We're Baaaaaaaaaaack

Well, I am happy to say that the trip home was much better. Thank you Dramamine.......I will keep that on hand from here on out. We had a good visit with our friends, we didn't get to see as much of the beautiful mountains as they'd wanted to show us as it was raining and foggy almost every day we were there. But we got to visit and just hang out and Rick is a GREAT chef, so we had a wonderful dinner every night. It was nice not to have to clean house and cook, thanks Rick and Diana for the hospitality. Annalynn was so cute wheeling her little Hello Kitty bag around the airport. She looked like quite the little world traveler. Many folks passing by smiled and commented on how cute she was. She had a great time also. I let her "be on vacation" too. No hardcore bedtimes, she ate tons of Smarties and watched Veggie Tales Silly Songs about 6 times a day. Seattle is surrounded by beautiful mountains. I had never seen the mountains as I saw them when we flew over them. wow. And I didn't really get to see the ocean per se, but I did see bays where the ocean water comes in, so that's the next best thing. Well, off to lala land now. Bye all.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles...

Okay. Day and I have been married for 16 years. We have NEVER taken a "real" vacation..I mean we have driven out of state to a friend's wedding, drove home the next day...........there was a little cottage in Michigan we used to frequent, but I'd clean it top to bottom on the last day there.........there has always been an agenda or a schedule to keep. We have never just got in the car or hopped a plane and went for a week. So here we are, getting ready for our first real vacation. Now, little Annalynn has had a little trouble lately when in the car for too long. so I had a feeling that might be an issue. Therefore, on my carry on bag, I packed an extra shirt and pants for myself. And I also had 2 extra outfits for her. We shipped all the rest of our stuff out a week earlier.....clothes........dvds......books.toys...toiletries............Day thought I was "overdoing it" with the extra clothes..I know it's mother's intuition...So we get up at 4am and get ready and Annalynn got up with us and was in a good mood. We've been talking for a month now about this whole deal. So she knows today is the day we're getting on the big plane to go see Rick and Diana and Nutmeg......So we drove down to Wanatah to my sister and brother in law's house because my bro-in-law works in Chicago. He will drive us to O'Hare and then on to work....Well, traffic is HORRIFIC and about a half hour from the airport, sweet little Annalynn throws up all over me. I get the wipes out, and clean her and myself up as best as I can. NOw, we're only at the airport an hour before we're supposed to leave because traffic was so bad. SO Dave pulls up to terminal 1, where we told him to pull over so I can get to a bathroom as soon as possible to change. I get cleaned up, I get Annalynn changed.....our plane leaves from terminal 3. "You're in the wrong building ma'am......but you can take that train over there to terminal 3"..........okay. We get to terminal 3, we get through security.......now we are 10 minutes from boarding. Well, American Airlines is the FARTHEST section away and GATE 18 is at the very end of their section.........you remember these things.........next time, if there is a next time..it will be UNITED because they are terminal 1 right when you walk in the door............so we get to gate 18 and there are MANY folks sitting around and red flags go up..........wait, these people should be on the PLANE........finally on the loudspeaker, the gal says "We have to have some maintenance done on the plane and cannot board yet.......we have no time frame......."oh well. At least we're not late. An hour later she comes on again and informs us that someone on the incoming flight got ill and they had to RIP UP CARPETING and are waiting for the new carpet to arrive so they can install it............2 1/2 hours after we were supposed to board, we can now get on the plane.....okay.........now people are getting fidgety and some are realizing they are not going to make connecting flights....so we get on the plane and we have the gay flight attendant from Becca's email and the Nazi Hitler woman.........I like him.....I do NOT like her......I was ready to go see mr Air Marshall by the time we got off that plane. Annalynn did WONDERFUL on the flight. She did great on takeoff, just sat and ate her smarties....I, on the other hand, felt like I was going to lose my cookies........on that nice new carpet.....Landing, she was a little squeamish, but still did great. Now, we are in Seattle almost 3 hours later than we originally planned to be, so we are in the middle of rush hour........Part way to our friend's house, Annalynn threw up again........we found a gas station, changed her clothes, got some DRAMAMINE and back into the car.....she was NOT happy. I am NOT looking forward to the trip home.....our day started at 4 am and we got to our destination at 8pm. She was a little trooper thru it all. Bless her heart. So I told Day "I am NOT getting back on that plane.........you can go get Smudge and our stuff and just meet me back out here." haha. Say a little prayer for us Monday morning.......we'll have to do it all over again.........

Consider this....

If you are looking to get a dog, why not get one from a rescue organization? After Obie's passing, I found the only time I was smiling for a bit was while looking at the Midwest Boston Terrier website. I had never thought of getting involved in something like this. We are looking now to adopt another Boston, or "BT" as Boston folks call them. If you go to www.midwestbtrescue.org, you can take a look at some of these little cutie pies. Read some of their stories. If you have a few extra bucks, why not pitch in for a surgery or just a one time donation to help out. I am going to be doing some volunteer work for them and after we get a good routine with our new little buddy, we might foster some as well. We were looking at "Ginger" but she has had both knees operated on and has a fear of getting hurt so she might not be a good fit with a 2 year old and a very active doggie friend we have named "Smudge." So now we are looking into adopting Newman. I spoke with his foster mom and he sounds like he'd be a good fit for our family. We will go to meet him after we get back from our trip to Washington. If for some reason he does not work out, we'll look at "Norman." LOVE that mug..........anyway..........there are plenty of little guys that are looking for loving "forever families."So when you think about getting a doggie, check out the shelter or a rescue organization. I will post in another day or so and tell you about our transportation drama.........