Homeward Bound (for a week)

Well, folks, we have wrapped up our House Hunters International filming in Minnesota. It was so great that we got a flight home and were able to see family out of this deal! Thank you SO MUCH Jared & Skyler for taking care of us while we were in MN. I am not sure what we would have done without you.

We also got to go to the Mall of America while we were there. I picked up a new favorite sweatshirt at J. Crew with a Christmas gift card. Thank you Terin! I am wearing it right now (it was perfect for our afternoon stroll).

Getting some Saint Paul shots on Harriett Island

Bryant is a great interviewee

While we were in the US we got to visit Rachel, Grant, Katherine and Eleanor Walker in Washington on Whidby Island! Rachel is my sister and you may remember she and her hubby had twins the weekend we left for England.

Our favorite little Star Wars fans! They are getting big!!

We had so much fun with Katherine and Eleanor. Five months is such a good age for big smiles and sweet, sleepy cuddles. Rachel and Grant are such good parents!

smiley girl! 

Katherine's first taste of Rice Cereal! 

Eleanor wasn't so sure about the cereal.

While we were in Washington we got to take a day trip to Seattle and hang out at Pike's Place Market for a bit. It was such a treat! :)

The fish throwers!

This Alley was intriguing. We did not add our own gum to the wall. it was gross!! 

The coffee fanatic had to go to the First Starbucks ever! :) 

Believe it or not, we actually planned the travel and our sleep schedules PERFECTLY. We barely suffered from jet lag at all. Because I had to work the day after we arrived back to the UK I was very thankful for that.

We promise to let you know when our episode will air! We can't wait!

Christmas Holiday with Sarah --plus photos!

Since Sarah was in England we took the time to go to several cities around the area. We had a blast! 

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We really had no idea how amazed we'd be when we went to Ely, which is near Cambridge. A coworker suggested to go there to see the Cathedral and as we approached this quaint city we beheld an amazing sight that we were not expecting. The image in that link is not ours, as our camera was dead (boo!) but Bryant was able to take a few snapshots of the cathedral with his new iPhone (Merry Christmas!).

 We walked through the magnificent doors and paid for a tour up the main tower. It was almost clear enough to see to Cambridge!

The movie buff in us got super excited from this fact. We love the King's Speech!

The amazing stained glass

It was SO windy, but the view from the top was spectacular!

We walked up more than 200 steps to get to the top of the tower. Whew! The view is of the Octagon Tower

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The next day we decided to go to Bath with a coworker, Cassie, because it was her 25th birthday! hoorah! We got to see the Roman Baths in all their ancient world wonder...

Because we bought a ticket to tour the Roman Baths we got to taste the water from the hot spring!

We didn't like the taste but it was worth getting a photo and saying "yes, we tasted ancient hot spring water from Bath, just like Jane Austen"

We are excited!! This is in front of the Roman Baths

Us, in front of the Royal Crescent, built in the 18th century. It was used in a few film adaptations of Jane Austen books. :)

So many Jane Austen-y things to do! Where do we begin??

Baaaaaath

The Ball Room, of the Bath Assembly rooms. Also featured in several Austen book films, namely Persuasion.

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Windsor Castle was the final stop for our England Tour with Sarah. It was a bright sunny day! --until it started raining, of course. :)

Guards in front of THE tower! Great shot by Bryant. 

"Come on, guys! Let's go see HM the Queen!"

Sarah liked it here. :)

Good night, Castle...

The fact that the flag is up means the Queen was home. We didn't see her, though.

Evening rain brought a gorgeous sunset. 

Happy New Year! Meet Our House.

Happy New Year, folks! I think it's about time we take a step away from our blogging hiatus and just introduce you to our new home, already. What do you think?

Bryant and Hannah have a home in England! The beautiful thing about homes in the United Kingdom is that most have a name. Just like you, your sister, your dog, and I do. Ours has a name, too! It's Pollardswood Cottage. 2 Pollardswood Cottage, actually, because it was a gatehouse back in the day and was converted to two separate houses in the late 1970s. We live on a really great street that is actually known for being the residence of several famous and rich people. It's funny, because our house is so modest next to almost all of them!

You may notice the material of the roof looks different. It's THATCHED! Our roof is made of thick, dried hay, lades and gentlemen. Apparently this is a big thing in only a few places in the world and England is one of them! Ours was actually designed by a famous thatcher, of whom the name escapes me at the moment. We learned all of these great things when we first moved in mid November.

 Bryant is excited to have a house!

We have a small yard, or garden, as the locals call it, and it's fenced in with a small driveway. Our household goods came on the 1st of December and we are almost done putting everything away. Moving into a house is a lot like cleaning up your room, only on a much grander scale. Confession: most of what is left is my (Hannah's) stuff in the bedroom and getting around to making the bed.

The charm of our house comes with a few downsides. The biggest one for us at the beginning was the narrow and low staircase. We were not able to fit the box spring of our American Queen mattress up the stairs! We really don't have much room for this problem, so for a couple weeks we had a giant square leaning against the dining room wall.

Very depressing! Our box spring.

Are you curious how we got it up the stairs?? Bryant sawed the thing in half and we bent the metal top in half like a hamburger bun and muscled it up the stairs! I wish we could have gotten video footage of such a feat, but there you have it. It eventually bent back to place and Bryant mended the wood back together with metal plates. Just like new!

We have already have two major holidays in this house. We hosted Thanksgiving Dinner for a couple of friends from work. We had never made a full turkey dinner before and there were only four of us. We bought a turkey breast instead and made a sweet potato casserole and stuffing all in the AGA!

Our first Thanksgiving! Bryant had a mustache at the time.

Cassie and Steve, our Thanksgiving guests. Bryant learning how to carve. :)

This house is the perfect Christmas cottage. Because we took a break from blogging in December you weren't able to see the transition into the Christmas sprit, but here are a few shots of what it looked like last week, only with a lot of presents under the tree:

The dining room

Our Norway Spruce from the local garden center and Mr. Snowman.

Our Sculpey Nativity made an appearance on the window ledge.

Sorry we didn't update you with all of this stuff sooner so that we could update you with detailed, more up to date, events now. A short summary...

Christmas was a wonderful break and we are really settled into our home and enjoying hosting my sister, Sarah. We've gone on several short trips including to London, Cambridge, Ely, and Bath. We have slowly been becoming acquainted with our neighborhood and England life. We have been going to a small Baptist Church in Beaconsfield and attending a Tuesday night Bible study.  New Year's weekend was relaxing at home while Sarah and I relived our Bath trip by watching both versions of BBC's Persuasion by Jane Austen. I have also started reading the book. :)

We are so excited for this new year, but can't imagine any year being better than 2011. For a special New Year's treat be sure to watch the New Year's Eve celebration in London from last night. Bummer we didn't think to go. Perhaps next year!

Katherine Joy & Eleanor Jane Walker

They are here! My little nieces have arrived. My sister was induced on Friday evening and at 8:43 & 8:45 PM (CDT) on 24 September 2011 babies Katherine and Eleanor were welcomed into the world. Aren't they just adorable?

I am so glad they were born before we leave! I got to Skype with the whole gang and even my mother who was fortunate to be there during the delivery. I love those little ones so much and I haven't even met them in person. We love you and are so proud of you, Rachel!

Today I had to buy a watch because I canceled my cell phone plan. Why are those two things related? Well, when you're constantly using a phone that tells you what time it is, what's the use in owning a wrist watch? I don't have a phone anymore and to make sure we don't miss our flight I thought maybe I should experience a blast from the past and buy a clunky bracelet that tells time.  :)

It's not even digital.

In other news.... We fly to England tomorrow! AH!

Minnesota State Fair 2011

We love the Minnesota State Fair! I think it's a safe bet that we were really excited to go this year more than any other because we knew we wouldn't be able to go again for another three years. We pulled out all the stops in our excitement: chose two days we were going to go, downloaded the iPhone app, scoped out the new foods, and bought our admission tickets in advance.

That iPhone app helped make this the best State Fair yet. it gave us our GPS location and told us what foods were nearby and we could even filter foods from the bargain book and the new 2011 food options. We didn't even have to plot out a course for activities or their timing throughout the day because a handy schedule of all of the events were conveniently organized at our fingertips.

The first day we met up with my parents, my aunt, my sister Sarah, and my brother Caleb. It was on Saturday, August 27 and Bryant, Sarah and I got there at 7:30am and B and I ended up being there for 14 hours. We were a little of tired at the end of that day. :)

We took several snapshots of the food and fun things we saw so I'll show you some here!

DAY ONE

Bryant and I took the city bus and met Sarah there at 7:30 for breakfast because the SF bus routes begin at 8am. We had always wanted to have breakfast at the fair! Here is Sarah with the blue ribbon bargain book that gave us some good deals. We had pancakes and coffee at the Lunch Box.

Before we went to the Lunch Box Sarah and I were pumped to try the new Breakfast Lollipop at Axel's. It was a sausage patty dipped in corn meal, fried and finished off with syrup. It was yummy.

The 27th was 4H day! We got to see kids show their animals and the most adorable prize went to all the kids showing their rabbits! It was so cute!

OK, the lambs look funny when they're in their "pajamas" for the evening so I had to get a picture of this one. He sure took a liking to Bryant. :)

This was lunch time. I had a new food-- a Pretzel-wrapped hot dog. It was pretty good! A bit salty for my taste, but that is the best part of going to the fair with a fun group--you all get to taste the stuff and share! Sarah was eating cheese curds here (classic!) 

Deep-fried candy bars are not new to us, but we still revel in their amazingness. These workers in the booth were from Iowa and were fun to talk to. The fried oreos are my fave.

Sarah needed to try a new kind so she got the fried snickers bar.

I love how we were on the hunt for dessert right after our lunch. A big part of the fair for us really is experiencing food so we were all pumped that Caleb wanted to get deep-fried cheese cake. Caleb was so excited he took a bite before I had time to snap a photo.

Up on Machinery Hill was the GIANT SING ALONG! This was a super fun idea! We loved getting up there and singing songs we really didn't know (I'd like to Teach the World to Sing).

Dinner time! This is my Aunt Ellen who joined us that afternoon. We all went to the Texas Steak House on Machinery Hill and Ellen had the potato-curl-wrapped foot-long hot-dog (or something like that) while wearing a really clever hat from Gander Mountain. I had a phenomenal bargain-book meal: Texas Dinner on a Stick! (I thought this was original until I realized it was just a kebab...see the below story about a deep fried pie) but hey, it's the state fair! So it's BETTER! Seriously, though... the dry rub on the steak... and the tender potatoes... and the sweet bell peppers... oh my gosh my mouth is watering...

DAY TWO

Just Bryant and me. This was our day to get everything we missed the first day. Beginning with: deep fried apple pie. Also thought to be a deliciously original idea... until you get it and realize it isn't original idea at all and McDonald's has been serving these 2/$.99 for years. BUT NOT AT THE STATE FAIR with CINNAMON ICE CREAM! It really was a treat, despite that realization......... okwhatsnext????

I'll tell you what's next! My mom bought two tickets for roasted corn on Saturday but only used one, so we got a free ear of the sweetest corn I've ever tasted. Bryant was pretty excited too. :)

A lot went on between the last photo and this one, but I don't have photos of all of it. However, this was certainly delicious documentation of a new food ala stick MNSF 2011: deep fried cookie dough! It was ooey gooey amazeballs of cookie dough.

In honor of George Michal Bluth and Arrested Development we bought a chocolate-covered banana (with a coupon from the bargain book). There's always money in the banana stand.

Finally, I got a fun t-shirt to remember the best state fair yet, also purchased with a coupon. "I Like You" was the best vendor at the fair, in my opinion. Fun, unique, and local! I wore this shirt yesterday. :)

Other favorites, not caught on camera:

- People Watching (entertainment in itself!)

- Learning about farms, animals, and agriculture. The milking demonstration was so fascinating! 

- Participating in all the traditions. Sweet Martha's Cookies, the 2:00 parade & Miracle of Birth Center

- The old fashioned photo booth

- Ye Old Mill (first time!)