Royal Ascot

For our 5 year Anniversary we celebrated by going to Royal Ascot. Ascot is a famous horse racing event that is better known for the social aspect than the actual event. The Queen is present and enters each day via carriage (see how close Nils got). To us Americans it is quintessentially British- the fancy dresses, the hats, coattails... and of course excessive drinking. Little Miss Noelle loved wearing her fancy headband- she fit right in! We had a great time and our long shot came in 1st place!!

The Cotswolds

Last weekend we took another day trip out to the Cotswolds- an area with picturesque villages, green as far as you can see, and grazing sheep... the English countryside. We finally made it! We took the train via Oxford, and in an hour and a half we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere! We explored three of the villages, had a picnic along the river in Bourton-on-the-Water, had cream tea (which we learned is tea, served with a scone, jam and clotted cream- its the clotted cream which makes a cream tea a cream tea) and just relaxed. We felt like we were in a storybook land! The people were so friendly and welcoming. What a nice break from the city!