Sweet Home Alabama

Ollie man and I are back in the great state of Alabama after a whirlwind of travel. The trip began very well with a bump into Business Class for the flight across the ocean. By the way, don't buy sparkling water to mix with formula (I managed to buy two bottles before noticing that they weren't still water)...babies do not need help making gas bubbles! We spent a quick night with the Teels before flying to ATL where we had lunch with Tiffany. After a few days rest with Alex and Sarah, we returned for a GREAT visit with Luke, Meg, and Maggie. Meg and I enjoyed being new Moms around each other, swapping advice and stories. The picture above was the cutest thing...Maggie reached out and grabbed Ollie's hand...so adorable. Maggie has a great personality for her four months of life...lots of laughter and she is a real people person already.
Maggie Grace was baptized in a beautiful ceremony at the First Presbyterian Church in Goldsboro. I was honored to be there as her Godmother, and I look forward to seeing Maggie again in a few weeks. Ollie and I were also able to see our good friends Paul and Mandy Birch...not nearly as much time was spent with them as I would have liked. You know its a good trip when you leave wanting to spend more time there.
Ollie and I are enjoying our time with the Grandparents, Aunt Becky, Uncle Chris, and cousins Alex and Sarah. Ollie manages to "tell" Alex and Sarah lots of things. They're really great with him and have a blast making faces and silly noises for him. We're blessed to have two great kids to play with. Can't wait for Baby Katie to arrive in mid-February!
We head off to New Orleans to see the Ingraham/Mackay sides of the family on Friday. We're looking forward to lots of photo ops and really good food. I'll post some more pictures when we return.

Foggy Londontown

Sunset over Wellington's Arch
Originally uploaded by spauldingtj.

When we spent time in London a couple of weeks ago this was the first sight we saw upon arriving at the RAF club -- the sun setting through the fog behind the Duke of Wellington's arch.

We decided to learn a bit more about the Duke by touring his house--Apsley House--which is just down the street on the corner of Hyde Park. Here's what I learned:

1) To be a Duke you have to do something really memorable: Welly beat Napoleon, so I guess that qualifies.

2) To be a Duke you have to never ever get over the really memorable thing you did: Welly's house is filled with statues of himself and of Napoleon, including a giant one at the base of the stairs which depicts victory turning her back on the French. Dude! Get over it!

3) Being a Duke means you have a simple address: Welly's house postal address was "#1, London"

4) No matter how good a Duke you are, your place is never going to be as cool as Blenheim's place in the country, so don't bankrupt yourself trying.

The most interesting thing about the whole tour is that the highlight of the Duke's extensive "I beat Napoleon" souveneir collection is the "Wellington Shield," a giant gold disk commemerating Wellington's great victory over Napoleon. It depicts all the great battles of the campaign -- with the one exception of Waterloo, which hadn't happened when the victory shield was cast! Goes to show the dangers I guess of declaring victory too soon!