Hard at Work

Kona had another busy, productive week. Four very nice therapy visits with folks in need of some Furry TLC....

...and he earned his first and possibly only, AKC title!

From AKC " The AKC Therapy Dog program awards an official AKC title awarded to dogs who have worked to improve the lives of the people they have visited.

The AKC Therapy Dog title (THD) can be earned by dogs who have been certified by AKC recognized therapy dog organizations and have performed 50 or more community visits."

So, Kona is now officially, "King Kona Kai, THD"

Sounds spiffy, doesn't it?

Milo

Dear friends of ours have lost a member of their family...we should all be as loved as Milo was. You can read about him here.

Wounded Warriors and President Bush

I do not like to talk politics, you all know that...so please, if you are a "Bush Hater" keep your comments to yourself. Personally I love the man....I may not agree with everything he did while in office, or his beliefs, but as a human being and how he treats others, I love him.

Thank you to Doug for sharing this with me. I visit with our Wounded Warriors several times every week at the VA, and I know how far a little kindness can go. This is an awesome video.

Kona's Trick Training

Two weeks ago we started taking Kona to a "trick" class. He's been twice now, for a total of 2 hours. Pickle has been helping me work with him daily. I think he's doing great so far! What do you think?

The Shape of things to come...

Well, it has officially started.

Construction.

Halloween Party construction.

Yes, I realize it is July. That means only 3 months to get ready! Time is a-wasting!

I thought I'd share a few pictures of what got accomplished this weekend. These will probably be the last pictures of the back yard for a while. I don't want to ruin all of the surprises for my party guests. But I just had to show it off a little bit.

A good perspective of just how big it really is!This will eventually be the walls of the pyramid.

Then they were painted.

Lots and lots of them were painted.

And given a little sponge application for texture.

Then some "brick" lines.

It may not look like very much now, but I think it will come together very nicely.

For John

It's hard to believe that only 2 short weeks ago we were still on our cruise. It seems like it was months ago!

As I've mentioned, we had a blast with our dinner companions from PA, and wound up hanging out with them after dinner - mainly enjoying Karaoke. They sang, and we enjoyed. Their son, John, has a great big, very fun personality, and lit up the room when he had the microphone in his hand. I told him I was going to video tape him, and so I did.

Here, for John, are the 2 best videos I managed to get. I have to say that I laughed out loud watching these again John, and I will never listen to "My Humps" or "Boom Boom Pow" without thinking of you and your family. I sincerely hope we meet again!

These videos may not be everyone's taste, and you may not "get" it...but it was one of those "you had to be there" times, and it was just, very simply, a LOT of fun.

Just Plain Dumb!

Check out this park job. The brilliance of some people simply astounds me!

Ms. Back-Talk

GiGi (aka Jill) was mouthy last night...and in no mood to listen! We'll blame it on the heat. She can be such a stinker!

Serious slobber

OK, so seriously, how gross is this?? This is what I came home to this evening. Obviously Kona had been cruising around my desk. This little "string" of slobber was about 7" long. EWW!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad cause I'm tired, and sitting on my couch.

"Death on the Nile"

Yup, it's that time of year again! Guess what I've been thinking about and starting to work on...

New Computer!

Testing - testing...this is a test of my new computer.

YAY! I do believe it works!
.

Workin Boy

Back in the Groove

Kona and I took a bit of a break from our therapy visits for a couple of weeks at the end of June, and of course while I was gone on the cruise.


We went back to the VA for the first time in a couple of weeks this past Monday, and will be going back again today. We missed our visits there, and I think we were missed by the patients too.

It's nice to be getting back into the groove.

Cousins

I don't get the opportunity to spend much time with any of my cousins, so when I do, I really enjoy it.

This is my cousin Marsha, who made the trek from Maine to come out for AJ's graduation. It was awesome to have her here with us. She is a big fan of the pups, and the feeling was mutual!


Hopefully it won't be long before we get to spend more time together!

Harry Who?

I'll admit it, I used to be a Harry Potter fan. Then, well, I kinda got over it. I didn't read the last two books, and haven't seen the last two or three movies. I just don't have any interest in it anymore.

Apparently, there are a LOT of people who feel differently. Pickle and I went to see "Super 8" today.

We saw a noon showing, and this was the scene outside the theater.





There were people literally camping out waiting for the movie to open tonight. The first showing is at 12:01am. Pickle saw one of her friends, who was very near the front of the line and she asked him how long he'd been there. He told her that he and his friends had gotten there at 6:00am yesterday. YESTERDAY! Wow! They must really want to see it bad! I give them a lot of credit for having that kind of dedication to a flick. Not me. (Maybe if Brad Pitt was making a personal appearance...but only if he left Angie at home.)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad as my butt is on the couch catching up on the Bachelorette.

Pickle's Pile

Yup, the girl had JUST a little laundry to do after the trip! Ha! Thank goodness she does her own laundry...

The Final Day of the Cruise - Friday

We spent Friday, the last day of the cruise napping...








Pretending we hadn't just gotten caught napping...



Taking a galley tour...



(hey-I think you burnt that corn!)



(Yum! An entire cart of crab cakes!)



(Dinner rolls, and LOTS of them! Pass the butter please.)



(One of the many desserts)



(Dragon made of butter? Yup, but don't ask me what for!)



Eating...















And spending one last evening with our new friends from PA.



We hope you had a safe drive home- and you know you jinxed us, right? (Remember when we were talking about who was going to get home first? Well, here it is Sunday at 6:30pm your time, and we are finally in our final decent into San Diego.)







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad as we just arrived home a few hours ago!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

On our last night of the cruise we had a little birthday cake onboard the ship to celebrate Hubby's birthday. It was very nice, and I think he was genuinely surprised.


Today is his actual birthday, and I've got to say that we are all a bit surprised to be flying all day, instead of being home relaxing, as we'd planned. Sometimes things don't work out exactly as planned, but it helps to keep things in perspective and try to go with the flow. He's been a great sport with all of this going on, and always manages to keep his sense of humor. For that, along with so many other reasons, I am eternally grateful he is mine.

Happy Birthday Honey, and may we celebrate many, many more together! I love you!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad as we are on the last leg of our extended journey home...

Our Second Formal Night of Fun!

Our second formal night of the cruise was Thursday evening, after we pulled out of Nassau. We got all gussied up and had some more formal pictures taken, much to AJ's chagrin. He was a good sport in the long run, and posed with his sweet smile for as many pictures as he could possibly bear, but I think if he'd have seen my camera come out one more time, he may have jumped overboard!

Needless to say, I was very pleased with how some of them came out, and we wound up spending WAY too much money in the photo gallery. I kept justifying each purchase with the statement, "who knows when we'll have the chance to do this again..." especially with AJ going off to Purdue in a month. (Geez, I don't want to even think about it being that soon!) Anyway, I'll scan some of the "real" formal pics when we get home to share with you, but for now, you can take a look at these.








The food on formal night is always fabulous too... We enjoyed escargot, chataubriand (I know I'm spelling THAT wrong!) and more awesome desserts!





This doesn't look like much but it was a great raspberry souffle served with warm vanilla sauce. YUM!


After dinner was done, it was time to change into our comfy clothes, and go have some more fun. We met up with our PA table mates and had a blast watching everyone karaoke again. While I don't particularly like to sing in front of others, unless it's in my own home, and even then it's usually only during my Halloween party...I thoroughly enjoy watching others partake.

Pickle got up there, after a bit of nudging, and had a great time. John, Meagan and Josh, from PA, seemed to create a party wherever they went, and they made for some great company and lots of laughs. I've got a few performances on video I'll upload when I get home. (here you can see Pickle standing next to the tall guy in the "Baby Carlos" shirt. That's Josh, and he was a real hoot on this trip. Just to the left of Pickle you can barely see Meagan, and next to her, in the middle of the picture, is John. The PA family was on the cruise to celebrate John's high school graduation - just like us with AJ.


Yes, thats me actually dancing...it doesn't happen very often, so Bear had to get this picture.


Awe, can't you just see the utter joy on AJ's face? This picture cracked me up!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad as we are flying from Atlanta to Salt Lake...Yup, we are taking the scenic route home-a day later than we'd planned....that story will come soon!