Gavin's birthday dinner

This morning we had our weekly dog training and it all went well. Xena did well with most of the challenges, I just wish she would continue that discipline when at home. She has been very good today, not jumping up and biting so much. I do think she played up yesterday as she picked up on my stressed mood, and today in complete contrast she has been wonderful.

As soon as training finished I helped Gavin pack the car and he did another trip into London to take more of Luke’s stuff to his flat. We have also been storing his flat mates stuff so there was a lot to take up. Poor Gavin only got back home again at about 5pm.

With Luke and his flat mate having moved out I changed the bed linen and tidied their rooms, and so had quite a bit of washing and ironing to do today, so it’s been another busy day.The house feel quiet without them - although I know Luke will come home fairly often.

I finished editing the baby photos from yesterday’s shoot which took ages. Then this afternoon I met our puppy sitter who is looking after Xena tonight - he is the brother of the young woman who looked after her last time that we went out. This was followed by a very enjoyable walk in the woods at about 4.30pm when it was still 25C, it has been such a glorious sunny day again today.

It’s Gavin’s big birthday next week and so tonight the family had a special dinner to celebrate. We considered various London restaurants but in the end we decided to go to the formal restaurant at the RAC Club which we love, the food is always outstanding and the service is excellent. It’s also a beautiful room, this restaurant was used in Downton Abbey, the scene where Lady Mary has dinner with her new beau, the racing car driver. After dinner I was taking some photos and Gavin decided to photo bomb this photo of the boys! (and an extra of us) Thomas kindly drove us up to London as Gavin did not feel like driving to London again having been up already today. It was a very enjoyable evening, and we did not make a fuss about the upcoming birthday or mention any numbers....just as he wanted!