Christmas in UK

We went back to the UK this christmas for two weeks. While it was really great to see friends and family, the trip was also a sad one as my grandma passed away whilst we were in England. She got very sick not that long before I arrived and fortunately did not suffer very long before passing away on christmas day. I'm incredibly grateful I got to see her and spend a little time with her before that. She lived to an amazing age of 93 (and only 2 of them without grandad) and we'll miss her alot - she was a really warm & funny person, not to mention a fantastic grandma.

As for the rest of the trip - we caught up with lots of friends. Don't have photos of everyone..but it was fantastic to see so many people - new babies, kids that have grown older, people who have got engaged etc...Pete & Lucy don't look that happy to see us, but they are contemplating a trip to NY so we can't have been that bad company surely.


One of the best bits was seeing all the nieces & nephews - both for us and Ruby.

Ruby stamping all the kids hands with her new stamp set from Ellis, Lily, Simon & Jess.

Playing ROAR with Josh & Dylan

But probably most of all Ruby was overwhelmingly happy to be reunited with Ellie.

Fall moments

As I continued to get bigger/fatter/more pregnant (although thank f*cking g-d less sick), fall came and went. Here are a few favourite fall moments.

First of all - proof that we remain an Arsenal family despite being the other side of the Atlantic.


The fall leaves were absolutely stunning. This isn't Central Park but Morningside Park which is a but further up. Very very beautiful.

Al got a new suit. Very happy he was.

And Ruby insisted on sporting her shades despite the cool weather.

One thing we did which was really excellent was go up to Vermont for the weekend. It's supposed to be beautiful in fall - sadly we missed that though... All the trees were bare, and it was FREEZING. But nice to get out of nyc and check out Grafton, Vermont. One of the best bits was hiring a tank of a car. A Buick something or other and we towered above most other SUVs on the highway. It's so hard not to love that.

So here it is - the town centre at Grafton. The inn where we stayed was really incredible (if anyone ever finds themselves in Grafton Vermont - definitely stay at the Grafton Inn - thoroughly recommend it, best bed I've ever slept on and incredible food). Grafton known for their gourmet cheese, we bought lots.

We took Ruby to Santa Land which was quite bizarre. She was frozen but managed to stop crying for the slide.

And we had the newly engaged Hazlana to stay which was wonderful. Checked out Williamsburg amongst other things, and spent lots of time having fires lounging on sofa. Fab.