Sept - Katherine's 18th Birthday!

Katherine got home from youth group and her good friend, JianMian, had given her the sweetest present! She had all of these little notes explaining everything. She had been planning this gift for a while and had her mom buy special things in China for Katherine. It was so special.

This is a refrigerator magnet!!!

Birthday cookie cake....so we can travel easier with it.

BSF (our Bible study) fell on her birthday, so I took her picture on our way there. After Bible study we met up with the rest of the family and some of her friends for dinner.

18th birthdays in Italy are a huge deal and involves taking out lots of people to eat and celebrate. We couldn't take out a lot, but we could invite 3 of her friends to join us. We had so much fun...

...and so much food! It just kept coming and coming!

We love Chinese hot pot, but only eat it on special occasions

food waiting to go on teh table

opening some presents

her journal unwrapped

These 3 got soooo excited over the goodie bags. It's our little American custom so they had not experienced it before.

The cake got a little squished in transit but still tastes good!

The Italian candle scared Katherine as she lit it

Cristina, Hudson, Ellis, Katherine, Lauren, and Delphine

at the entrance to the restaurant

Becky and Jim Graham were visiting at the same time and joined us for the celbration

The kids made a "Welcome Back" sign for the Swanns. They couldn't say home because we already knew they were just landing for a couple of weeks to pack up everything.

TCK Youth Bible study at our house...Kelly, Lauren, Nolan, Ellie, Livia, the other Livia, Katherine, and Lizzy, and Hudson.

cute birthday post 

lots of babysitting/hanging out with the Swann kids while their parents pack and sell and give things away

We accidentally got stuck in this crowd. It took us a while to figure out how to get out of it/around it, but we eventually did. We had no idea that the Pope was making an appearance. 

HeTao...he's a character and so much fun to teach.

Random Chinese tourists that we met and talked to for a bit on the street. They were quite impressed that we could speak to them in their own language.

dinner with the Grahams

gelato

Becky REALLY wanted to see the Colloseum but Jim was not feeling up to it, so I took her out for the morning.

Some of our Chinese friends invited us all out to eat

last night of their visit and they still hadn't had tiramisu...a must when visiting Italy...so we ran down to Pompi before bed haha

getting ready for another birthday celebration for Katherine with the Swanns

Going for a Monet Water Lillies look...my chocolate bridge broke, but it's ok

She will forever be my mini me :)

Sept- London

Here we gooooo! It's so nice to have super cheap flights within Europe. We are on our way to London to visit with friends.

We have arrived and it is much windier and colder than Italy...haha!

Such sweet friends to let our kids hang out for a few days AND they fed us! 

heading to the grocery store London style...in the rain

random things you find when exploring grocery stores in different countries

When flying economy airlines you just get a backpack so not much room for extras, but Hudson found some tea to squeeze in.

We learned a new game...I can't remember the name but it's from Cananda.

These girls...they have all been friends for basically their entire lives.

Lauren, Adaya, and Katherine...so glad that they are "close" enough to see each other occasionally. 

Tara outdid herself making us the national dish of London....chicken tikka masala! YUM!

Jonathan and I had a meeting to attend, but decided to eat our lunch outside since the sun was out :)

Redhill

Solomon and Hudson

Jonathan and I stayed at this little ABNB 

Paprika flavored peanuts

We wanted to see/do something as a family while we were there. Several people recommended visiting Arundel. We decided that would be our trip.

We took the train then walked to the town

passed the cows

and picked blackberries along the way

We made it to the little town

antique stores are always so much fun

I think if this had been of our city or somewhere with significance to us then Jonathan might have gotten this. look at the detail.

the roundabout...it was messing with me a little since everything is backwards for the driving

family photo at Arundel castle

the draw gate

these are some super narrow steps! Can you imagine if the castle were under attack? How can you run up and down thsi without falling?

We could get a glimpse of the part of the castle that is still private residence.

they even put random fake rats in the castle, haha

the chapel inside the castle

an assortment of weapons and armour

This sword was German. The guy said that they would use the hooks to disarm the other person then hit them on the head with the handle

An assortment of tiny but deadly weapons

a ladies pistol

These were the guns that kids 5 and up learned on! 

Lion rug

reminded me of Narnia

the dining hall

The Gold cabinet

current family photos out on display

bedroom

door to the bathroom

Loved how these two little girls were portrayed...one with her dog, one with her gun (Lady Victoria Alexandrina and Lady Phillippa Fitzalan Howard)

The bathroom that connects to the previous bedroom

The invitation to the wedding of King Charles and Queen Camilla

the library

the library

found a (disarmed) WWII bomb

traditional lunch...sausage and potatoes

turns out that everyone's favorite part of the trip was the gardens

they look like snakes!

apples

peppers

greenhouse (Hudson had to take his glasses off because they fogged up so much)

the rose gardens

the girls trying to help my hair (it was misting rain the entire time and my hair was not a fan...haha)

Lauren bought a cute bear

It was so fun to also get to meet up with Megan and meet her husband and baby. She was in China for a semester when we were there adn babysat for us sometimes.

kinda funny...we ate Italian in London....don't tell our Italian friends. It was good though.

pecan apple cinnamon muffin....soooo sooooo good! I think it is my favorite fall muffin. If only I can figure out the recipe. Hmmm

playing chess

crossing near a school

Legos in the airport

heading back to Italy

Hudson got the opportunity to go to a football match! The boys had box seats!! They had a blast

jiaozi and soup

Jonathan had the opportunity to preach at this Eritrean church

Jonathan doing his thing, out with teams and sharing (someone sent me this photo)