Partay!

Well, the party went very well. We had delicious food and they liked my cupcakes! I got to meet lots of very nice people from many different places. There were people from Brazil, Turkey, Finland, and even someone from Beverton! I also got to meet another Hannah from Finland but she pronounced her name Honna. I met one family who actually lived in Chandler, AR for a short time, and that is where I lived for a few years when I was young. It was fun to talk to them and get a feel for the different cultures. I carved a pumpkin for decoration, since Jo was going to teach them how to carve them. Here in the UK, barely any people carve them so it was fun to watch.
The final outcome. I took the extra batter and put it in a cake pan to bake.

The kids.... Is that a knife in his hand!

My pumpkin. Exclusively designed by Tyanin.

ME!

Cotswold Farm Park!

October 28, 2009
Yesterday we went back to the farm without Rebecca and had a blast! We didn't do as much as the day before, but I took tons of pictures! My favorite place was Bunnytopia! They have a huge pen full of adorable bunnies that you can pet and feed. We watched the piglets too that were born on Sunday. The kids love going there! It is a really nice place just to relax... At least until the goats start eating your coat! Thank goodness I moved before he tore it!

They'd eat right out of your hands!

Like I said... Bunnytopia! There were at least 15!

I had to take it fast because it kept nibbling at my coat!

This is one of my favorite photos. The changing colors of the country-side, winding roads, left side driving...

Today we are having lots of people over from Jo's work and have been busy cleaning and cooking. I got to make Boston Cream Cupcakes that were yummy (we had to test them) but since we used wierd flour, they sunk :(. All Well, they looked perfect in the oven! I'm sure they will get eaten though!

This is without the chocolate glaze.

More Walks

Two days ago, after having a long day of homework, I decided to go on a walk. That is one of the things I will deffinetly miss when I go home. There are about four public footpaths from where we live and others branch off of it. Tyanin, Chloe, Morgan and I walked towards the footpaths, and decided to go to the River Thames. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make it the whole 1.5 miles. But, I am looking forward to going back, and maybe taking a run there. The paths are very well taken care of and that have beautiful scenery every where you look. It is the law to have a footpath through your farms for people to go through, so we could also cut through the field of cows!

Anyway, yesterday, a friend of ours from church, Rebecca, took us to a local farm. She has three adorable kids named Emily, Megan, and Ethan. It was so fun! We went for a tractor ride, fed the sheep, watched the yaks, and even got to sit in a pen full of bunnies to pet! The only problem was.... I forgot my camera! Fortunately, we are going again soon, so I will deffinetly take lots of pics for everyone!

Warwick Castle

October 24, 2009
Yesterday, we went to a famous castle called Warwick (pronounced War-Ick). It was built around 1066 CE (AD) and was abandoned and then renovated by a duke named Robert Dudley. Henry the 8th used it at some point as well, but never really lived there. My favorite part was being on the tallest front tower. You could see the entire village! It was not surprising that the archers used it to warn the castle. It was super windy and rainy when we went (English weather is very similar to Oregon) but it was still an amazing experience. The weather actually got nice in the late afternoon, and around 4:00, we went to my second favorite part, the trebuchet. it is the largest medieval siege weapon that is in the world today. Although it is not actually an original, it was an exact model. They even launched a fireball in the air for us! I definitely would recommend checking it out if you are ever in England, because it really gives you a feel for the history and how old England really is.

The Trebuchet (Trey-Boo-Shay)

This is where the moat used to be. There is a large ditch surrounding the entire castle that used to be filled with water.

This was used in the dungeons and was a form of torture. A person was hung in that thing and then left to rot inside it.... EW!

There were many rooms full of different manikins from the time of the duke. This was a room devoted to Henry the 8th and had all six of his wives as well

A boudoir for the ladies

This was a suit of armor. All of them were tiny! The men must have been very short! This is how it looks next to my 8 year old cousin.

 Here is the courtyard from the top of the tower. It took a ton of stairs to get there, but was worth it for the view. It was WINDY!

This is the view of the city below. All of the villages have their own cathedral.

This is the town we drove through to get home. It is called Stratford-upon-Avon (its on the Avon river) and is Shakespeare's home town. Beautiful place.


We stopped at a restaurant in Stratford called Strada. I had the BEST pasta in the world called Rigatoni speck e Gorgonzola. The ham on top was super thin and was northern smoked mountain ham. It had Gorgonzola and padano cheeses and garnished with rocket. It was extremely creamy (Probably because it had like three types of cheeses in the sauce that is under the pasta) and is making my mouth water right now just thinking about it. I couldn't order a dessert though because I stuffed the entire plate of pasta (the British say Pass-ta) down it was so amazing.

I took a video of the fireball being launched, but we had to trim it so I will add it later. Adios!

Stonehenge...

Wow, we have had a busy weekend! On Friday, we visited Stonehenge. It was only a 45 min. drive, but half an hour was added in TRAFFIC! It was bad. Anyway, the road to Stonehenge is up a huge hill, and you can glimpse the stones on your way up. They look really menacing! They appear to be gigantic, but as you get closer, they are not as big. However, they are still an incredible sight. We listened to an audio guide that explained some of the theories of how, why, and when it was built. It was fun to imagine what was happening there back when it was built. They think it was built around 3500 BCE and took approximately 300 yrs. to build. They have many different ideas on what it was used for, but they know that it can be used as a calendar. Some of the stones that were used were brought from Wales! That is a giant distance from where they are now. Although we could not touch them, it was a really cool feeling just to look at it.
The point on the top of that stone is used to fit the other rocks on top. It must have fallen off at some point (no pun intended...). What is crazy is that 1/3 of the rock is underground. It must have taken a lot of power to stand them up.

Cricket and... Football?

When we went into Bourton-on-the-Water, we went into a little game store and my uncle Joe bought a cricket set. Two days ago, we got it out and gave it a try. In my opinion, cricket is a cross between baseball and bowling. The "bowler" or pitcher, tries to knock the wickets (a set of sticks behind the "batter")over by bowling it and hitting the ground first. The batter must hit the ball and then run back and forth to the other set of wickets behind the bowler. It was a very fun game, but a game that I have no skill in whatsoever. Its a good thing it was my uncles first time to, otherwise, they would've made fun of me. After finishing that game, we started a game of soccer.... oops, I meant FOOTBALL! And because I seem to be disabled in that game, it felt good to make 3 goals... Even if I was playing against a 10 year old! Halfway through, our neighbor Kristi (who is actually from Tennessee) came out with us and we were joined by her dog Rufus who loves playing catch and decided to knock me over when I continued to play football.

RUFUS! and Tyanin

This is the "Bowler"
And here is the "Batter!"