It's the holiday season

Happy New Year! I can't believe it's January already and a new year is here. 2012 was certainly an exciting year for our family - bought house, sold a house, found out our family would be growing, quit a job, started another job doing something I didn't think I would ever do full time and moved to another country. Phew! We are so, so blessed! We are excited to see what 2013 brings and certainly can't wait for baby girl #2 to arrive in about eight more weeks.

We finished the year with a flurry of activity. London had plenty of holiday activities for us to enjoy. Our neighborhood had a festival of sorts to start the holiday season where they turn on the Christmas lights in the neighborhood streets. The festival had food and various vendor booths, carnival rides and a stage with performers singing Christmas carols. Olivia got to ride her first ferris wheel while we were there. It wasn't a big ferris wheel, but it moved pretty fast and she yelled "WEEEEEE!!!" the whole time.

The view of our neighborhood area from atop the ferris wheel.

We went to Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park. We had heard lots of things about it from various people so it was a must for us to get to. Once there, we were a bit disappointed that it was actually just a huge carnival. Oh well. Olivia enjoyed a couple rides and we went to this Magic Ice thing that had tons of massive ice sculptures and carvings.

Geoff and I were able to leave Olivia at home a couple of times for some adult activities. This was the first time we've left Olivia with a sitter since we've moved and I was so ready. Our first escape was to Geoff's work Christmas party. The party was held way out in the middle nowhere (it took us two trains and a taxi to get there!) at some old abbey. Unfortunately, it was dark so we didn't get to see much of the abbey and grounds, but location of the party on the property was pretty cool, full of old statues and paintings.

Our next date was to the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir at the famous Royal Albert Hall. The Orchestra and Choir performed a wonderful set of Christmas carols and various other holiday classics. I felt like I was in the middle of a PBS special!

We had a first visitors come for Christmas! My parents and four of my siblings made the trek across the Atlantic to see us. They had a pretty busy itinerary of sightseeing around London in the seven days they were here. Geoff, Olivia and I couldn't do everything with them since we needed to be home for some of Olivia's afternoon naps, but we were able to do some touristy things with them that we had not already done ourselves.

The Tower of London

The highlight of the Tower of London was seeing the Crown Jewels which are housed there. Unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed so I have no pictures to show, but they jewels were something else and amazing to think that people actually wore the jewels at one point.

Harrods Department Store -

Crazy big, crazy expensive and crazy with shoppers, but fun to see. I did discover they had a whole section of the store just related to Disney Princesses, including a special princess salon, and a Disney cafe, so I'm sure we'll be heading back to Harrods at some point while we're here in London to check that out.

Victoria and Albert Museum -

The museum had a special Hollywood costume exhibit that we were able to go to. It was amazing and included hundreds of original costumes including Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, Indiana Jones, Batman, Spiderman, and dresses from Gone from the Wind, Titantic and Breakfast at Tiffany's just to name a few. Accordingly to the museum website, it took the museum curator and his team over five years to compile the costumes and put the exhibit together. So cool to see these upclose. Once again, no pictures to share. :(

We also wandered around the museum itself a little bit where Geoff found a coffee mug the perfect size for him to jumpstart his mornings.

Windsor Castle -

We took a train out to the town of Windsor to see the Castle. The Queen was suppose to be in residence while we were there, but much to our disappointment, we didn't get meet her or even see her. I don't know why they don't include that in part of the tour. Just kidding! :)

We got there right as they were starting the changing of the guard ceremony which was cool.

Despite the innocent looking face in the picture below, Olivia was a bit of a disaster while we were there. A good portion of our visit involved me huddled under an umbrella in the cold rain holding Olivia trying to calm her down. Fortunately, Paw-Paw came to the rescue, calmed her down and got her to take a little snooze which finally helped get her out of her terrible mood. Geoff and I definitely want to go back to Windsor when the weather gets nicer and we can spend more time exploring. The town itself is quant and a nice change of pace from London.

Charles Dickens Museum -

Cool to see, but probably wouldn't go again. So if you're planning on coming to visit us and want to go to the Dickens Museum, you'll be on your own.

Christmas day was spent indoors in our house celebrating Christ's birth with presents, good food and game playing. Olivia by far had the most presents. She is definitely loved (and maybe spoiled?!?!) by her grandparents and aunts and uncles. And her parents too!

I wish I had a picture of the expression on her face when Uncle Scott wheeled her little car out. She had the biggest eyes and look of amazement on her face. Priceless!