And then there were three

That's right ... Zoe and Sophia are going to have a new baby brother or sister.

Kelly is 3 months pregnant and starting to feel a little better. We are excited about the addition to our family that will arrive in January or if, following tradition of the other two, will be late arriving in February.

Two little flowers

Ever since John and I moved into this house (5 yrs ago) we have spent Halloween with our neighbors, Matthew and Sherry. We sit out in lawn chairs on one of our driveways and hand out candy all night. The last two years we added a fire pit to the fun. Zoe spent Halloween day at a friend's birthday costume party and the evening handing out candy to all our neighbors.

We were surprised how well Zoe did in her costume and that she left her flower petal hat on almost all night. Once we showed her the basket of candy to hand out and gave her a bag to put some in, she forgot all about the costume. She did really well at handing out the candy as people came by. We kept waiting for her to start taking candy out of someone else's trick or treat bag, but she never did.

Sophia slept for part of the evening and spent the rest hanging out watching people.

All in all it was a fun-filled family day.

Taking after mom and dad ( a little too much)

Zoe has her first lasting fall. My dad's first words when he saw her were "Just like your mother". She is going to the dentist in the morning so we will see what they say. I suspect this is what her smile will look like for the next 6 or so years until her adult tooth comes in.

Sabbatical

So here's the quick rundown on my sabbatical:

• Europe for 3.5 weeks (see previous posts below for more detail than you ever cared about)
• Backpacking/fishing trip to Chevelon Canyon Lake in northeast Arizona (photos)
• Day trip to Apache Lake to hunt more fish (no luck)
• Failed effort to pick up mountain biking (and a few scars to prove it)

Photos at Flickr

London/Phoenix

Today we traveled back to the states, but not without one more trip dragging our luggage thru the subways and trains (and with one last stop by the market to stock up on crumpets to take home). Flight to Philadelphia was uneventful, and Kelly had a whole row to stretch out on and get some sleep. Alas, the flight from Philly to Phoenix was delayed by a couple hours due to the frequent closing/reopening of the airport, so we were a couple hours late getting back to Phoenix. Once we arrived, we found that they had cleverly left one of our bags in Philly and would have to get it to us the next day. We finally arrived back at the house around midnight, a bit tired but very glad to be back in our own bed. Strangely, Lily was a bit wary when she saw us, sniffing us like she didn't recognize us. I think she's a little confused after we left for 3.5 weeks, Kelly's parents came for the interim, then we come back. It'll probably take a few days for her to get used to us again.

All in all, the trip was AWESOME. We loved all the places we went, were healthy nearly the entire trip, and it didn't go nearly as quickly as we had feared it might (don't vacations always seem to go faster than you'd like?), but we are also very glad to be home. Thanks for everyone for all your prayers for safe travels; see the link below for photos of the trip, and we look forward to talking more with all of you soon.

J+K

Flickr photos

London, Day 5

Today is our last day in London. This morning we went to Geo F. Trumper's, a barbershop in Mayfair, where John got a straight razor shave. Also stocked up on good shaving stuff here and at Taylor's of Old Bond Street.

Next stops were the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. We didn't have time to go in either of them, but we walked all around the Tower of London and over/back the bridge. Great views from the bridge, including the HMS Belfast.

This afternoon we went to go see Spamalot, a "musical (lovingly) ripped off" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It was truly hilarious, included all the great sketches from the film (not dead yet, French flatulence, Trojan rabbits, et al). They left out a lot of the fluff from the film and included some original songs as well. Good to see the Pythons still going strong, catch the show if you can, I believe it's showing in NYC and Vegas. Word of warning, you will have "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" stuck in your head for at least two hours following.

Had dinner at an old English Pub, where I was informed that Black & Tan is terribly out of style and straight Guinness is now considered more fashionable. Ah, the sacrifices we make. Had a big plate of five cheeses and some more great fish & chips (I'm going to need a serious diet once we return stateside), but Kelly's hamburger was a bit senile; methinks they may have slipped some giblets into it.

We finished off our last day in London with Phantom of the Opera. Kelly had seen it a long time ago and I'd only seen the movie (for shame!), so it was fresh for both of us. The falling chandelier effect was top notch and all the performances/vocals were awesome. A spectacular way to finish our last night in London.

London, Day 4

Busy day today. We walked through Hyde Park (beautiful gardens and lake) and went to Buckingham Palace. It was neat to see the gates and the palace guards (no changing today), but not that much to see at the palace. They do, however, appear serious about keeping people out of the palace property, as they had the most intimidating security fence I've ever seen.

Next we went to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, then on to the London Eye. If you haven't heard of the London Eye, it's basically an enormous Ferris wheel over the river with glass pods that complete one full revolution every half hour. You can see almost the entire city from the top, though it is a bit disconcerting to look straight down thru the capsule and see nothing but some glass and almost 500 feet of air between you and the river. After going up in the Eye, we went to Westminster Abbey, but alas we got there a few minutes after they closed so we didn't get to go inside.

Tonight we saw Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre. Neither Kelly nor I had seen it before (I don't count the 8th grade production back at Hutch). Very good production, we're both still amazed how well they do stage shows here; the stage transitions and effects are so seamless, music and vocals so crisp, and so many shows you could see two a day for weeks before you saw them all.