London - Day 2

This is the first installment of photos and commentary from Day 2 in London. It was a pretty full day. One of the great sites and sights we visited that day was St. Paul's Cathedral. No photos were allowed inside, so you just get to see the outside. The second picture was taken while I stood on the walk-way just below the dome - looking down at the place I was standing when I took the first picture. Get all that?

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Melody wants to make sure everyone knows that we walked up over 350 stairs to get to that place. But then who's counting?


These two photos are, of course, of the Tower Bridge. The first taken from our tour boat on the Thames, and the second taken while walking across the bridge (which we actually did a number of time over the course of our stay there). The bridge is really just a steel structure cloaked in stone, not a stone structure, in case you were wondering.

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London - Day 1

These photos are from our first day in London. We started in Westminster with Big Ben, the Parliment buildings, Westminster Abby, and the Imperial War Museum (specifically, the underground bunker where Churchill had his War Rooms). This was one of the best days of the trip.

Big Ben;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Westminster Abby North Doors
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The photo below is only one of many photos we took in the War Rooms. This particular one is right next to Churchill's private bedroom (where he rarely stayed during the war). They said that some of the men would often stash candy in envelopes in various places throughout the war rooms to be gotten into when needed. They know this because they found such envelops forty years after the war was over.

The War Room;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Buckingham Palace down The Mall
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Below is a video of one of the strange :amphibious tour buses "they had around town in London. Actually, I don't think they really go int other water any more, nor do I think they have more than one of these - but it was pretty funny to see. There's also a quick look at a modern double-decker bus.

And so it begins. . .

Here we are, watching General Conference on the laptop in San Francisco Airport, and updating our blog. We are deeply grateful to our wonderful children who made this trip possible for us for our 30th Anniversary (which was actually last year - it just takes us a little while to get around to things.

Entering the airport at Sacramento;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Dad sitting by the coffe and beer dispensers

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The end of the first leg of the journey;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Mom eating ice cream
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Here's the first installment of photos from out trip. The one on the left is Mom disembarking from the little "puddle-jumper" airplane from Sacramento to SFO. Mom thought it was like sitting in one of those vibrator chairs - and she didn't much care for the "creaking" sounds it made throughout the flight. The photo on the right is her eating mint chocolate chip ice cream. I think if she were to die with the promise of coming back in another form - she would come back as mint chocolate chip ice cream.

As for future updates, it really depends on the availability of free internet access. (we aren't likely to want to pay for it) I hear that all the McDonald's there have it - but who knows. Check the site daily!

One week and counting. . .

Mom is so excited to be leaving for London in a week. Every evening she spends hours on the computer doing research and printing out maps. (I don't know what she's going to do with all her free time when we get home).

The weather looks like it will be fairly good while we're there. Partly sunny and no rain in the forecast with temps in the 50's and low 60's. We'll probably be able to walk to many of the places we'll visit. I think that would be great.

We are both taking a camera. Mom took Kim's advice and bought a really nice Canon digital camera. She's been having fun playing around learning how to use it.

We're hoping to be able to watch most of General Conference over the internet on the laptop we'll have with us. I will greatly miss being able to listen to Priesthood Session. I know all of you have various plans for participating. It will be the best thing you can do with your time those two days.

We'll post photos of the trip ASAP - maybe even while we're there! See you in the funny papers!

NEWSIES!. . . not

As you can tell by the length of time between this post and the last one (nearly two weeks) not a lot has been happening around here. Well, a lot has been happening, but it's not the kind of news your publish on a blog.

Mom and I are gearing up to open the second best present our children could ever have given us, traveling to England. [The best ever was being with each of you in the temple] I've purchased a power converter and we've borrowed a suitcase for all the souvenirs Mom will be bringing home. We're pretty stoked! Two weeks and we're off. . .

I did do one fun thing earlier this week, taking some of the Gifted students from Tierra Buena School on a field trip to the Challenger Space Museum in Sacramento. Below is a photo of one of the rocket engines they have on display outside. It's pretty cool stuff. Almost worth riding on school bus for an hour to get there. . . Almost.

It's Ian's Birthday - So Where Is He?

Holly, Emily Michelle (Atticus), Trevor, Lorna, Chris;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Michelle, Holly, Kimberly, Emily
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Of all the photos sent us after Ian's 2nd B-Day party, I liked these two the best. They tell an interesting story. I like the similarities between Michelle and Lorna; and also Trevor and Chris. I'm not trying to say they look alike - but their stances, their facial expressions both look very similar to me - I don't know, I just like it.

The other photo is great because it shows two of my beautiful daughters and two of their beautiful cousins (one each from my side and Melody's side of their family). I love Holly ,and Emily's not bad either. : )

She's Baaack!

Mom just got home from spending a week at Pam & Rob's to help with little Molly K. She had a great time playing with Grant and taking care of Lucy. Grant has a two-wheeler bicycle now (with training wheels) that he rips all over the neighborhood on. Lucy warmed up a bit toward her Grandma Hall. And Mom just had a wonderful time being there with everybody. Probably the worst part of the trip was having to come home. We are blessed to be able to do these kinds of things with our family.

As for me, I had a very wet weekend (like everybody else in Yuba City). We are finally getting some of the rain we should be getting, and though snow packs and reservoirs are not up to normal, things are looking better. I had a big day Sunday (really, they aren't all like that), and at school I still have a lot of students out for illnesses, but things are shaping up for the next concert - which is only a few days after we arrive home from London. Woohoo!