Grady comes to his new home today!

Hello! Sorry it’s been a while since my last blog, our internet service is still not up to par. Most of the time when I get on it knocks me off again. Fun stuff.

Today marks a big day for us here in London! Our dog, Grady, finally joins us! He is on a plane over the ocean as I type. Actually no, he should have already landed! Yippee! Now comes customs, and from what I’ve been told it can take up to 3 hours to process the animals if there are quite a few of them. But, they are able to get off the plane and go to a pet reception area where they get water and bathroom breaks. My parents had pleasure/burden of taking care of Grady since we left Dallas on Jan. 16. They have been such good doggie grandparents! Now they will have to come to London – Grady will need to see them! The above picture is one my dad took while Grady was at his final vet check up before the big flight.

This past weekend Stephen and I left town for the second time; we went to an area called the Cotwolds – a hilly part of the countryside in West-Central England. It was a last minute trip, we booked our train and hotel on Thursday night and left late Friday afternoon. We live pretty close to Paddington, one of the main train stations in London, and being able to hop on a train after a short walk and get to where we’re going makes for some pretty stress-free traveling and I highly recommend it. We stayed at the Hare and Hounds hotel just outside of a town called Tetbury. It was also near Highgrove House – one of Prince Charles’ royal residences. Our taxi driver pointed it out as we passed the front gates, only he called the prince “Charlie”. I have never heard him referred to anything other than “Prince Charles”, he doesn’t seem at all like a “Charlie” to me!

It was a beautiful place, even in the still-not-quite-Spring dreary weather. I really can’t wait to go back to the countryside when it’s blooming! I have lots of great pictures from the weekend, but our super slow, unreliable wireless makes it pretty much impossible to upload them. I am making a(nother) phone call today that will hopefully put an end to the madness.

Our next trip has just been planned – we are meeting some friends in Barcelona, Spain, at the beginning of April! I am pumped about this, I have heard so many wonderful things about Spain, plus we get to see Lindsey and Dallas!

The buzz on the royal wedding is really starting to ramp up now. Road closures galore have been applied for thousands of street parties. We live just north of Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens, and I have read that there will be a large screen erected to show the ceremony as it’s happening. I expect our neighborhood, along with everyone else’s, will be one big party! I go running through the park all the time, so I’ll try to snap some pictures of the preparations as I see them.

Okay, I must leave now and make sure the house is puppy-proofed. I’ve gotten used to leaving bags on the floor knowing a little white doggie wouldn’t go rummaging through them, but that won’t be the case for much longer!