Christmas Day

Tis the season for Legos.  

Santa was very generous and the boys very good and Christmas Eve and Morning were wonderful.  

Not a bad way to travel.  

We trekked across the ice and snow to see this sweet little creche at a local church.  The children all sang carols for Jesus and sweet Linnea wanted to sing an extra song as a present for baby Jesus

Little C putting together Thor and Iron Man

Oh yeah, that's a candy necklace to go with his mouthful of goodies.  

Not sure when he grew up, but here's my BIG boy

After a quick change into "cougar gants" Christian was ready to read with Grandpa

Not sure if the giver(s) or receiver was more excited about these (they cam in a 6 pack :)

G was more than happy

Our Cheeky Monkey

Merry Christmas to All!

Alise's Baptism

It's crazy awesome that even though my family is spread far and wide we've been able to come together and support each other through important events.  Alise decided to patiently wait to baptized until a large part of the family could be there.  It was wonderful.   

Newell cousins singing.  

Cute Kiddos

The Baptize Girl and G. 

Alise asked the boys to share their testimonies and G's was short and sweet.  "I know in my heart and mind that Jesus lives and loves me."  Matts was a little more verbose.  He used all his speaking skills, making excellent use of the pause, the hand gesture and the personal anecdote.  It was priceless.  

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

Since Cath was already hopping the pond to visit my parents in Sweden we concocted a plan to get together for some good old fashioned bonding time.

Miss Madi fulfilled her 1st lifetime ambition and future career training by going to see Phantom.   All the other kiddos tolerated it, but for Madi it was enthralling.  (Matts reported that she thought EVERY part was the BEST part :)

Miss Iz at the show.  She enjoyed some quality back tickles once things got a little slow

The sophisticated big kids.

Our concierge for the week.  Reed got great tickets and arranged a fantastic night.  

Kensington Palace.  Madi imagined the life of a Princess while Izzy joined the boys in a game of  ching-ching.  Little C was battling a nasty virus and spent a lot of quality time in the stroller.

Some things never get old.

The Hooligans trying to escape the Tower.

On their best behavior.

Cath and I went out for a night on the town which meant on thing; DANCE PARTY!

G and Miss Iz at the Science museum.  G is working on his duck face.

I think he perfected it.

We also hit up the V&A.  It was our first time there and we LOVED it!

Madi fulfills her 2nd lifetime ambition and career with a visit to the Roald Dahl House.

Iz was wonderful with "Baby Christian"

Hijinks in the Tube

There was some serious tromping on our path through Great Missden.  

Elementary...

Cousins!

By the end of the trip Iz was missing Scott pretty badly, luckily Uncle Reed was more than happy to fill in for some quality time.  

All in all it was a fantastic, crazy trip.  The kiddos had a great time and it was definitely an example of the more the merrier.  Especially crazy was the fact that we reenacted my Mom's life, schlepping 5 kiddos around Europe.  It was exhausting and  exhilarating and completely worth it.

Holidays in London

Before heading up north we enjoyed some festivities in London.  The big boys memorized the 12days of Christmas in honor of Regents Street and Covent Gardens, with it's ginormous ornaments and lights became a favorite hang out.  

Enjoying (mostly) the decorations at Covent Gardens.

Daily opening of the Lego Advent

Ice Skating at the Natural History Museum.  We went for a primary activity and ALL the boys, even Little C were puttering around by the end.  

Chirk Castle

On our way back to London we made one last stop at Chirk Castle and it was definitely worth the detour.  Since we were traveling on the off-season (can't imagine why more people don't brave the icy rain :), many of the sites were open, but not manned.  At Chirk Castle we got the entire tour and thanks to the quiet day, Robert the Blacksmith spent almost an hour showing the boys the ropes of dueling and all the twists, turns and secrets of the castle.  

Long Sword VS. Short Sword-Tough Choice

Working on their form.

Going through their paces.

He may look innocent...

Moving onto the Staffs.

En Gaurde!

Double checking the lethalness of a dagger before testing the effectiveness of Chainmail. 

Me too! Me too!

In the Dungeon

In honor of Sir Thomas

During our tour of the dungeon, Robert very cheerfully noted that they had a friendly resident bat who was currently missing.  Needless to say, I booked it out of there.  Imagine our delight to come upon said bat outside Sir Thomas' room. Castles have excellent acoustics.  

Enjoying the view.

And that concludes our Great British road trip.  It was a crazy idea that turned out fantastically.  Reed did an excellent job with the planning and execution.  He even pre-picked movies for the kiddos to watch while we drove between destinations.  The kiddos favorite part?  Swimming pools and room service (Matts did say his life was complete now that he had seen the northern most boundary of the Roman Empire).  Reed's favorite part?  A true break from work-cell coverage was spotty at best (wait, maybe that was my favorite part :).  When all was said and done it was an amazing and memorable glimpse into the beautiful and sometimes brutal landscape of this 'little green island' that has such a rich wonderful history.  

Chester and Liverpool and Kendal

Between major historical sites and Castles we stopped in a variety of cities.  

Chester-Lots of Roman Ruins and a nearly intact city wall.

Liverpool, Birthplace of the Beatles.  

In the middle of the Lake District was a lovely little town.  

Reed was excited about the name, I was just excited to be touring the  Lake District'-birthplace of so many, many timeless romances :).  Honestly, it was beautiful; green, peaceful and begging to be tromped through.

Conwy Castle

After spending the night in Liverpool we headed into Wales.  It was stunningly beautiful, inspite of the nasty weather.  On our rainy, windy drive we passed towns that were completely flooded.  Turns out our entire trip happened to take place during record rainfall and flooding.  Let's just say it contributed to the experience.  

After driving through Snowdonia we arrived at Conwy Castle.  Set atop a cliff and accessible only via the drawbridge it was the perfect place for some Ching-Ching.  

Even Reed got in on the action (or possibly initiated the action :)

Wandering the courtyard.

Stairs and more stairs.

A Happy Knight.

Freeze (literally-it was so windy and on the battlements was frigid)

Crazy that this was only the second level.  The big boys and I braved the gusts and turrets to climb to the top.  Reed and Little C "enjoyed" the lower levels.

Wales, the Land of Dragons and Castles = SUCCESS!