a week of crazy adventures!

thinking about the past week...i am left baffled as to where i should even begin this blog. it has been such a crazy, fun, adventerous week that i almost cant believe it actually happened! so i suppose the most logical reasoning would be to begin in chronological order....here it goes!

tuesday, after classes and shopping :) tim, beth, megan, and i were invited to harry and caroline dodd's house for supper. we had such an amazing time! they were absolutely wonderful hosts and had the best dogs!! seriously, we had a wonderful supper (lamb, which i really do like!) followed by wine and great conversation. we discussed interesting topics and we learned even more about the english culture. the evening, pierced with laughter and jokes, flew by before we knew it. even though im sure we all wanted to stay longer, we realized it was a little late. instead, megan and i went to beth's house for coffee and reading. however...after a distraction from the cat, not much reading got done. you see, once megan gets talking, its impossible to end a conversation! she honestly is such a cool person to talk to and we had some great conversation about our pasts and futures and everything in between. good memories!

wednesday night...after another day of classes, we stayed in oxford to see "measure for measure" that night. as we walked along, pretty pumped to see another play, we were suddenly drowned in a torential downpour! as we only had one umbrella among 9 people, we were completely drenched. that is not all, the rain soon began falling mixed with hail which pelted our exposed faces. im not kidding. this is just the kind of weather you can expect in england...you just never know what will happen. needless to say, when we arrived at the play, we were incredibly wet and uncomfortable. yet, the play was beyond excellent and we all enjoyed it immensely. it brought shakespeare into a modern time period and dealt with issues of prostitution and sex before marriage. very interesting and really well done! i'd say it was my favourite play of the year.

here we have made it to the play...but are clearly not impressed...

thursday was ree's 22nd birthday. we all planned to throw her a little surprise party at my house. this required a lot of lieing, talking behind her back, and unfortunately making ree feeling slightly bad that mostly everyone was too bust to get together...but it was worth it! she came it totally surprised and so excited!

ree is reading her homemade card here...the card was a crayon picture of everyone from the group and we all wrote special messages beside our person. too cute and she loved it!

laura made this ridiculous chocolate triffle with virtually every amazing chocolate treat in it. wow. absolutely delicious.

aw ree, we love you! you are the best!

friday afternoon, we were taken to broughton castle. although its not the biggest castle we've been too...it was definately the most fun! it is here where the movie 'shakespeare in love' was filmed (which of course we had to watch last night after we visited it) - that was pretty cool. the inside was really gorgeous and was filled with things from virtually every century! awesome!

sick garden!

this was our tour guide. her husband and her own this castle and still live in it! she gave us a sneak peak into her living quarters through a very secret door. that was cool. she was such a wonderful and interesting lady and we had a blast walking through it. it really was beautiful!

after our official tour, we were sent outside to walk around the grounds. which turned into more of 'play time' rather than touring! we had such a blast hanging out and acting stupid...there was such wide open green spaces and we couldnt resist playing a few games.

this is the group (unfortunately mark couldnt be here cuz of homework and alisha was sick) and mad who is looking absolutely adorable in this pose!

we feel that jumping always makes for an excellent photo opportunity!

the redeemer girls!! lovin it!

an incredible tower of people - gabby is quite strong!

here we are playing toss up or something - essentially someone would jump into everyone's arms and toss them up into the air. straightforward but fun!

leap frog!! a classic!

just chillin at broughton castle by the moat lovin life!

after the castle we walked over the margaret conway's house, her husband was the vicar of the nearby church and she served up the most amazing desserts ever! i definately ate too much but it was so good! and they were actually from canada - it was weird to hear other people talking like us! fun!

and so, that is the week so far...but there is more tonight! and i am so excited i can barely contain it! lets just say it will involve glow-in-the-dark and the 80's...hehehe i cant wait!