Wow, I haven't updated since Saturday!!

I met his parents, they are really cool, and very nice. His mom is a good cook; we were stuffed after eating dinner at their house. I did most of the talking; Nick and his dad watched football (soccer). :P After dinner, we went back to Nick's house and watched the Euro 2004 (European football championships) England vs. France soccer/football match and England looooooooooooooooooooost!!! :( But... they have a chance to bounce back at the England vs. Switzerland game on Thursday. We'll be in London on that day -- and they are going to have a big screen up in Trafalger square for the game, so that will be cool. :) I got a David Beckham (# 7) jersey, so I'll be wearing that Thursday. Goooo England!!! :)

Monday I learned how to play "snooker", a game like pool, except the table is bigger and its a bit more complicated. We also went to the mall, and I got my David Beckham jersey there, as well, as some other cool stuff. :)

I finally got my surprise!!!

Tuesday was an awesome day - we started out on the Scotland trip, and I knew about that, but then Nick stopped at this castle in Alnwick, and we got to go there. It was very cool, and he thought I would like it. It was actually used as the setting in the Harry Potter movies (yes, I liked the movies) and he thought I would think that seeing the castle would be fun, so he searched online till he found out where it was for me. :) It was a cool surprise.

So we were walking around the grounds, and I was taking pictures of stuff, and then he waited for me. When I came back up to him, he took my camera and told me to close my eyes. I did, and I felt him slip something on my finger. It was the ring!!!! :) It is sooo pretty -- I can't wait to show you all. :) It was sooo romantic. Getting a ring on the grounds of an old castle. I could have been a girl from hundreds of years ago, standing in the same courtyard, surrounded by the same walls in the same beautiful countryside.

Scotland is great, its sooo beautiful; I don't know if all the pics I took will do the Highland justice. It was such a great country. It sounds corny, but it felt like I was in the movie Braveheart. No wonder the people love their country; its sooo beautiful and peaceful there; untouched, if you will, by the hustle and bustle of modernization. I've never been to a place that tranquil and laid back. Dogs sitting in the lobbies of the hotels and the bed and breakfast owner had dogs herself. We got to pet them all and feed them toast this morning. :D The biggest dog (a Labrador retriever) was named Bruno, and he was huge -- but he liked his toast. Kept looking at us with his big brown eyes, and it was impossible to resist.

Got some good pics of everything tho -- went to Loch Ness of course but didn't see Nessie (the Loch Ness monster)... Maybe next time. :) I saw highland cows, too -- big, shaggy brutes they were, they had horns and long shaggy hair -- but they were cows!!!

Also had some good Scottish cooking; steak and ale pie, and some smoked salmon. The steak and ale pie was quite good, I couldn't eat everything on my plate, I was so stuffed.

Will try to update more... have to get to bed now though.

Love,

Nora