passing the torch and more

Sorry I've postponed updating my blog for a few days. I was trying to wait until I had enough to write about to put up a decent-sized post.

A couple of nights ago, we had the privilege of watching the Olympic torch pass through Stafford! We walked down to the edge of the neighborhood to get a good spot and waited about 30 minutes for everything to start. I guess I thought there would be a few things to come before the torch to get everyone pumped up about it, but I wasn't expecting the dozens of policemen, buses, and other things to pass through for a good 10 minutes before the torch actually came. The funniest part to me was that after the torch came through, everyone went from cheering to "ok, I guess we can go home now." and everyone left. It's like they waited 45 minutes to see a flame then go home. It really was cool, though :) 

The past couple of days have mostly been spent at home relaxing, which has been very nice. My mom, grandparents and I went to Shugborough Estates yesterday while Trey was in school and my dad was at work. I went there over spring break and it's one of those places that just isn't quite as exciting the second time, but I did enjoy seeing the decorations they put up in honor of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, which weren't up when I came. Shugborough is basically a huge plantation where the Bishop of Lichfield used to live and the estates are now set up as a museum for people to walk through. You can see the gardens, a farm, the servants' quarters, and the mansion itself. It really is breathtaking...the size of the estates, the history of it, and the beauty.

The weather the first week I was here was absolutely perfect. Sunny and 70's. Unfortunately, our house doesn't have air conditioning so that made it kind of hard to keep the house cool and sleep comfortably at night. Yesterday, the England weather came back. It was in the upper 50's, cloudy, and a little rainy. It's crazy to think it could change so drastically from one day to the next and that it could be that cold in June!

Currently reading: I'm still reading Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet, but I'm finally almost done with it (about 20 pages away from finishing). I'm also about to start reading Kisses from Katie, which I got as a Christmas present and started reading after spring break, but ended up getting too busy to finish it. I'm probably just going to start it over so I can refresh my memory. 

We're leaving for Rome on Sunday and I probably won't actually post while I'm there, but I'll be sure to share about our trip once we get back :)

Grace and Peace.