Let me start off by saying a big Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife - that was back on November 21st. I'm glad to say that she had a great one - we went to Amsterdam for her birthday weekend. We hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving - we sure did miss being home with family and friends for the long weekend, but we did get to celebrate and eat turkey and all the fixings! Kelly and Grant cooked up a HUGE Thanksgiving spread and we went to their place and had a feast! The food was delicious - thanks again for having us over - we're so glad we didn't have to miss out on good ole Thanksgiving food!

Sorry that it's been a while in between updates - we've been really busy traveling lately. We've been to Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Copenhagen all in the last few weeks. Since we didn't have time to write about some trips before we took off for the next one, we decided to just wait and write about all of them at once even though it comes about a week late. We'll all be busy for Christmas, so I won't do another update until next year - so it will be another few weeks until the next one. Hopefully we'll be back on track with updates every couple of weeks after that.

On to the good stuff! For Jill's birthday, we went to Amsterdam, Netherlands (aka Holland). Over Thanksgiving (which is not a holiday over here, so I had to use vacation time), we went to Stockholm, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark. While in Sweden, Grant and Kelly flew over and met us for one of the days. We had lots of fun at all of these places, so let me shut up and tell you about it (if that makes any sense at all).

Amsterdam, Netherlands (Holland):
Amsterdam is a beautiful city! With all of the lenient laws they have, we were surprised to see that no one was abusing them. If we had not heard and read about this, we never would have known that the laws were any different from ours just by walking around (except in the Red Light District). The Red Light District was surprisingly safe, clean, and a nice area. The entire city is under sea-level, so there are canals all over the place - this is what really made the city so beautiful.

Amsterdam has a population of 800,000 people and 400,000 bikes. I think I almost got run over by half of those bikes! Every time we crossed the street, we had to look out for bikes, cars, and trams - in all directions - it was a mess. And there are bike lanes all over the place, but they look like sidewalks to me. I'm just not used to it - I was walking down the "sidewalk", then all of a sudden I'd hear a "ding-ding". Before it registered that a biker was dinging his bell at me, I had almost been run over by the bike. I just can't respect the bike bell. There are so many bikes in that city that the train station has, get this now, a parking deck just for bikes! I'm not making this up - it actually holds 25,000 bikes - and it was full! I don't see how people even find their bikes when they get back!

We had some good food over there - Dutch cuisine - we had some really good venison and potatoes, and Jill had some kind of meat salad on top of that. Guess what other "cuisine" we ate while we were there? If you can't guess, you need to go back and read all of the past updates! Mexican - and on top of that, it was at Cafe Pacifico which is our (well, Jill's) favorite restaurant in London. They are also in Paris and Sydney - when we move back, Jill will probably open one up in Birmingham! We also had some good ole American food at the Hard Rock Cafe - we don't get enough American food over here, so that was a nice change!

Two of our favorite things we did in Amsterdam were an evening canal cruise and visiting the Anne Frank Museum. This museum is in Anne Frank's actual house - the secret rooms in the attic are still there. Like seeing the Berlin Wall, this was a very moving experience for us - it was really good. Some other highlights were Dam Square, National Monument (Memorial for the victims of World War II), New Church, Jaardon Area, Westerkirche (where Rembrandt is buried), Holland Casino (where we lost 20 Euros on our only bet), Van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum, and the Bulldog (coffee shop).

Stockholm, Sweden:
Stockholm is one of the most beautiful cities we've been to - the architecture is amazing. This place goes near the top of our list of "favorite places". And the Swedes were extremely nice - and it's always pleasant when you're around friendly people! The snow on the ground added to the beauty of the city - but it also made it C-O-L-D!!! It was freezing - it was about 0 degrees Celsius the whole time we were there. The sidewalks were all iced over, so we had to watch our step - Jill almost took a spill - good thing she's as flexible as she is or she would have been on the ground!

Stockholm is fairly expensive - well, it's about like London. They are not on the Euro, they use Kroner - which makes things seem even more expensive because the exchange rate is about 12 Kroner to 1 Pound - so a Big Mac costs about 14.75! I don't know how many US Dollars that is, but as weak as dollars are now, they're probably like the Kroner.

We enjoyed the food here as well - their specialty is seafood. We also enjoyed some American food while we were there - at Friday's - we just couldn't pass it up (well, that was me that couldn't pass it up). We were watching people walk by one night and we figured that about 70% of the people are blonde - now that's a high percentage!

We took a tour of the City Hall - this is where the Nobel Prize banquet is held each year (in the Blue Hall). Have you ever seen that Ice Hotel on the Discovery channel or anywhere else? It's actually in Jukkasjarvi (northern Sweden), but they actually shipped down one of the actual rooms to Stockholm. They put it back together and we took a quick tour of it - that was really neat. There are animal skins on the bed (well, the bed is nothing more than blocks of ice), and it was surprisingly comfortable. We'd like to go stay in the real Ice Hotel one day - there are more dogs than people in Jukkasjarvi, and most of them are Huskies!

Grant and Kelly met us in Sweden one of the days we were there. We went out to an ice bar - the whole thing is made of ice - the bar itself, the tables, even the glasses we drank out of. That place was just plain neat - like the Ice Hotel room, we had to wear big ole Eskimo coats to go in. They said that they are going to build more of these bars in Europe, and eventually they'll open some up in the US. I suggested Vegas to them, so we'll see if it ever happens.

We all went to the Skansen Museum - the oldest open-air museum in the world. It's up on a mountain (great views of Stockholm from here) and it documents some 500 years of Swedish history - and there are also live animals hanging out. The Vasa Museum holds the famous Vasa warship - it sank in 1628 and spent over 300 years in the silt of the sea bed. It was really neat to see this ship - we could smell the salt water that has soaked into the wood for those 300 years - and it's in pretty good condition considering its history.

Some other sights we saw are the Storkyrkan (Great Church in Old Town), Galmastan (Old Town Island where the Royal Palace resides), Operan (Opera House), Stureplan (cool area with neat architecture), Kungstradgarden (garden), Serglas Torg (busiest square in the city center), and it wouldn't be complete without a little shopping (remember, I'm with Jill here) - we went to NK, Athlens, and the Gallerian.

Copenhagen, Denmark:
While we were on the train from Sweden to Denmark, an announcement came on and said that the train was not going all the way to Copenhagen anymore. We would have to change trains at Malmo. Normally we would probably have freaked out, but now that we are used to train life, we knew we'd figure it all out. By the time we got to Malmo, they had informed us of the platform number that we needed for the next train anyway. The train ride was really pretty - snow all through the countryside.

When we got to our hotel room, Jill went to the bathroom to check it out (this is something she always does in Europe - you never know what you're going to get). Well, the shower was very interesting to say the least - let me see if I can explain this. In the bathroom, there was a toilet, a sink, a drain on the floor, and a showerhead on the wall. Can you picture it? The bathroom itself was the shower too - all in one - so you could use the bathroom (in the toilet) while you took a shower. That was just too strange for Jill, so we changed rooms to one with a normal bathroom.

Tivoli Gardens was built in 1843 and is a pleasure park for the Danes as well as tourists. It has games, concerts, rides, etc. - and there was a Christmas Market while we were there. This is a really cool place - I played some kind of "pick a number" game and won a box of Danish chocolates - I forgot to mention that I won a Swedish candy bar playing a similar game while in Stockholm. Too bad I don't have this kind of luck at the casinos!

Stroget is Copenhagen's most famous (and the world's longest) pedestrian-only street. It's full of shops, restaurants, etc. One favorite "snack" over there is the good ole hotdog - but the bun is what makes this one so good - not necessarily the taste of it, but the design. It totally surrounds the dog and has a bottom to it - and the dog sticks out of the top - it's not messy like the normal buns - you'll have to check out our pictures to see what I'm talking about. We also found some really good cookies over there - Pebernodders - the Danes, Swedes, and Germans claim these as their "Christmas cookies". Speaking of food, we really enjoyed the Danish dishes - seafood is their specialty as well, and they aren't stingy with the sauces - really good stuff!

Some other things we saw include Radhuset (City Hall), Marble Church, statue of the Little Mermaid (Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale character), Guinness World Records Museum, Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, Nyhavn (New Harbor), and you guessed it - shopping stuff - Illum and Magna Plaza.

A few other miscellaneous items before we go. First, we'd like to send a big congratulations out to Chance and Leslie Johnson as they are expecting a little one next year. We are excited for you guys! I now like squash - for those of you that know me well, you know I don't like many vegetables. Well, don't get excited because I'm not talking about squash the vegetable; I still think that's gross! I'm talking about the game of squash. They don't play racquetball over here, so I had to settle for this. It's a really fun game and it's pretty close to racquetball. The main differences are that you cannot play off the ceiling, only part of the side and back walls are in bounds, and the ball is a LOT LESS bouncy than racquetballs. It's still a great game to play to get some cardio exercise! I was winded after only two games, but I'm getting the hang of it.

How's the weather been over here? A little chilly, but not bad at all. We've been wearing pants and light jackets for the past several weeks, but it's not freezing by any means (not yet at least). November was the driest it has been since 1956. I think Birmingham had more rain than we did last month. I wanted to give you an idea on how expensive things are over here - we rarely use our landline phone . Our last bill was 14 pounds and 13 pence for phone calls, but the taxes made it 51.10! That's highway robbery! If we didn't have to have it for DSL and satellite TV, believe me, it would be gone in a heartbeat!

We went ice skating in Kew Gardens the other night. Justin and Rachael came with us - we had a great time and I didn't even fall down! Well, it wasn't my fault at least - this girl that couldn't even stand up was on the ice and she went right in front of me and cut me off! I had nowhere to go, so I ended up on my butt. Jill said the thump was so loud she thought I cracked it (no pun intended). It's still a little sore, but I'm just glad I didn't bust my head open. Jill did well - I think she must have been practicing!

We're leaving for the US tomorrow (barring any setbacks - say a prayer for us - we're still looking for that perfect set of overseas flights that go smooth without any issues and without us having to run through the airport to catch our flight). We'll be there from the 12th and staying until the 29th. I can't begin to tell you how excited we are! It's been a little while since we've been home - we can't wait to see all of our family and friends - My whole family will spend Christmas together this year - it's going to be so much fun with all of the kids around! The Christmas season is my favorite time of year and we are so glad we get to spend it in the US with our families. Don't forget to check out our new pictures (Amsterdam, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and London). We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year! We love and miss you all! Take care and God bless!