2.5 weeks in pictures
before we left manchester we had a couple of friends over for sugar cookie decorating- a smith family tradition. zeke went for the 12 days of christmas as his theme:
we went to london and stopped by the portobello rd market (with all of the other tourists and hugh grant fanatics) mainly so zeke could get this sandwich:
we went to see matthew bourne’s nutcracker that night. it was a very fun production (people were actually laughing out loud).
then we had dessert at a cafe near our hotel where a group of old men were getting quite competitive about their chess matches. (see wendy’s vegan option compared to zeke’s dairy-laden awesomeness)
the next day we split off so that zeke could go to the natural history museum to see the dinosaurs…
and wendy did a quick bit of researching inside the national gallery…
below is a piece on the 4th plinth in london that wendy had just lectured about with her class:
before we left london we met up with a friend from the summer camp we worked at last summer who lives near the tower of london. we had a great time catching up and then attended a carol service at her church which is right next to the ‘gherkin’ building. it was a really nice time. we even saw a few other friends there!
then we woke up monday morning and headed to heathrow. our flight was a little late, but overall it was an easy trip. we picked up our rental car (zeke laughed that wendy picked one with a sun roof, but it has been so warm here that we’ve used it a lot!) and within half an hour we stopped for our first burritos of the trip!
we drove to the cabin and saw family there before heading to the triangle area to see zeke’s brother alex and his wife olynda. we took a stroll through their neighbourhood, ate more mexican food and north carolina BBQ, and watched carolina basketball. see alex and wendy enjoying the park down the street:
then we went back to VA for christmas with the mcpherson and ligon families (pics to come) and headed to greenville to see zeke’s family on the 26th.
yes, that is a light saber. playing with the kids was super fun (despite caitlin’s frowny face, i think she had fun too).
we also have been struck by how the stereotypes of america are sometimes true, but still awesome. after being gone a while, it does seem funny that we have starbucks inside of stores with shopping carts that have cupholders. yes, you could make fun of us for being so fat and lazy that we need caffeine and cupholders to do our grocery shopping- but on the other hand… have you tried it? it’s awesome. and look how big those aisles are! (insert british joke about needing room for overweight americans.)
then wendy went to concord to see her grandmama, who is recovering from her last stay in the hospital. she was in good spirits and really liked the calendar we gave her of the queen’s royal palaces. she rather likes the queen.
then wendy joined ashley, maria, and cam at ashley’s mom’s house in concord for a girly sleepover complete with nail painting, hair curling, and presents by the fire. it was lots of fun!
here are everyone’s paraffin wax hands.
cam says they’re like dead mummy hands.
then wendy met zeke, his mom, alex, and olynda at the NC museum of art where they had just seen the rembrandt exhibition. (they’re big fans, being dutch and all.)
they joked that here, rembrandt painted the first bluetooth.
then we went back to VA and spent new year’s eve with wendy’s dad and his family playing music and Xbox kinect. wendy’s dad played electric guitar with jeremy and uncle big john on drums and wendy on bass guitar. it was fun, but i don’t think recording contracts are up any time soon.
then we spent new years day at the cabin watching lots of football…
in our fan gear
matching fleece football pants were a great present from zeke’s mom.
check out that throwback panthers mug (and the manicure).
we’ve got one more week to see friends and eat more burritos, then it’s back to england where it’ll be good to get back into our routine and see our sweet manchester friends again.
