Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Wow what a trip. I've uploaded nearly 200 pictures on Picasa (and a few movies at the end) which you should be able to access from below the main picture (above). Let me know if you have any problems.

Here's the low down on the Wild Ride.

We left Newcastle on the 16th of December. The airplane in Newcastle had a technical so we sat on the runway for 4 hours. Kids went nuts, we knew we had missed our connection in London to Denver, so asked to leave. They took us off and then when we tried to rebook at the counter they said they couldn't book us until Jan 4th. Yikes, but they managed to taxi us back to our airplane, we flew to London and they set us up for the night in the Renaissance hotel. The next day took the flight to Denver and hung out in Colorado Springs for a week.

Ana and Chad were there and we had a white Christmas. Dad was in a slump because his business had the worst year since he started it. He was also pushing us to get on this Dietary Supplement thing. I was ok with it until I got the impression this stuff would cure cancer, then I got upset. Went to the zoo with Mom, ate a lot of good Mexican food and saw a lot of movies with Ana and Chad. Then we prepared for our Train ride to California. We went to Denver the night before on Christmas Even and had a great night with Alex and Daniela, our new friends in Colorado. Yes, it's true, Bulgarians and Russians can drink hard alcohol like no other people on the planet (and not show they're drunk, mostly). Thanks guys, it was a great visit.

Alex took us to Amtrak the next morning on Christmas day at 6 AM. How's that for friendship! While we waited for the train, Maya took a flying dive into one of the station doors and had a welt that you will see a bit of in some of the pictures. I was supposed to be the parent in charge when it happened. The train arrived and the welt didn't seem as large anymore.

For the price of flying we got a sleeper car on the train and spent 2 great days on the train, meals included. Great trip. Lots of snow over the Rockies and Sierras. Julian ran around the train as Santa Claus. Maya ate grilled cheese sandwiches each meal. Got into Martinez and Bob picked us up (Amanda's dad). We spent a few days with Grandpa Bob and Grandma Wendy eating (you guessed it) Mexican food and playing around in a mostly soggy Livermore.

Chris Keener, Jodi, Ray and Jodi's baby Katherine came by to visit us with a couple of turtles (Chris seems to think they're tortoises, go figure). You can see Julian riding the one called Mr. across the street (don't worry there were no cars). Enjoyed the time with them and had dinner in a Mexican restraurant before Mr. Keener took his gang back home. Jodi's daugther is beautiful, and we're glad Ray is helping to take care of her.

Spent a few days in the Bay Area. I saw Avatar in IMAX 3D. Unbelievable visual effect. Awesome! Then we made it down to the Ranch and Bette's house. Loved the beach and the time to relax. I did have to work on my grant but enjoyed spending a few mornings sitting in Bette's car at the beach writing on my laptop.

Headed down in Bette's car to Disneyland. Amanda had gotten something that was developing into pneumonia, so she was caughing all the time. Fortunately Eric prescribed some antibiotics and staved off a major hospital visit type infection. So Amanda had to sit out the Disneyland day in the hotel recovering while I took two very tired kids to the park. My mistake was taking Maya to Pirates of the Carribean (thinking we would take turns doing things Julian wanted followed by things Maya wanted). Maya screamed the whole time. I thought about jumping out of the boat several times, but the skeletons kepts us in the boat. The other people on the ride were wondering why the hell I'd brought a little girl on the ride. I wondered too. To soften the blow we went to it's a Small World After All next, but as soon as Maya saw the boats she screamed again. Fortunately the screaming stopped when she saw that there were toys and dolls in this ride.

Amanda met us for lunch and took Maya. Julian and I had a bit of fun going to rides he liked. He loved the car driving ride and riding the rocket ships. I tried to talk him into fighting Darth Vader (they had a Jedi Training course, see pictures) but he was afraid so we watched little kids fight the Dark Side. Picket up Maya later that evening and Julian drove her on the car driving ride. Both kids passed out on the way to the shuttle so I had fun shuffling both of them back to the hotel room. Man, the toughest Disneyland day I've ever had, but no regrets. We tried.

Spend a couple of days with Beverly in Laguna Hills. Great sunshine, great temperature. Awesome. I tried to convince Amanda that people get tired of the sun (to prepare her for the nasty storms that were hitting Europe). She didn't buy it.

We had no trouble flying on the 747 back from L.A. to London. But in London we got stuck again. All flights outside of London, at least with our company British Airways were cancelled for as long as we could see. We didn't understand why, since Colorado gets this kinds of snow and weather all the time, but hey, the British haven't had a winter like this in 30 years. Anyhow, we stressed as we spent the night in the familiar Renaissance hotel. Then the next day when we heard they were busing people to Newcastle we managed to get the last 5 seats back. Jet lag was good in this case: we slept the whole 5 hours up to Newcastle. Did I forget to mention Bette was travelling back with us? Finally made it back to Newcastle and enjoyed shoveling the snow. What's the big fuss? Enjoyed being home.

Our luggage came back bit by bit in the next week and a half. I had a rough ride submitting my grant but finally got it in, jet lagged and tired. The kids had a tough time with the jet lag, Amanda is still tired, but Bette seems to be doing well and enjoying the UK. She'll go to Paris soon to visit Laura, Jeremy and our soon to be new cousin Leo.

Had a nice sunny Sunday last weekend and went to Bamburgh Castle up north on the Coast (see pictures). Now we've mostly adjusted, but are still missing one suitcase. What a trip. Next time, we'll skip winter travel. Unless it involves a train ride.

Enjoy the photos and sorry for not blogging for over a month and a half. I think you can understand why.

p.s. Hey! Laura and Jeremy are expecting a baby any SECOND NOW !!! Congrats to the new parents to be.

p.s.s. Maya turns 3 tomorrow. Man I'm so glad we're out of the terrible 2s!