Worthwhile Finds

We headed out for some shopping today.  First was a trip to the grocery by Garett and Terri.  The stores aren't open tomorrow so the place was a zoo.  Terri experienced the parking garage in the Mini.  Thank goodness Garett has a small car!

The rest headed to a charity bookshop and each found something to browse on the flight home.  A good momento at least.

After lunch we headed out to Piccadilly Circus to look for a football for Elizabeth and Christmas ornaments for the Mellors.  The first was an easy find - Elizabeth picked out a UK football.  Unfortunately, most of the ornaments are already gone, so we walked all afternoon before finding something.  They are a bit tacky, but will nevertheless remind us of our trip to London.

In the Tube station we had another great find - Lemon Fanta.  The kids haven't had this since we left Rome and have been searching for it for days.  Also, on the way back home from the Tube station we saw the black Ferrari again, only this time it was parked on the street.

We're all home again for the evening.  Weather is no good for waiting hours outside for the fireworks show.  Elizabeth is painting fingernails, Shelly and Ryan are operating his new robot, Paul is reading, Grace is beating John at UNO again, and Garett is in his office, the kitchen.  I'll be joining him shortly.

We wish all of you a Happy New Year!  We're watching the fireworks online and will be sound asleep by the time your festivities begin.

Terri

Elizabeth and her new UK football 

Grace showing off her new book and Lemon Fanta

Liberty's of London - one of the stops on our walk today

Paul finds a Ferrari parked right on the street

Statue of Sherlock Holmes outside the Baker Street Tube station

Stepping Up

Grace, Elizabeth and Terri started the day by taking a tour of the Girl Scout World Center Pax Lodge.  Grace was chatty, Terri was dreaming of taking a troop there, and Elizabeth was polite.  Since it was raining and quite windy, Garett was kind enough to take us and pick us up in the Mini.

After a quick lunch we headed to the tube station.  A quick trip over to Baker Street on the Metropolitan line and then we jumped off the train to check out the Baker Street station, one of the oldest underground stations.  Ryan was irritated that we jumped off the train, but he loved the opportunity to "recalculate the route".  We took the Circle and then the Central to St. Paul's.

Elizabeth took Shelly to "Top Shop" to spend her gift card.  None of the rest of us were "hip" enough to browse there.  It was good Godmother/Goddaughter bonding time.  They met the rest of us at St. Paul's where Shelly dropped off Elizabeth and then headed to her office.  We toured St. Paul's and climbed to the top of the dome.  It was a tight fit which you can see from the photos.

We headed over to Shelly's office to meet up with her.  We did manage to find her finally, despite the fact that there was no receptionist to call from the front lobby and we didn't know her cell phone number.  She has a terrific view of the city.  We walked from there over the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern.  We found a Picasso, a Kandinsky, a Pollack, and several others.  The children were not inspired, so we headed out.

We decided to take the Thames Link, a different commuter train, back to Hampstead.  This involved a bit of running up the stairs and down the platform.  Quite a sight since Grace's pants were apparently falling down!

Our adventure ended with a stop at Tiger, a dollar store kind of shop, selling the knick-knacky stuff you can get at IKEA.  Grace had her heart set on a rubber band ball.  On the way home Paul finally saw a Ferrari - a black one that was parked in a garage.

Pizza for dinner tonight.  Kids are in bed now and the adults are heading that way.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Love, Terri

World map of visitors to Pax Lodge

Grace at Pax Lodge

Pax Lodge and World Bureau - notice how rainy it is

A shot inside Baker Street Station

A double-decker bus from the top of the dome

A helpful sign - more true than I expected

A tight squeeze up to the dome

Heading down from the dome

The Shard from up in the dome

Looking down at the dome and front of the church

St. Paul's

St. Paul's from the Millennium Bridge

Paul finally sees a Ferrari

Хүслэн хүүгийн цасан хүн - Khuslen's snow man

Хүслэн хүүгийн ээжтэйгээ хамт хийсэн цасан хүн 

Khuslen's snow man

1st snow, Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas - Хүслэн хүүгийн баяр тэмдэглэсэн нь

Khuslen's 1st snow in 2013 - Анхны цас

                                         Thanksgiving dinner - Талархлын баярын зоог

Thanksgiving dinner with grandma and Andrew- Талархлын баярыг эмээ, Эндрьютэй 

тэмдэглэж байгаа нь

Christmas tree - Хүслэнгийн ёолк

                                            Making the Christmas cookies - Эмээдээ баярын жигнэмэг хийхэд
                                     туслаж байгаа нь

                                               Playing the game with dad - аавтайгаа тоглоом тоглож байгаа

                 So interested in marble game - энэ шилэн бөмбөгөөр тоглох нь их гоё байгаа бололтой

                                            Opening the Christmas gifts - Кристмас баярын бэлгээ задлаж байгаа нь

Stacking the play doughs - баримлын шаврыг өрж байгаа нь 

                               

                                   Loved the minions shirt - минонтой подволкоо үзүүлж байгаа нь

Reading the book while waiting for the Christmas brunch - баярын хоолоо идэхийг хүлээж зуураа ааваараа ном уншуулж байгаа нь 

Christmas brunch

Khuslen's visit to South Bend

Khuslen's 1st vist to Notre Dame campus

                                                   Being silly with his cousins

                                           Watching the band is playing music

Waiting the band to pass along the campus

Since Khuslen visited Notre Dame campus and the band is playing all different kinds of music, now he loves playing the drum and doing dance every time we go to Ruby's house. He loves imitating Notre Dame band's drum and marching.