London

It's coooold here! And yes...a wet cold is definitely colder than a Colorado cold! It's not even freezing here, but I couldn't stay warm for anything.

Although we arrived at 10am, by the time we got out of the airport, to the hotel and checked into our rooms, it was 1:30. We all opted to take a short nap, then do some sightseeing with the remaining daylight. Unfortunately, we slept for 2 hours. After that and a shower for Jeff and Ashley, no daylight remained.

So, we decided to take the underground (subway) to Picadilly Circus and grab a bite. If time allowed, we thought we'd take in the play Grease. We didn't realize just how far it was from Heathrow Terminal 5 to Picadilly Circus or we mightn't have opted for this particular form of entertainment! It took us and hour and 15 minutes to get to town. Then, we walked around in the drizzle looking for an affordable place to eat...a tougher task than you might imagine considering we were in the theatre district. We did find a place with relatively no atmosphere, but really good fish and chips for an affordable price! Ashley thought the "mushy" peas were baby food. :)

After dinner we braved the windy, cold drizzle and huge crowds to walk around a few block and look at the Christmas decorations on Ripley's Believe it or Not building and some of the surrounding architecture. Our excursion didn't last long, though. It's hard to appreciate the beauty of your surroundings when you are hunched over and hiding behind an umbrella. One of the highlights, though, came in the form of a little yellow ball with glitter and a flashing light.

You see, shortly after Ashley hugged her friend, Emma, goodbye at DIA, her big yellow ball with glitter and a flashing light was confiscated by TSA for having too much water in it. Ashley, already tired and sad, melted down. I wanted to throw the ball on the floor and show the agent how the lights were triggered, but she would have none of that! So, when we found an identical ball, but smaller (less than 4 oz of water in it) at a trinket shop, Ashley was ecstatic! Please pray that this one doesn't also get confiscated!!

We got back to the hotel by a little after 9pm, but missed the shuttle by a few minutes and had to wait another 1/2 hour for the next. Jeff took a Percoset and crashed as soon as we entered the room. His knee is really hurting. He was an awesome trooper to walk around in London, but drew the line when I wanted to stop at Harrods! :) Probably a good thing.

We catch the plane for Nairobi tomorrow at 10am and would appreciate your prayers for an uneventful trip. The director won't likely meet us as he had originally planned as he'll be preparing egg rolls for the "annual New Year's Eve Egg Roll Party." Food and a party. I think I'm going to like it there! :)