Olympic Torch

Thomas and I stopped at a nearby town called Newmarket to eat lunch at Burger King (we like our American fast food every once in a while hehe), and were shocked to find a real Olympic Torch there. I was convinced it was a fake, but it really was authentic - they were touring the area raising money for local charities by allowing people to take pictures with the torch for £1.50. It was too good to pass up! We were so lucky to get to experience London during all of the Olympics-mania, and this was just icing on the cake! 

Cousins come to London!

We have been so blessed with tons of amazing family and friends visiting us here in the UK. It always gives us something to look forward to, and a little taste of home as well. My cousin Jenna and her husband Paul are big travelers and stopped in London as part of their European trip. We went in to spend the day with them and had a blast! They were staying with a friend in London, and it was awesome getting a true Londoner's take on the city, as well as seeing things that we had never seen before - and spending time with Jenna and Paul of course. :)

Francesca first took us to her local pub for Sunday carvery, where she introduced us to the Scotch Egg. I don't like eggs, but Thomas said it was delicious, despite it's somewhat odd appearance. It is egg, wrapped in sausage, and fried. Next we took a walk along the Thames, and happened to stop in a little church where it turns out Benedict Arnold is buried! We couldn't believe that he was buried there, and Thomas is a big history lover, so he was especially excited. We walked through the Chelsea neighborhood of London, which we had never wandered in before, browsed the Victoria & Albert Museum, and explored Hyde Park. Francesca had all sorts of random tidbits about London to share with us, and we really loved seeing London from a different perspective!

Walking along the Thames

Church where Benedict Arnold is buried

Getting in the Wimbledon spirit!

Traffic cone art outside the Victoria and Albert Museum

Francesca, Jenna, Me, and Thomas

Hyde Park

Go Ape!

I did some ziplining in Lake Tahoe last year (Zip Tahoe if anyone is interested!) and after I got over my initial fears I really loved it! Thomas and I wanted to do some ziplining in England, and luck for us there was a place called Go Ape located in the nearby Thetford Forest that does "treetop adventures". It was more than just ziplining - it was almost an obstacle course, but located amongst the trees instead of on the ground. It was nice because once you did the safety briefing and did the first course as a group with the instructor, you are on your own for the remaining courses. Since Thomas and I were the smallest group, we got to go first and go at our own pace, which was really nice. Thomas was a champ, whereas I was a little more cautious - I wimped out on the really high Tarzan swing and had to take the scaredy-cat way down, but other than that I rocked it too! We would definitely recommend Go Ape! to our local friends - they even offer a military discount. :)

Bad Week Cure

Thomas and I had a bad week and needed something to improve our mood, so we headed to one of our favorite spots in the UK - Hunstanton Beach. We'd been to this beach once before without the dogs, but we knew they would be a huge help in cheering us up so we took them with us this time. We went on a weekday so there weren't many other dogs around (which is great because Max likes to chase and nip at other dogs ha). We let them off their leashes on the beach and they were in heaven! Zo was a little beach bum and looked a drowned rat within 2 minutes, and Max played fetch in the water until he was just exhausted. 

I used to laugh at those people who were so in love with their dogs, and treated them like another person in the family - but I am totally one of those people now. I really don't know what I'd do without our dogs, they are such amazing companions, and have such unique personalities. They always help to cheer me up and are a lifesaver when Thomas is deployed. I don't want to be one of those people who always talks about their pets...but actually I don't care because we love them so much. :) 

Drowned rat ;)

Zo hauling butt to the water!

Playing fetch in the water

<3

Tired after a fun beach day pick-me-upper :)

Happy Birthday Shannon!

One of my BFF's (yeah, I said it) celebrated her 40th birthday recently, and since her husband was deployed we had to make sure and really celebrate! We had a nice dinner, complete with "Big Carl" the wineglass and Reese's pie for dessert - yum! 

We decorated outside the house...my favorite was "R.I.P. 30's" hehe

The birthday girl!

Me and Shannon <3

I enjoyed being able to use U.S. and British candy to make a candy poster! :)

Helsinki, Finland

Helskinki was another stop on our cruise that we honestly didn't have too much background knowledge about. However, we tend to like when we don't know what we are "supposed" to visit and see in a city because it allows us to just walk around and explore only what we want to see. I had picked out two places from our tour book that I really wanted to visit - Temppeliaukio Church and the Sibelius Monument. The Temppeliaukio Church, also called the Church of the Rock, was built directly into a rock, and its copper dome sits just a little above ground level. The amount of copper used to create the dome measured over 13 miles long (just a little fun fact that I happened to remember!). 

The Sibelius Monument was built to honor a Finnish composer by the name of Jean Sibelius. The artwork is open to interpretation, but to me it bears a strong resemblance to organ pipes, which makes sense to me since it is honoring a composer. Apparently some people thought the artwork was too abstract, so the face of Jean Sibelius was later added to appease the masses. It was in the middle of a beautiful green area, and the walk to the monument was also gorgeous. 

We also enjoyed the Three Smiths Statue right outside of Finnish department store Stockmans, mainly because it contains bullet/shrapnel holes from WWII, and the statue is also a popular meeting spot for locals which made us feel like we were right in the thick of things. :) Helsinki also had a lot of great shopping boulevards, some beautiful cathedrals, and an interesting contrast of very modern architecture and older architecture. 

Our Helsinki stop was capped off by the best night on our cruise boat - CHOCOLATE NIGHT! If you know me at all, you know I had only chocolate items that night, no dinner food for me! :) 

The heart of Helsinki

Three Smiths statue

Bullet/shrapnel holes left over from WWII

Outside view of Church of the Rock - it is built into the stone, mostly underground

Copper dome at Church of the Rock

Beautiful walk on the way to the Sibelius Monument

Sibelius Monument

Farmers Market near Helsinki's harbor

Lutheran Cathedral

Shopping boulevard

That's me - a Chocoholic!