Arlington- our final destination!

A pic of us landing in America- thanks to my cousin Mike and his wife Susan for meeting us at the airport late Sun. night. We were exhausted to say the least (finally four days later I think the jet lag has worn off!) Also, our new home in North Arlington (Waverly Hills- near Ballston metro) and K eating breakfast with her new pal Landon. Tonight we went out for a Korean dinner, something that I have wanted to do for months! For some reason, I really - really missed Korean food and couldn't get it in Jordan. We had so much fun! Yum! Now I have a new favorite place to eat in Alexandria.

Bath and Stonehenge!

We took a three-hour train trip to Bath where we met our first "Army" friends, the Manley's. It's been over seven years since our last visit and it was terrific to see them. Jen and I shopped at the Bath Christmas market (mulled wine, yum!) and they spent a day taking us around the country side to see a cathedral and some old castles, beautiful! K had fun playing with her older friend, Ashlyn, and is still talking about "Hannah Montana" :) Stonehenge was cool- much smaller than I expected. They promised to visit us next in DC so we're gonna hold em to that!

Fun times in Cambridge!

K got to meet and play with her first cousin (exactly a year younger than she is) and we had fun watching them get to know eachother. She's a doll! Also a pic of K and I at the American Cemetary in Cambridge (we thank the non-stop AFN commercials of that place for our visit there). Also, J and K at a British pub, the fish and chips were soooo good! We spent a day touring the town of Cambridge and walked the famous "Backs" which has a great view of all of the colleges. We were lucky to see the sun for a few hours and K napped off her jet lag.

On our way to the airport, Goodbye Jordan!

We were really sad to leave such a nice life behind, but of course, now that I'm back in the States it feels really good to be "home" again. Grocery shopping and the malls have been much more enjoyable than they were before I left!

Our adventures are coming to an end......

Just a quick update- it's hard to believe that we've already been away from Jordan for 10 days. It's been a busy blur... we spent 5 days in England visiting family near Cambridge and friends near Bath. It was a great trip! (We are still getting used to the weather change though- chilly!) Then, we flew to DC for 5 days of house hunting. We've been staying at J's cousin's house, which has been wonderful, especially because they have a darling 2-year-old (8 days older than K) and they have become best pals! We're so happy not to be stuck in a hotel room and K is thrilled to have toys to play with again.

It's fun to feel "Christmassy" now since it's not very celebrated in Jordan and we can't wait to drink eggnog, enjoy the music and lights and maybe make some cookies. I haven't even begun to shop so we're in trouble there... I think we are appreciating the Season much more this year, than in the past. Tomorrow we fly home to MN for a month. We're anxious to see our family and just RELAX! House hunting was stressful...thank God J ordered a GPS to help us locate all of the homes we looked at; we must have seen 20 homes and there was only one that we liked! I really thought that it would be easier... it's a small, cozy home but cute on the inside so once we signed the rental paperwork we were happy to be done with it. We'll be living a little less than a mile from the Ballston Metro if that means anything. J should have an easy commute to school too, which is nice; it will be good to take advantage of the great public transportation here. If you don't mind our cozy quarters, you are welcome to visit us anytime! We should be settled in by the end of Jan. Not sure when I'll write again but I wanted to post a few pics from the past couple of weeks. We also wish everyone a very MERRY Christmas!!!!!! Thanks for keeping up with us over the past year :))

Our final day in Jordan....

Well it's midnight and we're supposed to fly out in 7 1/2 hours- we're finally finished with the packing and we still can't believe we're leaving here in the morning! Such mixed feelings. We are excited for the reunions the next month holds (meeting our new niece tomorrow!) but I am definitely not excited to leave either. Wish someone had told me I'd feel this way when it was all over with during my first (v.long) month here.
Today was a great day- our good friend Adam got promoted by Gen Petraeus! How cool to see "the man" up close like that. It was a small, informal venue and really fun to hear his comments. I think he even promised to get Adam into Princeton! Then, we celebrated his promotion and were farewell’d by the Attaché. Goodbye Amman, Hello America (well, next week anyways : )