The main reason we took this trip was to baptize Mr. Oliver Thomas.
So on Thanksgiving morning we headed to the girls' school for morning mass. (of course Thanksgiving is not a holiday there).
It was beautiful!
I highly recommend listening to a British girls' choir sing the word "Holy".
Fr. Chris was kind enough to do the baptism following mass.
Oliver doesn't usually cry much, but he sure did during his entire special occasion.
Jody and Brent are his godparents. Little George was a witness.
And Jody somehow caught a picture of a non screaming face. Whew!
For lunch we ate at the "Holly Bush". It seem very fitting since advent was just days away.
This is a glimpse of our British Thanksgiving lunch.
I don't like beer at all, but at the end of the trip I learned that I do like this type of apple cyder.
Cheers!
Notice how I was trying to keep Oliver's hands off the drinks? Well....
(terrible attempt to be funny)
The view leaving the Holly Bush
cute little side street
I love the chimneys.
We spent the day doing regular "everyday" things instead of being tourists. That included going to the grocery store
and carrying the groceries up some hills, picking up girls from school, and carrying groceries (that were feeling pretty heavy by now) down some hills to the house. I know why there are not any Sam's Clubs in London.
The babies stayed with their daddies while we did our errands. Prior to our visit, George had lovingly been called "Lord Fussybottom" by his parents. While I was gone Brad decided that Oliver was to be called "The Duke of Discontent".
He recovered and wore his trousers while playing some football while Jody cooked a superb traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I didn't take pictures during the meal, but I did for dessert.
Brent has mastered the art of making crepes.
Yum! (
Nutella is on the inside).
(We bought our own
Nutella and Brad has made these a few times since we've been home!)
After eating turkey, we watched the Aggies play a good football game against t.u. (live), caught a very little bit of sleep, then took the tube to the airport early the next morning.
We had a long layover in Houston, so Brad's brother and our nephews picked us up and treated us to some Tex-Mex at Chuy's. Aren't they cuties? What a perfect welcome back to Texas!!
* Those are not my fingers over Ryan's head - I promise.
** We didn't make sweet Xavier lean in like that, but as you can guess Brad didn't feel like retakes.
And finally - the three faces I was missing so much! They were most excited to see Oliver, but Brad and I at least got some hugs and kisses, too.
They are holding some chocolate coins from various gift shops.
It was an amazing experience and traveling like that only makes you want to do more and more of it! We are so blessed to have such good friends and such wonderful parents that took over our kids, house and naughty little dog for the week.
p.s. Jet lag is real - not just a made up excuse like I used to wonder about.
Kilian doesn't own a single Lego, but Lucy does. She is very good about keeping them off the floor and away from Oliver (so far).
Kilian and I are so different. These "Pixos" come with ideas and instructions and I would follow them to the letter if I made one. He always changes it up and makes things a little bit different from the example.
Soon I'll post a video of the "band" we've formed at our house with the musical gifts they received. When are the next auditions for America's Got Talent?
