Caden's Vacation

So, since the blog is about Wade, Angela and Caden... I wanted to make sure to include some shots and stories from Caden's vacation. While we were in London and Edinburgh, Caden spent the week with his grandma and grandpa - going to the zoo, the waterpark, and, of course, Florida. For Christmas, they got him a ticket to Florida to visit with his idol, my little brother and fighter pilot Jeff (a.k.a. call sign Spike-y).
Caden counted down the days from Christmas to his trip on a calendar my mom made him to mark off with stickers. He was good on the flight, flying "commercial" and ecstatic to go see the planes. Caden even got all dressed up in his flight suit, a gift from Wade's visit to Space Camp. Caden and crew spent a long time at the base... at one point as Jeff was explaining all the buttons, Caden exclaimed "that's amazing." Too funny. They also got to see the ocean and visit a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant, before falling asleep in the carseat on the way home.
They had a great trip and although Caden didn't seem to miss us much when we called home twice a day, we were all glad to go home. Not so secretly, I think Caden had worn out my parents also! So good times all around and lots of talk still about his trip to Florida.

Highlights from vacation and some more pics

As I read through the below, I realize it’s a little scattered, so I’ll just give a quick recap of the highlights from our vacation:

• As previously mentioned, the lazy weekend at the Waldorf was much enjoyed.
• The bus tour on Saturday was a good overview of town, and the evening out with Tony was fun and a good reminder of how great it is to have a broad network of friends in the world.
• Sunday was a mellow day for Wade and I to tour London a bit, hitting the British museum and enjoying the sights.
• Monday Wade started his seminars and I took off for a tour of parliament, the Portrait Gallery, Covent Garden and Holborn. We reunited that evening for a tour of Lloyd’s of London (where Wade’s seminar was hosted). I knew I loved that place, but learned it started as a coffee shop… J
• Tuesday we met up for lunch and a tour (from the outside) of St. Paul’s Cathedral and the museum of London. Tuesday evening we went out again with Tony, for a fun night of pubs, Indian food and good conversation about British beer drinking preferences.
• Wednesday was a good day – we really enjoyed the Natural History Museum over lunch. I spent the balance of the afternoon there, and met up with Wade when he was done for a quiet night just the two of us.
• On Thursday night, we saw Mary Poppins, preceded by a great Italian dinner and bottle of wine, followed by drinks with friends at a nearby bar in Soho.
• Friday night concluded at the wine bar – too many free drinks before the trip to Scotland but a really fun time with all our new friends!
• Saturday we made our way up to Edinburgh in the morning.
• Sunday you’ve got a good recap below. I'll toss in a picture of the Scotch Whiskey museum though.
  
• Monday we toured the Scotland National Gallery briefly, shopped for some souvenirs, toured the Palace of Holyroodhouse, then out for a final dinner and drinks at one of the pubs.
• Tuesday’s big highlight – Coming home!! So great to be back.

I’ll try to write again soon with an update on the big upcoming move. But today is a busy day… :)

Hello from Edinburgh

Can anyone tell me why it's pronounced "Edin-burra"? I don't get it. Well, aside from that one mystery, it's an awesome city. Truly beautiful and steeped in history and hospitality. We had an excellent day of visiting the castle, a Thai restaurant for lunch, some shopping in Old Town, the scotch whiskey museum (and tasting), St. Giles Cathedral, some shopping, and a pub called the World's End for dinner (yes, and drinks). It's really beautiful here. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Right now, it's time to call home... :)

Some packing lessons

As we wrapped up our stay in London, I spent a good part of Friday at the Victoria and Albert museum, which I thought was one of the coolest places I'd been. My opinion, better than the British museum. I couldn't begin to describe the expansiveness of the collections, everything from fashion pieces (thought of you KT), Victorian treasures, Asian and Indian artifacts, silver and gold pieces and whole monuments and cathedral facings, right inside the building. It was huge and really well done. Also, a nice lead in to my lessons... on packing. The museum clearly had space and time also mastered.

With the drama surrounding our departure, I took a less methodical approach to packing than even I would typically, and threw everything I could think of into a bag. Yep one bag. Wade has always been a bit of a pack rat, but I won't pick on him publicly here - he had two :) So, anyhow, we had some very heavy bags, a fact that Northwest had picked up on quickly before our trip to Chicago - $50 in overweight baggage charges. Yuck. So, we decided to pick up another duffel in London to distribute the weight better - seemed like a great plan since I only had one bag. So we showed up at the airport for our flight to Scotland, a little puddle hop on EasyJet. Except that they only allow one bag per customer not two, and in any case no more than 20 kg. So, we could pay 150 pounds ($300) or rearrange our bags again in the middle of the airport. Yep, we did that. Then checked our bags into storage for the now seemingly reasonable cost of $75. Long story, but has me thinking... what does one really need to pack? For a stay of 12 days? How about a year?
Turns out my stuff is not as cool as the artifacts in the V&A museum. So next time, I'm going to leave them at home. The only thing I've decided I need to survive (family, friends and mushy stuff aside of course) is COFFEE. Even at $8 a latte, that is a need I can't seem to part with.

So, we're off to the Edinburgh Castle now (after Starbucks). I'll try to write again soon.

Hello from London!

Ok, I still have some opportunity to keep this more frequently updated. I KNOW! Remember though, that this is a girl that just got an iPod, and still doesn't have music on it beyond Wade's selections. Baby steps friends.

The weekend at the Waldorf was awesome. We were pretty mellow for the weekend. We had orientation on Saturday morning followed by a bus tour - a good way to get the "lay of the land" as Dave S. had advised me. Our guide was hilarious also, if a bit obsessed with the really gross parts (think William Wallace execution and Jack the Ripper - but with details). Ew. I'm more of a Queen's jewels type, and we met up with Tony for a great walking tour of London on Saturday night, followed by some pubs and dinner in Chinatown. Oh, and then another pub - when in Rome, right? Sunday we kept with the mellow theme - sleeping in, walking through town and the British museum. At night, we thought we'd try out local entertainment at Leicester Square. So we took in the movie Happy Feet (yep, the animated penguins one). I think since movie tickets in London cost $19 a piece, my expectations were too high! Did I mention yet that the exchange rate is 2 to $1?

So far this week, Wade has been in classes (and happy) while I've been walking about and taking in the museums (and also happy). So, Wade's day involves getting up early, putting on a suit, and heading off to a long day of classes at Lloyd's of London. My day involves getting up late, putting on jeans, and walking about from coffee shop to museum to coffee shop to museum, armed with my road map, a book, and a declining sum of pounds with which to buy coffee. Evenings we meet up for dinner and pubs. On Tuesday, we again met up with Tony, who took us to some really great out of the way pubs and then out for Indian food. It was a great night, and fun to get the "local" perspective.

Today, it's more of the same. Weather here has been actually quite good. We'll try to get to the theater tonight (the real one, not Happy Feet r2). Tomorrow there is a closing reception for Wade's class, and then Saturday it's off to Scotland.... stay tuned. I'll try to write soon.

~Angela

Let the adventure begin!

Our first Big hiccup along the way...
We submitted out passports for processing to the Indian consulate (through Target) for visas about 3 weeks ago. Late last week / early this week, it became apparent that we were not getting them back, and the consulate denied any record of having them - yikes! Luckily, Target helped us out, getting an expedited appointment at the Chicago Passport agency through Senator Coleman's office, a trip to Chicago and revised itinerary (many thanks to everyone who made that happen). So, instead of a leisurely direct flight to London yesterday evening, we boarded the first plane to Chicago at 7am, and spent the day at the passport agency, getting an emergency reissued passport to replace our lost ones, before boarding a revised route through Detroit that got us to London - very nearly right on schedule for arrival!! It was a little hairy, but I suspect something we'll get accustomed to soon enough. Hopefully, it will work out all the way through, and I will get another visa application submitted (and BACK) in time for my Feb 7th departure to Bangalore.
For now, good lessons learned that 1) I can ask for help, really and 2) there's lots of people who will.

So, we're in London now, checked into the Waldorf Hilton as planned, which happens to be right across from the Indian Embassy (small, small world!). The hotel stay was a birthday gift from my parents, long before we knew about my assingment in India - interesting irony. Wade is excited to be starting his class at St. Thomas/ Lloyd's first thing in the morning, and then we'll meet up with Tony, a coworker and friend of my dad's. I'll try to use this forum to update everyone on our stay in London too. For now, I'm just glad to be here! We are really so blessed, with such great family, friends and support, as we continue on this great adventure!

A sad weekend event

On Saturday we bid farewell to our fishes - they were sold into a new, and hopefully decent (Wade is sure NOT as good as his) home. Caden is taking it well; but Wade has been going through the grieving process. While saddened by the $4k into the tank we will not see again, I am just trying not to be too ecstatic, so as to appear supportive.

In anticipation, the tank had already been replaced, by a beautiful screen saver on this computer. Clean, but never needs cleaning - I love it. :)

Yes I know it's been over a month

Ok, before all of you write with New Year's resolutions for me to keep this (and all of you) better udpated.... we are still moving to India. :)
Seriously, it's been a wonderful time with family over the holidays and the time is quickly nearing for us to leave. And the question I keep getting - "are you ready?". Well, we're getting there...

• The house: we've had the house on the market for over a month, and while not sold, has had more showings than we had expected at this point. Keep your fingers crossed as this would be a HUGE item off the to-do list! If it doesn't sell, it will become a very expensive storage facility for our stuff.
• The move: After meeting with the moving company, and doing the math on the 8-12 weeks it takes to get there (and back), we're not planning to ship much and will try to find a semi-furnished place. It's been a good reason to lighten the load a bit on our stuff (although Christmas was a bit of a step back on this mission for Caden, who acquired even more airplanes than the Indian air force). Of course, I also couldn't resist grabbing the double-large pack of Lucky Charms (a girl has to have the staples...).
• Technology: we ARE trying, really. Wade has us all hooked up now with a Skype account, a webcam (and one for my parents too), a video iPod (I can even watch Grey's Anatomy), and a new laptop (Christmas gift for us, from us). So, there's hope - even I got an iPod from my brother and sister...now, I just need to learn to use it. Stay tuned.
• Caden: I could go on and on (as you know), but he is definitely starting to talk about it a lot, a by-product of the talking around him. He was a trooper through the doctor's visit and vaccinations (more so than I was), until the last visit, when he told us he couldn't go again as he "didn't have any blood left." Ok. He also is looking forward to riding tigers (I keep telling him this is a bad idea - to which he responds that he'll "be really careful"). Also very excited that he will get us there quickly by flying his airplane, first over the river and then across Florida... but "it will take a lot of gas".
• The trip there: which makes me a little conscientous of all the other people on the plane, once Caden realizes he is not in fact flying the plane, and it will not be quick. Of course, Wade and Caden are leaving about a week behind me, so I'll just have to hear about it (hopefully not on the news). :) Wish Wade luck! I will likely leave on Feb 7th or so and they will come around the 14th to give me time to get a little bit settled. Hopefully this will ultimately make the transition easier for Caden.
• Things there: my first day in the new office is Feb 12th, and everyone has been great so far in helping and offering to help - it is incredible how very hospitable everyone has been. My new boss is helping me to find a house, and a coworker that moved last summer for a 2 year assignment with 3 kids has been Awesome in helping with information on what to pack, and what to expect, etc., finding school, help (cook/maid) and a driver. I'm sure there will be hiccups, but it's nice to feel like there is already a great support network in place. It sounds like the community is very close, and with lots of kids. I'm sure there'll be more to come on that.

Well, I best be off to the New Year's celebration - it's going to be an exciting 2007! Best wishes to all of you also, for a peaceful and prosperous year!

Regards,
Angela (are you supposed to "sign" blogs anyone??)