So after almost a week after the tease (which I had all intent and purpose of updating the next day) here is the update for last weekend.

Last Saturday morning Cheryl, Caleb & I set out for Heathrow airport to meet the Milligans (Matt & Rachael), our last visitors here in England. Matt has just recently completed law school and passed the BAR exam, so they have been unable to visit until now, weeks before we leave. Rachael did a semester at HUE (Harding University England) several years ago with places to visit in mind so for most of week they have been left to their own devices while Cheryl & I continue to slave away at work.

We did however have a nice Saturday just chiling in Croydon with Stephanie coming over for dinner and hanging out in general. Sunday we headed to church in the morning, had a nice picnic in Hyde Park and made our way to the Tower of London (which isn't so much a tower as it is a series of). Cheryl and I haven't made it to the Tower of London before even though we have heard its worth a visit. Amy & Barrett (my sister and bro-in-law) really enojyed it when they were here in September.

The Tower of London is a really cool place even though we had an abbreviated time to visit as places close early on Sundays. Plus, we got to finally see the Crown Jewels. You're not allowed to take pictures anywhere in the exhibit, but you can view the Crown Jewels as many times as you like. I really wanted to take a picture of the vault doors (entrance & exit to the exhibit), but we saw some other visitors do this and a nice English gentlemen immediately asked them to delete the photo. He came out as if from nowhere!

We did get some nice shots of Tower Bridge which is a great London landmark.

Once we left the Tower we headed over to Westminster to briefly see Big Ben and then walk to Trafalgar Square. Cheryl & I had heard that Trafalgar Square, which is all cement, had been covered with grass for the summer so we wanted to check it out. We discovered that not only were there stands and a stage setup for Le Tour de France that prevented you from walking amongst the statues and fountains, but there was also no grass at all. Matt & Rachael investigated this again yesterday, but again no grass.


Anyway, today we are all headed back up to the city again to Covent Garden, Camden Market (2 of our favorite places), and Portabello Market in Notting Hill.

Hopefully the next update will follow soon.

Labels: Britian

So, I was going to do a brief little post today about our weekend, but I left my backpack at work today and it has our camera in it. Tomorrow will have to do.

That's right folks, starting today (only a year and a half after the law was actually passed), England is now smoke free in all public places, including places of employment and train/bus/tram stations. Woohoo! I can feel my lungs clearing already and the years being added back onto my life. Too bad I only get to enjoy the fresh England air for a few weeks. I will then be returning to Texas where people are still allowed to smoke in restaurants. Ugh.

Labels: England

So, for quite some time now even before he was a crawling fiend, Caleb has preferred being vertical. Since he was a few months old he loved standing up. Lately, he has started to pull himself up by grabbing onto our thumbs. He also holds onto a finger from each of our hands to walk around the house (basically between from the living room to the kitchen and back again).

Yesterday morning we were just playing ball (rolling back and forth) when all of a sudden Caleb turned around to the chair and just pulled himself up like it was nothing. He has become quite proficient at pulling himself up just within the past several hours. Sometimes we don't even notice it until he is already up!


Because Caleb loves to walk around, we decided yesterday's achievement called for another attempt with his walker. He did so well!! He walked back and forth several times to Cheryl and I. We thought about taking pictures to document, but we didn't want to mess him up (he just knows when the camera is on). I'm sure we will be have more opportunities.

Here is the crawling video from last week. He is even faster now. Sorry there is no sound.

Labels: Caleb, Milestones, Video