Oui, Oui Paris!

We've seen London we've seen France....

This past week we boarded the Eurostar and rode to Paris for five beautiful, and HOT days!

(We figured out why the French have a reputation for BO- it is because of the heat, cramming into crowded trains and lots of walking through dirty Metro stations :) The reputation is real by the way....amazing.

The Eurostar, on the other hand, was awesome. It was a smooth, quick, 2-hour ride from London to the heart of Paris. Lots better than the train to Dover, Hover-craft across the channel to France, and then another train to Paris like I did as a kid.

Bamma joined us for this trip!

We were able to experience just about everything we had hoped
without feeling like we had to rush everywhere to cram it all in.

The Eiffel Tower was a favorite for everyone.

It's hard to fit everyone in and the whole tower too!

A benefit of traveling with young children is being able to see a variety of public restrooms around the city. We especially enjoyed one at the Orly airport guarded by a very gruff looking lady we named "Tanya the Toilet Troll". Tanya wanted coins and she would not let us in no matter how we begged, even with our kids dancing in circles after an hour of searching for a restroom.

Another favorite potty experience was here at the top of the Eiffel Tower, where another Toilet Troll waved Lucy and me into the Men's restroom - we came out of the stall minutes later to find the urinals lined with very surprised looking men! Maybe she thought I was a guy? I WAS having a bad hair day as I forgot my shampoo, conditioner and hairspray.

We visited Notre-Dame at a perfect time of day for pictures.

Abe and I decided we want to come back to Paris on another anniversary and stay on the Champs-Elysees. The cafe's and shops are purely European living.

We stopped in a few shops and had some Ice Cream.
Abe bought me a new watch at the swatch store for our anniversary.

Our last afternoon in Paris we visited the Montmartre neighborhood. We loved it! A street performer was standing on the steps leading up to Sacre-Coure doing tricks with a soccer ball, we had the best chocolate/banana crepe I think I've ever had
and we found some great artwork to take home with us.

My favorite moments of the trip were riding to the top of the Eiffel Tower (even after waiting in line for over two hours), eating Quiche at the open air cafe by Notre-Dame, a quiet anniversary dinner with my sweetie, and walking the Montmartre area with its Cafe's, shops, artists and yummy chocolate-banana crepes.

We spent our 12th anniversary taking the train out to Versailles
and touring the palace and gardens.
It was very beautiful and very HOT!

Lucy and I tried sitting down on the grass and it felt like heaven.
About two minutes after sitting down we were asked to please stay off the grass!

The fountains still work and they did a whole production with music and the fountains.

Sunday we found the Paris branch of the church and attended meetings there in French.
It is always a treat to attend a ward in another language.

After church we went to the Louvre for a few hours.

I love these pictures of the kids looking out the windows of the Louvre.

We had to check out of our hotel early in the day
although our train back to London was not until evening.
We decided to leave our luggage in a locker at the train station.
Lucy climbed right in.

This was the kids game every time we were waiting for a train to come.
They would claim their space and see who guessed where the door would end up.

Looking out the back of the train

Happy 12th Anniversary!

May 10th, 2008

A dozen years and 4 kids later...

better than a dozen kids and 4 years later!

Abraham Knell

Glory Days

The Reading Stake had a "Sports Day" on Monday as it was a Bank Holiday. This is a tradition that has been going on in the stake for over twenty years. We met at the Palmer Park Sports Stadium in Reading in the pouring rain with no idea what to expect except that members from the ward seemed very interested in whether or not we could run.

Turns out it was a full on track meet, very competitive between the Reading, Oxford, Woodley, Bracknell, Farnborough and Basingstoke wards which included every track event except the javelin, pole vault and high jump.

Zach competed up with the 12 and 13 year olds and I competed for the 30-49 year olds. We each competed in the 100 M, 400 M, 800 M, and 1500 M as well as the 4X100 M relay and the long jump.

Each ward needed two racers per age group for every event and though I was excited to relive my track and field days it was exhausting to run so many races. We did make our ward proud as Zach brought in a first in the long jump, 3rd in the 1500M and 2nd in the relay and I brought in 5 first place finishes.

As the day progressed the sun arrived and the activities for the primary children, sack races, skipping races, sprints and 3-legged races began. Sadie and McKay really enjoyed themselves but Lucy couldn't take the pressure when we lined her up to run the 25 M race for the 3-5 year olds she burst into tears and was disqualified.

Abe offered to help when we got there and they made him the official for the long jump. He ended up stuck there all day, but was a good sport about it.

Overall we all came home sunburned and feeling proud.

Wish I had more pics but I was running much of the time:)

About Town

Visiting London is always fun and we are finding new things to love every time we go in.
While the Dials rode London Eye we played on the playground nearby along the river and got some great shots with London Eye behind.



Along the walkway that lines the Thames river.



Westminster Abbey

The new things we got to this week were Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery with its amazingly inspiring works of art including Van Gogh, Michelangelo, Monet, Manet, Renoir and many more. Some of my very favorites and we really loved it.
Sadie and McKay found the art intriguing and asked lots of questions about it.




Brandon and Kristi took Tyler and Zach to see Wicked.
Abe and I decided not to go again as I've seen it twice this year and Abe once in LA.
We are looking forward however, to going to the theater soon when Scott and Kari come.

Saturday we had a babysitter come early in the afternoon and Abe and I headed back to London to meet Brandon and Kristi for a nice night out.

Here they are at Covent Garden.

We found a delicious Indian restaurant near Covent Garden where we ate.
We also watched some of the street performers as we wandered.

We browsed through Harrods enjoying the myriad of displays. Outside Harrods this Audi R7 was driving past and the guys actually ran a block to catch up and get a good look at it.
The guy driving it was so arrogant.
He saw the guys checking his car out and actually flexed his arm muscles...So lame!

We walked Hyde Park and past Wellington Arch
and then headed back towards Waterloo and the train home.
On the way we took a short stop to see the almost surreal view
of Parliament and Big Ben lit up at night.

The day before our trip into London while Abe was working, I drove the Dials to Wimbledon. We enjoyed touring the grounds and the Lawn Tennis Museum.
Can't wait to get back in June for the real deal.

Dialed In

Yay, our first visitors from home!!!  Kristi Dial, Kristi Dial, as Lucy says every second.  The Dial Family...well part of it at least, flew in on Tuesday and are staying for a week.  We have LOVED having them here. They are such wonderful friends and bring so much happiness and news from home.  They also brought the sunshine making the sightseeing more enjoyable with good weather.

Picking the Dials up at Heathrow we packed the day with visits to Oxford, Blenheim Castle, the Cotswolds and Stratford-Upon-Avon, where we saw William Shakespeare's birth and burial places.  We were trying to keep the Dials awake by cramming so much into the day.

The next day Windsor Castle was on the list to watch the changing of the guard but when we arrived the castle was closed for the day.  We still are not sure why, probably a dignitary visiting.  We saw no castle and no guard changing- oh well. I guess we should have checked ahead!  

We licked our wounds and headed onto Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral.  Five minutes after arriving at the cathedral, the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate.  We spent twenty minutes on the lawn  as three fire engines came with sirens blaring.  They determined some dust from construction set off the alarm and we were able to head back inside.   We were just glad it wasn't one of our group pulling the alarm.  The cathedral was a first for all of us, and we enjoyed it.  The tower is breathtaking and the cathedral holds the oldest working clock in the world and an original of the Magna Carta.  This amazing document was handwritten beautifully on vellum in latin script. 

The Dials are awesome and make everything fun!  We have enjoyed the sites and talking til late.  Zach is loving Tyler being here as well.

   

A new friend

                                           

On Friday night Abe had the opportunity of accompanying the missionaries on a visit.  They were meeting with a man named Stanislauf "Stan" Polsa.  Stan is from Poland  and has lived here in Basingstoke for 6 months.  He is earning money and sending it back to his wife and three children in Poland.  

The missionaries asked Abe if we could pick  Stan up for church today as it was his first time and he has no car.  He told Abe that he had waken up this morning feeling weighed down over his job situation and then remembered that he was going to church today.  His mind was lighter and he was looking forward to it.   

                                       

After the meetings we asked Stan how he enjoyed it.  He said that he was there for three hours and yet it was so entertaining it went by very quickly.

  

We stopped at home quickly and made sandwiches and then took him to see the temple and explain about eternal families and the differences between the chapel we had met in earlier and the temple.  Lucy really took to Stan as she does with almost anyone. 

We are amazed at the work of these Sister Missionaries in our ward.  Sister Peterson and Sister Eyre.  They had about 8 investigators at church today with 3 committed for baptism and another 4 that have been baptized in the past month.  They really have an awesome spirit about them and are doing the Lord's work.  We have enjoyed getting to know them as well.  Sister Eyre is from Salt Lake and is the youngest daughter of Richard and Linda Eyre she has been on her mission for three months now, and Sister Peterson is from Ogden and has been out a little over a year.  

A couple of weeks ago they were over to our house for dinner and family night and shared one of their lessons with the kids.  It was on communicating with Heavenly Father through prayer. The kids loved it and it really got them excited about missionary work.  The kids even watched out the window as the Sisters knocked on our neighbors' doors and when a neighbor would let them in they would get all excited for them and ask if we thought they would get baptized:)