First day in London

We left Bishkek at 3:30 am and arrived in London at 9:55, having transited Istanbul at about 7 in the morning. We had a full day ahead of us....get some cash, get a sim card, check into the hotel and then find some food and do some touristy stuff before getting some sleep that night.

We got our first withdrawal of English pounds and I have to say, I love the color purple...what a way to be greeted!

Coming out of the underground, we found the TARDIS at Earl's Court. Sissi was thrilled!

We walked to our hotel, the Ambassadors, located between Earl's Court and Gloucester Road underground stations.

Here we are! Ready to drop off some luggage.

The church right next to our hotel, St. Jude's.

The underground station that we found ourselves using each and every day, since we usually wanted to head east, into town.

A fun set of decorations to look at as we waited for our train to arrive.

Riding the train into town.

Our first stop was to see the Churchill War Rooms.

We made it!

The audio guide here was excellent, with plenty of extra information that kept all of us jetlagged people engaged.

The "weather" sign to let people know how things were going up on the surface during the days of the Blitz.

A very interesting timeline of Churchill's life awaited us about halfway through seeing the war rooms.

The original door from 10 Downing Street.

Looking into some of the different rooms, for typing, sending messages, sleeping, etc.

Maps and pins are still set up as they were left at the end of the war.

Churchill's bedroom in the underground war rooms.

Our second stop of the day was to be Westminster Abbey. The website had talked about Wednesday Lates, where you can go in after hours and take a tour, but, because it was the week before Christmas there was a Caroling Service and so we couldn't go in.

We walked over to see the scaffold-encased Big Ben. Maybe in a few years we can come back and take another look.

On the bridge, by Parliament.

Looking across town.

And at the big Ferris wheel.

Since it was only about 4pm and we knew if we went back to the hotel we would just go to sleep, we took a walk by Buckingham Palace and into Hyde Park to see the largest Christmas market in London, "Winter Wonderland." On our way we saw the Princess Diana Memorial Walk.

And we got to see the Queen's home.

The Victoria Memorial.

Yummy bratwurst with cheese sauce and fried onions on top at Winter Wonderland.

Eating Bavarian pretzels.

We love German food! Does it show?!

We walked around, but didn't really see anything we had to buy...it is after all the first day of our trip. But, Sissi was tempted to buy an ugly Christmas sweater!

Christmas 2018....before the trip!

Our plan this year was for a more "experience" type of gift for Christmas. We only have 2.5 more years of guaranteed holidays together with the 5 of us, then, it's college and jobs and new relationships, etc. So, we planned to make the most of the time we have together.

On the agenda this year - take a few days in London and Paris before heading to Berlin for an annual conference!

Our tree this year. Just as beautifully decorated as every other year and we set aside a day to celebrate and read the story of Jesus' birth as is our tradition.

Then, they opened a few small gifts that we had picked up earlier in the year. Each of the kids got a new WiiU game and a Disney Infinity character character that I had picked up on eBay.

New pajamas that I had brought from the US last year.

Gwangi's new game and Infinity character.

Krypto's game and character.

I had also purchased these t-shirts for the boys this past summer. They definitely got a kick out of them.

We love art, and this was a big hit with the kids.

Having a leisurely day, playing some Disney Infinity.

Indy got some yarn for me, via Amazon.

I had a couple of old movies sent out for him.

I printed up a certificate for each of the kids with some spending money that they had received from grandparents and aunts and uncles. I used the rest of the money that was sent toward the cost of the trip.

Oh, and they each got a Disney pin for their lanyard that I had picked up from eBay back in 2017.

Comics that we bought in a large batch and brought with us back in 2017. They all mentioned how they love to get these old comics for their birthdays and Christmas each year.

Found an old "Atlantis" pin for Krypto. He was totally surprised!

Caleb with his gift certificate.

And, with his comics.

Sissi with her Oswald pin.

And, with her comics.

Finally, Sissi with her gift certificate.

I got the Emma expansion set to the "Marry Mr. Darcy" game from last year. We haven't played with it yet, but hope to some time this month.

Another war movie for Indy.

Vera is 1 year old

On the 4th of December, our little girl, Vera, turned 1 year old.

We got her on the 7th of April at the Osh dog bazaar here in Bishkek and she was already 4 months old...my how she has grown in those 8 months. And, she might get a little bit bigger; she is a Bernese Mountain Dog and they aren't fully grown until they are 2 years old.

Look how tiny she was! So sweet.

We were working on training her, right away.

Ahhh, I remember her splotchy little nose. It's all solid black now, but I love her eyes still.

Now, she looks like this!

And this, playing in the snow with the kids.

Or sitting on her blankets by the back door.

She is a beautiful and precious dog. We love her personality, her kindness, her willingness to obey and want to be a part of our family. She loves to be with her people and is such a cuddle bug. We couldn't ask for a better dog!

Three Thanksgivings in 2018

We got to celebrate Thanksgiving 3 times this year!

The first one, I cooked all by myself for about 16 people!

They were all local friends and we try to get together with them at least once a year to celebrate what has happened this year.

Several of the families have small children, so we set up some crafts and some small gifts for them so they wouldn't be bored while the adults sit and talk.

Some of the bigger kids played games! Munchkins!

Here is part of our group. We didn't have all the kids show up and a couple of families at the last minute couldn't make it.

Thanksgiving #2 was actually celebrated on the holiday. For this one, it was all friends that are mostly from America. Everyone brought a dish and a dessert to share. It was so nice!

Enjoying all the different dishes to share.

Sitting around and chatting while others are getting food or were in the kitchen.

 

Some of the kids went into the office/school room to enjoy their food and talk.

or, they sat on the steps...

Group photo time for our 2nd Thanksgiving.

And, our final get together was 22 of Indy's English students coming over to the house for a lesson about Thanksgiving! For this one, I did all the cooking.

Talking and sharing about the holiday and what it means to us.

Group photo time after everyone got full!

Already looking forward to doing it again next year!