Blenheim Palace

Last weekend we went with some friends to Blenheim Palace, a nearby estate, to watch a jousting tournament. Sir Winston Churchill was born there.

We all sat on blankets surrounding the jousting field. We thought it was going to be a little cheesy but it was actually pretty impressive. They really did break lances on each other.

Part of the fun was watching all of the little kids around us. They were so excited. It was a pretty fun spectacle.

The jousters went through these exercises to show their skill. They would ride at full speed and hit targets, put their lance through smaller and then smaller rings, etc.

They would even spear fairly small things from the ground. See the thing on the end of his spear?He just picked that up going full speed. I was impressed.

This was taken from the jousting grounds. It was a really cool setting.

They were dragging this girl around for awhile. I was so worried they were going to drag her into the fence.

These are our friends. We had a great time with them.

This is my friend Jill. She is amazing. She had this darling baby about a month ago. Doesn't she look great?

We did this maze in the hedges.

Look at the size of that house! The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough still live there. Pretty impressive.

Alarms

This morning while Scooter was attempting to make me breakfast the fire alarm went off and the whole building had to evacuate. Coincidence? Actually, it was, but it makes for a good story!

Did you know?

For those of you that don't know this about my husband I wanted to share one of his strange talents with you. The first time I saw him do it I was really alarmed. You really don't know him fully until you know this about him. He can do this with his ears...They are just extra soft and pliable. He tucks them all the time. Subconsciously he folds and tucks them. Studying? Fold and tuck. Walking? Fold and tuck. In church? Fold and tuck. In fact, when we were on our honeymoon in Brazil we were walking through this neighborhood of huts that were standing on stilts over a creek that served as a form of "natural plumbing" and a boy saw him through the window and started yelling and greeted Scooter with an ear tuck of his own. Scooter had taught him to do it a couple years before.Here is the neighborhood. As you can see the houses really did have "natural plumbing". It was swelteringly hot, by the way as evidenced by the lack of clothing on the boys below. This was typical attire in Manaus - as little as possible. This, unfortunately, meant that we saw MANY men wearing nothing but Speedos while walking down the streets...gross!

Punting

On May Day we went punting. A punt is a shallow bottomed boat that you propel along a river or canal by someone in the back of the boat using a long pole to push off the bottom of the canal. We had a great time and want to do it again soon. Next time we are going to pack a picnic. Anyone want to come?


Scooter's college owns a punt and this is where you go to pick it up. After a quick lesson we were off!

These are some of the grass tennis courts that we passed. We are definitely going to try and play on these ASAP. It will be the first time on grass for us both.

I was sitting in the front of the punt peacefully looking at the beautiful river when I heard a huge splash. I turned around to see Scooter floating next to punt looking very sheepish. The pole had gotten stuck in some deep mud on the riverbed. The punt kept going and because he was afraid of dropping the pole and losing it he held on as it pulled him in. I'm pretty sure that this doesn't happen very often. Before I could take a photo he had jumped back in the boat. His wallet and flash drive were soaked, but fine. You couldn't really tell that he had fallen in because he didn't go all the way under, but notice that his jeans are kinda sticking to his legs...

I had Scooter teach me as well. We passed a few boats of tourists from Spain while I was taking a turn. They were making all kinds of comments in Spanish about Scooter letting me push us along while he was sitting and relaxing. They were surprised when he explained in perfect Spanish that I had wanted a turn to practice. It is fun to speak other languages. I wish I could.

This was such a classic springtime scene. We rounded the bend and spotted two parent ducks standing sentinel over their little brood of fluffy chicks. Adorable!


Soaked, but still handsome.


Poor soaking Scooter had to walk all the way to the bus stop down the two busiest streets in Oxford. I don't think many people noticed... (I just love seeing that BYU hat walking down the streets of Oxford - it just stands out so much. People here don't wear "caps," as they call them)

Scooter's shoes were full of mud when we got home. I had to soak his shoes in bleach to get them back to normal (and yes, that is what our bathroom floor looks like - it also feels kinda rubbery and is made of a mystery substance).

Freckles

While reviewing some of the photos that we took yesterday I realized that I am getting freckles lately - lots of them. On my eyelids, on my chin, on my ears, even on my lips! I personally love freckles, many of the most beautiful people that I know have them. Unfortunately, I don't think mine are the natural, beautiful kind - I think they are the kind that are warning me that if I don't start wearing sunscreen daily that I am going to look like a leathery prune in a few years (yes, mom, I know you have been telling me this for years). The problem is that I can't wear regular sunscreen everyday - it makes me break out, and I have never found a moisturizer with sunscreen that I like. They usually irritate my face. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Just Thought You Should Know...

.... I just can't get enough of this guy!

May Day Morning

Happy May Day! Here in England May Day is celebrated on May 1st. Basically it is celebration of spring. It is pretty big deal here in Oxford. Scooter and I woke up this morning at 3:45am and went to the city center to see the choir from Magdalen College (pronounced Maude-lynn, oddly enough) sing from the top of their tower at dawn. The tradition is for everyone to stay up all night (preferably by consuming large quantities of alcohol, of course). Then everyone gathers under the tower and listens (in theory they are supposed to listen in silence) to the choir sing a few hymns and then listen to a prayer. We are still feeling pretty sleepy but are really glad that we went. In previous years, people jumped from the Magdalen Bridge into the river below, but due to 50 people being injured a few years ago they have closed the bridge and the police were out in force as well as a fleet of hired private security guards (all of course wearing the, now familiar, neon yellow jackets). After the singing we went to Scooter's college for the traditional champagne breakfast (sparkling water for us!). It was a fun to see something so unique to Oxford.

Sorry for the bad photos, but it was really quite dark out, so the camera didn't do so well...

Here are the police trying to keep people off the bridge. See their neon yellow jackets? They almost always wear these.

This picture is so blurry, but it was extremely entertaining to watch this kid being escorted off the bridge and given a lecture by the police. He had obviously been trying to jump off. He was so drunk that after he was given his trousers and told to put them back on he stared at them for honestly five minutes because he couldn't remember what to do with them. Finally one of his friends came and tried to help.

Lots of the shops were open. They weren't about to lose out on prime customers.

This was after it was all over. Look how many other crazy people woke up at the crack of dawn! The tower in the background is Magdalen Tower.