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Monday, August 31, 2009
School, Football, and a Special Visit!
On Tuesday we picked up Liam at Daycare and went to the oreintation for his school. We got to meet his teacher and see
his room. We also got some useful information as well as toured the school. Liam loved all the books in the library and asked
the librarian if she had books on Pirates and Knights. Liam is a voracious reader uh voracious listener. Erin and I have finished
four books with him this week as they all count towards a rewards based system for reading. Luckily that is the norm in our
household.
On Wednesday we took the kids to daycare and waited to watch Liam get on the bus. He was very excited as some of the mysetry
was solved the day before at orientation. He buddied up with his friend Colin and they got on the bus and rode together. Liam
is so small he has to crawl up the steps but he doesn't mind. He loves the bus rides. On Wednesday afternoon Erin went to
another oreintation where she got more paperwork and details on schedules and school policies. Liam loves the bus rides so
much he asked his Mom to meet him back at the Daycare. We also have Liam's automatic on-line lunch money account set up and
he bought lunch on Friday saying his shrimp poppers were delicious. Their conduct is judged daily on a green yellow red system
of daily stamps. Liam has stayed green to our pleasure. He also has memorized his 6 digit student ID in ONE day. Very impressive.
I could never imagine memorizing something like that that quick when I was that age, He uses that when he buys lunches. He
will probably alternate depending on the school menu.
 
 
 
 
On Wednesday night Coach Billy, Erin, and I treated the Pax River Flag B team to Ice Cream and popsicles to celebrate the
beginning of the season. The kids loved it and miraculously got another burst of energy after practice. Go figure LOL. We
are having a lot of fun working with the team again this year. Communication over weather issues has been a little rough but
the kinks are getting worked out. I love coaching the kids and am very proud of how hard they try and love seeing those smiles
of accomplishment. Liam has worked a lot harder this season and has shown improvement in many areas especially his running.
On Thursday Erin went to a meeting to help the Discover U Childrens museum that is plans for our area, She is going to
help out with the web site administration possibly.
Friday Erin and I worked our 8 hour days, We lucked into four free tickets and a great parking pass for the Redksins Patriots
game at FedEx. A Co-Worker of Erins was nice enough to offer them. Erin went to gas up the van and pack it while I picked
up the boys from Daycare. Liam's bus was running a few minutes late so I got to pick him up at the stop. He was very excited
to see me.
The ride to FedEx was rough. The weather was awful and it poured all the way up and my mood was almost as sour,. It had
been a long week but how can you pass up free tickets for the Redskins. Miraculously the weather stopped when we got to the
parking lot. It did not rain another drop. The boys were BOTH suprisingly into the game and bot ceered on and shared the binonculars
with the parents. The game was tight all the way. Their was a plethora pf flags thrown for penalties but hey it was pre-season.
Tom Brady and Randy Moss looked like they are starting right back in 2007 form as Brady returns from injury. The Redskins
are hard to pinpoint. The biggest tragedy was when Liam's pretzel fell in half to the ground. At 4:00 minutes left in the
quarter I regretfully said let's head home. It is a long ride and we had an away game for the Pax River Raiders at 7:30. We
rolled into the house at 12:15 and carried the kids to bed.
 
 
In the morning Erin texted the team parents that we were a go after I checked the weather websites and teh team websites
for teh Raiders and our opponent, the Solomons Steelers. All the groggy parents and the excited players showed up. Coach Billy
stayed for the whole Redskins game and got home at 1:30 but he was raring to go too. The Steelers Flag coaches are MUCH better
this year. They were very courteous and polite to our whole team and exemplified sportsmanship at its highest. We don't keep
score but the Steelers scored three times I believe and our kids scored twoce including the first play of the game by our
dynamite runner named Hannah. Yes she may be a girl but don't tell her that. She is a GOOD football player. All our kids played
very hard and Billy and I were both pretty proud of the team.
 
 
We then headed home to meet Lloyd who was going to remove the 14 stumps in our yard from Erin and my tree falling in the
spring. Lloyd was there when we got there and starting on the stumps in the back. He did an awesome job of clearing them as
well as quite a bit of each stumps root system. After Lloyd left and we got lunch Erin started on filling in the holes. I
finished watching time trials for Indy and went out and helped too. We have bigger plans for the hills in the yard but things
come in due time with due money. We plan on top soiling out the hill and bracing it a little from erosion in the backyard.
On the hill next to the driveway is a bigger project. We want to finish a project the former owners started and make an extra
parking pace next to the garage for a future dream of ours which is an RV sort of vehicle. That is a far off dream and the
paving the driveway is the next project on the forefront for next year. Den floor this year driveway next year.
After we got cleaned up and the kids got up from a nap we were ready for dinner. Both kids were tired and did not object
to a nap even though Liam rarely naps anymore. Erin ran to Lisa's house real quick to go over our Labor Day campout this coming
weekend on base. While she did that I worked on a family getting to know me poster for Jaxson that is due next week. After
I finished with Jaxson's help he wanted to play football. We coerced Liam outside and I had a blast watching the kids run
up and down the yard and took a few movies while also instructing them (I like this coaching thing).
 
For Dinner we went over to Five Guys for burgers and then hit the grocery store for some Items for Noah and for the feast
to welcome him on Sunday. After the boys were in bed Erin and I caught up on some of our DVR shows and then I watched a FANTASTIC
Indy Car race in Chicago. It was the fourth closest finish in Indy Car history. The racing was side by side the whole race
and three wide quite a few times. They have really fixed the aero package for ovals now and the racing is great once again.
Ryan Briscoe edged out Scott Dixon. Those two and Dario Franchitti are in a real battle with two races left for the championship.
On Sunday Erin and I were in cleaning mode. The boys even cleaned up the toy area with their Mothers directions. I did
some vacuuming, sorting socks, and putting clothes up. Erin was a whirling dervish preparing for Noah's visit. We ALL were
so excited that Noah used his vacation this year to be with us. We do not see him as much as we used to with all our busy
schedules so it will be great to catch up with him. I called him around 10:30 and he was on the road with a prediction from
his GPS that he should roll in at 1:30.
He had a good trip down and pulled in the garage at 1:35. Liam and Jaxson were so excited to see him and spent a lot of
time showing him their toys. Doug and Cleo were very interested in this new person at the house and Noah liked seeing the
new dogs and it helped as Ash our Greyhound who just passed was Noah's dog when he would visit in the summers. We all relaxed
and watched TV and played with Lego's. Erin ran it to Wal-Mart for a few items and surprised all the boys, me too, with a
new Lego Star Wars kit we all worked on before dinner.
Erin and I then retreated to the kitchen and started to get dinner ready. I had my new steak marination in the fridge for
24 hours and we had snow crab and the best corn of the year thus far. We even chilled our last bottle of Fox Meadow wine from
vacation this summer. It was a pinot gris which seemed to agree with all of us. The boys ate good and Erin and I were pleased
with the dinner and Noah was well fed and gave is a hearty thanks for the feast.
Jaxson and Erin felt a little sick Sunday and Jax had a low grade fever so we took it easy in the evening. I bathed and
got the boys ready for bed while Noah and Erin cleaned up after dinner. Liam then wanted to show Noah his Star Wars game really
bad. Noah is really good with his little brothers and seems to take great delight in watching their antics. He has a special
bond with Liam but I can see the relationship with Jaxson growing as Jaxson gets older.
 
Noah then read stories to both boys much to their delight. Erin, Noah, and I then played a few games of Wii Bowling but
Erin bid adieu to us. Noah and I then watched some of Reservoir Dogs but it was getting late so he both hit the hay.
This week will be busy but fun and even more fun with Noah down. Monday we have football practice. Wednesday we also practice
but I am going to treat Erin and the boys to Brusters afterwards for Ice Cream. On Friday while the kids are in school/daycare,
Erin, Noah, and I are going to go Frisbee golf at the new course in Lancaster Park. We are then going to go have lunch with
Liam at his school so Noah can see it. We showed Noah pictures from football and Liam's first day of school and Noah was impressed
with his classroom. Friday afternoon we will get packed to go camping. Erin has pulled out our gear and we have a good amount
of gear including three tents. Saturday Noah and I are really looking forward to our Father Son trip out to Smith Island by
boat. We are going to rent a golf cart and really tour the Island.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Friday morning, we dropped off the boys at daycare
and headed to work. We both had a busy week ahead and needed to bank a few hours. Russ and I worked until about 1:00 and then headed to Long John Silver’s for lunch. The fish tacos I had were the first thing on their menu that actually agreed with
me! After our lunch, we knew we needed to get back home in time to meet the Heating/Air
Conditioning guy, but I’d forgotten my CAC card in my computer at work. This
is a bad thing. I had to have Russ take me to the pass office, wait in line to
get a temp badge to get ON base and then go ALL the way up to my cube to retrieve my card.
Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to get on the base on Monday! We used to
have a separate card for base access and computer access, but now they are combined.
Fortunately, the H/AC guy gave us 30 minutes notice
before arriving, so we made it home just in time to see his van in our driveway. Luckily,
he said he’d only been waiting about 5 minutes. We didn’t have anything wrong
with our system, but it’s old, so we do our best to keep it on a service plan. We
were glad to hear that our system was running well. It’s older, so it’s not as
efficient as some of the newer ones, but it works just about as well as it should …. Knock on wood. While he was working, Russ and I put our creativity to the challenge of making a Flag Football banner for
the team to run through for the next day’s game. We left spots for Liam to color
too.
The H/AC guy didn’t get quite finished before the
clouds broke in a down pour. He said he got most of the diagnostics done and
could return at a later time to clean our AC outside. After he left,
we decided to pick up the boys from daycare and run a couple of quick errands before grabbing dinner at Niccoletties.
After dinner, Russ was nice enough to watch the
boys so I could go to my friend, Aimee’s house for a little fun. She’d found
an 80s edition of the Trivia Pursuit game at a yard sale, and had invited a couple friends over to play. Four of us had a great time, but I’m not sure if it’s a good thing that I won or not. I was at least a half dozen years older than my opponents, so I suppose it worked to my advantage, but
unfortunately reminded me of just how old I’ve become!
So it was a late night for me, especially since
I was still rather chatty with Russ when I got home. It was nice of him to encourage
me to go out, and he got a kick out of hearing the questions I’d managed to answer.
No rest for the weary. On Saturday, we got up – not super early, but early enough – to get ready to go to the Prince Frederick
Eagles Kick-off Classic. This Flag Football invitational is a memorial day that
scrimmages rival flag teams against each other. It’s a fun day and gives the
kids some good practice before “real” games begin. We had a full van. I’d managed to hem up all the jerseys and get them to the printer in time for them to all be done for the
game. We had Russ’s football gear AND Billy’s football gear, since Russ had coached
solo all week. We had our banner, and snacks for the team during half time and
post game since it was our turn. We had about a 45 minute drive. It had rained a lot the day before, and the clouds still lingered.
The forcast did call for rain, but during our trek the skies were relatively clear.
 
It was a bummer of a surprise when we found
a Parks & Rec truck blocking our way to the football fields. We saw some
other trucks in the nearby parking lot, so we went to inquire. As guessed, the
entire day had been cancelled. So, before I could wallow in my frustration and
disappointment, I had to start the phone tree as quickly as possible. A couple
of the parents had already arrived at the park, and the rest were in various stages of transport. We managed to get the word out, but it really was annoying that we weren’t given better notice.
Once home from our cancelled game, we checked
some online sources and found confirmation of the cancellation. Apparently, the
host team had it announced on their website, but our commissioner wasn’t notified until 9:00 so by the time it was mentioned
on our team’s website, we were already on the road. Knowing the possibility of
playing the next day instead, I made a round of phone calls to all the parents to see who might be available to play Sunday. Fortunately, we had enough patient and understanding parents to gather 9 of our dozen
players. The other three had a birthday party, so there was no competing with
that!
While we waited to hear if our game was rescheduled,
the rain still hadn’t come, so Russ and I hit the yard. We got it all mowed and
trimmed just before the big drops began to fall.
Later that evening, we were all pretty tired. We had dinner together, and then Russ wanted to watch the race. For something a little different, the boys and I baked a few cookies from a roll of store bought cookie
dough I found in the freezer, and then went upstairs to our bedroom to watch a version of Alice In Wonderland with a host
of famous characters including Martin Short and Gene Wilder. Jax fell asleep
(and I think I even dozed off a little), but we all enjoyed it.
After the kids were in their beds, Russ and I watched
a little of a Horse Racing documentary that we’d gotten through Netflix. It wasn’t
quite as entertaining as the series, Jockeys, on Animal Planet, but did give us a lot of behind the scenes info.
As expected (and hoped for), the game was
on for Sunday. So, we loaded everything and everyone back up on the van and made
a repeat trip to Prince Frederick. Our original game schedule got a little switched
due to lesser players and one less team, but we got it all straightened out. It
was hot, but boy did we all have fun! We played one team around 10:00 and then
another at noon.
One
of our players got a little sick from all the sun, but that was after he made a touchdown!
Luckily, he was on the mend by the following day.
 
 
Our team is smaller this year, which means
we have less rotation, and the kids get tired faster. They are younger too, so
learning the basics takes a little more time. You wouldn’t know it though, because
once they get those uniforms on, and get on that field with the opposing team staring them in the face, they get a lot more
focused. They truly played their little hearts out. Liam is quite the runner this year, and does many more moves by instinct now. He understands the game, and even grabbed a couple of flags! I
was pretty proud.
 
After the game, we enjoyed some snow cones on the
ride home. Aside from the snow cones, our adrenaline was waning, and when we
got home, it wasn’t long before we were all ready to take a little nap. We were
SO glad we’d gotten the yard work done the previous day.
I had some usual laundry to do, but I also had to
get things ready for a super special week ahead. The plan went something like
this..
Monday – I leave work early for a routine Doc appt. Liam starts at the CAP room, which is the part of his daycare that hosts the school
age kids for before/after care.
Tuesday – Russ and I both leave work early
to get Liam and go to his elementary school for an Open House.
Wednesday – Russ and I go into work late so
we can see Liam get on the bus at daycare and go into school. Then I leave work
early to go to the elementary school for a parent orientation.
Thursday – In the evening, I meet with a couple
people from the Discover U Childrens’ Museum to see about helping them with their website.
Friday – go to a Redskins pre-seasom game
Saturday – Liam’s early morning football game
over on Solomon’s Island
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Where's the Beef?
We are getting into the busy time of the
year for us. Football practices are in full swing and many plans are being made for Liam entering Kindergarten next week.
We got the jerseys for the Raiders season
on Wednesday practice. Liam was able to get his favorite number 10 this season. They are all long again so Erin volunteered to hem
them up and take them to get their names on the back. Well, unfortunately with the time turn around, it looks as though their
pre-season game this Saturday will be jersey-less. If that is the case the team will wear black T-shirts for that game. Erin took one over to Chesapeake Custom Embroidery so they could see what type of letters they needed.
She and the boys then met me at CiCi’s for a quick dinner. Liam then stayed up to watch another Survivor from the Pearl Island series
with Rupert. We have been watching the shows all summer.
Friday night, after we ate dinner, we went
out to Wal-Mart to get some more plates for football for exercise time. The plates will serve as place markers for them to
stand during warm ups. I also needed steaks for a cook-off party the next night.
We went over to Giant to get those. Once home I got the steaks marinated for the next day’s competition. I used the following
for 6 steaks:
Liquids:
Colgan Hickory Smoke
¾ of a half pint of Jack Daniels
Lea & Perrin’s Worcestershire
Kikoman Soy Sauce
Drys:
Montreal
Steak Seasoning
Pepper
McCormick’s Jerk Powder
Garlic Salt
Accent Seasoning
And some Italian Seasoning for a garnish
Try it! They taste great if you let them
marinate for almost 24 hours.
After the boys were in bed, Erin and I
watched a bit of TV. She has been suffering from a nasty cough all week and little Rita the pug has a bad cold too. I have
never seen a dog get such human like colds as Rita does.
On Saturday morning Erin
cooked us breakfast. After that she prepared a Mango Salad for the party. She also prepped a cooler of Mojito drink to take
along too. We were going to the 1st Annual Red Beef Cook-off that our friends, Bill and Janet, were having. Around
three we headed over with a pit stop for club soda and to have my new watch sized to my wrist.
Bill and Janet had an enthusiastic turn
out and there were either 12 or 13 meat related dishes that we sampled. The judging went by ballot for 1st and
2nd. My steaks drew number 3 as far as identification and the number held true. We brought our grill for overflow
cooking and I cooked my steaks on it. Good conversations were all around. We got to catch up with our friend, Aimee, which
Erin and I enjoyed. The boys had a blast playing with all the kids.
 
The winner of the competition was their
Brother-In-Law (yes they got teased) who made a quite outstanding dish of ribs in a Root Beer enhanced sauce. He received
some cash and, most of all, the “Golden Tongs” award.
Second place was a meat based dip that
went very well with Tostitos. She received cash and a Vegetarian Times magazine - LOL. I was announced as an Honorable Mention
with the steaks as it must have been a close vote for second. I got a few compliments on them and was satisfied I had done
my best.
 
Later in the evening we adjourned to play
pool in the basement. The kids were a hoot dancing to the Elvis music in the background. Jaxson struck his best Elvis poses.
We headed out around 10:00 as the kids were still awake, and we felt they needed to get home and snuggle in bed. Erin and
I watched a little TV.
On Sunday it was a puttering around kind
of day. I worked on painting my plates for football. I am in hopes this will help the kids know where to stand for exercise
time. Erin got the laundry ready for the next week. Ted and his mom, Christie, stopped by
to see if Liam wanted to play at their house for a couple hours. After Jax’s
nap, Erin walked Cleo and Doug and stopped by Ted’s house to pick up Liam. We got a shelf
up for Jaxson. Erin then hung some of Liam's Star Wars ships in his bedroom.
 
We ate Chinese take out and watched house
related shows. Erin then watched some cake competition on DVR where the artists were attempting sky lines of NYC, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Seattle.
In the end they were all not that good and the judges were quite harsh on them. After everyone was asleep, I watched a documentary
on the last 24 hours of Elvis.
This week I will be coaching practices
alone, as Billy is on vacation. I need to really drill plays this week because the kids will have their first game on Saturday.
Erin and I will both work part of the day on Friday so we can attend Liam’s Kindergarten Orientation on Tuesday afternoon. There’s also another school meeting Wednesday afternoon. So begins the new milestone…
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Island time!
Short weeks with long weekends are so nice.
Friday morning, I took the kids to daycare as usual. Russ and I had a few errands to do during the day, and it gives us
some "couple time." We started off the day by taking the new dog, Doug, to the vet for a check up. We brought Cleo along too
because we decided to take a trip to the dog park after the visit. Doug was just fine. Dr. Terry was not the least bit surprised
that we adopted again so soon. Since SMAWL uses All Kinds Vet Clinic for their rescued dogs, the staff was already familiar
with Mumble, now known as Doug.
After the vet, we took Doug and Cleo to the dog park. It wasn't all that busy, but they enjoyed running around. We didn't
stay long because by this time Russ and I were getting hungry for lunch, so we took the dogs back home and went to Bear Creek
for some pulled beef and a frito pie.
The day was getting away from us, so we didn't linger too long after lunch. We had to grab a couple things at the grocery
store, and then swung by Marshalls because I needed some underwear. Shopping without children is such a pleasurable experience.
Russ and I ended up making purchases we didn't intend to, but we had a great time.
By this time, naptime at daycare was over, so we decided to go get the boys. They were very excited when we picked them
up, especially since we told them we planned to camp out in the clubhouse that night!
Once home, we set to work sprucing up the clubhouse. I tried to blow up a double mattress for Russ & I to sleep on,
but it was too big. So I resorted to the twin mattress, and Russ and I decided, one of us would just have to sleep inside...
I volunteered.
 
We had a fun dinner together. We roasted hotdogs in the fire pit and had S'mores for dessert. As the sun went down, both
boys were eager to head up to their clubhouse. Russ read them a story, and they spent some time playing with their Leap Pads.
Russ and I sat around the firepit chatting. Around 11 or so, Russ took his laptop up to the clubhouse with him to snuggle
in with the boys, who had actually fallen asleep hours ago. I can't say I didn't enjoy a big bed all to myself!
  
As expected, the boys (and Russ) were up with the sun. Actually, I think they made it to 7:00 so that wasn't too bad. I
ran to Sheetz to grab us all breakfast. It was the least I could do seeing as though I got the chance to sleep comfortably.
We lingered around most of the morning. I started the laundry. However around 10:30 I found a flyer for "Kids Day" at St.
Clements Island. We often go down there to see Santa Claus. It's a nice place with an old school house and interesting museum.
We'd never taken the water taxi to the island before either, so we thought that'd be a fun thing to do today... and it was.
We drove down to the island and were pleased at all the activity! They had fun, old-fashioned games for the kids, freebies,
good food, a magic show, face painting and even a tractor pull. It was a spur of the moment decision, and we were glad we
made it!
 
 
  
We also got the chance to take the water taxi to the actual island. They had recently recreated the Blackistone Lighthouse,
so we were eager to go see it. This is a lovely island. Not much on it, but still a peaceful place to visit.
  
So the day was busy, but in a fun sort of way. Russ got some crabs on the way home, and I made some spaghetti for myself
and the boys, since they'd been begging me for it lately. They were pretty tired after dinner, so it didn't take much to get
them into bed.
Russ and I attempted to play Guitar Hero for a little while that night, but we were so rusty, we gave up after a half dozen
songs.
I'd noticed that we'd eaten out a lot over the weekend, and going out to breakfast was probably not the best option to
take on Sunday morning, but we really needed to go major grocery shopping. I HATE grocery shopping. Therefore, to get us up
and out of the house - breakfast at Bob Evans was a pretty good incentive. I'd done all my coupons, mapped out the store,
made a list for Russ and one for me. The grocery game plan was put into action... and it didn't work to badly! Russ stayed
on one side of the store with Liam, and I shopped on the other side with Jax. We stuck to our list and didn't sweat the stuff
we couldn't find. Prep time took a little while, but the actual time in the store was less than an hour!
Since we didn't do a lot of house work the day before, we tried to get caught up a little after our shopping trip. Russ
power washed the back side of the house and the patio. What an amazing difference! Since the porch part of the clubhouse was
rotting, and getting unsafe, I worked on fixing that as best I could. We ordered a pizza for dinner.
It was a fun weekend. There are still things in the house that need cleaning, but sometimes just going out and having a
great time as a family is a higher priority. The island trip was a memorable experience for all of us.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Doug and the Raiders
The weekend went way too quickly. On Friday,
Erin picked
up a few supplies for the Raiders Flag B team. After dinner we treated the kids to Ice Cream. Since it was rainy, we took
them down to Lexington Park.
After the kids got to bed we worked on paperwork for the Pax River Raiders Flag B team. I will be assisting Coach Billy this
season and Erin has taken the role of team secretary.
On Saturday we all got a good breakfast
and packed up the van with Raiders football stuff and headed up to Dorsey park for the Pax River Raiders Meet &Greet.
When we pulled in the lot we were early but within a minute we spotted Coach Billy pulling in too.
 
 
We went up on the football field and set
up. Eight of our ten kids made it. Billy noticed that most of the teams and parents seemed to be at the far pavilion. He ran
over and confirmed and we all headed that way. We were given a general section to head off to and found some shade for the
parents.
 
We had the kid’s do some hand off drills,
some 25 yard timed sprints, took their height and weights, and played a tossing game. Erin
handed out flag B informational packets as well as materials to make banners for the team games. She also had the parents
participate in a goals exercise for the team. Coach Billy then handed out footballs to each kid to take care of and showed
them a chart to keep track of their ball. The lesson is to teach responsibility. It was a good start to the season and we
eventually had 9 of our 10 kids make it to practice.
After the Meet and Greet we stopped for
lunch at Burger King and then headed home. We were anticipating the arrival of Mumble and his foster Mom Katie. The week before
we lost our dear Greyound, Ash. Even though he was a quiet old man who slept a lot these days he was missed by us all. Erin
and I would get home and notice he wasn’t in his usual places like sprawled out on our bed. We had a couple of long discussions
about adopting another rescue and Erin even made preliminary contacts with a Boxer Rescue.
With all that said we chose to wait until after the holidays.
That is until I went against everything
I felt and on a hunch went in petfinder and did a general search of our local rescues just to see what was out there currently.
On the first page I saw a Pug mix and my interest jumped immediately. Erin was in meetings
so I reacted quickly and put the paperwork in. I then talked with Erin and she accepted my
excitement. We both thought the adoption chances would be slim as dogs like that are pretty quickly adopted and usually with
multiple applications.
I went to my truck to go home from work
and was greeted by a message on my phone. It was Katie from SMAWL (St. Mary’s Animal Welfare League) saying she was processing
my application. First off I was very surprised yet pleased at the quick response. She also said she was the foster Mom and
Mumble, yes Mumble, the pug was still available for adoption.
Katie was very thorough and worked quickly
to check with our vets, the Terrys, at All Kinds. We were lucky that Doctor Autumn Terry actually talked to Katie personally.
That was a very sweet gesture as she had been with Erin when we let poor Ash cross the Rainbow Bridge. I also thank our friends Greg
and Janet for being references and talking with Katie. We passed all the paperwork so Wednesday night Katie and Erin set up
a time for the Saturday house inspection and to meet Mumble. I was busy with Coach Billy that evening. We met to go over coaching
goals for the season.
So now we were very excited to meet Mumble
and even started thinking of names. I liked Monty and Erin liked Tony as it went with Cleo
– “Anthony and Cleopatra.” Well we sort of stumbled into the name. Erin mentioned to Liam
how about Doug. Doug is the character in a children’s story I wrote called “Doug the Pug.”
I wrote it for the kids a couple of years back. Liam loved it so we said lets just wait and see how things work out.
Now back to Saturday. Katie came over in
the afternoon and went with Erin to the back yard for initial greets. I rolled out into the
yard with kids and Rita and Cleo. Cleo immediately wanted to play and gallivant with Mumble. Mumble was curious and ran the
perimeter of our back yard marking and basically enjoying all the new things and smells. I was smitten with him immediately.
Even when we adopted Rita there was a warming up period. The last time I was that smitten was when Dakota peeked around at
me when I went to adopt her in 1997.
We headed in the house and Erin
gave Katie a tour while I played with Mumble. He rolled right over for me to scritch his belly. The dog had me completely
head over heals for him in minutes. Katie seemed very pleased with our house and our dogs and the boys. She gave is the thumbs
up so I signing all the paperwork and wrote a check. The only incident we had was Rita snapped at Mumble as she was under
Erin’s legs. Rita has been good since then. We think Doug may be a puggle. He definitely
has the Pug Traits far stronger.
The bonus was Mumble didn’t answer to his
name so the “Doug” name training started immediately. The kids helped as they call him Doug all the time. He is very smart.
He sits now and notices his name which sounds a lot like Dog to so Doug it is. Even Erin
has warmed up to our new family member. She loves her Boxers now but at 50 pounds Doug has the size, stamina, and playfulness
that Cleo will love. Already they have become fast friends and love to play. Doug is eating well and we will get him a vet
check at All Kinds this week. Ironically, Katie went to All Kinds so we will get Mumbles records transferred to us as Doug.
As you can tell I am very happy with Doug. He even greeted Liam this morning hopping up on him for a pet. We had a big hole
in the family with the passing of Ash. It was much larger than we anticipated as Ash was a quiet, handsome, and very stoic
Greyhound. With that said, when he was gone he was missed by us all. Doug has already helped fill the void of Ash. We will
always remember Ash very fondly. He was a part of our family for 9 years.
 
On Saturday night we went out briefly and
got crab/sushi/ pizza for us. We also stopped at Petco to get Doug’s new dog tag and a couple of new toys. Erin
found this new ring and Doug loved it. He carries it everywhere. We had some nice time with the dogs in the backyard.
After the boys went to bed Erin
watched the Indy Car race with me. They had made some aerodynamic changes to make the racing more interesting. The races had
been kind of boring this season on ovals. Well Saturday night at Kentucky
was much different. There was side by side racing the whole race and the seventh closest finish in IRL history. The race was
outstanding from beginning to end. It was so good that I left it on the DVR to watch again.
On Sunday Erin
made a nice pancake breakfast for us all and then she rushed to mow the backyard. When she finished I rushed out to mow the
front. We just got it done before it started raining.
 
In the afternoon Erin
baked a peach pie for National Night Out Party for Town Creek Neighborhood on Tuesday. I played with the doggies and Liam
and I played Empire Earth on the computer. We had a nice steak dinner. We then took a walk around the block with the kids
and Cleo and Doug. That long a walk is a little too hard on Rita these days. After the kids were to bed we watched a Flea
Market documentary that was interesting and amusing.
This week is busy. We have football practice
on Monday and Wednesday night. On Tuesday night we are going to the Town Creek neighborhood party. I am going to try and get
Doug to the vet on Friday. On Saturday there will be a Children’s Day up at St Clements so we may head up there.
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