You Can Take the Girl Out of Colorado...

I woke up early this morning (Colorado time) and realized that it has been a while since my last post. We have been really busy lately! I had promised to post some pictures from our morning out watching the racehorses, so here they are:

These horses are so powerful, yet graceful. It's such an amazing experience to just see them train, so we can't wait for race season to begin!

They walk right past you after running up the hill in the distance.

We were laughing at these guys, because as they passed one of the jockeys was singing Beyonce's "Put a Ring on it". That's the town of Newmarket in the background.

Last week, Jordan's flight to the Azores went really well. He was happy to be back in the jet again, and he had a a lot of fun. I have been trying to convince him to write about it for you all, but as you can see I haven't been very successful. He came home with a few pictures (one being of his fish and chips that he had for lunch), so I was really proud of him! As you can see below, the island is really green, with mountains all around. Apparently landing can be tricky, because there is lots of wind up until you get below the elevation of the mountains, and then the wind just stops.

In other news, Jordan had his M-9 (i think) training, and shot expert!! He was really proud of himself, because he hadn't picked up a gun in quite a while. Unfortunately I did not get the OU job, but let's face it--who really wants to be a Sooner anyway? ;) I'm sure that there is something else out there that will be a much better fit for me. In the end, I got a practice interview out of it, and my resume is finally up to date!

This past weekend, Cooper got a haircut at a little doggie grooming salon in town, called "Bubbles". It is all the rage with the dog owners at the gallops in Newmarket. During his brief stay, the spa owner and her daughter fell in love with Coop and didn't want us to take him home! Afterward, we went to visit a castle in a nearby town called Framlingham. They allow dogs, so Cooper came along for the ride. (Have I mentioned how much we love England for this reason?!)

Here we are outside of the castle. Wikipedia tells me that it was founded between 599 and 624 A.D.
This is inside the castle walls. I fell in love with this tree behind us.

Now can you see why?

In order to take the self-guided tour, we had to climb the winding stairs shown below. They were incredibly steep, without much depth. Not to mention, the hand rail was just a rope with quite a bit of slack! Cooper skipped right up with ease, but I took my sweet time.

The breathtaking view outside of the castle... Definitely worth the climb!

The view of the castle from the inside.
After finishing the tour, we spent some time on the grounds outside of the castle. There were lots of little trails to hike on, and some great picnic spots! As you can see, Cooper thoroughly enjoyed himself!

After walking around for a while, we decided to find a place to eat, and of course no day of site seeing is complete without finishing with a pint of ale from a local pub!

On Sunday, Jordan flew to Fairchild AFB in Spokane, WA. His crew is to stay there through this coming Sunday (the 26th) to help with their local mission. Since I had nothing going on, I decided to come along for the ride! Under USAFE Command (United States Air Forces in Europe), spouses are allowed to come along on some of their husband's TDY's! Sweet!!! I was able to take a couple of pictures of the inside of the plane, and I even got to sit in the jump seat in the cockpit while Jordan had the controls!

This is what the KC-135 looks like on the inside, looking toward the tail. The seats are made of red cargo net, lined up along the sides of the plane facing inward. All of our luggage is strapped down in the middle. Surprisingly, it was a fairly comfortable 9.5 hour flight because once we hit cruising altitude everyone stretched out with sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows.

This is looking toward the nose of the plane. The door is still open, so it makes it hard to see. There are 4 little windows in the "pax" section of the plane like the one shown in the middle, so it's fairly dark when the lights are turned out.

Jordan came back to "visit" for a couple minutes. However, it's extremely loud in the plane. In order to communicate, we had to be right next to eachother, looking directly at one another, and yelling at the top of our lungs. :) Quite an adventure if you ask me!

After spending a couple of days in Spokane, I flew home on a commercial jet (not quite as exciting) to sunny Colorado!! The weather has been in the 70's all week, so you better believe I've been working on my tan! I surprised all four of my nieces before their softball practice on Tuesday, and have been enjoying spending lots of time with my family. Yesterday, my parents took me up to Boulder and we had sushi for lunch. We spent a couple of hours walking around the mall on Pearl Street, and looking at all of the beautiful tulips in bloom--the reason that this is one of my favorite times of the year. I couldn't have picked a better week to come home!

My mom and me enjoying the sunshine on Pearl St.So all in all, it's been an awesome couple of weeks! Thanks for bearing with me during this long, drawn-out blog post. I will try to be better about posting more often, so you don't have to spend a half hour reading a single post!

Another Update After a Busy Weekend

We had a wonderful time this past weekend. It all started on Friday night, when Cooper's presence was requested at our corner pub. Earlier in the week, one of the employees had relayed the message to us that she would like us to bring him in during her shift on Friday. He has really won over the hearts of the local people! We brought a couple of friends along, and played Scattegories in the pub while Cooper got fed scraps of ham and other treats.

On Saturday morning, we went in to Newmarket to watch the racehorses training on the gallops. It was a truly amazing experience to see them running full speed up the hill, and then walk right by us as they came down. These horses are absolutely beautiful, and we are getting really excited for race season to begin! We took lots of pictures, but I will have to post them another time because Jordan has my camera today. We went hiking through a forest close to the base later in the afternoon, and then just relaxed and watched a movie on Saturday night.

On Easter Sunday, we went to mass with a friend at a beautiful church in Cambridge. We had gone to this particular church for mass on Palm Sunday, but decided to go to the early service this week in order to have a better shot at getting seats. Unfortunately, what we didn't realize was that the 8:00 service was a "said" mass...meaning that they don't sing a single song. We had decent seats, but the mass was over and done with in about 45 minutes! Talk about efficient! Needless to say, we will be avoiding this type of service in the future. Afterward, we went to have tea at the Royal Cambridge Hotel, and then walked along the River Cam, and through the Pembroke College gardens. Later in the day, we went to a friend's house for a barbeque.

Today, Jordan has his first flight! He is flying to the Azores, which are tiny islands located off the coast of Portugal. It will be his first oceanic flight, so he is really excited. I'm sure he will have lots of stories to tell, and hopefully he will take a bunch of pictures to share with you all! We have some friends who are stationed in the Azores, so I am looking forward to the next time he flies there so I can tag along!

I have my first interview scheduled on Thursday! It's a position on base with the University of Oklahoma, and they offer tuition assistance! I will tell more about it if I get the job, so wish me luck!! :)

Prayers, please

I thought I'd write a small blurb about my uncle Mike, who is currently undergoing surgery for a liver transplant in India. His donor is my cousin (and his daughter) Renee, and I couldn't be more proud of her. I feel so inspired by her selflessness, courage, and her ability to stay so positive throughout this entire process. If you'd like, you can read about their adventures in India and learn about tourism transplants on her blog: http://liverletlive.blogspot.com

Please join me in sending positive thoughts and prayers their way so that they will remain safe and have a speedy recovery!

Weekend in London

Last weekend, we found a last minute deal on a hotel near Hyde Park in London. We drove to Cambridge on Saturday morning, rode the train down to Kings Cross station in London, and slowly made our way to the hotel. First, we stopped at a pub to have a pint and then we walked to the British Museum, which holds the Rosetta Stone. After spending a few hours in the museum our brains were fried, so we decided to go find our hotel. We rode the tube to Paddington Station, and then began walking to our hotel. The cross-streets that we thought the hotel was on were incorrect, so we walked around in circles for a while. We had been lucky enough to have nice weather all day, up until the point when we called the hotel to get directions. Then it began to hail. Fortunately, we found the hotel shortly after and were able to rest for a little while.

The hotel was really nice--small room, but just enough space for us. We decided we wanted to try something new and different for dinner, and found a Persian restaurant closeby. It was good food, but a bit more bland than we anticipated. I had lamb with rice, salad, and some kind of wheat flat bread. After dinner, we stopped for a beer at a pub, and then a cannoli at a little bakery.

The next day, we went to breakfast at a Waffle House (not like the one in the states), and shared our first traditional English Breakfast and a belgian chocolate covered waffle. :) (Anne, you'll be happy to know that I tried your treat--baked beans on toast!!) After that, we walked around Kensington Gardens and saw Kensington Palace, then walked through Harrod's, then on to Buckingham Palace, Wesminster Abbey, Big Ben, and along the River Thames to have a late lunch at an Indian restaurant. It was a long day of walking, but we had a lot of fun! We made our way back to King's Cross, and caught the train back to Cambridge.

We thought this was funny...but definitely necessary at times!

Jordan enjoying the British Museum...

Me outside of the Victoria & Albert Museum
Buckingham Palace
Trying to squeeze into a picture with Big Ben.