Abilene Wylie won!

Go Bulldogs!
Go Bulldogs!!
Go Bulldogs!!

Wish we could see a live game.

(ACU lost, bummer. Especially after such a nice write up in the NYTimes about the quarterback)
But Wylie won. Yeah.

Watching the Cowboys on Thanksgiving made us a little homesick. Seeing the stadium when they showed the aerial view - just makes us want to buy a ticket to Big D.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!
We are having just a "normal" day here. School, work, basketball practice, etc are all still ON. We are doing our big meal on Saturday with some friends. I don't have to cook a turkey this year with the feathers still attached, YEAH!
I went into the city with several friends for the American Thanksgiving service at St. Paul's cathedral. The cathedral was packed full of people. I still think it is one of the most beautiful building interiors in the world. The ceilings are gorgeous. US Ambassador Tuttle presided over his last Thanksgiving service. With a change in Presidents comes a change in Ambassadors. The minister from the church we attend was the main speaker. He did a great job. One of our friends' sons said a prayer at the service. It was fun knowing people who were up there. It makes you realize how far we as a family have come that I can sit in that service full of people from all around the world and know folks sitting in almost every section. Strange sensation.
I still get a little choked up when the Marines march the American flag by while we are singing "purple mountains majesty...". Feels very patriotic.
Tonight we are headed out for a very "unThanksgiving" Italian meal. The guys are trying to get home in time from work to join us. I hope DA catches the early train. I would hate to have our Italian Thanksgiving meal without him.
We are thinking of all our family and friends back home. Looking forward to seeing you all very soon. Happy Thanksgiving.
Here is a link to a NYTimes article about the service.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/28/world/europe/28cathedral.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

American food

My kids and their American taste buds. I recently bought L a treat at a local farm store that sells a few American products. He really likes the pop tarts in the BLUE box that are the brown sugar flavor. I rarely buy them because they are so expensive, but I thought it would be a treat since he had worked hard at school. He was so excited to see them in the cupboard. He could not believe I found some of the "right" flavor. Little does he know, they are available most of the time, I'm just too cheap to buy them on a regular basis. I mean how many 5$ pop tarts does a kid need? He told me that next time I am headed to that store, I must come get him out of school (as if..) take him home to get his wallet and HE will buy the poptarts with his own money. Poor kid. I know how he feels though. We are counting the days until we can be in Dallas and eat at Mi Cocina and Houstons. I think I'll make a run by the grocery in Dallas and buy him a few boxes to wrap up for Christmas. It will probably be his favorite gift.

congrats to my favorite Abilene teams

yeah, Wylie Bulldogs!
Yeah, Abilene Christian!
Both teams still winning this fall. Nice news to see upon waking up this morning. ACU even made my front page of Yahoo sports. Very impressive.
Havent seen a live football game since Fall 2006. Reading Wylie's online play by play is as close as we get.
Go Bulldogs. Go Wildcats.

Time for lights?

By the title you think I'm talking about Christmas lights right? nope. Not Christmas yet. Gotta get Thanksgiving celebrated. What I'm talking about is "what time do you turn on the lights?" Seriously. Every day here that time gets earlier and earlier. Today the kids and I went out to lunch after church. (Wagamama, my favorite) DA was sick AGAIN. I swear riding on the tube makes him sick on a weekly basis. We left the restaurant at 2:00 pm and it felt like it was after dinner. It wasn't dark exactly, but it felt like evening with the sun so low in the sky. We were home by 3:00, and I had to actually turn on the lights in the house so that we could see. 3:00 people. that is just too darn early. So just think of us at 3:oo your time today. Do you have to turn on all the lights yet? nope? see, TOO DARK IN LONDON!!! that is the biggest problem living here - well at least for us vitamin D (pronounced with "it" not "ite") deficient folks. Maybe that's DA's problem. Not enough vitamin D to keep him well. Where is the summer time? - the sunshine til 10:00pm? This is why no one visits London in the winter.
Just my daily winching about the darkness (they don't say "whining" here). The darkness drives me crazy!!!!

kids had successful week

Some weeks are better than others, but this was a good week. L found out on Friday that he made the middle school basketball team. He was thrilled. Lots of boys tried out, so he wasn't sure if he'd be selected or not. He also received his first report card of the year and made some really good grades. yeah! One surprising side effect of all this good news was that he was begging me that we would stay here through the NEXT school year. ????!!!!!!

B finished her soccer league playing well. It was freezing (literally) at the field, so all the girls were having to be talked into staying out on the field. She was glad it was over so she could buy some American candy at the candy tent at the field. She really wanted skittles, but when she came back she had a "airhead" in her hand. She said, "I know I can get skittle's at another store, but I cant get any Airheads, so I got them since this is my last chance to buy them." Made me laugh that she knows exactly which American candy we can and cannot find in England.

One other great thing about today - the sun came out for about an hour. It was so nice. Freezing temps tolerable when the sun is shining. We are expecting snow in the morning. "I'm dreaming of a white Thanksgiving"

Tour of Big Ben

ok, what I should be typing here is about my great tour of Big Ben tower, BUT I missed it!!

Such a bummer. Getting a tour of Big Ben is for residents only. Must have a UK address to make arrangements for the tour. I have one friend who, very graciously, made arrangements for a group of us to receive a tour. We have to go through our "MP" which is similar to your State Representative in Washington. We all had to turn in our details: place of birth, legal name.....etc. A real pain to get organized. Anyway, my tour was for Monday at 11:30. Very strict appointment time and date. I had a doctor's appointment that morning in Chertsey that I had moved up so I could make my train. Was going to have a 23 min window after I arrived at Waterloo station to get over to the government building by Big Ben. Close timing, but doable. I Got to the train station on time, bought my ticket after a VERY SLOW man who was buying a senior rail card - took forever. Anyway, my train was a couple of minutes late -- not good -- cutting into my 23 min window. train Actually departed 10 min late --- really not good-- and by the time we arrived in Waterloo and I made a mad dash through the train station --- I arrived at 11:35. the tour had already departed and the door guard would NOT let me go through, nor would he escort me to the tour. I was turned away. I was dejected and mad at the train company. How dare they!

SO, If I ever get to see the bell at the top of Big Ben I will write about how cool it is, but for now here's a photo.

Note: this photo was NOT taken this week. We are in the humm drums of grey winter skies in which the sun sets at like 10AM so just know that we are not experiencing such pretty blue, clear weather.