Hello all!

Well, Scott and I have finally started to realize how England got the reputation for being a damp and dreary country. It has been raining on and off for about two weeks straight! Everytime I see the sun coming through the clouds, I race outside and stand in the sunshine for 30 seconds until it disappears again. Yet another reason for our neighbors to think we're silly Americans. Overall, we have had a beautiful and warm spring here with very little rain. But the current clouds seem to be making up for all that beautiful weather!

Despite the rain, we have been thoroughly enjoying the new addition to our flat...our grill. How can we truly represent the American spirit without hot dogs and hamburgers? We have a small private patio at our flat (which is pretty rare in London) and have been loving the luxury of grilled chicken, burgers, veggies, etc - even if I have to hold an umbrella over Scott as he flips the burgers in the rain!

Our latest adventures around England was to Cambridge. Cambridge is a beautiful and quaint little town. Cambridge University is made up of a ton of little colleges that divide students into different areas of study, each of which comes with a different degree of prestige. Our favorite part was punting down the river Cam. "Punting" looks kind of like a gondola ride in Venice - basically a long skinny boat with a person standing on the end pushing it down the river with a long stick (a punt). It was madness! Tons of tourists try their hand at punting and lose their punts, fall into the river, and basically cause crashes and chaos all down the river. (Don't worry, Mom, it was perfectly safe though.) We thought better of punting ourselves down the river and hired a professional punter, Felix, to take us down the Cam and give us a little history lesson about Cambridge. Sometimes, being lazy really does pay off!

One of other favorite pasttimes is to visit all the open-air markets througout London. They are so unique and everything is so fresh. It is the oldest running market in London and has ties back to the 1200s! You can get everything from eggs to wild boar to cheesecake to wine. One Saturday morning, Scott had a two chelsea buns and a sausage before 10am. What a man!

We also recently took a trip to the British Museum and got to see Cleopatra, the Rosetta Stone, and tons of mummies. It was very educational to learn about the process of mummification - and also a little gross - as well as see all the similarities between what the Egyptians had and what we still use today. So, we're trying to do some intellectual things as well!

We are excited about coming home to NC and enjoying a little time with our families and friends at the end of May. We (read Katie) are also counting the days until we get to introduce Bruno onto the streets of London! We have big plans to take him to his homeland...he is Yorkshire afterall.

Love and miss you all!