Amazing Race Lakenheath to London

The Officer and Civilian Spouses Club here on base is a great group of ladies. I have become very active in the group, participating in lots of their activities. The highlight of the year so far was "The Amazing Race Lakenheath to London" put on by Sarah Hall, the Best Tour Guide Ever (I am contractually obligated to call her that). My team was the SoHo SoHOTS with Suzanne Davis and Katrina Listello. Here we are in front of Marble Arch. Sarah did a fabulous job moving us all over London, seeing and doing things I had never seen or done before (some of which I will be happy not to repeat). We had so much fun and got to know lots of lovely ladies on the other teams as well. The winners will be announced soon, glory and bragging rights to follow!

Star Struck

On February 7, Kent and I and our friends Trent and Katrina Listello went to the Novello Theatre in London to see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. It was a star-studded cast: James Earl Jones as Big Daddy, Phyllicia Rashad as Big Mama, Sanaa Lathan as Maggie, and Adrian Lester (very famous here in England) as Brick. It was AMAZING. We sat 5 rows from the stage, narrowly missing being splashed when Brick threw his drink. And, when we turned around to stretch before the performance, two rows behind us sat Thandie Newton. I have never been that close to so much star power before--I liked it!

Then, the next Saturday, I and our girls and our friend Tessie Snow and her girls all went to a matinee of Wicked. The girls had been singing the music all fall and winter, so in honor of Bronwyn's birthday, we made the journey.

Guess where we ate on both trips to London: Kensington Creperie, naturally :)

Kent in Aviano, Round 2-

Late in January, Kent had to return to Aviano, Italy to finish a medical review hearing. As it turned out, the lawyers cancelled the hearing the morning of, so Kent just got an all-expense paid trip to Venice. Look how beautiful. Next time, he is taking Alyson!

Eating Our Way Around the World

Since moving here, we have become much more adventurous in our eating. Alyson even ate fish and chips--once! One of our favorite local restaurants is En-thai-sing--a supremely delicious Thai place in Mildenhall. We've had noodles at Wagamama (not Ethan's favorite), multiple crepes at Kensington Creperie in London, Chinese, and lots of English dishes at local pubs. It has been palate- (and, unfortunately, waist-) expanding for all of us!

Natural History Museum

Kent and the kids had Martin Luther King Jr Day off (and the Brits don't), so we decided to head into London. First stop: Natural History Museum. We brought our friends, the Listellos, with us and had a blast. The kids loved the dinos, the gems, the giant sequoia, and especially the earthquake room, which shows a convenience store video of the earthquake in Kobe, Japan while the shelves really sway and floor really shakes. We enjoyed "all we could stand" and then headed over to our favorite place in London: the Kensington Creperie. Yum!

Happy Christmas to all!

You can tell the kids are getting older: they agreed to wait until 8 am to come down for stockings and presents! That was a nice present to mom (dad can't ever sleep in). Colin played Santa, delivering the goods to everyone. This was a very Wii Christmas--lots of new games, including DDR3, Beatles Rock Band, Lego Rock Band, and several other games the boys wanted. We hung out and played and then had some friends over for a no-fuss dinner and treats and games. It was a very Merry day.

Christmas Eve in London

Twas the day before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring...cause they were all in London, baby!

We decided to spend our first Christmas Eve here going to London to see Les Mis.

Ethan and Madeleine had read the book in preparation, Bronwyn did some last-minute cramming

on the tube, and Colin insisted that he wanted to "be surprised." The show was in the Queen Theatre in the Soho district. We had originally booked tickets in the upper balcony in the second row, as that was the best available when we booked, but when we got to the theater, we were informed that our seats had been changed: to row J in the stalls (about 10 rows from the stage). That was a nice Christmas present. The theater was fairly small compared to previous theaters where I had seen Les Mis, so we were a little worried at first, but it was fabulously done. The leads were very talented and the story is just so affecting and beautiful. It was really gratifying to see the kids connecting to what was happening on stage and loving the performance.

After the show, we walked to Trafalgar Square, where one of the largest trees in the world stands. The tree is a gift each year from the people of Oslo, Norway to thank the Londoners for their support during WWII. We were expecting to be wowed, but as you can see in the pictures, it isn't superbly decorated. There was a bagpiper in full

Scottish regalia, which added nicely to the mood. Things in London shut down early on Christmas Eve; in fact, we had to do lunch instead of dinner, as all the restaurants shut down at 5 pm. So, we caught the tube before it started running half-time and were treated to some Christmas mice who were stirring, right on the platform!