Hampton Court Palace and SNOW!

A few weekends back we went to Henry VIII's famous palace-Hampton Court Palace. One of Dates' coworkers took us and showed us around. It was beautiful and full of history. We really enjoyed it! Here's a few pictures from our tour...

The Great Hall

Henry stopped by to say hello.

King Dates

The Wine Cellar

Henry's kitchens.

The Garden

Garden

Front view of the palace

Leaving the palace. We were only able to see Henry VIII's side of the palace. There is another part that William III and Mary II built. The place was massive and we will need to go back to see the rest of it. We plan to go back in the spring so we can see the flowers in bloom in the many gardens.

Dates' Dad, Mike, came in town last week for work. We were able to spend a lot of time with him and it was so nice having him here! We did a short river cruise on the Thames one day. A few pictures I took while cruising...

Tower Bridge

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

And this past Saturday night, it snowed! Dates had been claiming it was going to snow for a few weeks...and it finally did. They predicted 3 inches. I don't think it was actually that much, but it was enough to get these Texans excited! Especially Nola! We played in it on Saturday night when we got home from the pub. On Sunday we rode with some of our friends (who are the owners of the pub and have a black lab named Jade) to Battersea Park to let the dogs play. Nola is still tired! 

Our back porch

Nola was very curious about it all.

Street view from our front door.

So excited!

Nola, Dusty and Jade in the back of the car headed to the park.

Nola and her London BFF, Jade.

The park was full of people sledding and building snowmen.

You can see Nola coming in from the left side here...she literally ran for 2 1/2 hours straight.

That's all for now! We are spending this week getting ready for our anniversary trip to Paris! We leave Friday! 

We're Back!

Sorry it has taken so long to post since Christmas. We had a great Christmas and a very busy 2 weeks back in Texas. Our time was spent eating, drinking, catching up with as many people as we possibly could, time with family and lots of fun. It was a whirlwind of a trip that, of course, went too quickly. We enjoyed every second!

I have few pictures of what we have been up to since we've been back. A couple weekends ago we went to a Dave and Busters type place called Namco Station. We bowled, played games and drove bumper cars. It was a pretty random night (got a deal on Groupon) but fun. Last weekend we brought wine and sandwiches to Battersea Park (about a 10 minute walk from our house) and let Nola run and play. I think that's about all I have pictures of for now...

 Big Ben on our walk to Namco Station.

 London Eye

 Houses of Parliament and Big Ben across the river

 County Hall-Namco Station is in this building

 Houses of Parliament

 Big Ben

 London Eye

 Being the good wife I am, I (finally) went to China Town with Dates so he could get his Sunday night Chinese dinner.

 It's because of places like this that I don't eat Chinese food.

 Last Friday we went out to dinner with Dates' co workers. We went to a Mexican place called Cantina Laredo-it was the best we've had yet!

Yum!

 Walking through the neighborhood on our way to Battersea Park.

 Nola in her element.

 So happy!

 Dates trying to freak Nola out.

 We stopped by this lake to look at the ducks. I was worried that Nola would jump in, but she didn't. Then we walked a few steps and there was another couple throwing a ball in to the lake for their dog. Nola saw the other dog jump and before we could say anything she was in. She immediately turned around and looked at us like 'holy cow, that is colder than I remember!'

The couple threw the ball in for her and she jumped in and retrieved it. As we were walking away, we heard the splash of the other dog and she was off again. She was so excited to swim again. We will definitely bring her back here when it is a little warmer!

 Battersea Park

 Battersea Park

 Battersea Park

 Chelsea Bridge-we cross this to get to the park.

I have been walking Nola along the river to Victoria Garden during the day. Nola loves it here.

That's all for now! On Saturday we are going to Hampton Court Palace. We have booked our trip to Paris in February for our one year anniversary-can't wait! Oh, and our visitor calendar is really starting to fill up for the spring! :) :)