A very British weekend...

The Olympics have officially begun!  I stayed up til midnight last night watching the impressive opening ceremonies (well done, Danny Boyle!) and I must say I was really proud to be British!  (I took dual nationality in 2002).  It's been a long time in the making, but I think the Olympics will be fantastic!  Shame we didn't think to apply for tickets!

Yesterday I took a day off work.  My husband has been off for the past two weeks and has been taking the kids on various day trips, etc.  I thought it would be fun to have a day off with the family and we could go to Cambridge.  Unfortunately both my husband and my son have been coming down with cold and sore throats and when we woke up on Friday morning, it was apparent that Cambridge was off the cards.  Not wanting to waste the day, I decided to take my daughter for tea and cake at a sweet little antique shop about 10 minutes from where we live.

I hadn't been to Blackmore in about 14 years.  When we got there I wondered why on earth I haven't been more often.  It's such a picturesque little village.  When we arrived, I noticed a sign that said the church was open, so I thought we would have a look.

I love looking around old churches - it amazes me that they've stood for hundreds of years and are in continued use today.  This particular church is over 600 years old!  This is why I love England.  Buildings 600+ years old ten minutes from my house!  That's awesome.  The tower was open, so we went in and had a look.

The beams were amazing!  It was quite dark, and my iPhone doesn't have a flash, but I think you get the idea from the photo above.

After we had a look round the church, we walked down the lane and headed for Megarry's Tea Shop.

I took my mother here when she visited some 14 years ago and remembered it fondly.  It's like an old curiosity shop.  At the front there are a beautiful collection of antiques for sale and at the back a lovely tea shop selling freshly baked cakes - bliss!  I knew Verity would love this - a proper afternoon tea!

Divine carrot cake

One happy kid :-)

I decided to have a slice of carrot cake.  I know I would be going out for a run later, so decided to reward myself early!  It was delicious, moist, everything carrot cake should be.

My training session last night was the last session of Week 6 and comprised of a warm up walk for 5 minutes, run for 3 minutes, walk for 3 minutes, run for 18 minutes and cool down walk 5 minutes.  This would be my first attempt at running for such a length of time and I was quite nervous as I set out.  I did the 3 minute run with no trouble.  Almost immediately my left hip started hurting - this has been my latest ache and pain.  I can't figure out if it's from running or if it's from the kettlebell workout, but thankfully it eases after a couple minutes of running and doesn't cause me too many problems.

When I started the 18 minute interval I didn't feel great, so I slowed my pace way down and kept at quite a slow pace throughout.  18 minutes is a loooooonng time, but I did it!  I was seriously sweaty when I got home!

Why the long face?  Seriously, how long does my face look in this pic?!

Today there was a village fair at Navestock - again about ten minutes from the house, so I decided to take both kids.  It was quite a bit bigger than I expected, complete with bouncy castles, magic teacups and they even had a little dog show called "Scruffs"!  The kids enjoyed themselves and were happy to have ice cream, plus to look around all the different animal displays.  There was a man who had the funniest looking chickens I've ever seen - shame I didn't think to take photos of them!

So, once again, I'm taking part in Melinda's Blog Hop.  This week there's an Olympic theme - and how fitting :-)

This week's question is:

What is your favourite event to watch in the Summer Olympics?

This is not an easy question!  I really like to watch most of it - I won't say all because I seriously lose interest when it comes to volleyball, table tennis, and that weird indoor cycling (yeah, lets ride a bike in a circle - hell I'd fall asleep doing it, let alone watching it!).  I suppose I most enjoy watching the racing - both men's and women's.  I like the hurdling - it staggers me that people are able to do this!  I can barely lift my foot up above knee height without fear of tripping over something, so kudos to hurdlers!  The swimming and rowing are both quite exciting to watch and I also enjoy some of the gymnastic activities.  As I type, the badminton mixed doubles is on and again, I'm just staggered at the speed!

So - now it's over to all of you!  What do you enjoy watching most in the Olympics?  You can join the blog hop by entering your details via the link below and then answering the question in a post on your blog.