April flew by

Wow, its already May. Where did April go? It flew right on by! 

We started April off with a birthday celebration for me. My friends and Carsten decided to throw me a California themed "surprise" party. It was definitely not hard to catch on that they were throwing me a party, but it was still lots of fun. My friend Darla made me a "California Girl" cake. My friends all pitched in some sort of mexican-ish dish. Carsten told me we were going out to eat at my favorite Thai restaurant, but I already knew something else was going on. We arrived at our friends house and all of our friends cars were out in the front. I started laughing and said to Carsten "mm...looks like everyones here." He said, "how long have you known?" haha! It was very thoughtful of Carsten and all my friends to put together such a special party. It was my first birthday away from my family and California. It turned out to be a very special day, especially because Carsten was done with his classes for a little while. 

The cake my friend Darla made. 

My first birthday married to Carsten and in England. It was a GREAT birthday!

Since Carsten finished classes for this semester and we had a free weekend, we decided to take a trip to explore some English castles. We went to Dover Castle first. This castle was absolutely breath taking. It was the first castle either of us had ever been in and we would have to agree it is the best castle we have seen so far. 

Carsten and me standing in the car park. Look at that view!

This was my favorite part of the castle. It is one of the entrances to the castle. There is one british official who lives in this part of the castle, but the rest of the castle is property of the English Heritage. 

Dover Castle is located right on the white cliffs. So after we explored the castle we took a walk along the white cliffs, which were beautiful!

The next castle we went to was Deal castle. This is a very small castle that has been used for the british military up till just 10 years ago. 

Then the next castle we visited was Walmer castle. This castle was eventually made into a resident for some of the royalty of Great Britain so it is not a typical looking castle. 

The inside of this castle was decorate and furnished, unlike the other castles. It has lavished gardens surrounding it. 

Carsten standing in one of the gardens. 

England has so many different castles. It was fun to explore these three castles and we look forward to exploring many more here in England. 

That was our April. It went by so quickly and we had some fun! Thanks all for reading our blog! We miss you all and are looking forward to our trip back to the states this summer. We decided that it is about time someone comes to visit us again...who wants to come?