Nathan and his cousin, Matilda.

Doing work with Grandpa.

Watching Great Grandpa work.

And, trying to help him out.

Playing a game with Uncle Casey and Great Grandpa.

 Having fun with the cousins!

Snowball fight!

The London Eye.

More Winter Fun And We're Moving!

I'm on a roll tonight, so I might as well finish posting our pictures from the month.  Hopefully, this will make up for the lack of posts in the last couple of weeks :)  And, I'm also going to apologize in advance for taking the next week and a half off from blogging.  We're moving to a new flat on Friday and we have been informed that although Sky will be setting up our cable on Friday, they won't be able to set up our internet connection until December 12 (and they haven't even told me yet when they might be able to set up our phone line!).  But, I won't bore you all with a rant about how much I already hate Sky (I so wish we could stay with Virgin!).

Anyway, the movers are coming tomorrow to pack us all up for our big move (we're only moving about a mile down the street :), so as of tomorrow, we will be without wi-fi.  This also means that for any of you who call us on vonage, you won't be able to get ahold of us until our wi-fi gets set up in our new flat.  On Friday, we will officially be out of this flat and into our new flat!  Although we will miss it here, we're excited to be moving on to a slightly bigger place.  And, Nathan is thrilled that we will now be living literally upstairs from Purple Dragon (the kids club we go to).

Here are some pictures of us enjoying the holiday season and crisp days here in London.

Wearing Mr. Potato Head's glasses.  Guess he wanted to be like Mommy and Daddy :)

Watching the ice skaters with Daddy.

Climbing rocks at the playground.

"Helping" mommy make banana-nutella bread.

Harrods Toy Kingdom at Christmas!  We spent two hours here the other night.  Nathan didn't want to leave!

Our Elf, Bob, has arrived.

Thanksgiving In Marbella (Part 2 of 2)

Here are the pictures from Granada and our Thanksgiving dinner.

A statue by the Granada Cathedral.  For some reason, Nathan loved this statue and would not leave it.  Needless to say, I think he ended up in several other people's photos.

Oops, I think this one is actually from the resort in Marbella, not Granada.  

The Alhambra.

Our hotel in Granada.  It's an old convent that they converted into a gorgeous hotel.

Another picture of the hotel.

Thanksgiving dinner.  No complaints from Nathan :)

Thanksgiving In Marbella (Part 1 of 2)

Chris was able to take some time off during the week of Thanksgiving, so we decided to take a little vacation to Marbella, Spain.  Compared to London, the weather there was gorgeous (probably about the same as California weather at this time of year).  Until we got there, I hadn't realized how much I have been missing sunshine and warm weather!  

We stayed for most of the week at one of our Marriott Vacation Club resorts on the beach in Marbella.  Even though it wasn't quite beach weather, there were lots of other things to do there.  We played soccer, went to the playground, played bocci ball, played ping pong, played croquet, went swimming in the indoor pool, and of course, had lots of fun playing with the resident cats! 

We also took a day trip to Granada and spent one night there.  While we were there, we got to see the Granada Cathedral, eat tapas, and tour the Alhambra.  Then, it was back to Marbella to enjoy our Thanksgiving dinner.  On Thanksgiving night, the resort did a Thanksgiving dinner buffet for all the American guests.  They had turkey and all the sides.  Unfortunately, it just wasn't quite the same as a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner.  So, we have already put in a request to have a proper "Thanksgiving" dinner while we're home for Christmas :)

We missed all of our family this Thanksgiving and can't wait to see them for Christmas, but all in all, it was a good Thanksgiving.  We have so much to be thankful for!

Ready to go to Spain! 

Thank goodness he's such a good traveler (I guess we haven't given him much choice about that - we've had him on one airplane after another since he was four months old). 

I was so worried he was going to hate sitting in a carseat, because he hasn't had to sit in one for the past five months.  But, he didn't put up too much of a fight.

Nathan loved the cats!

So nice to put our toes in the sand again!!