Birthday Part Two

I sometimes call Pete "an 8 year old" and what I planned for his birthday was evidence of that. It was a surprise night and I just told him where to drive.

First stop: McDonalds!
Pete opening his presents there.













Second stop: Waltham Abbey Marriott!
Pete jumping on the bed.













We both were talking recently about how we haven't been swimming in years. Also Pete LOVES and I mean LOVES hotels. So we had a surprise stay at the Marriott and had the whole pool to ourselves. Pete did 34 laps.. one for each year.

Next morning: Breakfast at the Candy Café!Great place.

My old man

Yeah Pete's birthday! Ok it was a month ago. But we had a great time. These are some pictures of our dinner out with his buddies.






Neil










Matt










Egle











Spencer



















Back at our house for cake and ice cream!

New Years 2011

I only took a few pictures, but we were at our friends' house playing games. It will always seem weird to be in England on New Years, where they have no ball dropping!




















UK Monopoly...

The reason we had such a great night - we had Park Lane and Mayfair, both with hotels on them! (Equivalent of Park Place and Boardwalk!)

Christmas morning 2010

Our first married Christmas morning! And thus you are subjected to our bedhead and pajama pictures.












Pete wrapped one of my presents using paper clips and another one was tied with spaghetti.



















































We got great stuff!!

Jonah the Red Nosed Reindeer

How cute is this kid!!

Pre-Christmas

My life has been pretty boring lately so I haven't bothered blogging. But I'm going to upload some pictures from the holidays at least, for the sake of keeping this thing going.








Pete and I made anginettes.






















Cute slightly Charlie Brown tree (my first real tree since I was 22!)
























Our pretty window.

Plan B weekend

Pete and I were supposed to go to his parents' place in Bournemouth last weekend but the temperature got really low in the UK and they needed to close it down for the winter (over a month earlier than they hoped to). So last minute we decided instead to go to another nearby town called Basildon, with a visit down to the seaside, to Southend-on-Sea.

It was FREEZING!! But I like getting to see other areas of the country. (Especially when we can get home in just over an hour).





















I had to include a picture of this rollercoaster they have on the water. I have never seen something so insane as that up-and-down thing! We watched the three people actually at the amusement park go on this ride.

3rd annual Skype Thanksgiving

My mom put the laptop on the kitchen counter while the Veces arrived at their house. We loved it.

Fish pedicures

Have you heard of this?












That's my feet!


Sarah and I got 50% off coupons for a place in Camden which does them. Camden is this ultra-hip area of London filled with 16 year old goths and would-be rock stars (we so don't fit in there) but it's really fun to go.

This fish pedicure place is actually IN a bustling Camden outdoor market, loaded with stalls and millions of people walking by, asking you what it feels like and taking pictures of your feet! Bizarre experience, but pretty fun!

The fish are toothless garra ruffa fish, and they eat the dead skin on your feet. Yum! And yes, some places have outlawed fish pedicures for fear it's unsanitary. Could be.

Sausages instead of fireworks

Remember Remember the Fifth of November!

November 5 is Guy Fawkes Day, and our church does fireworks. Sarah and I went early to help with the food, and single (well, double) handedly sliced over 200 rolls and helped Val cook the same number of sausages! We had a great time. No really!






Pete did some kind of security thing and wore a florescent vest. He's not an angel.
Odile and I dished up the sausages during the fireworks so unfortunately I didn't get to see them. Thankfully Pete and I live on a hill and have an amazing view from our living room window - I think I saw all the rest of the East London and Essex fireworks displays later that night and all weekend!