Another great weekend

I was talking to my dad last night and telling him about my great weekend, and how I had realized that practically every weekend I say "this was the greatest weekend!" Things must be pretty good if I feel that way practically every weekend. I thought, "I had so much fun this weekend, it was the best weekend, but Paris was the best weekend, and Wales was the best weekend, and when I'm home and I just hang out with friends and work out and catch up on laundry, that's a great weekend too!" How great to find enjoyment in so many different things. But this really was such a great weekend! Thursday night my friend Erin came down from London and stayed over night. We got up Friday morning and went on a walk with this women's walking group. Lisa, the mother of the family I live with, is a hike leader. She goes on great, long walks every Friday. They're usually about 2-2 1/2 hours long, out in the English countryside. This particular walk led us by blankets of bluebells in full bloom. They were amazing. The walk also took us to a little tea room in the country. You can get to the tea room only by walking! It's only open by reservation now though. We had a nice lunch there with sandwiches and tea and cakes! It was such a lovely day, so we were able to sit outside. Then it was straight to the grocery store and home for cooking! We had to prepare for our big Cinco de Mayo party that night. Erin and I had planned on making chicken enchiladas, layered dip, and dessert empanadas. She did much of the cooking because I was busy driving a couple of kids back and forth from their house to the school. Anyway, the party idea originated between Erin and myself because we so love Mexican food and can't find great Mexi food here...so sometimes when we get together we cook Mexican. So we had decided to invite over a couple of friends for dinner-chicken enchiladas. I asked Lisa if that would be okay, since it is her house, and she said it was fine but could she invite a few people. Heck yeah, the more the merrier! So we actually ended up with about 25 people! It was so great because those women can cook, and they all brought different things! Sort of a Mexican pot-luck. So awesome! Then Saturday I went with the Mellgard's and a few other couples/families to point to point horse racing. This was some serious fun. It only happens once a year-at least this particular one. Everyone drives out to this area sort of in the country where the race is, and have huge picnics. There were tons of people. So we got together and everyone put out their yummy picnic foods (breads, cheeses, wines, salads, pastas, etc.) and we indulged. About every 45 minutes or so there would be a race. Point to point racing means that the horses aren't racing on a track like normal, but out in the country on a 3 mile course. This one was 3 miles anyway. So you could go bet on the horse you thought would win, then go watch the race and see. Most of the race was not visible though because it went way off behind trees and came back around to where we were. Many of the horses didn't finish for various reasons...3 miles makes for a long race and apparently there was a sort of ditch thing where several of the jockeys fell off of their horses. So then after a race, we would eat some more, dessert....and then cheese and crackers. Good times. There were also lots of stalls selling things-lots of jackets, sweaters, horse riding gear, etc. It was an all day affair. So that was really great. Wrapped up the weekend Sunday at ACS family fun day! We have a youth booth there that sells burgers and dogs...so I worked all day at that, which was so much fun. I love doing stuff like that! We sold a heck of a lot of food. So, you see, it was a great weekend!