What a Year!

I'm going to have problems folks. Major problems! I still write 2012 on dates. Oooops! 

It has been such an amazing year - I mentally pinch myself from time to time when I think about the fact that I live in London. In London! In my earlier days, I didn't even have a dream to live in London because it was unthinkable. Since about 16 years old, I had a dream to visit Europe someday, so it is a dream come true to have done it over and over again for the past year and a half. It has been a whirlwind of a year... let's take a look back...

JANUARY

We started off in Brussels, Belgium where we rang in the New Year watching fireworks with strangers in a square. One of my favorite times of our travels! We also made the announcement that we would be moving to London.

FEBRUARY

I turned the BIG 3-0 in perfect fashion - 80's style!

MARCH

A group trip took us to Morzine, France where we skied the Alps. Dream come true!

APRIL

We said good bye to Aberdeen, Scotland and hello to London, England. It was a rough couple of weeks, but we learned quickly that London fits us.

MAY

We visited our family back home in Texas and Louisiana. 

We met our third nephew for the first time!

JUNE

We went to Copenhagen, Denmark... the first of many weekends trips we decide to take. 

We also reached our 4th year of marriage.

JULY

Busy month!
We visited Stockholm, Sweden...

Becca and Eric visited...

And we took a trip to Bath and Stonehenge...

We saw family during our second visit to Paris, France!

AUGUST

My parents visited...

 And we took a trip to Oxford, England....

We visited Dublin, Ireland and to this day still have a difficult time drinking Guinness.

SEPTEMBER

We took a trip of a lifetime to Italy! Visiting Rome...

Vatican City...

Florence...

Enjoyed a Tuscan Wine Tour...

And the beautiful coast of Cinque Terre! Ah, take me back!!!

We can't forget Pisa :-)

OCTOBER

I made my first trip back to Aberdeen to visit friends (and say good-bye to one friend), while Luke made two trips to the United States for work.

{from Nerald's blog}

NOVEMBER

We had a fantastic time in Berlin, Germany!!

But were brought back to reality when we visited Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp (I still cannot bring myself to write a blog about this one).

The Buisson's (Luke's dad and them) visited

DECEMBER

We reunited with some friends (Kelly and Billy) from back home in Amsterdam, Netherlands...

We visited three different cities in Germany to attend the Christmas Markets (have yet to write about these) with Jill and Ryan.

We ended the year celebrating Christmas in Aberdeen with great friends :-) 

We have also had several people come to London throughout the year for various reasons whom we have hung out with! (and if I forgot you, its only because I don't have any pictures of when you were here... ahem, Nary, twice! Kristal and Liz & Greg and Diane & Phil.)

{Jill's London marathon weekend in April)

{Mahan's visit in May}

{Kristin's visit for Wimbledon in June}

{Emily & Tyler's visit in July}

{Falene's visit in August}

{The Aberdeen girls' visit in September}

We have been blessed with this opportunity, and we are so grateful for all that we have been given! I don't say it enough, but Luke and I really appreciate your support during our journey overseas. Without your love from afar, we would not be able to manage. Even if it may not seem like it, we miss our family and friends like crazy. Our travels just might be our coping mechanism :-/

We wish all of you an extraordinary 2014!

With love,

Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland

First off... Happy New Year y'all! I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable celebration :-)

Actual date of this event: 21 December

Do you still have a Christmas hangover? They say the best cure for a hangover is to keep the party going!

Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park is one fun party! But it will most definitely give you some type of hangover! Let's see if I can breeze through this without me yearning to go back this weekend for one last round!

{mmm mmm Hot Mulled Wine! mmm mmm mmm mmm Hot Mulled Wine with Cinnamon Whisky!!}

Every winter, a big chunk of Hyde Park (the area where my folks and I wondered what they did with all that wide open space) is transformed into a massive family friendly festival! It has everything any person at any age would want. Entry is free but everything inside is not... except toilets. Thank the Lord!

{the distance from the western side to the eastern side is about 1.5 miles, but technically the street that runs down the middle divides it into two parks: Kensington Gardens on the left and Hyde Park on the right}

Luke and I visited Winter Wonderland for the first time with his family over Thanksgiving week, which was the first weekend it was open. We had a great time, but didn't stay for long. Luke and I only had one weekend in London in December, so it was a must to go back and check out the whole park. The weather was absolutely terrible that day - super windy and super rainy - but we decided to suck it up. Also, we figured no one would want to go out in that weather, so it wouldn't be crowded. Well, we were wrong. As soon as we stepped off the tube, we could tell the usual London herd was still in tact. Our evening at Winter Wonderland went a little something like this:
We dodged the crowds while walking passed stalls and stalls of Christmas goodies.

We stopped in "a few" bars for beer to "get out of the rain". Yes, we will go with the rain excuse.

There was even a carousel bar which we stayed on for one rotation and then got bored.

I stopped for hot mulled wine. A few times.

We (I really mean Luke) had lots of sausage!

We debated purchasing some tokens for a ride or a fun house, but determined beer was more important.

{it was no Cedar Point, but some of these rides were legit!}

{I love this little red bus ride... it was so cute!}

We came across the Bavarian Village, which was a massive tent full of tables with singing drunkards, food stands, beer stands, and dancing elves. Literally. We noticed you could get 1 liter of beer with a souvenir mug, but quickly realized the mugs were plastic - such a waste! Luckily, we could turn them in and receive our deposit back.

We walked around for a bit, as the weather simmered down, to enjoy a fantastic event!

{Luke loves "pengins"}

{this "reindeer" riding was so lame... it barely spun around}

{you could roast marshmallows for 3GBP}

{its really embarrassing they put Belgium Waffles not Belgian Waffles}

After a long time of standing, we found an indoor two-level bar with a view of the ice rink. Apparently, if you'd like to ice skate you must sign up way in advance, and you only get an hour on the rink. The rink was full of water, not ice!

Around 9:30pm, just before closing, Luke wanted one more sausage as we made our way back to the exit. The crowds had died down quite a bit.

Good-bye, Winter Wonderland!!! Until next year!!

I am DEFINITELY a fan of London around Christmas time!!! Will you join us next year??

RANDOM FACT:
All London Public Transportation is shut down on Christmas Day. For New Year's Eve, the underground was free from 11:45pm until 4:30am (usually it shuts down from around 12:30am until 4:30am).



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