Royal Air Force Museum London

In order to avoid another boring weekend, Matt and I decided to visit the Royal Air Force Museum in London. It is difficult for us to get out and do things b/c everything is so expensive here, but thankfully the RAF Museum is free (something we need to take more advantage of in the states too). After spending two hours at the site we realized that we would not finish touring everything that day and would need to return. There is just so much to see and read. We stayed for another hour and a half and then headed home, looking forward to our next visit. Matt just loved looking at all of the aircraft and learning about the history of flight. Unfortunately most of the pictures didn't turn out quite as well as we'd hoped, but good enough for a memento of the day. (Now maybe he will buy me the fancy digital camera. Hehe.) See our photos in the Web Album on the left.

The Royal Air Force Museum London is Britain's only national museum dedicated fully to aviation. From a total collection of well over two hundred aircraft, over a hundred full-size aircraft (including the legendary Spitfire and Lancaster Bomber) from all over the world as well as artefacts, aviation memoribilia, fine art and photographs are displayed under cover on the historic site of the original London Aerodrome.

Also this weekend we decided to take in a movie. This is our second one since being in the U.K. and we still aren't used to the sticker shock - a movie ticket cost 7.00 GBP per person, which is 14.00 USD! Unfortunately there are no matinee discounts. We keep saying that we have to stop thinking about prices in US terms or we will never do anything. Matt wanted to see the new Ocean's 13 movie. It was funny, intriguing and suspenseful, as expected. At the moment you think you have it figured out, something happens to prove you wrong. We highly recommend this movie.

Our First Visitors!

*More pictures of these adventures can be found using the "WEB ALBUM" link on the left side of this page.*

Picture 1: Marie & Bob @ Southend-on-Sea

Picture 2: Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (Merchant of Venice performance)

Picture 3: Amber & Matt (Us) @ Stonehenge

Picture 4: Roman Bath in Bath, England

Picture 5: Amber & Quinn with Darth Vader

Okay, our guests have been gone for a week now so I shouldn't have any more excuses of why I haven't updated our blog lately. I was waiting until the end of their visit so that I could update everyone on all that we did. It was very exciting to have Matt's cousins (Marie, husband Bob, and son Quinn) be our first guests. We haven't seen them in a long time, but knew that they were very adventurous so we would have an exciting time. They are perfect guests in that they don't expect much from their hosts. They kept themselves busy each day heading into London, made their own meals, etc. What was exciting for us was hearing their daily stories and also being able to join them on a few excursions, not to mention tasting all of the new beer and cookies they brough home!

I could write a short book about all of the things we did while they were here, but I'll try to save you most of that. The highlights for me were a play at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the Star Wars Exhibition (how lucky we were that it was happening this year), and the trips out to Bath and Stonehenge. Most of you probably didn't know that I was a Star Wars fan, but I am very intrigued by the story of all the characters in the saga - not so much the light saber fights and flying vehicles. However, I'm not a big sci-fi fan in general just of SW. (Matt doesn't share the love, though.) Anyway, I could talk days about all of that. The Star Wars Exhibition is in town until September and the first-ever Star Wars Celebration Europe will be held in London in mid-July to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the release of Star Wars. Unfortunately that coincides with my high school reunion. Wish I could be in two places at once! The play we went to see in the Globe was Merchant of Venice, one of Shakespeare's comedies. It was great! One of the surprising things that coincided with their visit was a Monster Truck Show! Can you believe it? Granted, we are living in a small town (not central London) and it was held at a local farm, but still very interesting. Of course we had to go and check it out. It wasn't the best/biggest we've been to but entertaining enough to say we did it. Haha! Please check out our web albums for more pictures of from our visit. Stay tuned for my next update...

Ugh! Computers!

So, this past weekend Matt and I went to Wimbledon and to the British Museum which were both great trips. I took lots of wonderful pictures that I was hoping to share with everyone soon. Well, I went to import the photos from my digital camera and that is where it went downhill. I got a new laptop before moving out here and it came with new software. I am not familiar with Roxio but have been using it for my media stuff since it is the "default" software for that stuff. At some point in the process I thought it was importing something incorrectly and hit cancel. Instead of basically stopping everything in its tracks and allowing you to start over, it deleted my photos from my camera's memory card and from the import folder!!! There was some other weird stuff about what few pictures it did actually transfer but that is too complicated to explain. It is late here and I am just so aggravated with it that my thoughts are running together. I just can't believe I lost all of those pictures!!! I'm sure you've all experienced something similar, where the computer does something "wrong" and it ruined something for you. (Insert curse words here!)

Good night everyone!

Southend-on-Sea

The past two weekends we spent at the shore. Yes, we are very close to the beach - about a 25 minute drive or train ride. Southend-on-sea is a seaside resort and is located on the north side of the Thames Estuary. (The Thames Estuary is a large estuary where the River Thames flows into the North Sea. The estuary is one of the largest inlets on the coast of Great Britain.)

SUNNY DAY OUT

On Sunday, March 20 we drove down to spend a leisurely afternoon on the boardwalk. We passed lots of pubs, small casinos, ice cream stands, and other seaside vendors. The Southend Pier is one of the longest pleasure piers in the world, but we decided against the 1.34 mile walk as you had to pay to enter onto it. We're told that people sunbathe here in the summer, but that is hard to imagine as the beach area is rather rocky. On this day the tide was in, the sun was out, and it was a great day all around. There is a small amusement park, Adventure Island, an aquarium, a performance theatre, miniature golf, and a short walk away is the High Street lined with shops. Matt's company will have a party at Adventure Island in late June and I'm looking forward to the rides!

SOUTHEND AIR SHOW

Over the holiday weekend, there was an Air Show in Southend. One of Matt's coworkers invited us down to meet her and her family on Sunday for the show. Unfortunately the weather was not as lovely as it had been the previous weekend. It rained all day and was rather cold. The tide was out as well, so instead of crashing waves we saw beached boats. Aside from that, the Air Show was fabulous. Although, I do think the schedule was cut back a bit due to the weather. The highlight for us was the Red Arrows (Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team).

It's Our Anniversary!

Picture 1: Our Engagement Picture - Don't we look so young?!
Picture 2: Day after our engagement (July 2000)


Today is our sixth wedding anniversary! (And, May 16th marks nine years altogether!) So much has happened during that time and what a wild ride it has been. There are definitely many more years full of adventures to come.

We started the day off with some yard work - not my favorite thing to do. We finally bought a new lawnmower and cleared the forest we had growing in the backyard. Cheyenne would disappear out there. After a mid-afternoon nap we freshened up and went out for dinner. We went to a nice Italian place one town over. It was nice to get out of the house and focus on ourselves for a bit. Following dinner we decided to see what was playing at the local movie theatre. We decided on a British film called This Is England. It was set in England in 1983 and gives a lot of insight into the country during that time (fall out of the Falkland's war). Finally we are settling in for the evening around midnight. Matt can get Nascar (FOX) on his laptop through a tv web service, which should be starting soon. While it can mean for some odd hours to enjoy the race, Matt is just excited that he doesn't have to go without it for two years.


P.S. Happy Mother's Day weekend to all of you "Mums" out there!

Night Out on the Town

Matt and I took a train into London last night to meet up with several of his colleagues. An Account Rep was in town and treated us all to a fantastic evening. We started the evening with cocktails at On Anon Bars & Club in Piccadilly Circus. Then walked over to Beni Hana (yes, we have those in the states) for dinner. Boy, Brits sure do love their dirty humor. Anyway, then we ended the evening with after-dinner drinks at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Soho. Jane Monheit, from the states, was the jazz vocalist. This was mine and Matt's first experience in a jazz club. Usually, I'm not a fan of jazz (more a blues fan) but it was a delightful performance. At midnight we left the group to head home. Everyone else was staying downtown for the evening (sharing rooms or staying on business), but we had Cheyenne at home and didn't feel it was necessary to dish out the extra expense for a room.

It would have been nice to have a room downtown, though. We could've been to sleep within an hour of leaving. Unfortunately we had a bit of trouble getting home. We took a cab to the rail station and missed one of the trains by minutes. We didn't think we'd catch that one anyway. So, we waited for the 12:50 train. Once we left the station that is where the trouble began. Ten minutes into the ride we stopped abrubtly between stations because there was a train in the station ahead that was having some issues. I'm not exactly sure what the problem was, but our train was stationary for 50 minutes! At 1:50am we started the rest of the journey. Finally, around 2:30 we arrived at our final station. There we shared a cab with two other "blokes" back to Noak Bridge. (One of the guys actually knew someone named Mike Hunt - say that three times fast - and the whole taxi cracked up laughing when he mentioned it.) I think we were sleeping by 3am. What an evening!

Our boxes arrived yesterday so once we get unpacked and organized this week I can finally begin to settle in...just in time for our first guests to arrive at the beginning of June.

A Little English Humor

An Irishman applies for a job, but the foreman won't employ him until he passes a little maths test. "Here's your first question, the foreman said. "Without using numbers represent the number 9." "Without numbers?" the Irishman says, "Dat is easy." and proceeds to draw three trees. "What's this?" the boss asks. "Haven't you got a brain? Tree and tree and tree makes nine," says the Irishman. "Fair enough," says the boss. "Here's your second question. Apply the same rules using the number 99, this time." The Irishman stares into space for a while, then picks up the picture that he has just drawn and makes a smudge on each tree, "Dere you go." The boss scratches his head and asks, "How on earth do you get that to represent 99?"... ...."Each of da trees is dirty now. So, it's dirty tree, and dirty tree, and dirty tree. Dat equals 99." The boss starts getting worried that he's actually going to have to give the Irishman the job, so he says, "All right, final question: same rules again, but represent the number 100." The Irishman stares into space for a while, then picks up the picture again and makes a little mark at the base of each tree and says, "Dere you go. One hundred." The boss looks at the illustration and bursts out: "You must be nuts if you think that represents a hundred!" Whereby the Irishman leans forward and points >> to the marks at the base of each tree, saying: "A little dog came along and crapped by each tree. So now you've got dirty tree and a turd, dirty tree and a turd, and dirty tree and a turd, dat makes one hundred.... So, when do I be starting the job?!"

Today is the first day of the next chapter in our lives! We arrived in England earlier this morning and Cheyenne soon followed. Our personal items should arrive by the end of next week. Let me tell you (as if I haven't enough already) it has been a long (6 months) and frustrating process, but one that brings great opportunities. We are looking forward to learning a new culture, travelling throughout Europe, and taking advantage of this time in our lives. It is going to be a big adjustment, but we are trying to go into it as aware as possible and with an open mind. In the end we'll be able to say this was a great experience.

We ask that friends and family keep in touch with what is happening in your lives while we are gone. We'll be missing out on a lot of those experiences with you, so we want to hear from you as often as possible. We'll try to keep this site regularly updated as well. We'll keep a Denver phone number with Vonage, so let us know if you would like that number.

Cheers!

Scotland

England has a four-day weekend in celebration of the Easter holiday - Good Friday through Easter Monday. So, in our usual fashion we decided to take a last-minute road trip to Scotland. We left on Thursday, since we weren't sleeping in our house after the boiler broke anyway. The first evening we stayed in Cambridge, England. We stopped in York for a quick walkabout and that evening we stayed in Berwick-upon-Tweed, just outside of Scotland. The final two evenings (Saturday & Sunday) we stayed in Edinburgh, Scotland at a wonderful bed & breakfast. While in Edinburgh we saw a number of the tourist attractions including Edinburgh Castle, Palace of Holyrood, and the Royal Yacht Britannia. There were still a number of things we didn't get to visit, like Edinburgh Zoo where they have the only koalas in the U.K. I told Matt he would have to take me back to see them! (Most of you know what a koala fanatic I am.)

We knew that London was pretty costly but had heard how cheap it was to travel around Europe. We haven't been to mainland Europe yet but plan to take many trips in the next two years. Unfortunately, it wasn't as "cheap" as we may have hoped to visit Scotland. We can get away with most of our weekend trips in the states rather inexpensively with little planning. Not so in the U.K. It didn't help that we traveled on Easter weekend, but holidays didn't deter us in the past. Anyway, everything was expensive - gas, meals, lodging, tourist attractions. Remember too, the british pound is basically twice the dollar. So, if a meal is $10 in the U.S. it would roughly be 10 GBP in the U.K. which is about $20 USD. There aren't a lot of chain hotels, so you have to search out vacancies in all of the old hotels and b&bs. While that isn't too bad, the cost can be more than expected, especially if breakfast isn't included. I love the history and character of the buildings, just wish it didn't take such a chunk out of our budget. I really enjoyed our stay at a B&B in Edinburgh, though.

Since I don't expect to work in England, we had always planned for me to be the travel planner. I love doing that kind of stuff and am definitely looking forward to it. However, the trip to Scotland was very last-minute and we thought we'd be okay. We learned our lesson. Initially I'll have lots to keep me busy with getting to know whats around our new town but also trying to visit as many new countries as we can. I might look for a volunteer opportunity or something for my downtime. Otherwise, I guess I'll just have to go shopping! (Just kidding, really!)

We are really looking forward to hosting visitors, so make sure your passport and funds are all in order. The guest room awaits you!

Recent trip to the U.K.

**Check out our trip photo album using the Web Album link on the left.**










Thought it was about time I posted an update...especially if I want you all to come back periodically to see what's happening. A couple of weeks ago I did type a great update but apparently didn't save the draft and lost it when I was updating. After that I didn't feel like writing again for a while.

Most of you know that I was in England from mid-March to mid-April. Matt and I thought it would be a good idea for me to get out of the house since I was bored and it seemed the paperwork wasn't going to be completed any time soon. He couldn't come back so I decided to fly out there. Admittedly, it wasn't the best trip. This whole process has been very stressful for the two of us, especially Matt, so the conditions weren't ideal. While we were able to get into the house there were a slew of problems to take care of - mainly the radiators and boiler. So, we were going between the house and hotels. The house is furnished, but we didn't send over any of our stuff yet to make it our "home". I sent out an email during the trip saying I didn't have access to cable or the internet for a while. I know, poor me. But, hey when you have to sit in a cold house all day without transportation it gets pretty boring. Anyway, I was definitely relieved to return to Colorado and to see Cheyenne again. Don't get me wrong, I'm still excited about this opportunity but I'm just ready to be settled.

I do have to give props to Matt for picking out the house all by himself. Women can be pretty picky, especially me. Anyway, despite the small problems we had in the house it is a pretty decent place. Compared to most living over there, we are doing really well. We have a detached house with a garage and a backyard. There are 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, kitchen, laundry room (w/a washer & dryer), dining room, livingroom, and small office. We also have a car, but I'm not sure I will drive as planned. It is a manual drive and I don't do well here in the states with one of those, so add it being on the left side and then driving on the left side of the road with all the crazy UK drivers and I think I'd pee my pants at the first busy roundabout! Maybe I'll take driving lessons.

Well, sorry it has been so long since the last time I wrote. I'll definitely try to be better once the move happens.