Dirtypaws Blog

The day we kidnapped Gracie

dirtpaws — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:28:08 +0000

I’m posting this on both of my sites because it’s such an obnoxious story that I had to make sure that it made the rounds to get to everyone.

Yesterday we decided to load up our outdoor play things, scooter, RipStik and football and walk down to Brockwell Park to play. After a while Eric decided to see if there was any Geocaching nearby to go and hunt for. For those who don’t know you use GPS coordinates to find buried or hidden waterproof boxes of small treasures (usually the things are worth less then $1.00) and then you write in the notebook that is left in the box that you found it, who you are and then you take one item and leave one from your stash for the next treasure hunter. It’s a lot of fun, it’s worldwide and they have them everywhere. Even underwater!

Now on to my story: Porter and I decided to stay in the common area and play football and Gracie decided to got with Eric to find the geocache. They were gone for a little while and I finally texted Eric to find out where they were. At the same time he came around the corner to the little pond Porter and I were watching the ducks at and said, “I scared Gracie.” I asked him what happened and he explained that while they were looking for the geocache, she got bored and asked to sit on a bench in the park. Eric told her that he’d be (pointed) over there if she needed him. She said OK and he went on to look for the geocache. Unfortunately, she forgot where he pointed and got scared. She’s a very quiet child so unlike Porter who would be flailing around and screaming for “DADDY!” she sat there quietly and cried. He could see her the whole time but because it looked like she was just sitting there, he didn’t know how upset she had gotten until he came over. Two women were sitting there next to Gracie so when Eric walked up they asked him if he knew where her parents were. To which he replied, “I’m her Father.” To which they responded, “Are you her STEP Father?” “No, I’m her FATHER”, he said and took Gracie by the hand and walked off. We of course reassured Gracie that we would NEVER leave her, that Daddy could see her the whole time and that we would never let anything like that happen again. She hopped on her scooter and we started our long walk back through the park. As we are nearing the long downhill path to the exit, we see a police car come flying through the park THROUGH THE GRASS. I look over at Eric and jokingly go, “Oh look, they are coming to arrest us for kidnapping….”

WHICH THEY WERE!!!!

They squeal up in front of us, blocking our way and hop out. They take one look at our astonished faces and one of the cops goes, “Oh, this is nothing – they are clearly a family.” Apparently they were called out because there was an “abandoned child” left in the park. Which is the polite way of saying, these two ladies thought you kidnapped this child. We explained that Eric could see her the whole time, that he never abandoned her that he was about 50 feet at the most from her but they had to write down our information because a call had been placed.

TWO THINGS.

1) It’s great that people actually look out for one another here. I’m glad that those women took the time to make sure however the fact that they flat out asked Eric if he was her Father and he responded and she was completely compliant when he walked away should have told them that she was our daughter. This is definitely due to the fact that Gracie is Black and we are White. Had we all been the same race, I doubt they would have called the cops on us.

2) The constables were EXTREMELY nice about the whole thing. They were in no way hostile, or condescending. They were very polite and were lovely to talk to. Things could have been a lot worse if they had thought for a second that she wasn’t our daughter as we had nothing on us to prove otherwise.

So that’s how we kidnapped our own daughter…

Porter and Gracie hitting the open road!

dirtpaws — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:00:15 +0000

So Porter got a really cool blue RipStik Caster Board for Christmas and he’s been super excited about trying it out. For a kid whose been on scooters, bikes, and is as coordinated as his “Ankle Ty” this was a huge step for him. We really didn’t even think about it but those things are REALLY hard to ride. There are only two wheels, they turn 360 degrees and the two sides of the RipStick can move independently. Anyway, it’s awesome and he’s (or course) awesome on it. Here is a video of the 2nd time he took it out and look how great he is at it!

Gracie got a Hello Kitty scooter from her Uncle Rick and she loves it as well! All the kids here have scooters so it was a perfect gift for her and she’s already riding it all the way down to the village and back. She’s adorable and really learning how to get around in Merry ‘Ol England.

Cracking Pop Pop’s Code

dirtpaws — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:00:32 +0000

Pop Pop sent the kids a secret code to decipher a secret message! Here are there results!

Pictures around town

dirtpaws — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:00:40 +0000

Here are some pictures of the kids as we’ve settled into our new home in London.

I tend to wear a lot more scarves here because of the wind and luckily I have a lot since Gracie is constantly "borrowing" them when we go out!

Mexican food! We found a burrito place that was really good one afternoon.

Showing his scary face at Pizza Express for dinner

Mom came to visit for two weeks during the holidays. The kids had a blast with her.

"Learning" to make christmas cookies. I had to do a whole lot of conversation to the metric system and how to work my stove. We had several failed attempts but still ended up with enough to feed the school and the neighbours (and us of course.) Porter was the official licker.

Seriously dude… JUST USE THE GATE!

dirtpaws — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:53:27 +0000

After leaving the kid’s primary school the other day, we decided to stop by Milkwood Community Park to play before finishing our walk home. While there Porter insisted on jumping over the gate enclosing some of the playground equipment instead of just using the gate that was located bout 10 feet away… well, of course, he hopped over it one too many times and got his jacket caught on the railing and managed to face plant Tosh.0 – (Wikipedia) style right on his face. It looked like it was happening in slow motion. He jumps up and immediately starts going, “I’m ok, I’m OK, I’M NOT OK.” As much as I love living in a place where I can walk and do not have a car, it was a bit eye opening to realise that had it been any more serious, we still had a block and a half walk home to first aid and then another two blocks if we needed A&E help *Accident & Emergency* He was totally fine, no doctor needed and of course has ANOTHER scar to add to his bad-ass repertoire.

Ouch!

My Cool Atlanta Coasters

dirtpaws — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:23:28 +0000

Before I left the states I visited one of my favourite shops in Smyrna Love Street to stock up on all homesick related items. I came across the coasters and instantly fell in love! There are many more selections to choose from, I just personally loved these. If you’re wondering where they are all from – if it isn’t obvious to some – then follow my handy link below! Most of these are also great landmarks for those visiting or who never maybe heard of these fun things to do and see. Hope you enjoy these fun places to visit in Atlanta and treasure the memories like I have!

Starting from the top left:

The Covered Bridge District: Discover Georgia’s Concord Covered Bridge

Zoo Atlanta: Welcome to Zoo Atlanta

The Fox Theatre: The Fox Theatre – Atlanta, Georgia

The Flying Biscuit (Vegetarian/Vegan food): The Flying Biscuit Cafe

The Varsity (A MUST!) The Varsity :: What’ll ya have!

Waffle House (Not just in Atlanta but still good!): www.wafflehouse.com

Fat Matt’s Rib Shack (self-explanatory): Fat Matt’s Rib Shack Fan and Band Appreciation Site

The Vortex (Again, a MUST for Atlanta goers – very hip biker bar): The Vortex Bar & Grill

Macy’s Pink Pig Ride (Available during the holidays): Macy’s Great Tree – Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia - The original was a bit rickety and they retired it for awhile but brought it back in 2004 and updated it. You can find the information on the new Pink Pig here: ALL ABOARD! FOR THE 2011 PINK PIG AT MACY’S LENOX …

Our 12 year anniversary

dirtpaws — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:00:09 +0000

For our 12th anniversary we were finally settled, but just barely in London, England. It was interesting to be in a completely new place but with the stress of the move to a new country, I opted for a quiet dinner within walking distance from our house in Herne Hill. We ended up at Pullens Restaurant and Bar, a restaurant from the Victorian Era and from there we did a bit of pub hopping around to the various bars within our city. It was nice, we were able to walk everywhere and we got a little taste of what our area has to offer.

Eric gave me a beautiful necklace set with earrings that are ceramic. I love the colour as I think it’s safe to assume at this point that I purple is my favourite colour.

Coming up with a gift for your anniversary when you move into a new home on the 1st and your anniversary is a few days later was tough as I didn’t have a car and hadn’t used any public transportation by myself at the time. I was also putting together an entire house as well. I found a small gift shop and after ransacking everything knick and knack they had, I noticed this little guy perched about the owners desk. Well, it made me giggle and therefore was the perfect gift for the Hubs. Those of you who know us personally understand why it is so funny to us. Unfortunately instead of him making his way to Eric’s office, he seems to found a home in my kitchen on the shelf near my stove. I think a migration will be in order soon!

The Brays are permanently in London!

dirtpaws — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:47:39 +0000

I still do not have a dedicated internet line here in London so this is being sent via wifi. This is why I haven’t updated this blog in so many weeks. I promise to get everyone caught up on where we are and what we are doing as soon as I get online permanently. I’m here, I’m settled and I can’t wait to share the last four weeks with everyone!

For London updates, subscribe to: http://britsforabit.wordpress.com/

For everyday Bray info, remain here!

Cheers!

Gracie’s allergies and asthma

dirtpaws — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:00:54 +0000

Gracie has asthma and it sucks. Every season a new batch of allergies affects Gracie and we’re back to having a child who can’t stop coughing. From fall to spring she ends up on Claritin and FLOVENT daily and then when she has a flare up she has to take Prednisone and Salbutamol. Recently she almost ended up with Bronchitis because I forgot to start her Claritin and Flovent in time for the fall. She ended up being OK but has this horrible cough that keeps me going back to the doctor week after week. After a round of antibiotics she was still coughing so they sent us to the hospital’s imaging center to have her chest x-rayed. I did not like having her go through that but we had to make sure her lungs were OK before we left for England. Her scan was fine and apparently the allergies just really cause her to have post nasal drip accounting for all her coughing. We’re hoping it clears up soon.

My big girl's first X ray

Vising Nanny’s Grave

dirtpaws — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:00:38 +0000

My sweet Nanny (my father’s mother) passed away in 1999. I lost her about two weeks after my husband of 12 years asked me to marry him. We always kid because she was the first person I told about our engagement and when we drove to her house and she saw my diamond ring she goes, “OH… Is it real?!”

I had only visited her grave a few times as it’s a state away from me so I decided to take my children to view it before we moved out of the country. My daughter, Gracie is named after her and I wanted a picture with her and the grave site. So we drove up one morning with my mother and grandmother (my mom’s mother) and went to the cemetery, called Graceland!, and then had lunch with some relatives and drove back home. Quick trip but definitely worth it.

Grace and Gracie

Yes my kids are in skeleton hoodies, kinda funny if you think about it and as we pulled into the cemetery Porter goes “NO MOM NO!!! WHAT ABOUT ZOMBIES”