Clifton

Two great things happened this afternoon... the sun came out and I figured out how to get in and out of the flat as we all took a walk around Clifton.

This is our first front door. You can't read it in the picture, but the historical placard reads that a famous cricketeer lived here in the 1860's.

This is the same picture out our front window as in the previous post but with beautiful blue sky!

This is the continuation of similar flats to ours. It's an L shape. Ours is the end of a row, but the corner of the L if that makes any sense. A great spot in Clifton. Just around the corner in between these 2 buildings, opens into tons of shops and stores. There's a fresh fruit and vegetable market less than a minutes walk from our door. I'm pretty sure our permanent place won't have such great proximity to so many things, but we'll enjoy it while we can!

This is Christ Church. It's a famous Anglican church in Bristol, just down the street.

This is the Clifton Suspension Bridge. It was kind of cloudy and hazy when we got to the bridge so the picture doesn't do it justice, but it's absolutely breathtaking!!

We found a playground at a park near the bridge.

A couple of random pictures of the area near the bridge.

Funny Videos

Here are a couple of funny videos we took just before we left Pop and Gamma's house.

Gamma told them there were owls in the woods so they started with the owl calls.

This is their robot dance.

Travel Day

This is us at Logan airport 3 hrs. early with all our stuff. Thankfully Steve and Jackie (Mark's parents) helped us get everything inside to the ticket counter. There weren't any lines to speak of and everything went smoothly so we were through security to our gate rather quickly.

This is in our rental car on the 2 hr. drive to Bristol. This is what it looked like on the plane too except for one BIG difference... that little quiet guy in the middle wasn't so quiet on the plane. In fact, he was quite the opposite, appearing as a psychotic resemblance of this peaceful child. His affection for Toy Story became more than an obsession that produced cries and screams for Buzz and Woody that I know made Mark and I crazy and I'm sure half the plane as well. He slept very little; maybe 1 1/2 hrs combined on the 6 hr. flight. Nathanael in my lap didn't work at ALL. Maybe in business class, but not in coach seating. If anyone has heard Brian Reagan's piece on flying you can imagine the thoughts running through my head. Never again will we take any kid over 15 months on a plane longer than 3 hrs. unless they have a seat of their own. The financial cost is worth the mental sanity.

This is looking out our living room window. It's a beautiful view which I have only seen from this window. We've only been here 2 days, but Nathanael and I have yet to leave the flat since we got here on Wednesday. There are 3 doors, 2 keys and a code that keeps me going outside. We haven't had a chance for all of us to leave for Mark to show me how everything works. Hopefully this afternoon. I feel a bit trapped with Nathanael's dirty diapers. There are 3 doors that open up to porches in our flat, but none of which actually open for some reason. All that to say I have to triple bag them until Mark's around to take them to the trash.
This is our eating area/living room.
Hudson and Elliot in our kitchen. All equipped with a oven we were told not to use, and stove we can't figure out how to use, a 1970's microwave (which does work so who cares!), a toaster that we're living on and a dorm room size refrigerator. We're loving toast. "Good toast" for all you Nacho Libre fans.

Day with Pop

Pop took Hudson and Elliot to south Boston to the harbor. They had a great time watching barges and tugboats and ships and airplanes. They were able to get tours of Fort Independence on Castle Island and the USS Constitution. They also saw a WWII Destroyer that's being refurbished in the naval yard. The cannons and the tricorn naval hats were they're favorite. You're likely to see more pics with the hats. They've worn them constantly since they got back.

Random Pics

Here is a smattering of pictures from more time at Pop and Gamma's.

Pop took the boys for a ride on/in the tractor.

Hudson and Elliot found some gardening shovels in the garage and have put them to work shoveling snow.

I think Mark has had a great time playing with the boys. Maybe a little too much fun in fact.

Mark dug out 2 places for the boys in the snow along the rock wall. They've been using it as a fort. A great place to hide for snow ball attacks.

Mark's friend Drew Harris came up for the weekend. We had a great time hanging out. Pop has been taking the boys for lots of walks in the woods. This is from a time when Drew and Mark went along.

The boys were playing with cousin Tatum in the high chair. They had her really laughing. She's super cute.

We met Kelly and Tatum at a local library and had a good time in the craft room. Here they are showing off their craftiness.

Got to have a few fire side family pics, right? What's Christmas without them?

Bill Hamilton

Mark's grandfather died in October '09. Mark was the only one able to fly up for the funeral. Hudson has been asking about seeing Pa, so we asked Mark's grandmother to take us up to the graveside.

We miss him!

Snow Slide Pics

Nathanael's favorite place to be.

Dawn and Hudson have a snowball fight.

Savannah "pulling" Elliot... I think it should be the other way around.

These pictures were from the evening before.

It gets dark here way too early for Hudson and Elliot.

Cute kid, even with a snotty face!