Newcastle-upon-Tyne

In all these years we'd not been to the Northeast of England. We took a weekend road trip to Newcastle.

Stopped in Durham on the way. Very pretty city with an impressive cathedral.

Durham Cathedral

The angel of the North [Antony Gormley]

We really enjoyed Newcastle for the short time we were there. These are some photos from the walk into town from our accommodation along the river.

The Cumberland Arms. A pub we stayed at that had some character.

This is a little cat that hangs around the pub. His name is Root Beer [we named him that] He was sooo friendly and we loved him, but we had to leave him there.

Bye Root Beer!

Becoming British

After putting in my 3 years of rainy weather and drinking tea, I got sworn in as a British Citizen on January 11, 2012! I had to pledge an oath to uphold the democratic values of Great Britain and swear allegiance to Her Majesty, the Queen. Then they played God Save the Queen and gave me a certificate!!

The funny thing was, of all the seemingly very hard names to pronounce, he got mine wrong! Lauren Jean Hartley...

Soon after, I applied for and am now the proud holder of a UK passport!

Just in time to leave...but that means we can always come back!!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning! Opening presents!

Possibly the biggest PB cup in the world!

We don't bother with presents, he just loves the paper!

I did well! All my loot!

Julius' other present was a can of tuna! YUM!!

Ho Ho Ho! It's Santa's little elf!

Christmas with the Scouse Family

Sam was a good boy this year so he got a toy Santa!

Wonderful Xmas Lunch!