She's a BIG girl now!

Ella is 2!! Ella woke up this morning to find her new pink car waiting for her and dove right into presents, thanking Santa for each one!! We will have to work on that! We had all our great friends join us at Build-A-Bear to celebrate Ella's big day and we all had a wonderful time! Ella made a special pink monkey and we got an autograph bear for all her friends to write on to help us remember this special day. We wish that family could have been here to celebrate with us, but we know they were thinking of us today. Ella loved her Minnie Mouse birthday cake and all the goodies that came with it. She almost fell asleep on daddy's shoulder on the way to the car--it was a big day!

A little scared of the 'stuffing machine'!!

New chef outfit from Grandma Kathy!

Cozy chair from Grandma & Grandpa

Butterfly Fairy

Snow Days

Well, it has been said that this is the most snow England has seen in a decade! It is beautiful, but I am glad that I don't live in a place that I have to bundle Ella up like that all the time. All we could think of was the scene in A Christmas Story!! She had a blast playing outside, it took her a little while to get used to it and didn't really like it when she fell down. But she was a trooper and didn't give up! We didn't venture out too far if we didn't have to and have been drinking a lot of hot chocolate and tea. Just trying to enjoy what we know will not be common. Enjoy the pictures!

Our First Attempt (can you tell we are Texans?!)

My Little Snow Bunny (peeling off the layers!)

Ella's First Haircut, Sort of...

In order to begin improving the 'baby mullet' as we call it, I gave Ella her first little trim. I may have to call in a professional for the rest!! Enjoy!

With a Christmas here, and a Christmas there. . .

With family more than a little spread out over the globe, we had to choose where to celebrate the holidays this year. The season began with a small and quiet family Christmas at our house. Ella did not really enjoy seeing Santa in person this year, but was very appreciative of the gifts that he brought her. I think her favorite was her vacuum cleaner that matches Mommy's!!

We then made the short trip to Germany to spend Christmas with Jason, Andrea, Marie and the German family. It was wonderful to see everyone and we ate one of the most amazing meals thanks to Helga!! Ella and Marie had a blast playing together, although sharing was brought up a time or two by the parents!

We only were able to stay a few days as someone in this family has to work so that we can continue to travel the world--thanks Brian!! We decided to host a small New Year's Eve bash with some neighbors and friends from base. The Brits and the Yanks all got along beautifully--even played Wii together!

Our holiday season was a wonderful and memorable one and we hope that it was the same for all of you. Happy 2009!!

Edinburgh

We made our first trip to the north while Brian's parents were here to visit. We made the 3 hour drive to Edinburgh and saw some of the most beautiful scenery along the way. The last part of the trip was right along the North Sea and we saw several castles and ruins near the road. We also got to experience the ocean 'breeze' that almost blew us over, with a little rain and cold air as well. We really lucked out with weather, as sun in November is very rare! In our short time there, we saw as much of the city as we could. We walked the Royal Mile from Edinburgh Castle to Holyroodhouse. We made a trip to The Hard Rock Cafe for some American food, ate and drank at many pubs (at which some of us tried Haggis) and did some shopping!!

London Town

We made our first of what I hope are many trips down to London--it was amazing! The Aylor family came for their tour of Europe and we joined them in London. It was so great to see all of the sights we had always seen in pictures. Our first planned event was to experience Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace and we even took the time to get insider tips on where to be to get the best views. Five minutes before everything got started, one of the guards yelled,"if you are here for the changing of the guards, it has been cancelled due to a race going on near the castle grounds." Great! We hoped this was not a sign of things to come! We began to walk through the most beautiful park I have ever seen, St. James Park, and caught our first glimpse of Big Ben.

We then headed to the pub recommended by a Rick Steves travel guide and were able to sit in the seats that Charles Dickens and Dr. Samuel Johnson once frequented! The rest of the afternoon I spent in the park again while Ella napped and the others visited the Winston Churchill Museum and War Cabinet Rooms.

The next day was spent mostly in the Tower of London, under the careful watch of our 'Beefeater' Tour Guide. It was fascinating to learn how people were punished in the 'old days'!! After seeing the Crown Jewels I decided that I definitely need a bigger diamond ring, royalty must have very strong necks. Sorry no pictures are included, we would have been next on the execution block for snapping photos!

I always knew London had many sights to see, but I think we would need to spend a month there to see it all. We only made a dent!

Trip to the Beach

With the 3-day weekend we decided to venture out a little farther than usual and take a day trip to Whitby, an historic town on the north-east coast of England. We spent a majority of the day walking the grounds of St. Mary's Church and the Whitby Abbey ruins, which required the climbing of 199 steps.

We also spent a little time on the beach, even though it was only 65 degrees and about to rain (oh, England!) and learned that Ella hates sand!!! It was a great trip otherwise and we plan on spending a lot more time at the coast, on the 3 days of summer that we have here!