Kumquats and such

 As I wrote earlier, Jason surprised Jessica and I with a trip to Raleigh to celebrate the new year. We were thrilled! We packed up the car, drove to Grandma & Papa's to drop Tommy off, and headed down to NC. We got there just after lunch time, and met the crew at one of their favorite spots to watch football...The Luxury Box. Sadly, Colleen wasn't one bit surprised:( The joke was on us, as Colleen had known since the beginning! Oh well, it was still great to be there!!! Our old friend, Leon, came out to Raleigh from Chapel Hill to hang out too! It was so good to see him. After eating, hanging out, and watching way more football than I ever like to in one sitting, the girls decided to go home. We let the kids open their Christmas gifts and they had fun playing with Reagan's makeup kit that Colleen got her! Even Auntie Tiffany got in on the action! Probably my favorite series of pictures to date. I love this kid!!! Here's little miss "sassy...

Reagan and I took advantage of a 70-degree afternoon in December and hit the GW Parkway trail for a short run. We hit the jackpot with an absolutely gorgeous sunset over the river. I was kicking myself (yet again) for not having my camera, but the iPhone did a pretty darn good job. Starting with my favorite, here are a few: Turns out CA doesn't have ALL the good sunsets!

From our first pub to the hotel in Cheltenham, everyone who asked us about our plans and where we were heading responded in kind when we announced proudly that we were stopping in Newcastle for the night, "WHY?!" We were told that there was nothing to see in Newcastle and really no reason to visit the city. Thank goodness we didn't listen! Some of Jason's family hails from Newcastle, so it was important to us to at least visit the area. We left Cheltenham via train after grabbing some breakfast at the station cafe. The train ride was about 4 hours and quite pleasant. We didn't know where we were staying that night, but as luck would have it, we were able to check into a great hotel right across the street from the station. It was already starting to get dark, so we headed out quickly to check out the bridges, exactly what Newcastle is famous for. We found a great place called Eye on the Tyne and got the most delicious appetizers EVER! After t...

We awoke at 7:30 the next morning and headed outside for a quick jog, but the weather had other plans. The rain forced us back inside, so we did a short workout in the room and then grabbed some breakfast in the hotel restaurant (where they served an amazing buffet complete with black pudding!). We packed our stuff and took a taxi to Paddington Station where we boarded a train for Cheltenham. I thought this station was like something straight out of the movies, so I couldn't resist taking a picture Train travel was great. We had plenty of space and were able to enjoy the ridiculous newspapers that are really more like gossip magazines. We arrived in Cheltenham and took a taxi to The Rising Sun hotel (a place we found the night prior on Expedia). We checked in and went for a run on some of the most ridiculous hills I've ever seen. Amazing view from the hotel lobby After a quick shower, we changed and grabbed some lunch at the hotel. We asked around abou...