made me laugh...

In the car...

Brielle to Makenna: "Why do you like to read so much?"

Makenna: "because Brielle reading is good for your brain.  Its like brain food- well for me its like Brain candy, to some people its like brain vegetables but to me its brain candy"

Brielle: "to me its brain throw-up"

Meet Dallas

Well here we go again.... we have a dog!!!  And this one is a keeper.

So the story is...
Recently my sister told me she was getting an Australian Labradoodle.  I was intrigued by this and did a lot of reading about this type of dog and soon became a little addicted to finding one for our family.  I spent hours looking at websites and breeders and puppies.  It became a little bit of an obsession.  We were hesitant to make the leap since our last puppy was a bit of a failure, but we learned A LOT from our last experience- namely- getting a dog is a HUGE deal- not a decision to take lightly.   Its a lot of work and a big commitment.  So (cross our fingers) this time its gotta work out.

I had been emailing a breeder near Kansas City about this particular puppy named Dallas that had been available for a couple of months after all his siblings had been sold, and for whatever reason (well I think it was his coloring) he was still there- and when I went away on our cruise I was wondering if he would still be there when we got back. And he was!   I liked the fact that he hadnt sold right away and was already a bit older and started on his house training.  He also had a discounted price - sweet!  Well anyways, the weekend after we got back, we made the 3+ hour drive just to go "see" him.  I didnt want to make the decision yet - I just wanted to check this puppy out.  When we got there we were just so impressed by his sweet calm and cuddly demeanor that we decided to just take him home.  We had left Brayden at home because he had two basketball games and told him that we were just "looking" at a dog but would not be bringing one home.  So while we were gone, Brayden decided to take it upon himself to write an essay about why we needed to get a dog.  He expected us to come home with no dog and he was planning to work all his charm to persuade us.  Here is the essay he wrote:

Pretty good essay, isn't it?  I mean, who wouldnt want to live longer?

Here is Makenna in the car on the way home.  Dallas sat contently on her lap the whole way.  He did have a little throw up incident which was either from car sickness or from being so hungry because he hadnt been fed that morning (in preparation for the long drive).  Makenna handled it like a champ though and the trip home was a success.

When we got home, Brayden was indeed shocked and so so happy.

And here are the boys bonding with their new fluffy friend.

And here Dallas is lying on his new dog bed that he got from Costco.  He loves it.

And heres these two buddies.  The picture below was after my neighbor came and helped me trim Dallas' eyes so that he could actually see.

Dallas loves to be around us.  Its not hard to keep track of him because wherever we are is where he wants to be.  He is very sad whenever we leave the house so if its a short car ride, I bring him along.

More Pictures...

 

And here is Dallas long before we got him (pic below).  We skipped most of the puppy stage because he was a little over four months when we got him.  We missed out on a lot of cuteness but also skipped a lot of work... so Id say it worked out alright.  This was the picture they took that we first saw online and loved.  He was 3 months in this picture.

 

So, hows it going you ask?  The first week was rough because Dallas was crying and barking all night.  He hated to be alone in his kennel.  So after trying to tough it out, we decided just to let him sleep with Brayden (which is what we were going to do eventually anyways) and since then night time has been a non-issue.  He does great sleeping in with Brayden- he doesnt wake him up- he just sleeps as long as Brayden sleeps and no accidents either- hooray!

As far as durring the day, Dallas is pretty laid back so he just lays around for the most part.  He does have his over-excited moments where he can be jumpy and  bit mouthy.  We are working on all that and its really not that bad at all.  Dallas is super patient with Emmitt who basically antagonizes him all day long.  Emmitt loves Dallas so he hugs and kisses and tickles him relentlessly and like any 3 year old he can be a bit too rough at times but Dallas takes it like a champ.  They are learning how to be together.

So Dallas seems to be working out pretty well.  We have him enrolled in puppy class.  He has learned to sit and come and "watch me."  He is doing well on house training- it's a process but really he is great- hardly any accidents at all.

So just for posterity, here's some Dallas facts- we "adopted" him on January 25.  He was named Dallas by his breeder because the theme that she had chosen for that litter was major US cities.  (She chooses some kind of theme for every litter and picks names that go with it.)  We could've changed his name but it just kinda stuck and now he knows it so its kind of too late.  But we like it.  He was born on September 17 which we took as a sign since that is also Makenna's birthday!

I put a couple video clips on youtube for your viewing pleasure

Enduring Emmitt  http://youtu.be/uC8EK2Uidqk

Sledding http://youtu.be/Mxg-HNjNEoU

Sit http://youtu.be/10jEbhu6tDI 

Our Cruise

So two years ago we went on a cruise for our ten year anniversary.  We had so much fun that we knew we had to do it again.  So we planned this trip with our cruise buddies- Jacob and Laurie.  (The Owens were supposed to come too but that's another story.)  We were lucky that Oma was willing to watch the kids for us again.  We have been spoiled lately, and we know it.  I have more pictures than this coming but I thought Id better get this post done before I forgot all the important details of the fun that was had.

 Here we are arriving at the ship and then inside the ship just clowning around and checking it all out.

Once on board, we ate a big lunch at the Windjammer and then walked around, checked out our rooms and even did a few rounds on the wave runner.  

We decided to do our first nights dinner at Chops.  Jacob had earned us a free dinner there because of some mess ups with our booking and missing the WOW sale.  Thats a long story for another day.  It was fun and delicious and our waiter Ivan made it a memorable night.  As you can see from the picture below, he was quite a character.

Chops made us a bit late for the evenings show but after catching the last snippet of it we participated in some sort of game show (which one I cant remember) and we won our first of many key chains.

Day 2 Onboard the ship was spent at sea.  We mostly laid by the pool and soaked up the sun.  Then that night was formal night and our first night in the dining room with our waiter Garth from Jamaica.  We had a great table. A four top right by the window.  I cant remember what the show was that night or the game show for that matter but I know there was one because that was our nightly pattern.

Day 3 was Grand Cayman.  We got off the ship first thing and spent the morning on an excursion with a boat trip out to Stingray City and two stops for snorkeling.  It was great!

 Here is Kevin on the boat.  We got to lay right out on the front deck.

And here we are at Stingray City.  Its just a spot where a lot of sting rays hang out- I think because they get fed so well here but I could be wrong about that.  Lots of tour groups come here so it felt crowded but there were stingrays swimming all around you and you could hold them and feed them.

Here's another picture from the boat that is a particular favorite of mine.  It makes me laugh because I took it when I was sitting by Laurie and she said "Look at the difference in color- you should take a picture"  I thought she was talking about the skin color of these two guys but actually she was talking about the ocean - you can see a change in color at the drop off where it goes from shallow to very deep.  Funny.  But a cool picture no matter which differences in color you are observing.

And here's a couple snorkeling pictures.  I think he could hear the ocean!

And after that fun little trip, we decided to eat at a local restaurant to try to have a real "taste of the island".  I cant remember what that fish we had was called but it was sooooo good.  And on our walk back to the ship, we bought a coconut from a street vendor.  I had never tried coconut water before and I wasn't all that impressed.  Still fun though- a great adventure in Grand Cayman.

Day 4 was spent in Jamaica man (yes in Jamaica they really do say "man" at the end of every sentence- and its more like mon than man but you know what I mean man)

So I booked a tour for us with an independent tour company called Liberty tours.  I definitely was nervous about it because there are a lot of scams and crime in Jamaica- its not the safest place.  But I trusted the tripadvisor reviews and went for it.  It turned out pretty well.  Our main problem was that we had to wait over an hour before we got started because they were waiting for more people who never did end up coming.  In the end though that meant a private tour for us with our beloved tour guide Carlton (seen below)

Here we are posing by this sign out of boredom as we waited for our tour to get moving.

Once we got going, we were off to the "Blue Hole."  (also known by a few as the secret falls).  This is a picture from the internet because I didnt have my camera.  See that waterfall- we had to walk partway down and then jump in.  It was a lot scarier than I thought it would be and apparently I didnt jump far enough out and almost hit rock on the way down but hey I survived. yay!.  There were other small falls we jumped from and a cool rope swing as well as several other fun jumping cliff spots.  It was beautiful and exhilarating.
 

 After the blue hole, we went to a little "restaurant" that is said to be the best Jamaican jerk chicken there is.  It was called Scotchies and it was indeed delicious and authentic.  We had the jerk pork too which we all agreed was even better than the chicken.  As you can see, watching the way they cook the meat is an experience in and of itself.  Very Jamaican- man.

And then back on the ship, it was time to get ready for dinner.  Without even coordinating, look how well Laurie and I matched.

Day 5 we were in Labadee Haiti which is Royal Carribeans private beach area.  It was so gorgeous there and hot and perfect.  Very relaxing and very beautiful.  I just love a lazy day on a beach.  I left my camera on the ship for this day so here's an aerial photo from the internet to try and capture the splendor of that place. 

Besides just laying on the gorgeous beach, we did enjoy lots of wading in the water, a yummy barbeque lunch right on the island and some time on kayaks.  This was my favorite stop.


Day 6 was spent at sea.  The weather was cool and rainy and I was starting to get sick- some sort of cough and flu.  Luckily it happened at the end of the trip.  So we went to a towel folding demonstration and a fruit carving demonstration. They were pretty interesting.

 

And here we are on our final night with our waiters.

And here is a picture of the guys goofing around on the dance floor.  I dont think there was even any music playing at the time. 

 And sadly that was the end of things.  Fabulous trip.  (more pictures to come too)