Last Days in Durham

We spent our last day with Dad walking around Durham some more. Nathan made breakfast in bed for all of us.

Sunshine and brekkie. But I'm still wearing flannel snowman pajamas in July. Don't judge me.

We went and saw the Lindisfarne Gospels on Palace Green. The line was long and they were behind schedule, so I got a little seat.

One last shot of us and the cathedral

Naughty Nathan took some pictures inside the building.

Dad inside the cathedral

The cloisters

Shadows in the cloisters

My shadow

The college

Nathan tried to do a candid self-portrait, but I'm not sure what happened here.

Over to Prebends Bridge

Overlooking the river

Me and Dad

Beautiful view

 Bye bye Durham!

Exploring Durham with Dad

After church and Dad's marriage seminar on Sunday we did a bit of exploring around Durham. 

The graduation tent was gone, leaving behind a huge patch of yellow grass.

Baby bumps unite!

In front of St. John's, Nathan's college, after turning in his library key

The next few pictures are from around the cathedral and Palace Green.

On Monday Dad made his famous chicken fried steak, and we enjoyed it with other Americans (and one German) who would appreciate his culinary genius. It. was. amazing.

He Did It!

I decided to start with the silly picture. There were so many good ones, so I just included them all. Sorry if it's overkill. I can't help it! I'm a proud wife. A proud Mrs. Dr. Nathan Thomas Parker.

Hey, dude.

It rained buckets this morning. Buckets. Dad and I had to wait in line to get into the cathedral. If you're from Durham, we got in the queue across from Zizzi's pizza on Silver Street. It was that long. And we were 45 minutes early. I was seriously sad.

We finally made it inside! We couldn't even see the stage, but there were TVs so we could at least see those.

He's in the program! That's a relief.

There he is shaking the Vice-Chancellor's hand. It's blurry. I'm sorry.

It continued to rain buckets. I was not in a good mood in this picture because I had to go to the bathroom BAD, and we were literally second to last out of the cathedral after the graduation ceremony. My dad kept pressuring me to crowd in (well, out), but I was afraid of the English tut and raised eyebrow. I will always be a conformist. 

We ran to his office on Dun Cow lane for me to use the facilities, and we heard a voice. "Hey you, beautiful people!" It was none other than Brent, of course.

From there we went to the Theology department's drinks reception. This is Nathan's supervisor, Professor Alec Ryrie. He is awesome. He told Nathan that he is already using the story of Nathan's finishing the PhD in under two years to intimidate/inspire new students. 

Here are our long-lost Durham friends the Johnsons! It was so good to see them.

Nathan was rubbing my belly again, and I barely managed to fight him off and pose quickly for this shot.

My handsome dad came over to celebrate Nathan with us!

Here he is again. So handsome in his robe and tea cosy hat.

Here we are on Prebends Bridge. I think this picture is so quintessentially Durham. Misty. Historic. Academic. Lots of memories on this bridge.

What? A picture with his mouth open?

We went to lunch afterwards at Bistro 21. So, so tasty.

A self-portrait

I'm in love!

Congratulations, my love! I'm so proud of you.

Bak-o Visitors

Last Sunday we had friends from Bakersfield pass through Durham. Doug and Myra live in London now, and their friends Keith and Daryl came across the pond to visit them. Together they toured the expanse of this island. I was amazed by how much they accomplished in just a short while! Nathan and I were so thankful that they stopped in Durham to see us. 

We loved having lunch, catching up, and taking them on a tour of our beautiful city.

I didn't get the memo that everyone would be impersonating Nathan's usual open-mouth face. He didn't either, apparently. Joke's on our visitors! :)

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Last weekend the weather was absolutely gorgeous, and we went to the Durham Regatta, a really, really old boat race that had to be cancelled the last two years because of torrential rain and flooding riverbanks. It was our first and last chance to participate in a bit of Durham history.

It was so much fun to experience!

We met our neighbor, Francis, there and had a picnic. I wore my one-pound sunglasses. Heaven.

Rowing, rowing, rowing

After a few hours, Nathan needed to video tape himself doing his graduation speech from his alma mater (he originally gave this over Christmas, but his teacher wanted it on tape in our historic city), so Francis kindly went with us. Nathan wanted the cathedral in the background, but I couldn't exactly squat down in the bushes in my delicate condition. Francis saved the day and played cameraman. 

Nathan's speech went on for a wee bit, and after it was done, Francis's knees were killing him. "When you started ad libbing my knees were shouting, 'Stick to the text for God's sake!'" What a friend!

Finchale Priory with Will

We love Will. We love sunshine at 8 p.m. We love Finchale Priory.

Wink!

I think Nathan was doing the "thumb thing" on the back of Will's neck and creeping him out.

Middle of May: head warmer, shirt, sweatshirt, trousers, coat, puffy vest, gloves, scarf, wellies. That's normal, right?