Jeffrey comes, Hillary goes!

It's been a crazy week. My dad was scheduled to come into London for a business trip, and was going to visit us while he was here. His meeting got cancelled, so he spent three days with us. During the same time, I had my exams, finishing my second term. I'm now through with the first term (Michaelmas Term), and the second term (Hillary Term), so I just have the third term (Trinity Term) left and a consulting project this summer, and then I'm done.

Exams weren't too stressful this term, as I only had three exams. My other classes had final papers, which took a lot of time, but were last week, so I didn't have the stress of all the finals within a few days.

Me and my dad in front of the examination school. Last term we took exams somewhere else because work was being done on the examination school, so this was the first time I had been in there. It was amazing in there and I wish I could have taken pictures, but for obvious reasons I couldn't take a camera with me. I first went up a beautiful marble staircase to the huge where I wrote my exams. The room had beautiful woodwork on the walls and ceiling, and giant portraits on the walls. My favorite part was the giant clocks on the wall, showing how much time we had until each exam ended.

My dad found an antique store by the examination school, and they had great old photographs and sketches of Oxford. We found some great sketches of Merton, my college.

My dad is famous in 29 states and 6 countries for his power naps. I remember when I was a kid and we'd be boating, he'd occasionally take a quick nap behind the steering wheel while the next skier got geared up. Here he is taking a nap in Millie's bed.

Here's Millie with her "Grandpa Jeff" on top of Saint Mary's Church.

My beautiful daugther!

We went with my dad to Bath for the day. Here's a picture of the abbey, although it doesn't do it justice. We went into the abbey, and it was spectacular. The abbey itself was beautiful, but it was made much better by the music being performed inside. They were rehearsing for a performance of Bach's Passion that evening, and their voices echoed beautifully.

Here's a picture of the old roman bath. It was really cool to see. Unfortunatly this was the only picture we got of the bath as we (me) hadn't recharged the camera battery. The baths are filled with hot water from a spring, and are about 2,000 years old.

Millie got a sticker book as we entered the bath museum. Of course, she had to lay down and use all the stickers right then and there. She's a cute little one...

We got back to Oxford 10 minutes before my dad presented at the business school. We barely made it! The timing wasn't good, as the last exams of the term finished an hour earlier, and many students had therefore begun drinking 59 minutes earlier. We had a surprisingly good turnout, and the presentation was great. I think my dad's background with starting Health Benefits America is very interesting and different than what we often imagine when we as students think about starting a business. I liked how he emphasized doing the right thing, and taking care of your clients and employees.

For those of you who don't know me well, I'm a geek when it comes to pets. Amanda and I took Millie to a pet store in a nearby town so that she could see the animals. She loved it, but I may have enjoyed it more than she did. She liked all the animals, from the snakes and frogs, the bunnies and parrots, to the fish. She would go up to each animal and say something like "Ooh, pretty snake!" or "Hi little guy!"

We went to Blenheim Palace with Steve, Danalisa, and their friends the next day. It was great, but very windy and cold. Millie was interested in the palace, but much more interested in the sheep nearby.

Millie on the palace grounds in her Easter outfit.

Millie and Owen, who apparently tells very funny jokes.

Millie and I checking out the sheep farm next to the palace.

This is me in Banbury the next day. I don't understand the weather here. This is the first snowstorm of the year - the day before Easter. Isn't this supposed to be springtime? Shouldn't it be getting warmer? Not in England...