Ahrensburg

Sunday, December 30, 2007 Ahrensburg, Germany

10:07am Get up

10:20am Sad news reported. Rike is sick. She caught what her brother had while he was visiting just before we came.

10:45am Breakfast. Pretty much the same choices as the day before although cookies and chocolate were also on the table.
Heather: turkey, bread, banana, orange, cookie, nuts, Norwegian cheese, nutella, and water
Lynette: Multigrain bread w/ honey, banana w/ nutella, tea(chi), Spanish and Norwegian cheese, orange, chocolate.
While eating breakfast Rike gave us a condensed History and political lesson about Germany from the other side of the living room while we ate in the dining room. She wanted us to keep our distance so we didn’t get sick.

11:43am Kinder eggs – a wonderful German Chocolate Egg with a toy inside (not for children under 3)

12:04pm Decided to go explore Ahrensburg and let Rike get better

First stop, the “castle” schloβ.

After the castle we walked around the grounds and came upon a WWI and WWII memorial

1:10pm Stopped in a café for a hot drink. I had some hot chocolate that was okay and Lynette had some Berry tea that was quote "Amazing"

2:38pm Head out to do some more exploring

2:47pm Make our way to the La Valpe (Ice Cream Pavilion) and run into Eva ad Toby along the way. Interesting, we are in a foreign country walking around an unknown town and run into people we know….wild.

2:49pm Walk into the La Valpe. Unlike the girls in the café, the waiter does not speak English. Fortunately the menu has pictures.

3:03pm Ice Cream creations arrive. Lynette orders Speghetti Banana and I ordered Speghetti Neri

3:30pm Leave Ice cream place in search of more kinder eggs to take home

3:38pm Spot a gas station. Decide to check it out

3:44pm No luck with the kinder eggs but did find some gummy bears

3:52pm Stop in a pastry shop for a soft pretzel. Surprisingly, we find some kinder eggs

4:21pm Make it back to Rike’s house without a problem.

4:23pm Start a puzzle that has been gradually worked on for over a year. The main reason: it is really, really hard. A lot of dark areas

6:00pm Break for a delicious dinner: broccoli, rice, turkey, and German cold salad (aka coleslaw)

6:25pm Back to the puzzle

9:58pm Puzzle finished!

10:10pm Lights out for an early morning

Exploring Hamburg

Saturday, December 29, 2007 Hamburg, Germany
8:30am Wake up having to go to the bathroom. Fighting the urge because I am too warm and don’t want to get out of this wonderful cozy bed. End up doing it anyway.

9:40am Go down stairs to join Lynette for breakfast. Am greeted by a big jar of Nutella on the table (I love this stuff) and German radio playing softly in the background. Definitely feel like I am not in Kansas any more.

10:48am Rike and her mom light the Christmas tree. When I say "light" it wasn’t just flipping the on switch, it was light a match and then light the candles on the tree one at a time. Very cool.

10:53am Start breakfast or should I say 2nd breakfast.
On the menu:
Cheese: Spanish, Norwegian, and French
Meat: Duck, Eel, Turkey, Trout, Salmon, and Liverwurst
Fruit: Bananas, Apples, Oranges, and Pears
Breads: Multi grain scone thing, Wheat rolls, Cinnamon Danish thing minus filling
Spreads: Honey (Spring), Nutella, Apricot jam, Cherry jam, butter.
Nuts: Macadamia nuts still in shell
Drinks: Cinnamon tea , water

Special note: Lynette ate, Heather ate

12:00pm Went to Ahrensburg post office to see if we could exchange some money. No Luck.

12:08pm Catch the train to Hamburg

12:43pm Exchange money in the Central train station

1:05pm Head to an authentic Christmas Market (aka German Market)
Sightseeing continued for the rest of the early afternoon:






Rathaus (City Hall)
The inner and outer bodies of water (can’t remember their names)


St. Michal’s Went to the top of the tower
Krameramtswohnungen (Original Historic German Village)

3:00pm Met up with Eva and Toby, two of Rike’s Friends and went back to the last two places.

3:25pm Continued sightseeing








Harbor








St. Nicole Church that was bombed during the war

4:25pm Headed to Groninger Pils for Dinner but it didn’t open until five

4:28pm Walked down the road to an Italian restaurant for hot drinks to help us thaw out. I had some amazing hot chocolate. Lynette was a bit disappointed with her tea.

5:03pm Headed back to the Groninger Pils for Dinner. Very cool place. Fun Atmosphere. A meat lovers heaven especially for those that enjoy a good sausage or some fish. Fortunately there was a menu in English. After much discussion our choices were:
Lynette – Smoked Salmon, Shrimplits (for lack of a better term), weird slimy fish, green fishy-rolly thing (ended up being pretty good) and Beer bread. Drink: cola–fanta mix (she loved it! Possible new obsession)
Heather – Smoked ham, smoked sausage (spicy) pretzel (really good) pickles, cheese, and Beer bread. Drink: water, but not tap water, like carbonated water. Least favorite thing of the whole meal.
After eating we sat around and had a picture party. Really no other way to explain it. We just started taking pictures of the things around us or of each other taking pictures. Kind of random, but fun.

7:08pm Start off for the Warehouses. The location of the Miniature Wonderland.


Highlights:
Big foot in the Redwoods
Little rock climbers and mountaineers
Going from Day to Night
Cruise Ship moving around
The Intricate train system
“Celebrate” Concert complete with “big” screens



Lundt Chocolate Factory (After you pushed the button for the factory to begin operation, a piece of chocolate comes out at the end).
The interactive buttons
The creative sense of humor by the producers
The road displayed in the “America” section was the road that we have actually driven on from Vegas to Utah (I-15)

10:35pm Becoming aware that is was getting late, we left the warehouses in search of the nearest train station to head back to Ahrensburg

11:45pm Made it back to Rike’s house and went to bed.

On to Germany

Friday, December 28, 2007 Coventry, London, England; Hamburg, Germany

7:00am Wake up call

8:00am Leave for Bus station

8:10am Loaded onto the 420 coach heading for London Victoria Station

11:10am Made our way back to the tube station to make another visit to Camden Market. A good place to find some last minute gifts before we leave England.

1:00pm Found our way to Oxford Circus. It really was a circus! Soooooo many people!

3:45pm Arrived at Heathrow to catch our flight to Germany

5:35pm The time stated that our Gate information would be available

5:41pm Still waiting on the gate information

5:53pm Still waiting…

5:56pm Head to our gate. Excitement is rising

6:08pm Board

6:27pm Seven minutes after we were supposed to take off, we find out that the engine to start the other engines is not working. So now we wait for someone to start our engines.

6:38pm The engines are running but they found a problem with the generators. So we taxi on over to a place where those can be worked on.

7:44pm Still waiting while the generators are being fixed

7:54pm Informed that the generators are now operational but during the process of the repair, the engines were turned off so now we wait for those to be restarted. Are we ever going to get off the ground!

7:58pm Finally begin to move

8:05pm The plane is actually flying

----------------------- Time Change ---------- 1 hour forward-------------------------------

10:18pm Plane lands. Applause breaks out in the cabin. We are in Germany!!!

10:27pm After waiting behind one family in the customs line, I approach the window.
Customs man, “Hi”
Heather, “Hello”

10:28pm Customs man stamps passport, no questions asked. Lynette had the exact same experience although I think hers took less time

10:37pm Pick up luggage. Didn’t even have to wait.

10:39pm Find Rike (Lynette’s friend) and run to catch the bus. Then on to the train towards Rike’s house.

Note: Some things that were noticed after entering Germany
1. Smoking in the airport
2. Open containers on trains
3. People turning and looking at us as we talk to each other in English

12:50am Go to bed. Lynette and I are beside ourselves because not only do we each get our own beds, but we have our own rooms!

The Last Two Days with the Family

Wednesday, December 26, 2007 Coventry, England
Boxing Day

9:31am Get out of bed. Not much is planed for the day

10:10am After finishing The Last Sin Eater the previous night, Lynette starts to read Memoirs of a Geisha

5:11pm All climb back into the car to head to Mark’s Aunt Lindsay’s house

8:32pm Head back to Mark and Hilary’s after a interesting evening with the Sephton side of the family. Left with a little more insight on why Mark is the way he is ;-)

Thursday, December 27, 2007 Coventry, England

10:00am Mark, Dad, Lynette, and I walk towards Tesco to see what sales are going on at the shopping area.

10:25am Lynette fights the massive amount of people in Next. Note: found out later that they only have 2 sales a year. Hence the reason it was absolutely insane!

11:47am Finally make our way back to the house

12:22pm Lynette and I are recruited to baby-sit Lois. Hilary and Mark head to lunch for their first afternoon out alone in 7 months.

2:43pm Mark and Hilary return. Lynette gets back to her book.

3:57pm Started to watch the rest of The Phantom of the Opera which I forgot to mention we started on Christmas Day (as is tradition).
Special note: Lynette read a total of three books while in England. Pretty impressive considering all the books were pretty lengthy (Seabiscuit, The Last Sin Eater, Memoirs of a Geisha)

4:49pm Start another round of Balderdash

7:21pm After another compelling game of Balderdash and some delicious sloppy joes, we decide to bring the Christmas season to a close by watching White Christmas an old favorite classic.

11:37pm After making sure all is ready for our departure in the morning, we head for bed on our last night in England (I have to admit I am a little sad. It is always so hard to go).

Christmas Day

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

3:30am My internal Christmas Day alarm goes off. Push the snooze button, Lois is in charge of the wake up call this year.

6:53am Lois Anne gets the house up. She is a bit later than I would have chosen, but I am sure that the rest of the family appreciates it.

7:01am Monkey Bread is put into the oven

7:04am The Christmas Ceremony begins, first the stockings then the presents.

7:32am Slight intermission of the ceremonies as we ate the delicious monkey bread.

8:05am All of the Christmas presents are opened. Lois received the most. No surprise there.

9:00am Mark’s Mum Liz comes for a visit.

1:40pm Break the Christmas Crackers to begin our Christmas meal prepared by Mark
Menu: Lamb; Ham; Roasted Potatoes, Carrots, and Parsnips; Cranberry Sauce; Yorksire puddings; sparkeling juice; Lynette’s rolls
Note: Christmas Cracker prices: spinning tops. Mine (the purple) beat them all in time and form

4:21pm Jeni and Dave (Mark’s sister and brother-in-law) stopped by to exchange gifts for Jeni’s birthday and Christmas.

8:20pm Paul and Jane (Mark’s Dad) arrive.

8:52pm Start to play the game of Balderdash

11:32pm The Game has not officially ended but it is time to call it a night. Mark is deemed the winner.

Christmas Eve

Monday, December 24, 2007 Coventry, England

In the morning the ladies finished up the baking and decorated the sugar cookies. Mark and Hilary started prepping for Christmas dinner.

2:32pm Convinced Mark to let us all ride in one vehicle. I sat on the floor behind the front passenger seat

2:40pm Head to Warwick Castle

4:30pm Lynette and I go skating on the Walkway through Peacock Garden

5:57pm Return home to watch the traditional Christmas Eve movie, Muppets Christmas Carol. I was a bit disappointed that the DVD version took out the song “When Love is Gone”

The Baking Day

Sunday, December 23, 2007 Coventry, England

10:45am After making a list of supplies; Hilary, Lois, Lynette, and I head to Tesco. No one had any idea what we were in for. There were so many people you would think it was the day after Thanksgiving! Then you add buggies, plus baskets, plus push chairs, and children. The place was so crowded. The lines were so long that I had to stand in line with Lois and the pushchair while Lynette and Hilary finished shopping

11:38 am Flagged down Joe walking down the aisle that I am standing in line in. The crazy guy just came to pick up a little something for breakfast.

11:58am Lynette and Hilary rejoin me

11:59am Because Dad is meeting Liz for lunch, at least one of us has to head back to the house because Hilary has the only set of keys available to lock up. Lois and I start our way back. The pushchair has to stay behind.

12:14pm Arrive back at the house. My arms as so tired from carrying Lois. She may be only 7 months olds, but she is one solid child. If only I had some hips!

12:32pm Hilary and Lynette make it back to the house as well

1:05pm Baking begins: Sugar cookies, peanut butter balls, and chocolate bark

Comparison:
Pictured Left - Lois at 7 weeks -- Right - Lois at 7 months

Birmingham

Saturday, December 22, 2007 Coventry, Birmingham, England

This morning’s main event: Lois’ projectile vomit
1st round: all over Auntie Heather
2nd round: all over Mummy
3rd round: all over the dinning room door
Lynette some how missed the fun of being involved. However she was able to give Lois excellent marks for distance.

We were planning on going to Birmingham to check out the Europe’s largest German market outside of Germany. Hilary put Lois back to bed hoping she would feel better.

After a nap, Lois is back up and seems back to normal. Seeing no reason to stay home, we caught the bus to the train station to head to Birmingham.

Once we arrived to the Bull Ring, my toilet alert was in the orange zone. I didn’t expect there to be so many people! It was getting to be a little outrageous. The German market was huge and a bit over whelming. Lynette ended up buying a pair of boots and some other Christmas gifts.
Arrived back to the house tired, but Lois was so good!

Family Fun

Friday, December 21, 2007 Coventry, England

Time was not a notable factor today. Mark had the day off so we went into the City center and went to IKEA. Ran into Matt Turlington, a friend of Mark’s that came over to the States last Christmas.

Matt and his brother Joe ended up coming over for dinner. Chinese was ordered. Lynette and I had duck for the first time. It was pretty good.

Played the ever-favorite game consequences. Had some good laughs but by the end of the game the line was crossed several times. With Mark and Lynette in the room, it was bound to happen!

After Lois was put to bed, we all gathered in the living room to do a little betting on some dog and horse races. Joe and I won the most money in the horse races and Lynette and Matt kicked butt in the dog races. Oh if only the money was real!



Pictured: Dad and Lois

Hilary and me

First Day with the Fam

Thursday, December 20, 2007 Coventry, England

??:??am Awaken by Mark getting for work.

9:00am Lois and Hilary come to give us a morning welcome. Lois was a bit overwhelmed and cried. I will try not to think it was me.
The rest of the day encompassed everyday activities that you would do on a nice, vacation day. Sleeping, eating, walking to Tesco. However, there was a slight music dilemma that had to be solved in order to unlock all of the Christmas music that is on my ipod. The walk to Tesco was the result of that dilemma.

London Day 2

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Rickmansworth, London, Coventry, England

10:14am Get out of bed

11:30am With all our luggage on our backs and in our hands we say boodbye to our wonderful host Leah and head to the tube station

12:36pm Arrive at Victoria Coach Station. Left Luggage at the Left Luggage desk to make it easier to see more of London

1:12pm Saw Buckingham Palace and Victoria Fountain

1:30pm Reach Hyde Park to check out the winter wonderland

2:08pm Sat down for a snack break. The squirrels and pigeons moved in.

2:11pm While Lynette was getting ready to take a picture of a squirrel that was about to jump on my lap, another squirrel scurried up her leg! Unbelievable!

2:48pm Head into a little restaurant to warm up a bit and to figure out where we wanted to head to next

5:10pm Arrive back to Victoria Coach Station to wait for the bus to Coventry after going to the Tower Bridge. While we were there we found a German Market bought some candy and bratwurst. As we were crossing back over to the north side of the river, a boat wanted to cross under the bridge. We stopped and waited as the bridge was drawn up.

5:20pm Whipped out Mark’s Christmas present Blokus and started to play as we waited for the bus.

6:10pm At this point we are supposed to be sitting on a bus but it has yet to arrive. The room kept getting smaller and smaller.

8:25pm I can’t remember when we actually started moving but right now we have stopped.

8:32pm It seems at this point we await a new bus driver

8:37pm The bus starts moving again….with the same driver.

9:25pm Mark and Dad pick us up. The bus was only 35 minutes late. Hey but it only cost 5 pounds.

9:51pm Arrive at Hilary and Mark’s. Unpack all Christmas gifts and wrap them.

11:10pm Find sleep in the pull out in the dining room.

London Day 1

December 18, 2007 Rickmansworth, London, England

9:17am Awake to start our day of sightseeing

11:18am After walking to the train station, Lynette, Leah and I hop on to the train to central London. First stop, Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum




12:01pm Arrive at the Museum and receive that VIP treatment thanks to Mark Sephton my dear brother-in-law. No questions asked just the wave on through including at the Chamber of Horrors: Serial Killers.

Definition: A chamber of a cellblock pathway where freaky actors leap out at you from dark corners getting so close you can almost feel them but they never do touch you (in theory). It was one of the most hilarious experiences in a very creepy way. When put in the right context, it is amazing what a puff of air across the legs can do!

1:16pm Make our way to Camden Market

3:47pm After walking through the markets and having some lunch, we head back to the tube to move further into the city for some of the famous sights. First stop the London Eye.

6:00pm Again thanks to the great Mark Sephton we were able to get the VIP treatment on the London Eye giving us a great view of London at dusk. After seeing Big Ben, the Parliament Building, and Westminster Abbey; we decided that we needed to see a show while we were in town. We purchased our tickets to see Lord of the Rings at the Leicester Square station and decided to find a quaint café’ to seek some shelter from the cold and take a break before the show.

7:20pm Arrive at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. After finding our seats I try to take a picture of the truly amazing set but get yelled at. I made one more attempt with Leah being used as a screen and complete strangers acting as the diversion. The dark picture is the best I could do. (The other picture I got from their web site)

7:30pm Lord of the Rings begins

10:30pm This Absolutely, Amazing, Spectacular show comings to an end. To try and describe the last three hours would be too hard of a task for me to even attempt. Astonishing!

10:47pm Tube Station Spiral Staircase of death…well maybe not death but definitely motion sickness. It just kept going and going. I now understand why everyone was waiting to use the lift.

11:10pm Human “Sub” Sandwich

11:13pm Thought the first ride was tight. 2nd one, add the jam

11:16pm Break free from the human trap. Catch train back to Rickmansworth.

2:07am After another late night chat with Leah, we head to bed

The Day of Travel

Monday, December 17, 2007 Chicago, IL
5:25am Alarm goes off. Lynette and I crawl out of bed to load up the car.

6:01am Mr. Jim Folkerts (Lynette’s housemate’s dad) starts the caravan to the airport

7:08am No problems going through security. Lynette enters airport mode. Walking speed 4.3mph. If only the crowds would part.

7:11am Reach gate L8. Peel off layers due to brisk walk.
Note: I am wearing several layers due to the lack of space in my bag because of the mass amount of Christmas presents/supplies for the family

9:53am After a few delays we are now sitting o n the airplane ready to take off.
Special Note: the flight times chosen thus far have been pretty good when it comes to the amount of people on the planes
TUL-ORD = 28 total including crew
ORD-LHR= 83 on a Boeing 777. Granted this is just a guess, but it really does look that empty

10:10am Make it into the air. We are on our way to LONDON! Wahoo!!

12:46pm After enjoying the trans Atlantic mid morning “snack” and the first movie of the journey, Lynette has a breakthrough. Although this is her third trans Atlantic flight she has now found the benefits of waling around on a plane while it is in the air. Correction: this is the first time EVER that Lynette has walked around on an in-flight aircraft and she has just as many flight hours as I do. UNBELIEVIBLE! Okay…. She might not have as may air miles as I do but it is pretty close
----------------------- Time Change ----------+ 6 hours---------------------------------------

11:10pm Plane lands in London

11:28pm Lynette finally receives much needed relief as she finds the first toilet in the airport. As mention previously, Lynette had never walked around on a plane that was in-flight so that means she has also never used a plane lavatory. The ladder is something that she is determined to keep true. We’ll see how long that lasts.

11:34pm Enter line for customs

11:37pm Pass through customs

11:38pm As we approach the baggage clam, Lynette sees my bag moving down the belt. She runs to grab it

11:40pm Lynette’s bag comes out of the shoot.

11:43pm After traveling through the maze that is known as London Heathrow, we finally make it to the main exit area keeping an eye open for the signs to the bus station to begin the journey to my friend Leah Miller’s house for the first two nights.

11:44pm Hear someone yell “Hey”. Turn to see Leah Miller there to pick us up! Such a wonderful surprise.

12:07am The cab arrives at Leah’s house

2:52am After a fabulous time of catching up with my old-time SCLE friend, we get ready for bed

Christmas 2007 Preface

December 16th, 2007

With much anticipation, I board a plane in Tulsa, OK heading to Chicago. This is the beginning of Christmas vacation 2007. I plan to keep a detailed journal so that the Westbrook Times readers will be able to journey with me.

The Plan:

Dec. 16th - Fly from Tulsa to Chicago. Pickup Lynette
Dec. 17th - Fly from Chicago to London. Meet up with Leah Miller
Dec. 18th - Enjoy the sights and sounds of London
Dec. 19th - Head up to my sister's in Coventry, England to spend Christmas with my family
Dec. 28th - Head back to London to catch a flight to Hamburg, Germany
Dec. 31th - Fly back to London to catch a flight back to Chicago and then Tulsa
Jan 1st - Wake up in my bed in Arkansas

Let the adventure begin!

Hang Your Stockings by the Chimney with Care

Decemeber 9, 2007

Need a place to hang your stockings this Christmas? Simple Solution…Make a fireplace. Supplies: Cardboard, paint, brushes, paper, tape and carpet stain remover (just in case you paint more than the cardboard like I did).
Fun for all ages! You will be the talk of the town (or the office in my case especially if you have a roommate that has a big mouth. Although, it was her idea to make it in the first place.)

Little Money on the Side

Novemeber 5, 2007

Well, my co-worker and splendid friend Dusty got engaged in late October. Although there were many other options for him when it came to finding someone to take his engagement pictures, he decided to ask me. I admit I was a little apprehensive at first. To start with, I am not a big fan of taking pictures of people (I will spare you the reasons why). But, because I work with him I thought it was the least I could do. So this past weekend I met Dusty and Angela in Fayetteville, and we headed to the U of A campus. It was the perfect day for with all of the leaves at their peak in color.

All in all they were happy with the results and I officially had my first paying gig.I got to use my major after all! I even got to climb a tree to get some pictures from a different angle. It helps taking pictures of someone you work with. Below are some of the pictures. I had a little photoshop fun with a couple of them.