Hiya - I'm running out of ways to say "hello", and this is one way they say it over here. So what's going on over there? We don't hear from everyone enough. Well, I can already see my breath walking to work in the mornings. We've worn jackets everyday for the past couple of weeks. Supposedly the weather will remain like this through December, and it won't get extremely cold until January - we hope this happens, 'cause we can handle this! It's been raining a good bit lately, but not hard rain and it doesn't last too long. A guy at work said the other day that we should be in for a fairly dry winter - it has something to do with all of the hurricanes over on the US east coast - I don't know how all of this affects the UK, but we'll see.

Kathleen recently came to visit us and we had a great time! We all got together with our flat neighbors and went to the London Zoo. One of our favorite parts was watching all of the otters - they were running all over the place and jumping all over each other - looked like a bunch of kids playing around - tough life! It wouldn't be the same without taking Kat out to a West End play - we all went and saw Mamma Mia and it was excellent! We had front row seats again - I didn't think Jill and Kathleen were going to make it through without getting up and dancing in their seats.

Here comes a surprise - Jill and Kathleen went shopping almost every single day during her visit. They went all over the place - the shops in Richmond, Covent Garden, Oxford Circus, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Kings Street, Portobello Market - and it would not be complete without a trip to Harrods - Kathleen loved Harrods. They brought home some Krispy Kreme doughnuts- you guys don't know how good you have it back in the US - able to get KK doughnuts 24 hours a day! Our flat neighbors have never had Krispy Kreme doughnuts before, so Jill initiated them - of course, they really enjoyed them. Now they just need to go to Harrods and get some hot ones! We have a lot of fun hanging out with Justin and Rachael - we all went down to their flat one night to hang out and play games.

I'm just glad that Jill and Kat did most of their shopping while I was at work! There's no way I would have been able to handle it! While I was working, they also went to the National Gallery, Tate Modern Museum, and walked across the Millennium Bridge. Once the next weekend hit, we all went on the Jack the Ripper Tour. We've read about this guy, and seen all kinds of shows and movies about him - it was weird to be in the exact places where he struck. He was the first serial killer in history - and he was never caught. There are several theories about who he was, but no one knows for sure.

The girls were at Portobello Market on Saturday, and I think Kathleen bought one of everything. That night, we went down by the Thames River in Richmond and took Kathleen out to a pub - gotta have a pint when you come visit! We listened to the Bama vs. South Carolina game that night - I don't want to talk about this subject any further.

On Sunday, Justin and Rachael went with us down to the park to feed the squirrels - what did we feed them? Monkey nuts! We've never heard of monkey nuts, but it turns out that they are just regular ole peanuts. This was really cool - you hold out the peanut - shell and all - and the squirrels would come and take them out of your hand! They would peel off the shell and eat the nuts - check out the pictures here. I'll have to admit, I got a little nervous as they came up to me - I didn't know if they were going to bite me, run up my pants leg, or what - good thing is that there are no rabies over here. We then went to the London Aquarium - this was lots of fun - seeing the sharks was neat and we got to pet the stingrays. There are some really neat looking fish in there - some don't even look like fish. Finally, we went to Madam Tussauds - I've never seen so many famous people in my life! We saw everyone from Elvis to George Bush - the wax work was very impressive.

What am I missing? Oh yeah - what else do you think these girls did? Jill took Kat out to Mexican FOUR times! I'm telling you, Jill is part Mexican... Kathleen is safely back in the US now - and we already miss her - it was great to see you and we had a blast! The weekend after Kathleen left, Jill and I went and toured the HMS Belfast. The HMS Belfast served throughout the Second World War, playing a leading part in the destruction of the battle cruiser Scharnhorst, and also the Normandy Landings. I've recently realized that I have a huge interest in WWII and war history in general, so this was incredible to me! Now we just need to go and tour Normandy!

On Saturday night, we went over to Grant and Kelly's place and watched the Alabama vs. Kentucky game. Yes, you heard it correctly, we actually got to WATCH this game! Thank God for Yahoo Sports! They played the game and Grant hooked it up to his TV. This game was much better than the previous two - glad we got to watch it! After the game, we went and had dinner at Mint Leaf - this is a very nice Indian Restaurant, and it was incredible! Good food, good drinks, good atmosphere, good time! We went to Sports Cafe on Sunday and met up with Grant, Kelly, and a bunch of other Americans they work with that also enjoy real football. This was a lot of fun - they played more games than we get at home on our satellite TV, so that was an added bonus.

The population in the US has been going up rapidly since we left. A big congratulations goes out to Shawn and Krista McCain (proud parents of Evan Thomas), Wade and Ferra Cox (proud parents of Campbell Windham), and Chad and Shanda Watts (proud parents of Blakely Elizabeth). We are very excited for all of you and we can't wait to come back and see those babies! And we've got one more congrats - congratulations to Geno and Heather Preskitt - they are now expecting another little one to join them next year!

We really enjoyed talking to everyone who have recently called us. Now is the time to plan your trip over here to visit us - the ticket prices have gone down. There are a few of you who are planning a visit, but no one has made any plans for sure. And to all of you who said you'd come visit us next year, well, next year is approaching - time to go ahead and get your tickets! Don't forget to check out our updated London pictures. We're heading to Ireland today for a long weekend - we'll be back late Sunday night. We'll let you know all about it on the next update. We love and miss you all! Take care and God bless!