Kjersten's 3rd Birthday - Fiesta!!!!

Sorry it has taken so long since we got home to make the next post. Things have been kind of busy since getting back....you know....trying to get back in the swing of things and all. Oh yeah, it was also Kjersten's birthday on the 18th. It's hard to believe she is now 3. It was great to have mom and dad Kilgore there with us, and many thanks to them for watching the monkeys while we were on our trip!

Here are some pictures from the party. She wanted to go out for Mexican food...so that's what we did. They gave her the sombreo and some fried ice cream and sang happy birthday to her! She loved it!

Enjoy the pictures!

Manchester United and Lyme Park

Well, today we visited two very special places.......

1) The Theater of Dreams a.k.a Old Trafford or Manchester United Football Stadium
2) Lyme Park - Where they filmed the movie Pride and Prejudice

At Man U, we went in the museum and took the staduim tour. We got to go into the player's lounge and the dressing room. The pictures with all the jersery's hanging up is the dressing room. Then, we got to come out of the tunnel where the players run out onto the field. Then we got to sit in the seats where they and Sir Alex sit and watch the match! It was AWESOME....for me anyway... (Jess liked it too, I think).

At Lyme Park, we toured the house, but they would not allow us to take pictures.... how sad for you....cuz you don't get to see inside like we did.....Ha ha.... We then went all over the garden and I walked out from behind the hedge like Mr. Darcy in the movie (that was Jessica's idea). We had a great time! We are excited to watch the Man U match tomorrow, even though we can't see in in the stadium....but we are close to it!

We will be catching a plane home on Sunday morning.......back to the good 'ole USA!

We made two slide shows....One for those who don't want to see Lyme Park and one for those who do. You can watch both if you really want to.....

Liverpool and Mission sites

Well, today there aren’t very many pictures. It was more of a drive around day. We started out from the Preston Temple and went through Southport out to Formby Point to the beach looking out over the Irish sea. We took a couple pictures there at the beach. Then we drove down to Crosby where I served for about 5 months and took a picture of my flat and where we did a bunch of street contacting. We then went under the Mersey River over to Birkenhead and then down to Runcorn (two other areas I served in). Then up to Liverpool and took the tour through the Beatles Story museum at the Albert Docks. That was pretty cool. There are a couple of pictures in the slide show of the museum (we weren’t supposed to take pictures in the museum, but….). We then saw this statue at the end of the slide show that was donated by the Church to the City of Liverpool for all those Saints that left for the States from the dock. There were about 9 million people that immigrated to the US that passed through the Albert Dock (not all of them were from the Church).



Tomorrow it’s off to Manchester (GO UNITED)…..the last stop before coming home….

Preston and Church History Sites

Wednesday, we drove from Windermere, in the Lake District, down to Preston and checked in at the Temple. We were fortunate to see and visit with President (and Sister) Clegg, who was Adam’s mission president, but now is the MTC President here at the Preston Temple. Next we drove into Preston for some church history!!! We started at the obelisk in Flagg Market where the first missionaries came into Preston and often preached. You will see a picture of it with Adam standing at the base in the slide show. A soggy walk down the street, because we were experiencing our first official English rain, took us to St. Wilfrid Street. This is where Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, and other missionaries first lodged. It was here that they were tormented by evil spirits the night before the first baptisms. Avenham park was our next stop where the 1987 sesquicentennial plaque is located that commemorates the first baptisms (also in the slide show). The River Ribble and a tree lined walk (with Jess in the picture) took us by where the first baptisms took place – just across the bridge. This concrete bridge is an exact replica of the original wooden bridge. The baptisms took place just upstream from the bridge.


The next pictures are from our half hour drive north the Chatburn and Downham. It was in these two villages that Heber C. Kimball and his companion baptized around 60 people in two days. Before he went he was told not to go because the people in these villages had not accepted any religious sect for 30 years. Chatburn and Downham, today, look just like they did when Heber C. Kimball arrived, minus the cars and pavement. The last couple of shots are of the countryside. We hope you enjoy them. Next is Liverpool…the Beatles Museum, the Albert Docks, shopping and ?

Tour of the Lake District

Well today we went on a tour of the Lake District with a tour guide. It started out at about 9:30 am this morning and went all over the Lakes. It's better if I just let you know the stops and towns we saw, and then you can google map them to get a better feel for where we went.

We started at Wray Castle, then over to Beatrix Potter's house on Hill Top. We got pictures of those, but didn't have an SD card in the camera, so I can't get those onto the below slide show tonight. I'll get those on at another time. We were able to purchase a new SD card after this and get all the pictures throughout the rest of the day.

After the Potter home, we went Hawkshead (where we saw this really cool sign.....you'll know it when you see the slide show), then to Tarn Hows, Coniston, Skelwith Bridge, Elterwater, and Grasmere where we stopped for lunch. After lunch it was on to Wythburn, drove past Thirlmere Lake, and up to Keswick and took boat over Derwentwater Lake.

Then drove down through Rosthwaite, through Honister Pass and the Honister Slate mine, past Buttermere Lake and Crummock Water Lake to Brackenthwaite. Next it was over to High Lorton and across Whinlatter Pass to Thornthwaite and Braithwaite, and down to Castlerigg Stone Circle.

After that, it was down to Dove Cottage which is one of the homes of William Wordsworth. This is one of the last pictures on the slide show. After that, back to Windermere, and got back around 6 PM. That was our day. We took a lot of pictures of the country side and other things we passed. Now go crazy on the google maps as you follow the slide show.....

Stockport, Nottingham and Lake Windermere

Sorry, but we didn't take very many pictures on Sunday. We stayed in Stockport, my last area on my mission and went to church. The first picture on the slide show is of my old flat from when I was a missionary. We lived above the furniture shop...that was still there! I recognized a couple people, and we happened to be there on a Sunday went a member of the 70 (Elder Kerr) was there speaking. It was a great meeting. I talked to a few folks, but no one remembered me.....I guess I made a lasting impression.....16 years ago :(.

Oh well. After church we jumped in the car and scooted to Uncle George's house in Nottingham. He told us some great stories about mom.....I'll fill you all in later.... We went out to dinner with him and then the next morning, got out early and drove up to the Lake District to Lake Windermere. It is beautiful here. We took a boat ride on the Lake and took some pictures of the homes and the country side around the lake. Oh yeah, we also took a few shots of the drive up. Tomorrow, we are going to be here all day around the lake. We are trying to decide what type of tour to take. Stay tuned.....pictures of that tomorrow.....

Stonehenge and Warwick Castle

Today we made it from the southern part of England to the Northwest. We did a bunch of driving today....about 4 hours worth, but on the way we stopped at Stonehenge and Warwick Castle. Both were very intersting. Tonight, we are staying in Stockport (just outside of Manchester). This was my last area on my mission. We are going to church here tomorrow and then down to Nottingham to see Uncle George after church. We won't have internet until Monday night, so we will update the site again then.....

Here are some shots from Stonehenge and Warwick Castle.....At the of the slide show is a 20 second movie, so you may want to turn the music on this page off. It's a movie of a live catapult. You can't see it very well, but they do launch a big bolder.....

We are back…..We were off the grid for a few days, while staying at the London Temple.
On Wednesday morning, we got to spend time with Ed and Shannon and they showed us around Soignies (pronounced Swan-ee), Mons and on the base that Ed is on. That was a lot of fun. We took a couple pictures of the tree house that Ed has built in their backyard. Then we caught a train to London, picked up the rental car and it took us about 2 hours to drive to the London Temple. We picked up the car in downtown London at around 6 pm and hit the rush hour traffic……
Thursday morning, we completed a session in the Temple and then drove over to Canterbury. Just before entering the Cathedral, Jess got her first taste of English fish and chips! She loved it! The pictures below are of this part of the trip. Enjoy.

After Canterbury, we drove over to Dover and walked on top of the Cliffs and then went into the Dover Castle. That was pretty cool. Grandpa Storer told us about some secret war tunnels, so we took that tour, but we couldn’t take pictures, so the only shot is outside the tunnels by the sign and by a WWII gun. During this first full day in England, Jess had a bunch of firsts:
· First authentic fish and chips
· First Cathedral
· First Castle
· First Pub meal…….Yep we hit the pub for dinner on the way back to the Temple. IT WAS GOOD!

Friday morning, we got up and caught a train into London. It was raining in the morning, but by the time we got to London, and purchased umbrellas, it had stopped……of course! First stop was the London Eye, which is over the Thames River. Then on to Big Ben & Parliament, Westminster Abby, Westminster Cathedral, Buckingham Palace (where we had just missed the changing of the guards), over to Trafalgar Square, a bus ride (double decker) down to the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. Then back to the train station to pick up the car and drive to Amesbury for the night…… Tomorrow is Stonehenge and Warwick Castle. Firsts today:

· Jess saw her first Catholic Mass while at Westminster Cathedral
· Jess’ first double decker bus ride

Day 2 - Brugge

Day 2 was just as fun as day 1.....

We drove up to Brugge and walked around the city. In the pictures, you will see how narrow the streets in the town were. Everyone was either on foot or on a bike.....or if you weren't careful, some one would show you their bike up close and personal....if you know what I mean....(they would run into you if you didn't watch out - for those of you who didn't get it).

Anyway, we climbed to the top of the tower you see in the pictures, ALL 366 steps! We got a couple good shots of the town. Then we took a boat tour of the city. There is a water canal all around the city....that was pretty cool! Of course, we got some Belgium chocolate, which Jessica has already started in on....and we found a really small door.....(the last picture). All in all, it was a fun day. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Oh yeah. We may not have the Internet for the next few days, so we will post more pictures next chance we get. Tomorrow, we are off to London....

Hey everyone......Here are some pictures of our first day in Belgium. We took a drive to the town of Bastogne where the Battle of the Buldge was fought by the 101st Airborne Rangers. There is a memorial dedicated to the U.S. soldiers that fought and won that part of the war. We went through a museum that talked about this battle being the most critical part of the war. It was really cool!

We found a little cafe to eat lunch at and they had to find the only staff memeber that spoke english to help us.....cuz we don't speak no french! :) It was great! Enjoy!

On our way....

Well, it's been a bit since we updated the site, but things just haven't slowed down enough....

Anyway, Jess and I are off to Belgium and England for the next two weeks. As I type, we are in the Philiadelphia airport waiting for the plane to Brussels. There is a crying baby that will be getting on the flight with us....YEAH!!!! We will try to update the site as often as we can with pictures and things...

STAY TUNED!!!!