Burt's visit

A couple of weeks ago our friend Burt who we met in New Zealand, (but if from Australia) came to visit us. We were great friends in Dunedin and Burt was one of our first friends in Dunedin. He came up to Kit at a work potluck and introduced himself. Kit and him started talking and we have been friends since.   It was so wonderful to see him again and to catch up.

Kit and Burt outside the Leicester train station.

Having a drink

being "Burt"

We spent some time hanging out around Leicester, seeing some of the sights and just catching up.

We went to a local countryside pub for a drink and watched some of the Queen's Jubilee on tv. 

The pub was called the Cow and Plow and had some great signs on the wall. 

Here are some that we could see from our seats.

Panoramic view of the Cow and Plow

 It rained a lot that weekend, but we had one day that was pretty nice so we went to Bradgate Country Park. We had visited there when my parents came.  We had a wonderful time walking around the hills and exploring the deer and tower among the rocks.

The Band shot

Walking through a field of small ferns

The Elams and a Hatch

(burt's last name)

Beautiful views

Jump for joy

and some yummy ice cream

There are many deer in the park and they were so tame. They were actually going up to people and taking food right out of their hands.

It was a great weekend and Burt came back to visit the next weekend. We rented an awesome cottage in the Peak District.

Queen's Jubilee weekend

 The first weekend in June was the Queen's 60th Jubilee. There were celebrations all over England. I had a week off for half term break and Kit had the Monday and Tuesday off for the Queen's Jubilee. So we had a fantastic weekend celebrating.

On the Friday night our friend Harriet was graduating from her art degree and her and her classmates had an art show for their final pieces. We drove up to Lincoln for the night to see her piece.

Road Trip

our friend Kate tagged along

Lincoln has a an amazing historic area 

Lincoln is the area where the pilgrims that took the Mayflower to America were from. If you want to read more about them you can here

The Cathedral 

 

Beautiful blue house

The cute stores, pubs and resturants

The castle

Just sitting on a cannon

Our WWII picture

the cutest vespa ever. I want it

Yummy Chocolate

The art show was amazing. It was in this old building with three different levels. Every turn you made or room was filled with someone's art. Kit and I love going to art shows, especially if we have friends who have a piece in them.  It also helps that there was free wine and snacks.

Harriet's piece was amazing. She took pictures of street art in Berlin and then printed them off on fabric and then put them on wooden boxes. Then she put the boxes together and put light behind them. It was so amazing. My description doesn't do it justice. It was my favorite display!

This was also another one of our favorites: An Alfred Hitchcock display

 

The Cathedral a night was so beautiful. We had a fantastic dinner and a drink at a cute pub in Lincoln and then home to Leicester. Such a great night.

The Kotecki Surprise

A couple of weeks ago we got a note saying we needed to pick up a package in the mail.  We had know idea what it was, so we were really excited to see who sent us a package. We arrive at the post office and they couldn't find it at first. Then the lady behind the counter gives us this :

Kit and I looked at each other and started laughing. We had know idea it would be such a big package.
We still had some groceries to get and a trip to the library so we brought it with us. We got the best looks from people all wondering, just as we were, what is in that package. By this time we knew it was from our friends Kathleen and Adam.  We kept wondering what it could be and laughing the whole time. This saturday was our 6th week of rain and cold weather and this was just the sunshine and happiness we needed!

We got home and immediately started to to open the package. Kathleen and Adam recently got married and we were not able to make it to the wedding which was a really hard decision to make since Kathleen was was maid of honor at our wedding.  For their wedding they had given out embroidered napkins as a gift and they sent some of those to us, which was so thoughtful. Kathleen also sent me some handmade earrings and then the big gift:

I had opened the smaller items first and the picture was still wrapped up in bubble wrap. As I started to open it, Kit could read it and he said, Oh Natalie you are going to love this.  Once I saw that it said Elam, I started crying. It was such a wonderful and thoughtful gift. And the reason that Kathleen will always be one of my closest friends- she knows me and what I like!

Thank you, Thank you again to Kathleen and Adam for making our day.

We found the perfect spot for it in our living room:

We love it!