Christmas Day in our new home

We all woke up at varying points on the World Clock - Erik at 2:30, Stone and I at 3:30, Lindsay and Lucy at 5:00.  We had designated 7:00 as the earliest acceptable time to wake Grammy and Grandpa up, so we read and played quietly until then, and then woke Sophie up (Yay, Sophie!!) and then knocked on Grammy and Grandpa's door.

We lined up in the upstairs family room, shortest to tallest, and descended in the traditional Christmas Conga line (everyone does that, right?). But wait... no gifts??

Treasure Hunt through the house... where would he have hidden everything? Not even the family presents were under the tree. 

It was the Treasure Hunt to end all Treasure Hunts, all through the house....

 ...And then outside to the front yard...

...And to the old Spanish mission San Juan Capistrano...???...

We caravaned with Grammy and Grandpa, finding clues hidden at the old mission, then off a freeway off-ramp... kids completely perplexed.

All the clues were hidden in tiny Santa hats

Lindsay recognized the name of this school as we passed it... that's her new middle school...

...and to the address of a house...

The first moment at our new house (yep, we're still in pajamas)

These are our first moments. Actually the first moments were wild shrieks - this was 5 seconds after the screams of joy had subsided.

Opening presents - what an amazing hat, Mimi!

Special presents from Daddy

A special present for Erik to share with Stone... the cape his mom made for him when he was 4 years old

Stone exploring the back yard on his new Razor scooter

Ed and Elayne had set up their own tables, chairs, and Christmas decorations galore around the house so that it would feel like a real home when we walked in on Christmas morning. They even put our family photos around. I was so touched I kept weeping all morning. 

I later learned that even the extended family had been involved in the surprise - Uncle Brigham and Aunt Nancy decorated the tree, and Opa set up this beautiful crèche  upstairs.

After the beautiful Christmas morning festivities, we took advantage of the kids playing happily with their new toys, and Erik and I started unloading. Unpacking 4 months' worth of clothes from our Spain suitcases was a teensy task compared to what lay ahead. But the joy was so abundant, it was all just exciting and fun. We set up mattresses first and borrowed blankets from Mom and Dad Allebest. Then in the evening we drove back over to their house for Christmas dinner. Elayne had made an extravagant Mexican feast (chile rellenos and enchiladas and tamales plus side dishes!!) And the highlight of it all: the whole family together!! Christiaan and Noelle and their beautiful children and Jared = a joyful reunion.

Cousin table!

Stone meeting his new baby boy cousin for the first time

And I guess this is where I end the blog for now. We literally have no couch to sit on; no pot to boil water in, so the days are full of errands and organizing and planning. We love living by family, we love the rolling hills and the view of the ocean, we love our disposal and dishwasher. We love our memories of Europe. The only thing that makes us sad is the wave of sorrow that still comes periodically when we think of family and friends that we left behind. But we love all we learned from them and feel their influence in our lives every day, and we know we will see them soon and regularly through the years. On we go, trying to live in the magic of each moment, learning all we can as we move on to the next adventure. 

Final days in London and the flight home

We finally got internet in the house today - it has been strange to go so many days and experience so much and not write about it. Tomorrow will mark one week since we left Europe... already it feels like a dream, so I'm excited to look at these photos again and remember that it really happened only a few days ago!

Last Sunday we woke up and got ready for church, then headed down for the hotel breakfast: scrambled eggs, bacon (Stone walked up to the waiter and said "I like this bacon, but I need it more crunchy. Could you get me some crunchy bacon?" And sure enough, that waiter was happy to oblige. I wonder if that "you get what you ask for" trait is genetically or socially inherited from his father!) and Belgian waffles. I loved the plain yogurt (Erik got me hooked while in Spain) with honey and Muesli.

I wish I had taken pictures of the church. We walked through a sketchy part of Greenwich - concrete government housing, tired old stores and peeling posters on walls, trash on the streets. Erik said he felt uncomfortable with the kids there (plus it was far), so we hailed a cab and took a very roundabout way to the nearest Mormon church. It was such a beautiful service for all the most unexpected reasons. The children of the Ward (congregation) performed a Christmas program they had helped their leaders to write, and provided all the music. It was A Capella and the pitch roamed freely through key signatures, but my heart was so warmed by their humility and sincerity, and I thought many times how at-home the Lord would be in that little service. Maybe even more at home than at a big, perfectly-rehearsed, professionally executed affair. There were people there of many different colors of skin and many different accents and they all seemed to love Jesus and each other. 

After Church, we headed downtown via the Tube to go to the British Museum. This had been Lindsay's idea - she had heard about the famed Egyptian exhibits there and the real, actual Rosetta Stone on display there. 

I had not been on a subway or a train until I was an adult. My kids have now ridden on so many different  types of transportation!

After a quick lunch, we headed to the British Museum. I was blown away not only by the extensiveness of the collections, but also by how accessible they were. It was absolutely free to all visitors (I LOVE that. The treasures of the world available to all! That seems so right to me.), and they offered audio guides specifically narrated for children, as well as special treasure hunts and backpacks full of activities for young ones... all free of charge!! Someone had to have paid for that... thank you anonymous Brits for a wonderful day for my family!!

Sophie, Stone and I got treasure-hunting books for the Egyptian rooms and spent the entire time in there. This man's skeleton was 5,000 years old.

We learned so much! The treasure hunt did a great job at narrowing in on a few special objects in each room so it wasn't overwhelming. Sometimes museums can be so overwhelming that you don't get anything out of them. 

The Rosetta Stone

Someone got worn out at the museum. :)

We hopped out of the bus to see world-famous Harrod's department store. I don't know if the picture shows the crowds thronging the streets, but we could hardly move. Harrods' window displays were creative and beautiful, but once we got inside the kids went, "What?? This is just like Nordstrom, but with fancier ceilings." We agreed, and exited that fancy madhouse as fast as we could, heading for a nearby Thai restaurant with overpriced but insanely delicious Panang curry. Then a loooonnnngggg way home via walk-Tube-bus-wrong-stop-so-long-walk-through-bad-part-of-town-carrying-crying-children and then finally, exhaustedly, home (home being the hotel). 

I had been singing the kids Christmas carols at bed-time and we had been reading Christmas books... but with all the focus on travel and going home to California, it was hard to believe it was actually Christmas Eve... and our last day in Europe. After packing our suitcases and getting ready for the day, we had time to walk around the quaint little town of Greenwich for an hour or so. We explored this old church and graveyard, and made frowny faces that it was our last time seeing beautiful old churches on beautiful old streets. Erik, taking the picture, was not frowning about that. :)
 

We sang Christmas carols in the taxi all the way to the airport, then hauled those now-beloved painted suitcases through the now-familiar airport lines. We've traveled so much during the past 4 months that it felt like just another trip... so strange to actually be going home.

Flight delay = perfect chance to play UNO

We flew New Zealand Airlines - our flight was London to LA, en route to Aukland. The 11-hour flight could not have possibly been better. TV's and unlimited free movies for every seat, more leg-room, pretty good food, and a GENIUS invention, chair recliners where not only the seat back reclined, but the bottom leg part came up to make a perfect space for two small children to sleep side-by-side. By about 10:00 pm London time I was able to convince Sophie and Stone to stretch out and close their eyes, and after singing a couple of lullabies in their ears they conked out!! Amazing!! I woke them up four hours later so that they would still be able to sleep when we landed. Our flight left at 3:30 pm London-time, and with the time difference, arrived at 7:30 pm LA Time.

Ed and Elayne were waiting for us at LAX, bringing our adventure full-circle to where it began. The customs and Passport check lines weren't too bad, and we called Erik's Opa to see if we would still make it to the annual Dutch Christmas Eve party. He said they were all still waiting for us, so we flew down the palm-lined freeways and into the awaiting arms of Opa, Uncles, Aunts and cousins. I was too brain-dead to take any pictures and I could hardly form a sentence - by the time we arrived at the party we would have been waking up for the day in Europe, so we didn't last long, but it was a beautiful welcome home. We arrived back at Grammy and Grandpa's house and immediately tucked ourselves in, with visions not just of British sugar-plums dancing in our heads, but of Spanish Turron, Dutch croquetes, and American bagels.

Also dancing not so much in my head but in my stomach was a lot of nervousness of what was to come. I knew we would be going to our new house for Christmas morning (the kids thought we were moving in much later) -- I had never even been to the city of San Clemente, let alone to the neighborhood or house. And in my four months in Spain, I had not even once...

Driven a car
Used a hair straightener
Cared what anyone thought of me
Used a dishwasher
Put food in a disposal
Attended a full 3 hours of church
Remembered that SPANX exist
Functioned in public in English
Volunteered in a school classroom
Worn uncomfortable shoes
Left my home in the evening without my children
Bought more items than I could fit in my bike trailer or backpack
Coached Lucy through a panic attack (except the first one about Ballet, which never happened again)
Felt anxiety or pressure or unexplained heaviness of body or spirit
Cared how my house was decorated
Texted anyone except Erik

et cetera

And I had been so happy.

For Christmas I bought all 6 of us tee shirts with Seville's logo: NO8DO. The word "nodo" is Latin for "knot," representing Seville's loyalty to the Spanish crown during a Medieval rebellion when all other parts of Spain had abandoned the King. He awarded Seville a special honor, saying that he was tied to them with an eternal knot - the 8 in the middle of the word is shaped like a knotted rope. It also has a poetic meaning that would take too long to explain, but means "no me ha dejado," or "you have not abandoned me." As we come home to America I'm not worried about rebellion, but I am worried about the pressures of many benign things starting to pull our ropes in different directions. I was very tearful when everyone opened their tee shirts and I told them that no matter what, we stay together. We are knotted together as a family, kind to each other, loyal to each other, and each other's first priority. This is the treasure that we bring home from Spain - the re-claimed knowledge that no matter what we do or don't have, we have each other, and that's all we need.

Last Days in Spain; First Days in London

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with sorting, packing, and managing really big, really varied emotions. By Wednesday we had finished the process and were in a state of disbelief that it was really over. We went out to lunch/dinner to celebrate and then to our local park, where a Christmas Fair had been set up, complete with a ferris wheel and ice skating rink.

Seriously, Stone!!! If there is even a second of down-time he is near some ceiling somewhere. This is the front entry of our house. It is so charming with its iron gate from 1862 - this area used to be an outside space so there is still a sewer line under the floor (obvious to any nose who enters).

The girls had just been asking when we would go ice skating next, so it was a wish come true!

After skating we stopped by the playground for one last run on the zip-line. Stone cried when we left.

On Thursday morning we packed the last toothbrushes and ran the last load of laundry... and hoped our dear Carolina would be able to come say goodbye before we left. She showed up running to us through the rain the very moment we were loading our suitcases into the taxis. We were so glad we got to take a picture and give her a final hug goodbye.

Her mom had already shown up earlier to help us get things cleaned up. What dear friends they have been to us!

After a couple of hours in the plane and lonooonnnngggg taxi ride from the airport to the hotel and the hotel to London's Warner Brothers Studios, we snarfed down some cafeteria food and began our tour of "The making of Harry Potter."

Entering Hogwarts

Sophie in the Great Hall. She and Stone have only seen the 1st movie and haven't read any of the books, but it was a magical experience on its own and so amazing to see how movies are made! Hopefully they'll remember some of it when they're old enough to enter Harry Potter world. 

I'm only posting a tiny percentage of all the photos we took - it was a 3 hour tour of original sets, scenery, costumes, wigs, props,  models, creatures... everything the way the actors had left it.

The Knight Bus

#4 Privet Drive

Diagon Alley

We crashed into our hotel beds at 10 pm... then awoke to this sight out our windows Friday morning. So beautifully English and different from Spain!

 Lindsay, Lucy and I met a tour guide to take us around the city, while Erik took Sophie and Stone to a Christmas activity center for little kids. First we saw the changing of the guards. Lindsay took this video - we were standing in the perfect spot for them to march right past us! Lindsay could barely suppress her giggles at their uniforms.

Buckingham Palace

More guards

We drove through many beautiful, famous parts of London, with our guide narrating as we went. I was surprised at how much I remembered from my trip to London when I was 18... and how many high school friends flooded back to my memory after all these years. This was a neighborhood built during Queen Anne's reign - our excellent guide pointed out details that would have otherwise completely escaped us. The double doors were installed so that a sedan chair could enter to take the well-to-do ladies of the house to balls and social engagements. The tall black pole on the right is an old lamp post that held a torch in the time before electric lights.

The restaurant "The Two Chairmen" was named after these chair-carriers in the neighborhood in the 18th Century. I have the two cutest chair-carriers of any Century.

I had remembered Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey from when I was 18, so I wanted to show it to Lindsay. I hadn't remembered all the rest of the history inside - the site of the Coronation of British monarchs since 1308 - the throne inside dates back to that year as well, and is still used! Queens Mary and Elizabeth are both buried inside, as well as so many other people I used to know about. I could have spent all day there, soaking up stories like a sponge. 

 After our tour we ate some lunch and hopped in a cab - one of those charming old-fashioned cars they use in London - and rode to the London Zoo to meet Erik and the littles. I asked our sprightly, white-haired cab-driver where he was from, and he launched into his whole life story about being born in London, and having to go underground during the German bomb raid of World War II and eventually evacuated to three different cities in the countryside when England was saving their children from being killed (Lindsay and Lucy listened wide-eyed to a real-life "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" or "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" story). He told us all about living in poverty after the war, but about how he had one of the only fathers he knew who wasn't killed, because his ear drum had been damaged when he was a child so he was ineligible to serve as a soldier. I thought about the education my kids (and I!) have gotten from unexpected moments like these on this trip and felt so very grateful to have been able to do this!

I'm going to be honest here: The Zoo was cold and expensive (like everything else in London!! Holy Pounds Sterling, I thought the Bay Area was pricey!!!) and we were starting to get on each other's nerves. But we liked this soft, friendly owl.

And I was again reminded that Stone is happiest when he was stuff to climb on.

Dinner at Pizza Express, as recommended by my sister Courtney. My family lived in London for a year while I was in college so I'm sure we're walking through nostalgic streets for them. I missed you all, Mom and Dad and my dear, dear brother and sisters!! Please let's come back together some day and you can show me Denning Close in St. Johns Wood. I wrote that address on so many envelopes...

Sophie and Stone playing in the hotel lobby

Putting on a show for us before bed

 This morning we woke up and exercised in the hotel Fitness Centre together (Stone on the treadmill and Sophie on the exercise bike, Lindsay and Lucy on Stairmasters and Erik on weights = awesome), and then we walked to the train station to get to the Tower of London.

We had great weather yesterday but today was... ok, today was also great weather! Great, cold, rainy, authentic London weather. :) We met our tour guide at the Tower of London for a tour  - that's the tower bridge in the background.

Again, I wished we'd had more time in just the Tower of London. So interesting!!!

Our tour guide Jonathan demonstrating jousting with his umbrella, against his worthy opponent, Sir Stone. King Henry VIII's armor is the background.

I asked Stone at the end of the day what had been his favorite part, and he said "the armor that was my size!" This was Prince Edward's armor, Henry VIII's son.

The spiral staircases always rotated clockwise, so that an enemy coming up the stairs would be at a disadvantage, having to sword-fight left-handed.

Lucy hit the bulls eye on her first try with a bow and arrow!

Sophie loved the crown jewels.

We saw as much of the tower as we could, then hopped in Jonathan's car for an efficient, panoramic , narrated tour of the city. He dropped us off in the West End of London for a quick lunch at a café, a stop at a book store to buy some new books for the plane ride home, and then on to The Arts Theater.

I had bought tickets for "A Christmas Carol," which was getting rave reviews in the papers and was nearly sold-out . What I realized only yesterday was that it was not a typical performance - it was a one-man show (the great British actor, Simon Callow) where he told the story and acted out all the parts on a nearly-blank stage, with only a few chairs for props. This is not what I had been picturing, and was nervous that it wouldn't be accessible to the younger kids. I told everyone what to expect and we went in ready to discover how one man would be able to create that magical world and tell the powerful story all by himself. And oh, what a brilliant play it was. I was so happy I had just read Charles Dickens' original version to the kids as their bed-time book, going through paragraph by paragraph what the tricky words meant - the play followed Dickens' words exactly, and the kids exchanged knowing glances and delighted smiles throughout as they heard Callow bring to life the exact phrases they had just heard in their beds. It was so beautiful.

Through the rain on the way to the train back to the hotel

We couldn't bear to put Sophie and Stone through another restaurant - better said, we couldn't bear to put ourselves through having Sophie and Stone in another restaurant. :) So Erik took the bigs out to pick up dinner while I stayed home and bathed the littles. They brought back DELICIOUS take-out and we all watched Disney's "Mickey's Christmas Carol" on my computer before bed.

And now to bed for me! God bless us, every one!