This past week we thoroughly enjoyed a visit from my mom and dad. Since neither of them have ventured too far away from the Mid-West most of their lives they had a wonderful and eventful international experience. It was such a great moment to see them come through the doors at the airport...they were really here. For the next week it was such a joy to re-live the excitement of being in a new place through them. Of course the first night they were wiped out and I felt so bad waking them up to eat dinner (their lunch). On Sunday we went to Cambridge and ate a lovely Sunday roast meal at The Anchor (famous pub claiming to be the starting point of the group Pink Floyd). Following lunch we went punting on the Cam (River). We got a great deal on a chauffeured ride that I would recommend to everyone to do. The trip brought us through all of the colleges at Cambridge University and our guide told us great stories about the history of the city, the colleges and the extra "goodies."Monday we stayed close to home and did a walking tour to Glinton and spent some time out on the public footpaths that wind all throughout the English country side. It was fun watching mom take pictures of houses and hedges and cars...everything that has been so ordinary to me is so new to them.
On Tuesday we did a whirlwind tour of Peterborough. I brought them to village south of Peterborough call Fotheringhey which is home of the famous church where Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded (she was one of Henry VIII's wives). We then headed into Peterborough city centre where we had a lovely lunch at the new Pizza Express (one of my favorite places to eat). I wanted to expand mom and dad's horizons on different types of pizza toppings. Mom got a pizza with artichokes and asparagus on it and dad got one with lots of spice and red peppers and I got my favorite Pollo Con Astra (pulled chicken with sweet onions and peppers). 
Then we headed to the Peterborough City Market where mom and dad had an eye opening experience with lots of different people and lots of things. We then visited the Peterborough Cathedral...another must see!!! Admission is free but you can pay 2 pounds for a "photography permit" so you can take pictures inside. Mom and I learned about Catherine of Aragon who is buried at the cathedral (another late wife of Henry VIII) and dad was fascinated about how they constructed the building. I cut our tour a bit short because I only paid for 4 hours of parking and we had to high tail it back so I didn't get a ticket. Good thing we left when we did because as we got close to the car park I saw the parking office walking down our row and then move to the rear of my car to get my registration. I took off running proclaiming that I was back and going to be leaving...not the kind of exercise I wanted that day.
Wednesday we headed down to London on the train which was a big thrill for mom and dad. Once we got to London, we hit the Underground they got another taste of awesome public transportation options we have in England. Afterwards I found out that my dad was a little leery of the Underground at first because I kept bringing him down deeper underground and he was worried about the electricity going off or something. We got off the Piccadilly line at Piccadilly Circus (London's "Time Square" per say) and then head straight towards St. James' Park to get us to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. 
We got there just after the band started heading down the road so we sent my mom running after them to take pictures. Dad watched her like a hawk and I just giggled watching her trying to fight through the crowd. We then went to get our pictures taken with the guards that stand outside St. James Palace (where Price Charles lives). We made our way to Parliament Square to take pictures of Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey the quickly rushed off over the bridge on our way to ride the London Eye. We did a quick lunch at McD's where dad just handed me some cash and said, "Uh, can you just order and pay for it." I thought it was pretty funny because he seemed afraid to spend money because he was afraid they were going to give him the right change back. They both were pretty fascinated by the coins and the notes we use here and tried really hard to learn all the coin pieces. Addie let loose in the Eye and ran laps around everyone in our pod. We then checked out all the street entertainers and got our pictures taken with all of them. Finally we made our way to Tower Bridge before we rushed back to King's Cross Station to catch our train home.
Thursday Addie and I needed to catch up on some sleep, so while we slumbered Mom and Dad went on a walk back through Glinton and checked out the butcher shop. They wanted to pick something up for us to try and they settled on sausages, they didn't know what kind they were getting but they weren't the little ones. That afternoon we headed back to Peterborough's city centre for a farmer's market where I bought some lovely crumble pies and mom and dad bought "Millionaire's Shortbread" - they have a thing for shortbread. 
Friday Kevin took the day off and we all headed to Stamford for the weekly market. Mom and Dad really found the markets to be the funnest things to do. Dad got into an in depth conversation with farmer who raised red deer...my dad is an avid outdoorsman and has been fascinated with the fact that bow hunting is outlawed in all of England. Friday night we all went over to Danny and Min's house for some "real" Chinese food and it was absolutely amazing. My dad said this was one of the most wonderful parts of their trip. Mom and Dad both thought Danny and Min's hospitality was so gracious and they loved learning about English culture from Sarah (our lovely English neighbor). I think it was great for them both to get exposed to other cultures in a more intimate setting and I think the evening left a real impression on them both.Saturday we ventured off to Lincoln - Kevin and I have found this to one of our favorite places to go shopping. We checked out some fun little shops and ate at a cute little place where we taught mom and dad how to eat fish and chips the "English way" - fork in left and knife in right. Since it was pretty chilly and windy I thought it would be fun to put Addie in the camo snow suit that Mom and Dad gave her for Christmas.
She was sooo cute. That night we went to the Coucko for dinner so Mom and Dad could enjoy one last "English" meal. Dad ordered Addison a big bowl of ice cream for dinner...I guess grandparents are supposed to spoil their grandchildren.Sunday was a tough day, since we had to drive Mom and Dad to the airport.
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