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Passports Not Hallpasses

Family of Four Traveling the World, Exploring New Countries and Learning a Lot Along the Way

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Sun and snow all in a day…

We were fortunate enough to have another family holiday this week. I had my annual company meeting in Lanzarote, so left the snowy cold London to head to the Canaries. Before leaving the airport though, I sat with 4 of my work colleagues on a plane for 5 hours. On the tarmac. Fun. Turns out the snow (which didn’t prevent the very full plane full of passengers from getting to the airport) kept the de-icing machine workers from getting to the airport. Seriously. Fun was being had at home however as Scott and the kids built a great snowman.

So after the plane finally left, we arrived to Lanzarote safely. The meeting went fine and then the family arrived. We rented a house again which ended up being really big and fantastic for the week. The weather was unseasonable cool which made the heated swimming pool necessary. The kids swam at least two times every day but one. The one day we had a pajama day. Love those! We of course made it down to the beach several times. Now, some of you are wondering where the bikini clad beach pictures are. To you, I would simply say HA!

The other exceptionally cool thing was that Scott was able to secure a babysitter for the evenings while we were there. Kirstee ended up being GREAT! She came over several nights so Scott and I could go out. The kids liked her so much! One afternoon she brought over her two kids and the four kids all played together (while Scott and I went and had a cocktail beachside). A big shout out and thanks to Kirstee!


This was one of our best holidays…

We all were able to catch up on sleep (yep, the kids let us sleep in virtually every morning). Caden declared himself big enough for “wake up duty”. He was able to get them both breakfast bars and water and turn on the cartoons. LOVE THAT! The kids had a blast and fussed when it was time to leave. We are looking forward to our next vacations in April once Scott has returned from his month trip to the States for trial. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can….

Video highlights:

39 years young


I had my birthday in January. For the first time in four years, I wasn’t at a company meeting for it. My lovely work friends got me a birthday cake and took me out for cocktails and dinner. My sweet husband gave me a birthweek. Forever, I have wanted to stay in a castle. Check.

We spent a great night in Amberley Castle. What a beautiful and amazing place. Scott arranged for us to have a seven course tasting menu dinner. In a private room. With a roaring fireplace. And our own waiter and sommelier. Talk about spoiling me! Happy birthday me!

The week was awesome. (The gift-per-day was a nice touch too!) One of the other cool things I was treated to for my birthday was going to see Amos Lee in concert here in London.

He was amazing!

I have had an unforgettable year. Lucky beyond all expectations, we live a dream life. Some people worry about getting older, and I am thankful for continuing to get older. Every year has gotten better and I look forward to this year and hope to get many more.

To be or not to be…

Last week, I felt I might be transitioning to a Brit. While out with a guy on my team, I asked him if I could “put my rucksack in his boot”. Of course for my Texan friends, I was asking if I could put my backpack in his trunk. I giggled a bit at the ability to actually ask this question.

I have been having a bit of an identity crisis lately. Virtually 90% of my communications on email are with British people. While it is all English, it is quite different that American English as mentioned in a previous post. However, it isn’t just the words now that I am more aware of, it is the spelling.

Here’s a little example:

British English:
My favourite neighbour whose young boy has been ill of late has gone to her paediatrician. They immediately recognised that he needed surgery and rushed him off to theatres. The doctor adviced that he would need long term treatment.

Now in Texan:
My favorite neighbor whose little boy has been sick lately took him to the pediatrician. They immediately recognized that he needed surgery and rushed him off to the OR. The doctor advised that he would need long term treatment.

So the delimma is this. I work with all these nice British people, one of whom informed me last week she thought I just didn’t have good spelling (not realizing/realising the differences between English and British…). It would be quite easy to change my spell check in Outlook to British English, but for some reason, it feels like I am giving up my American roots. I’m here based on my American experiences, so why turn my back on that? BUT to not change it, most of the folks here think I am lacking… What to do, what to do?

For now, I shall continue to be a US English speller. I hope I can stick it out for the remainder of our stay in the UK.

While this is a silly and fun thought to even worry about, I simply have to add: What a lucky world I live in for this to be a “problem” that even requires thought!

A warm Spanish get-away…

We enjoyed our first Christmas in London. Mom and KC kindly made the journey over. I know it was just to see Caden and Keali, but it was still nice to see them.

I spent the first week of their visit in bed. I have literally not been so sick for so long as a grown up. Everyone is saying it was the flu, but I have a hard time believing that since I’ve never had it, and it was far worse than anyone has ever described. Almost 7 days in bed, and still almost 2 weeks later, still feeling like I may lose a lung at any moment. All in all though, I am recovering.

Sick or not, we had a great time. Mom, KC and Scott took the kids to their first play in London to see the Gruffalo. The only word to describe them is mesmerized. I am pleased they enjoyed the play, but secretly I am hoping they don’t want me to take them to any! Scott loves the play, so they have that going for them!

Santa was busy and brought plenty of gifts for the family. The following day, we all loaded up and headed to the southern coast of Spain. We flew into Malaga, but stayed in Marbella. What a beautiful and sunny place it was. Everyday we went to the beach and watched the kiddos play in the sand and water, while we enjoyed cocktails. A true vacation in my mind! One day we ventured out and did an ecotour of the southern mountains of Spain. Absolutely amazing. I saw my first blooming almond tree. Not a nature enthusiast, I am still amazed at how pretty the white blooms were and how lovely it looked on the mountainside.

I think five days in Spain wasn’t enough. We hope to return for a bit longer when it is even a bit warmer.

New Years Eve was great. Scott made chateaubriand. Delicious. The remainder was spent as probably most “old” people spend theirs… Every few minutes, someone asked if we really needed to stay up until midnight. I am happy to report we made it! 2012 is here and we are excited about the adventures it will bring.

I am so lucky with such a great family, great friends, and great adventure. I hope the black eyed peas Scott just whipped up continue our run of good luck. Furthermore, I hope all my friends and family have the same good luck! Bring on the next adventure!

A video of the Spain holiday:

Houston is done

Well, we closed out the Houston trip successfully. Sunday was a great time. It started early with Berryhill’s meeting up with Gina and drinking a cold beer. For the record 9:30am Houston time is 3:30pm London time, so it was clearly beer-thirty. After a great visit with G-money, we went to the Texans game. Without question, it was one of the best games we have been to. Down to the wire, we stayed until the end, on feet, yelling and cheering. SO FUN!


Capitol Grill was the perfect ending. I do miss a good Texas steak!

Monday we were able to get our fangs cleaned at the (greatest ever) dentist. Then we tested our newly cleaned teeth on sushi at Fish. Of course overeating was in order since it would be our last meal in Houston. Again, Scott’s frequent travels paid off and we flew back to London in first class – truly the best way to fly internationally.

A huge shout out to John Kim for his generosity in letting us camp at his house. We are so lucky to have such great friends and we miss them dearly. As great as London is, it is without our friends…

Honorable mention:
Scott’s godson Braden who is now over 6 feet tall!

Braden’s daddy Paul

We ran into the Barrow family leaving the game – such cute kids!