Drinking coffee our first day in Windsor to overcome jet lag...a bit disoriented.

A veiw of our flat from the park outside. The park is regularly visited by locals with their dogs...Kaitlin falls in love each time a cute dog passes by.

Waterfront Windsor from a bridge crossing the Thames. In the background, a sneak peak at the Windsor Castle.

Arriving in England...

After a long plane flight from Seattle to Heathrow, we wandered out through a rather uncrowded customs, gathered our two cartloads of luggage and looked for the FM Global sign amongst millions of others. Our ride from Heathrow to our apartment was our first taste of driving on the "right" (correct) side of the road as the driver put it. He explained how it evolved from jousting and since most people are right handed the jousters approached on the left side, holding the joust with their right hand...no debate there. Our apartment is on the second floor of a two story apartment complex with approximately 30 units. It has two bedrooms and two baths, mini-fridge (compared to what we're used to), combined washer and dryer unit, and even a dishwasher. The electrical, appliances, toilets and all are taking some getting used to. After much frustration of plugs, converters, voltage tranformers, we decided what needed to be bought new and what we would just say bye to for 6 months (don't worry Kaitlin did get a new hairstraightener). So far we have adjusted really well to the 8 hour with much coffee and Tylenol PM. We are testing out all the local pubs (there is about one on every corner) and restaurants and have mixed reviews. We have learned to avoid many items such as mushy peas, warm beer (its seriusly served warm at some places) and packets of "brown sauce" and "Mint" ewwwww. We have yet to find half and half, and are still wondering what bio and non bio detergent is. Aside from the above we have found some great neighboor hood pubs with great live music and bubbling with good times and lots of laughter. We have a little journal of great restuarnts to take our visitors so far and its growing by the day! Windor castle is a short 5 minute walk from our place, the Thames River about 3 minutes, and most importantly the Windsor Royal Mall is about 3 minutes too. Tim and I got a tour of his office (2 minute walk from our apartment) and its a really impressive building, full of really nice FM Global employees. We welcome anyone who wants to come visit! So far we are looking forward to our parents, SB and Jake, Michelle and Wolf, Ben and Annett, and have heard interest from others as well. We can't wait to see all of you!!

~T&K

Bumbershoot 2006

Jake, Barb, Dan, Tim and Kaitlin in front of the infamous Bumbrella Stage getting ready for some reggae beats

Emmy turned dancing queen to her first taste of live Steve Miller Band!

Kirsten and Emmy share a cute moment!

Patial list of some of the groovy bands we saw.

Mom Malone, Kaitlin and I traveled to Seattle for another Bumbershoot festival and of course to spend precious time with Malones...Dan, Kirsten and Emily. K & I barely made it on the plane with our loads of luggage that we were dragging to the UK...but $150 in overweight baggage fees later we were on our way. Our first day in Issaquah was spent enjoying beautiful weather, playing with Emily and enjoying a barbecue with Barbara and Jake MacKenzie...who made the trip again to Seattle for Jake's Bday. The rest of the weekend (at least for Dan and myself) was spent listening to more music than most could handle with acts ranging from folk to metal to rock and everything in between....OK there was a tad bit of beer drinking as well, unfortunately in the overpriced beer gardens. Kaitlin spent a memorable Saturday on Capital Hill visiting Heather's soon to be work place Coco La Ta...and setting her up with her first blind date. Kirsten, Emily and Mom Malone also made it out for one afternoon of festivities... pictures soon to follow. Overall a spectacular Bumbershoot weekend and you can guaruntee we'll be back next year!

Morning after the wedding at the St. Regis. You can see the balcony over looking the park, overlooking the pool, over looking the golf course, over looking the ocean!

Soarding up over 2,000 feet above the vineyards! Beautiful!


Here's a pic of us as we are getting ready to set sail and just before sunrise!

First Blog

Hi Everyone!

We are so excited to start our first blog! Brilliant! So much going on, and we have so much to say. We thank everyone for coming to the wedding and for being a part of our day! It was such a magical day and we still can't stop talking about it! We appreciate all the love and support everyone has given us, and we can't wait to see everyone again!!

After the wedding, we had a lovely "mini-moon" in beautiful Temecula. We took the Ortega Hwy and had an amazingly beautiful drive "over the hills." We stayed in a charming room that over looked the golf course at the Temecula Creek Inn. The first day we played a round of golf (and Kaitlin's first experience on a golf cart), the second day and night we spent at the Pechanga Casino and Resort eating yummy food, and Tim trying his luck at Craps (not so lucky). The next day we made best friends with three other couples on the Grape Escape wine tasting tour. We went to about 5 vineyards, and had a romantic picnic lunch with cheeses and wine. Our newlywed status on the wine tour got us a lot of special treatment from everyone, and we managed more drinks then we (Kaitlin) could handle! The next morning we woke up at 4:30am, got coffees from Starbucks and drove out to the sight where our sunrise hot air balloon ride was. This is something everyone must experience! It was so beautiful, and an unforgettable morning! We rose up over 2,000 feet at one point, and dropped down inches above a vineyard! The sun rose over the hills, and it was so amazing!

Right now we are setting up in England in our new home for the next 6 months, and are loving every second of our new adventure (even the "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride"... we got our car today and Tim tried his hand at driving on the OTHER side of the road YIKES - stories to follow).

Over and out for now, stay tuned. Cheers from Windsor!