Christmas in Phoenix 2010

We once again went to Phoenix for Christmas, only this time we went for a couple of weeks. I turned in my last final paper on a Friday morning, and in the early afternoon we were on our way to Phoenix. We spent the first week or so just relaxing - finally able to destress a bit and not think about school and work. This last semester was really intense for me, and I apologize to all my friends who I didn't see or communicate with during that time. This semester should be better.

One of the highlights was going to Rustler's Rooste, a Western steakhouse. Outside the front door is Horney the Bull, who was not the best smelling creature.


Here we all are with out tasty steaks and fixins. I should mention that this is the kind of place that has sawdust on the floor and a live country band.


At the end of the meal is cotton candy, which was enjoyed by all



And of course, with the Santa display


Paul's dad took us to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum about an hour's drive east of Phoenix. It had been built by a mining mogul who decided to build a fancy house out there and fill the yard with exotic trees and plants from all over the world. They had a particularly large Australian section with a bunch of these gigantic trees


The house is still there up on the rocks. They used to have an elevator which brought you down to the valley and the river that goes through there. The building is used for administrative offices now so it's nothing to tour. Still, it is neat to see it perched up on the hill like that with a huge retaining wall holding it up that reminded me of the old castles we saw in Southern France on our honeymoon.


While Anne and I spent some quality time shopping around Phoenix (seriously, the shopping is amazing, especially where you live in the middle of southern Indiana!), the boys took a trip out to Tucson and parts south of there. I'm not sure what all these pictures are of, but thought I'd share.

Here's a place where Paul got some sort of fried hot dogs, something on the idea of giant pigs in a blanket. Not sure I'd order them, but he sure looks excited about them!

From PHX Winter 2010

They also went to some place to look at rockets and other manly things that required the use of a hard hat.


...and went on some nice hikes

...and to a ghost town.


It was so nice to see the family and to have some time to take a break and relax. There is a rumor that next year the grandparents from Poland might be visiting for Christmas - we'll see what happens. It'd be great to see them too!

Christmas in Phoenix

We just got back from our trip to Phoenix to visit Paul's family for Christmas. Thankfully no one tried to blow up their underpants on the flight there or on the return.

We had over a week to visit, so we had time to do some sightseeing. Here's some of the highlights from our hikes:

This is on the Peralta Trail. Coincidentally, this picture was taken by a family with a University of Arizona student and two Indiana University students. At least we have the same school color.

From Phoenix 2009

Here's where we turned around - Fremont Saddle. The big rock formation off in the background is called Weaver's Needle.

From Phoenix 2009

For Christmas Eve, we went to a friend of the family's house for a traditional Polish dinner. I didn't bring my camera, but believe me there was a good spread! There were at least 3 different types of homemade pickled herring (just like the Swedish kind), pierogis, stuffed crepes, borscht, and tons of other stuff. We started the dinner with the traditional Polish Christmas wafers, where each person gets a piece, then breaks off a small piece of each other person's wafer while wishing them Merry Christmas (or some other nice thing).

Back at the Simacek house, we exchanged gifts including these Christmas outfits


And, of course, Snuggies, which my grandmother informed me used to mean some kind of undergarment for old ladies:


We also went to Sedona and experienced the wackiness of the area by visiting some vortexes. Apparently some people believe each "vortex" has some magic energy that is either male and female or some sort of yin-yang balance of something or other. Paul seemed to have a good grasp of why these were special places - they are all really nice places to take in the view. Paul's dad had been there before and brought us to some of the highlights of the area.

Here we are on an apparent vortex near the airport


Here's another vortex, in Boynton Canton, with something called Enchantment Resort in the background. They had some drum session going on while we were hiking past it. So now we know where to go if we need a good Native American drum session followed by some vortex action.


This was my favorite rock formation of the hike - it looks like a face in the rock, kind of like the old man of the mountain of New Hampshire (RIP)

Christmas in London

For Christmas, my parents and grandmother came to visit us in England! First they spent a few days in Oxford and got to see our apartment as well as to meet some of our friends here. The Gotzs and the Flamms brought their little ones over, which definitely brightened up everyone's day. My grandmother had been eager to meet little Miss Millie Flamm because they share the same name! I had shown her Amanda's blog with little Millie singing when I was last home in the States, and even days later Grandma was still talking about how exciting it was to finally meet the other Millie.

We had a bit of an adventure getting to a suitable place to stay in London, as the place we were supposed to stay in, while it looked elegant on its website, turned out to be a real dump (to put it politely). So we stayed in a Best Western the first night, and then moved to the replacement flat, which turned out to be right around the corner from Harrods!


The weather was typical England, overcast and damp, but it wasn't brutally cold. Here's me at the Serpentine in Hyde Park enjoying some hot mulled wine

They had a little Winter festival set up in the park with rides and little gift vendors.


Here's Paul enjoying some poffertjes, a Dutch mini pancake that is absolutely delicious! He was nice enough to carry my backpack for us even though it's a "girl" color.


Most of the touristy stuff wasn't open on 24-26 December, but we at least got our pictures in front of some landmarks. See if you can guess where we are!





(that's Paul's silhouette!)


Touristy things we saw: Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, BigBen, London Eye, Covent Garden, Hampton Court, the British Museum, Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London, and loads more stuff we walked by. It was Paul's first time in London, and I think we managed to see (albeit from the outside) most of the major tourist attractions.

We had a Christmas eve dinner of a beef roast, and a turkey dinner for Christmas day. It was so nice to be staying in a flat so we had use of a full kitchen and dining room. I had made pepparkakor beforehand so we could have some Swedish cookies for dessert. We also tried the local Christmas specialties: mince pies and Christmas pudding with brandy sauce from Marks & Spenser's. I can't say I'd order those over chocolate cake, but it was nice to try the traditional food.

Also on Christmas Eve, we attended a midnight mass at an Anglican church down the street. It was tough being our first Christmas without Grandpa, but it was nice to be able to go to church as a family and to remember the blessings that we do have. Paul and I know that our lives aren't going to stop changing nor slowing down any time soon, and it's important that we remember how much we love our families and try to spend time with them whenever we can. Christmas is an emotional time, and I know it was especially so for my Grandmother. We are so happy she could spend this Christmas with us, traveling all the way from Rhode Island to be here.

On the way back from London, Paul and I stopped at a little French cafe in Paddington Station- guess what the name of the cafe was!