Jacksonville

Chris and I spent almost 2 weeks in Florida over the holidays. It was a little chilly in Jacksonville but after weeks of London weather, sunny and 65 isn't so bad! We spent as much time outside as possible. We even rolled down windows and opened the sunroof while in the car. It felt great to be in the sunshine and fresh air, especially at my Dad's in Jacksonville. As you can tell from the pictures, there are only a few neighbors but tons of oak trees and Spanish moss.

My brother and his family drove down from Colorado... yes, they drove! It was great spending time with them and the rest of the Cricks. As soon as I figure out how to get the pictures off our new camera without the adapter I will add other pictures from Jacksonville.

Chris, me, Jason, Maria and Steven

My brother and his family... Can you tell Jason doesn't like to have his picture taken?

Maria and Steven

Steven minus his 2 front teeth!

Steven is a bit of a cheeky monkey as well as a con artist. He managed to con Chris into buying him a $20 toy that was broken before we went to bed that same night! Chris quickly became Steven's favorite and the two of them could be seen playing in the yard, on the porch, in the living room, in the kitchen... well, you get the point. Steven specially packed a rubber snake to put in Grandma Lori's bed to scare her. The snake was strategically placed in no fewer than 4 places in one day eliciting screams... some legitimate and some for Steven's sake! He also made sure to bring reindeer food with special sparkles to ensure Santa could find him!

On our last night in Jacksonville I tucked Steven in to bed and he took my hand, softly in his own. He looked up at me and said "Aunt Jen, why do you and Uncle Chris have to leave tomorrow?" My eyes filled up with tears and then I realized he was just avoiding going to sleep... kids can be so clever!

The 1st Proper English Lesson of 2010

1. Touch wood: Common saying meaning the same as "Knock on wood."
2. Torch: Flashlight
3. Full stop: By definition it means period but in familiar language it is used as follows: "I have to stop eating fried food if I am ever going to lose wait. Full stop."
4. Effing and Blinding: Used to describe how a person is cursing or swearing. "When the snow brought London to a halt everyone was effing and blinding about the lack of preparation."
5. Bicky: A biscuit,as in a cookie.
6. Kit: Clothing or uniform.

Never Say Never...

I can still hear them in my head... the countless individuals who told us "it never snows in London." One sweet grounds keeper at a local park told us how when he was a kid outer London would get a few feet every winter but 'nothing' like that has happened in years and years. And then the sound of the pilot in October 2008 saying it was snowing in London as we sat on the Atlanta tarmac. Of course, there was also the Great Blizzard of 2009 that brought London to a full stop. As the snow flakes started to fall a little over 3 weeks ago, the day before our scheduled departure to sunny Florida, all those silly voices filled my head and had me near tears... London doesn't do snow well and I was having visions of cancelled flights. Luckily, it all worked out and we had a great holiday (minus my horrible cold and the 3 hour delay on the return flight).

Which brings us to today and the weather forecast for the next few days... snow.

And cold.

Seriously....

It is snowing.

Oktoberfest 2009

Back in September Chris and I achieved a life long dream... we joined 5,999,998 other nuts in Munchen for Oktoberfest! This was one of the first trips we booked upon landing in London back in October of 2008. We rarely plan anything a year in advance but this... well, this was special and required considerable planning. I think about 10 or 12 people were in on the tent hunt, trying to locate a tent with a table for 20+ that didn't require our first born as a deposit. Thanks to our good friend Tim and his American Express Platinum Concierge for getting the job done in the 11th hour! We landed on Saturday morning, made a b-line to the nearest German consignment shop to purchase some traditional Bavarian threads, and spent about 2 hours enjoying the calm before the storm.

Saturday night we headed to the Oktoberfest grounds and made our way into the first tent we found with open doors, Hofbräu Festhalle! I experienced a few moments of sensory overload. Pictures could never do it justice. There were thousands of people, thousands of litres of beer, an oompa loompa band, Bavarian damen carrying 8, 9, 10 litres at a time and... everyone was in dirndls and lederhosen!!! I instantly knew this was going to be a good weekend!

The Hofbräu Festhalle was a bit insane. We arrived just after 9 pm to find thousands of people who had been drinking all day and we were just getting started. We had decided to save our traditional wear for Sunday, thinking it would be a novelty. Little did we know that lederhosen and dirndls are common place in Munich during the fest. We were the novelties in street clothes! After a litre or 2 of beer, we fought over a pretzel. It was a good thing when the lights were turned up and the band played Ein Prosit Gemütlichkeit for millionth and final time. We headed for the door and back to the hotel to prepare for the next day which would be starting sharply at noon!

11:30 am, Sunday, September 27th, post coffee but prior to beer!

The rest of our 25 will be join us inside the Hippodrom Tent.

Prepared for the day in our Bavarian working class threads and our first litres of beer. Das Leben ist schön!

There are probably only about 3 or 4 people in this tent without litres! Somewhere down there smack in the middle is a 18/19 year old German guy wearing a University of Florida hat! I said "Go Gators" to him and he looked at me like I had a second head! Maybe "Go Gators" means something different in German?!?

It was next to impossible to get out entire group into one photo, especially post second round! It looks like about 18 in this picture so we are only missing about 5... not to shabby!

From Hippodrom to Armbrustschützen-Tent (aka Paulaner). We were unsure if we would be able to get 20+ people into another tent but Tommy and I sweet talked the group into the Paulaner tent. Tommy did most of the talking, seeing as how he speaks German, and I smiled and looked innocent. As it turns out, there was no need to sweet talk because they had just opened the doors for free seats. It took a while to find a bench for the lot of us and along the way Chris and I made friends with some very drunk Germans. These guys were so excited to meet Americans and wanted us to take pictures with them. For every picture they would yell "Usain Bolt" and assume the pose. Most of this pictures were blurring because I was laughing hysterically and couldn't hold the camera still! But the picture of Chris above tells the story well enough!

This is the end of the pictures but not of the adventure. It was around this time I decided to put the camera away to prevent it from being broken, lost or stolen. Shortly after the camera was tucked away, Chris made his way back to the hotel. He hadn't bought in to my plan; a litre of beer, a litre of water, a litre of beer, a litre of water... you get the picture. In the end, a good time was had by all and everyone made it to their respective homes safe and sound. The plan worked brilliantly and I was sans hangover on Monday morning!!! Come back soon for Gnew Gnoah Gnomes adventures in Deutschland!

Until then... XOXO

Grr... Silly Bus

The number 16 bus stole my umbrella.

Which brings the total number of umbrellas claimed by the city since our arrival to 6. Chris left one at Bodeans on our 4th day in London, then two were sacrificed to the Tri-fecta Gods on the same day in November 2008, Chris lost another (on a tube, in a pub, on a bus... no one really knows for sure) and we managed to leave the massive Atlanta EY "borrowed" umbrella in the back of a taxi the day we moved into our first flat. The saddest part of the last one is that we never even got to use it! We carried it around the city several times but never actually opened it on this side of the pond!

6 umbrellas in 13 months. Not bad at all.

On a side note: Can I add an umbrella with lo-jack to my Christmas list???

Revisiting the Anniversary

Back in October on my 5 year anniversary post I promised a picture of Chris and I from the wedding... Here it is almost 2 months later and I have not followed through with my promise. Problem is that I can't find the silly pics! I know they are on a CD somewhere but whether that somewhere is London or my dad's spare room in Jacksonville is beyond me. But I did find these pictures that Laurie took a few years ago of the famous rock...

Maybe for our 6th anniversary I will track down the wedding pictures!