Merry Christmas

This will be our official 2009 Christmas Card. Now Daughter Brooke is back home in Arizona after a 10 day holiday with us. Now we will try to figure out what to do with ourselves for the Holidays. We visited 8 different countries this year in Europe, which were Spain, Italy, The Vatican City, France, Germany, Ireland, The Czech Republic, and of course the USA. We have also had some occasional visitors, including both of our children, that have made our boring life a little more fun. Julie has changed jobs this year as Barclay's moved her from her Southern England Region, where she was very successful, to the more condensed South London Region. She has also signed another 2 year contract which will take us through 2011. Since we've recently moved, I am starting over finding things to do here in London and still doing a bit of work in Washington State. We do wish all of our family and friends a happy holiday and want everyone to know that we miss y'all. CHEERS!

Billy Elliott

Julie and I took Brooke to a couple West London Shows this weekend. We saw Billy Elliott, Peter Pan, and Wicked. Billy Elliott was my favorite of all the shows that we have seen. It's a story of an England coal mine strike in 1980. Billy, a young lad of a coal miners family got a chance at a dancing career, and hit the big time. Aren't I getting good at taking my own picture? We had already seen Wicked. Billy Elliott is hitting it's 10 th year at the Victoria Palace, and is called the best show on the London Stage.

London Movie Museum

This was an interesting museum that Brooke and I took in to get out of the cold. It had many props and costumes from several well known British movies. How about these shots of Beauty and the Brooke, oh I mean Beast.

Westminster

I got Brooke out to see some sights today despite the bloody cold. We have snow in the forecast and I'm not liking it. Here is Brooke in front of Big Ben and the House of Parliament. These phone booths are still everywhere here, we had to get inside every chance we could to survive the bitter cold and the wind.

Greenwich Observatory

The Greenwich Observatory is on the short list of places to see in London. This is the clock that everyone in the world sets their time by. It's called Greenwich Meridian Time, or Greenwich Mean Time. This is really a very interesting museum of many of the old clocks that were built and the observatory where astronomers lived. Here is a picture of Brooke standing with one foot in the Eastern Hemisphere and the other in the Western.

The Thames Tunnel

Brooke came for a holiday visit so we took advantage of a clear cold day here in London. As Julie went off to work in a nice warm office, Brooke and I braved the bitter cold and walked to Greenwich through this tunnel that goes under the Thames River. The tunnel was built in 1902 and is used by many people daily as a quick way to cross the river. This tunnel was built in 1902 so we take our chewing gum to stop the occasional leaks. The light rail trains that operate here also cross under the river.

Tyler

We met some wonderful neighbors last night from the flat below us. Tyler brought up his parents, Tanya and David, for some holiday cheer. They are from Philadelphia and have been here for 2 years like us. It's fun getting to know some of the locals and make some new mates.

5 K Run

Today Julie and I did a 5 K run in Greenwich Park. The run was for charity and there was over 1000 people who participated. The wind was blowing and it was raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock. We were dressed for it but our feet got plenty wet. Santa outfits were handed out to everyone and the run ended with a blue sky and the sunshine. We live on an island and the weather can change in 5 minutes so when you leave home you try to be prepared for the worst. If this kinda get's you in the Christmas sprit, and it should,,,,start sending us some gifts.