Well, Here it is: The Blog

I'm trying this out because I'm awful at keeping a journal about the crazy things my girls do and say. I figure if I have someone else to laugh with, I might do a better job of it.

Also, I have really, really loved reading the blogs my family members have created in the past few months. I have felt so much closer to them, and now feel more involved in their lives. I hope my friends and family will enjoy my blog as much as I enjoy theirs!

So here goes ....

Introductions, Sort of .....

Since I am totally freaked out about online predators, and insist that my daughters never give out any of their own information online, I decided I have to play by the same rules. So I'll be referring to my kids by their first initial only, myself as aj (or the Mom), and the head of our family as The Man (he likes this idea). If that is totally annoying, then my sincerest apologies - my mother raised me to be happily paranoid :)


So, onto the introductions: A is 11 and her aspirations include being a pirate. If this doesn't work out, however, she'd like to create games for XBox 360. She has quite an imagination so I'm sure she'd be great at it. Here is a picture of her in Hawaii last summer, then one entertaining her baby sister - she's GREAT at it:

K is 8 and wants to be an actress. No, not when she grows up - she's quite serious about it right now and charms the heck out of everyone she performs for ;) She memorizes long, difficult scripts in one night flat, so I've been forced to accept that I officially have a "Drama Queen." Here she is in one of her recent roles: (Alice in Wonderland), and one of her in Hawaii as well:

And this is our Littlest Elf and Head Troublemaker, E, who keeps our dog fat and happy by feeding her all the food from her highchair tray, and keeps her mommy smiling with all her silliness. She is two and a half. Here is a photo of her after eating her first PopTart, then one in her 2007 Halloween costume demonstrating why it's so hard for us to get good pictures of her. She hates the flash so she closes her eyes as soon as she sees a camera - but at least she smiles! She even says CHEESE!:

Oh, man, she cracks me up . . . here's another "Okay, take the stupid picture already" photo of her:

The Man, who we girls run to for anything we need (and all too often, I assure you) is very out numbered in our family. I attribute this to his enjoyment as a teenager of always being surrounded by women - he prayed it would never end, so here we are! And he spoils us, that's for sure. There's never been a better daddy in the world, and our girls adore him to pieces. And as you can see from the photo below, he feels the exact same way about his daughters. As a mom and wife, I couldn't ask for a single improvement in him. I can't believe how lucky I am!!

Now, for me . . . I really hate candid pictures of myself, so I have very few of them from the past years. So instead, I'll post the last professional one I had done - it's small here (I had to copy it from my publisher's website), but I'm fine with that! :)

So, there ya go . . . at least for now. You'll get to know more about The Man and me in the following posts - which detail our vacation last spring to England and France.

If you leave a comment, please do your best to keep our secret identities . . . um . . . secret! Hee hee. And I'd love it if my family members and friends would put a link to this on their own blogs - just label it as "The Daily Drama" if you will, please, rather than using our names. People who know us will eventually figure out who the link belongs to. Thanks!!

Lots of love,

aj (she-who-must-not-be-named)

The Man and The Mom Storm Europe

As long as I can remember dreaming of my ideal vacation, it's always been to London and Paris. And a couple of months ago The Man made my dreams come true :) Even better, he agreed to go without kicking and screaming that this vacation wouldn't include lounging on the beach and snorkeling until his hands were like raisins.

And best of all, he had just as good of a time in Europe as I did! He's been to England a few times before, when he was younger, and mostly remembered the pain of traveling from one distant location to the next. This time, however, we were both mesmerized by all the architecture and rich history - definitely feeling like all the travel time was worth it ten times over.

Since The Man and I both love history, almost every place we went added immensely to our understanding and further enjoyment of what we've learned of times past. It also made us twice as hungry to learn about the people who lived then and the events they were a part of. This world is a really, really BIG place, and even though England and France don't have completly different cultural norms than we do in the US, I still felt like so much was totally foreign. I can't imagine how I'd feel somewhere like India or China. Strangely enough, I even felt more of a culture shock in England - where I speak the same language - than I have when I've gone to Mexico.

I LOVED IT!!

A few people have asked me to tell them about our trip, so I'll do it here so I can post pictures along with my narrative :) Also, this will help me remember my trip better a few years down the road - so excuse any details that might seem self-indulgent, because they are :) I want to remember EVERYTHING!

And, yes, I took that stunning picture of the Eiffel Tower myself. The night was absolutely perfect for such a shot!

Day One - Traveling, More Traveling, then Finally . . . LONDON!

Here's where I'll whine a bit - this day felt like a full week! I would say we had to "wake up" at 3 AM, but that wouldn't technically be true since I didn't even finish packing until 1:30 AM, then couldn't sleep for fear that I'd set the alarm wrong or forgotten to pack something. So, I'll just say we left our house at 3:15 AM for our 5:30 flight to Houston.

We arrived at Houston at 9:30 or so, and had a 5 hour layover, so we hopped in a taxi and went to the mall, across from one of The Man's favorite places to eat - where he wanted to go to lunch when it opened at 11 (Saltgrass Steakhouse). While moseying around the mall, we realized that Saltgrass was across the freeway - not just a road we could easily cross. Um, small oversight! In Texas, taxis just don't hang out at mall entrances, so we eventually had to risk our lives and (don't read this part, Mom) RUN OUR FREAKING TAILS OFF through several crazy freeway ramps with no crosswalks.

Blame The Man for this, because everyone who knows me knows I'd never do something so stupid just to eat at a steakhouse! I would've been okay with the Taco Bell we went into to ask directions. See my "professional" diagram of this nightmare below (And, no, that nice yellow line that looks like it goes UNDER the freeway, doesn't - it meets up with it.) Also, imagine us crossing these crazy streets with over-stuffed backpacks on. People probably thought we were hobos - hobos who were "on something."

And thus the adventure began.

About 7 hours into our 10 hour flight to London (having already been on a 3.5 hour flight to Houston, with no sleep for about 36 hours at that point) I was actually ready to strap on a parachute and jump! I realized right then that our govenment should be spending a lot more money on the technology of teleporting :) Star Trek is on to something there!

When we could finally see England, my inner grumbling totally disappeared. My first impression when flying toward Gatwick Airport was seeing fields and fields of green, then just before we touched down, we passed fields of grazing fluffy sheep. From that moment on, I was completely smitten with England. Who wouldn't be, though? Just look at this photo from a corner of St. James's Park, for example:

And here's one from another park:

The train ride into London took forever (50 minutes or so - with standing room only), but was still cool. It was 7:30 AM there, so most of the people on the train were commuting to work. Their accents were of course super cool to listen to all around us, but it was also interesting to hear what they were talking about, and see what they were reading in the newspapers. One thing that surprised both of us was how everywhere we went EVERYONE seemed to be reading a newspaper. As we were in London longer, we realized this was because most of the papers are free and handed out wherever you go. And strangely enough, the majority of them are tabloids!!

It took a while for us to even recognize the difference between a legitimate paper and a tabloid. The covers were a lot the same, with a real news story, then you'd turn to the next page and it would say something like: PRINCE WILLIAM TAKES HARRY ON JOYRIDE IN MILITARY HELICOPTER - AT YOUR EXPENSE. Then they would just rail into the royalty like I couldn't believe. And I thought President Bush was hated here, but man, do they dislike their new Prime Minister. Or at least, it appears that way. It's just a different level of tabloid journalism over there - totally insane. I never imagined that about the "proper Brits."

Also, on their television news, we watched a session of Parliament and one speaker stood up and told the Prime Minister, to his face, "You're a LOSER, not a leader!" That was shocking to me. We deliver plenty of cheep shots to our president in our media, but in an actual session of congress? Wow - it was so weird.

Sorry to ramble, but I'm sure I'll infuse even more of my "eye-opening" lessons in humanity and culture as I go along :)

We went to the Victoria and Albert Museum so I could get a better idea of furniture and such from the Regency period in England (for the novel I'm currently working on). Then we went to the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, where the Queen's horses and carriages are kept. Here's a photo of her coronation carriage, which we were told hasn't been used again because it was so uncomfortable to ride in :) Keep in mind that it probably cost a couple million dollars, and let me tell you it was huge, and nearly ALL gold:

We also went to the world's most famous department store this first day, Harrod's, which promises to sell you ANYTHING you want to buy - including baby elephants if you're in the market for one. Harrod's started as a grocery store, so one of the coolest things to see is the elaborate food court. It's not like our mall foodcourts here, though, they are more like fruit, veggie, and meat markets - but all inside and with food displays that look like they belong in a museum. We just happened to be there when Tony Curtis (Costar with Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot, for you younger kids, hee hee - and Jamie Lee Curtis' father) was displaying some of his artwork. Boy was he looking old - I suppose because he is:

Interesting detail that we learned about Harrod's from one of our tourguides: for many many years they were the official food supplier to the Queen and other royal households. Then Princess Diana began to date Dodi Fayed (the oldest son and heir of the man who owns Harrod's), they were both killed in the car accident in Paris, and Dodi Fayed's dad accused the Queen's husband, Prince Phillip, of arranging the "accident" to kill them both. Totally ridiculous, if you ask me, but it of course caused a lot of strain on the relationship with the royal family (to say the least!) and the Queen's contract with Harrod's was cancelled.

That night, we ate at Sherlock Holmes, a "traditional English pub." I had shepherd's pie because I totally love my mother-in-law's version of it (she's from Scotland) and it was . . . well, gross. I didn't really care for traditional English food itself, but the food we had in England as a whole was yummy!! There is so much variety. We went to one place for a gyro three times! And I also became addicted to a mozzarella and tomato panini from Costa (a chain deli). I never would've expected that going to London :)

We had been warned to not go to sleep when we got there, since it's so much harder to adapt to the time zone when you do. And I agree - it was hard, but once it was 8 PM, our bodies were totally ready for bed even though it was only noon according to our biological schedule. I was SO tired that day, though, sort of in a dreamlike state.

This was our hotel, The Trafalgar - yep, you guessed it, right on Trafalgar Square. It was a GREAT place to stay. We highly recommend it!!

This is a small section of Trafalgar Square - with the National Portrait Gallery in the background.

Day Two - Hampton Court, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, & Spamalot!

We actually slept in until 9:30 this morning, and still - even with going to sleep at about 8:00 the night before - we were dragging ourselves out of bed. The time difference is a killer, but worth the trouble :)

We took a train out to Hampton Court - home of Henry VIII and his six wives (divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived - just in case you were wondering!) It was different than I imagined it, which made it even more fascinating. However, I couldn't help but think of what a creep of a man lived there: someone who was so selfish that he tore apart a nation, eventually causing 1000's of deaths - Ireland didn't stop fighting the war Henry started until just 5 years ago, mind you - left young children without mothers (or a father!) and all so he could have his own way in EVERYTHING. He was a total bum. I can think of so many other words to describe him, but my kids read this blog :)

To me, there was a lingering feeling of . . . not necessarily evil, but wrongdoing and sadness. The town of Hampton was beautiful though - let's not blame the town for the faults of its most famous resident.

Here is Hampton Court Palace below - then next is a shot of a very small portion of the gardens:

By the time we were back in London, it was almost 5 PM. We stepped out of the underground station (subway) and our breath was totally taken away! Right in front of us was Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Okay, I've seen these landmarks on TV and in photos hundreds and hundreds of times, and wasn't even particularly excited to see them, but boy was I wrong about their magnificence. I had forgotten that the Houses of Parliament used to be a palace, and what an intricate one it was! The architecture is really like nothing I've ever seen before. Big Ben (which is actually the bell, not the tower itself, we learned) is just one of its amazing features.

The top picture is our immediate view when we stepped out of the underground station. It was such a "Reality check: YOU'RE IN LONDON!" moment :) The next few are pics of the Houses of Parliament:

Then just next door was Westminster Abbey, which was the reason we had gotten off at that tube station (the underground). It was also stunning . . . and quite different than any other cathedral I've visited.

We were too late to tour inside, so we took a bunch of photos of the outside, and came back a few days later to take a look inside. I'll just tell you about the inside now, instead of later. First off, there is hardly any room at all to walk around because of all the tombs. There is a very small amount of space for chairs, and it made me wonder where they packed in all those people for Princess Diana's funeral. The tombs, however, were the most fascinating part anyway. I never thought I'd say that - haha ("Oh, I LOVED the stone boxes that held all the dead bodies!") It's a unique place to say the least, and I really, really recommend seeing it one day. It's just hard to describe in words! Most of these places don't let you take pictures, so I'll insert some from online.

The first is a close up of Queen Mary's tomb (not a big fan of hers, by the way - I'll explain why in my post about visiting Oxford), and the second is the full monument that houses both Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Mary's tombs. In life, I can only guess what these two would've thought of this arrangement! They didn't have the closest of relationships as sisters - again, thanks to their rotten shared father, Henry VIII.

Anyway, there are at least a hundred tombs like this - all packed together - in the main chapel of Westminster Abbey. You'd think it was spooky, but it's really kinda cool. I can't say I'd want to attend church there, though . . . it doesn't feel like a place of worship, really. At all.

That night we ate at a place I found in the Frommer's guide to London: Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. The building was originally built in the 1200's, then it was nearly destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 (along with just about everything in London). It was rebuilt in 1667 and now houses this really weird pub. Well, at least we thought it was weird. One of the funny experiences we had there went something like this:

As a sidedish to my prime rib, there was something I'd heard of but never seen before - Yorkshire pudding. So I asked the watier: What exactly is Yorkshire pudding? (thinking: does it have goat guts in it? string beans? what?)

Waiter (with stunned stare): Well, it's Yorkshire pudding. Like what you'd call a "popover" in the U.S.

Me: Okay, um, thanks. (thinking - I've also heard of a "popover" but it's nothing we commonly eat in the US, right?)

It turns out that Yorkshire pudding is a totally tasteless puffy pastry sort of thing. We couldn't figure out what would link it to anything even romotely close to a turnover, or whatever the guy was thinking that we eat here. Then we later asked what Trecle pudding was and got the same "You stupid Americans" stare. The waiter said, "Well, it's just what it says it is: TRECLE pudding." Um, yeah, duh! Stupid us, huh? This was one of only two times in Europe that we were treated rudely at all; otherwise, everyone was more than friendly! We totally loved the people in both countries we visited.

The pubs we saw in London weren't like what American bars are. They are sort of more like . . . well, Chilli's, but with a lot more people standing around and blocking your way from sitting down and eating :) Also, I expected a lot of smoke in these places, but we never once encountered smoking in buildings, so it must be banned just like it is in most US states. It was the same way in France, which was great!

Anyway, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is one of the oldest pubs in London. The coolest part about it was that Charles Dickens used to eat there, so they have an original copy of The Tale of Two Cities displayed. I liked that a lot better than I did my undercooked meat and my over-roasted potatoes.

Here you see The Man (the myth . . . the legend . . . ) at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.

After dinner we went back to our hotel but found we weren't as tired as we thought we'd be, so we actually went out again and saw Spamalot! The Man had seen it in New York, and really liked it even the second time around. It's super funny, so if you like the show "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" you should see it. If you don't like that movie, well . . . you better skip this one and see Wicked instead, haha.

Day Three - Windsor Castle, Bath, and Stonehenge

Our next three days in England were spent on Grayline tours so we could see as much as possible, and boy was it worth the added expense! I highly recommend doing tours (full daytrips) because you don't lose time trying to figure out how to get here or there, and along the way, you get to hear all about the places you're passing. Especially in England, there is a lot to see and learn when going between one place and another - things you'd miss if you were just on your own.

We started out this first day at Windsor Castle (about an hour outside of London), the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world - built over 900 years ago. Many places like this made me realize just how young the United States is. For example, the White House is a meesly 216 years old.

Queen Elizabeth spends her weekends at Windsor Castle, and her weekdays at Buckingham Palace. We were at Windsor Castle on a Saturday, so her flag was raised, indicating that she was there at the same time we were. Pretty cool . . . I bet she was thrilled to hear The Man and I were "in the house." :) Here are a few photos of Windsor Castle:

Above: The oldest part of Windsor Castle - originally built as a fortress. See the Queen's flag flying on top of the tower?

The right corner here is where the Queen's private apartments are. No, we didn't get to tour those, of course, because she was there (Excuse us for interrupting your bath, Your Majesty . . . ") During a couple months in the summer, though, when she's living in Scotland, I've heard that you CAN tour her private apartments.

This next photo is of a very pretty corner of landscape below the fortress tower that I liked :)

I cheated and got this last photo from a website, so you could see how huge Windsor Castle is:

Breathtaking :)

Windsor Castle doesn't allow pictures of the interior, but it's as beautiful as one would guess. It wasn't too over the top, though, which was nice to see. I would even call the decorating outdated, but in a historical place like this, that's sort of the point! Much of the woodwork and ceiling frescos were still original from the Baroque period (1700's), so that was cool to see.

The next stop on our tour was the city of Bath, and you Jane Austen fans out there should already know a little about it. Bath is about a two hour drive from London, so I had no idea why so many wealthy families in Georgian, Regency, and Victorian London would pack up their carriages and head there for so much of their year . . . not until I got there, at least :) It's a really, really pretty place. It's a lot like a modern city, actually, where the city itself in sort of central, then the homes are built on the vast hills overlooking the city. I didn't see that anywhere else in England, but I'm sure there are other places like this as well. Bath sits on a river, and feels much like a little haven. Only it wasn't as little as I expected it to be, that's for sure. The current population is still quite large there, but Bath seems to maintain its small town feel.

Above: It was a hazy/rainy day, so the picture isn't clear - but those hills are filled with stone homes from 100's of years past. It was once the equvilant to what The Hamptons are to rich East Coast American families :)

Where does "Bath" get its name, you ask? From the ancient Roman baths (a spa to die for) which you can still visit today - the springs are just as active as always, and the water is so warm that steam rises from it. Here are a few photos:

The Man stripped off his shirt, but they wouldn't let him jump in! Bummer!

We then traveled for another hour and a half to see Stonehenge - the mysterious formation of 40 ton rocks arranged for who-knows-what-reason 5000 years ago! Any guesses?? The theories range from religious to alien, and everything in between.

Every so often, Stonehenge has an amazing crop circle appear in the vast field it sits in. So just for fun, here's a photo of one of the most famous ones (from online, not my camera!):

Day Four - Oxford, Warwick Castle & Stratford-Upon-Avon

In a lot of what I've read over the years, there's been much ado about homes/towns located near the River Avon . . . and for good reason, I've now discovered. There must be some serious fertilizer in that river or something, because everything it touches for miles around is green, lush, and entirely breathtaking. You'll see some examples in the photos I'll post. Like this one:

It was a misty sort of day when I took these photos, so the camera is a bit fogged up. I wish SO bad that I could have captured the true beauty of this indescribable area in England. Even as a writer, I can't explain it with words :)

Our first stop on our tour today was Warwick Castle, which dates back to 914 A.D. 914!!!!!! I continued to be stunned, day after day, when I realized just how long these amazing sites have been standing. What was life truly like back then? What were the people like? What did they imagine the future (that we live in today) to be like? England really made me think deeper about history, especially about the people. This tour day was completely filled with moments where I wanted to "soak it all in" - learn everything I could - and truly get a feel for what life must have been like hundreds, even a thousand years ago!

At Warwick Castle, we climbed so many steps to the top of the highest tower, I thought we'd truly never get there. And it was a very narrow, steep circular stairway, so it made it all the crazier to imagine men running up there in the heat of battle, or whatever, with all their weapons and armor. There were over 400 steps. Even walking down the stairs was exhausting! It's embarrassing to admit, but my legs were really sore the next day. The Man and his legs of steel were fine, of course. Or at least that's what he said. The bum.

But, man, the view from the top!!! Warwick castle is on the River Avon, and as I said, that river must be filled with something magical. The first photo in this post was also taken from the top of the tower - zoomed in, actually.

About thirty years ago, the Tussaud Group bought Warwick castle (supposedly, the last Earl who lived there was in terrible debt), which locals were pretty ticked off about, thinking the whole thing would be turned into a cheesy wax museum . . . but instead, they've been surprised by what Tussaud's has done with the place. It's more touristy than the other castles we visited, for sure, but the inside of the main castle is pretty cool. They've set up what they call a "Victorian Weekend Party" where each room has wax figures busy doing what the aristocrasy did best - hang out, play cards, and gossip. The wax figures made the rooms and the history of the castle feel more genuine.

Below: The Man made a new friend - someone who doesn't talk as much as I do! :)

Warwick Castle had an English rose garden to die for - unfortunately, the flowers hadn't bloomed yet, but it was still breathtaking:

The next stop on our tour was Stratford-Upon-Avon, which is also (obviously!) on the River Avon :) But what it's known for is being the hometown of William Shakesphere. No wonder he is the world's most famous writer - this town had a lot of inspiration to offer. Here are some pictures of his childhood home. His father was said to be wealthy for those days, and still, they shared their walls with a bar.

For me, the best part of Shakesphere's home was the garden in the back - which probably didn't look anything like this when he lived there:

Did we learn anything new about Shakesphere in Stratford-Upon-Avon?? Um, yes, quite a bit that I probably shouldn't be too specific about on a family-friendly website. I suppose the drama folks back then weren't called "players" for nothing. Since I've returned I read an outstanding biography about him that has made me want to visit Stratford all over again. And we tried and tried to fit in seeing The Globe Theater in London - it was just a short distance from our hotel - but we never made it :( Oh well, I'm determined to go back asap.

At the end of a day already filled with mind-blowing scenery, we visited Oxford. The university is unlike anything either of us had ever seen. First off, having been established nearly 1000 years ago, it is the oldest university in the English speaking world. And wow, does the architecture prove it - unbelievable!! We both walked around with our jaws dragging the ground for the two hours that we were there. And it wasn't just the scenery - the culture and set up of the university itself is astounding.

Within the university there are 39 colleges and each have a large wooden door like the one above, which opens into the college courtyard. The doors are all super cool! In the US, we have things like "The College of Business" or the "College of Fine Arts," but it's totally different there. It's more like having UC Irvine, UC Bekley, UC Santa Barbara and so forth all together on the same gigantic campus. Each college at Oxford is entirely seperate and has different majors from a broad spectrum of interests, just like a regular university. Everyone in each college eats their meals together, and dinner is always formal dress. The most famous of the colleges is Christchurch. And speaking of eating dinner together, any Harry Potter fans recognize this dining hall?

This above dining hall at Christchurch College was the inspiration for the Great Hall in the Harry Potter books and films. In fact, several of the movie scenes have been filmed at Christchurch College. I took some photos of places we recognized from the HP movies (I noticed this particular hallway in The Other Boelyn Girl, too) :

Here are a couple more photos of the Oxford grounds - it isn't nicknamed the "City of Dreaming Spires" for nothing. Every college (all 39) have their own ancient cathedral. The scenery on that campus is beyong my ability to describe, and not even these photos can do it justice. You just need to go there! I've been to Harvard campus before and was mezmorized, but sorry New Englanders, you've got nothing on Oxford :)

Also in Oxford is the Martyr's Memorial:

This monument in in honor of three high clergymen from the Church of England - Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer - who were burned at the stake in Oxford as heretics (1555 & 1556) as part of Queen Mary's attempt to restore the Catholic faith as the state religion of England. Any wonder why she was called Bloody Mary? She even burned people to death in front of their children so their children would learn their lesson well and become Catholic. Hmm, for some reason that doesn't sound very "Christian" to me. History has some incomprehensible, horrible moments, doesn't it? Oh, and guess who originally caused this cival war between prodestants and Catholics? Yeah, that would once again be Henry VIII.

This 14 hour tour was very long but it was our very favorite day of our vacation. We spent most of the time with our mouths half open in amazement.

Below is a map pinpointing the places we had visited by just the end of our fourth day. It would have been impossible for us to experience so much without going on official tours, so we're very glad that we did! And since gas is over $9 a gallon, (that's not a typo - NINE DOLLARS A GALLON!) paying for the tours was a far less expense than renting a car & trying to find our own way around the English countryside. Besides the whole driving-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road-thing freaked me out even in a bus - but in the front seat? Ahhh!! :)

The red squares mark the many places we visited outside of London: