Saturday, September 04, 2010

Puppy Love

It would appear I have a terrible history of adopting dogs when Mike is gone. I have no clue how - didn't even fully realize the pattern until today. I'm sorry, Michael. ::blush::


However.....it's been a year since we lost our beloved Beatrix (who we picked out 16 years ago)....and the kids are increasingly asking about getting a puppy.  We thought we'd wait to get to the states due mostly to the difficulty in traveling with dogs...but now we have a direct flight from Misawa to Seattle.....


While at the mall, we stopped by the pet shop. They happy to bring out puppies for us to see...problem is we don't really understand enough to ask all our questions....like WHY would we buy insurance for a dog and what would it cover.... It was fun for the kids...they had to wash their hands before handling each dog...we checked out a Mini-Dachshund....don't think that's the dog for this size family....we checked out a mini-schnauzer....cute...but the kids aren't convinced. The man said it had "no fur," when I mentioned it had long hair....




He said this little one will grow to be 20 lbs.....Jared loves this breed....Siba (Shiba)


In the discussions this has been our thought....
Though Jared has kept talking about the fox-like Japanese breed.....


Bea was a Beagle/Basset Hound. I liked the hound but the kids reminded me that they are known for bladder control issues...no comment.  


This is a Siba (Shiba in the states)....or fox dog as Zander is calling it.... Cute....with funny "smiles"


This looks to be bigger than 20 lbs to me....both breeds have short hair....The kids are sold on a Japanese dog now....and I'm sold on the fact that they are not going to talk me into anything until Michael is home. This one will end up being OUR dog and we should pick it together...one that will be fun, a good companion and a good size for the trailer...because we plan to do a lot of visiting of children and grand children in our retirement.  Pssst.....how can you resist that little beagle? The man said they are "not a popular" dog in Japan.

36 days - these kids are NOT getting me back to the pet store before Michael is home....I can only withstand so much emotional blackmail.  

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

A crazy insane GLORIOUS week in the life of the G family

School - We actually began this several weeks ago - never really took a summer break.... Stacia's our newest student and is very excited about it. 
Zander relishes his new role...


 Stacia especially loves it when Arielle reads "Dr Ham" (Green Eggs and Ham) to her. 



Schedule Tweaking - With the advent of workouts at the base gym (20 min daily drive) and football (another 20 min daily drive), we continue to tweak our schedule. No, I can't combine trips due to the nature of our family life and commitments; but they are no longer doing 2 a days. I take the "football time" to go play with the youngers.

Meetings - MOPS Steering Committee, Local PWOC board, Local PWOC Retreat Team, Regional PWOC Conference Team Skype, Regional Budget tweaking Skype....


Football - This week found Jared with new football adventures. He injured his ankle on Monday. He practiced "a bit" and jogged laps on Wednesday (no I didn't know this was the plan). Thursday I drove him to the UCC instead of practice. When the Doc asked what they could do for us, I told her, "Tell this knucklehead he can't play football until his ankle heals." She laughed and said many moms were coming in with that request. She thought it was a sprain. Then said sprain and torn ligaments. When he couldn't move his toes, she did x-rays. Final decision? Not sure.... She said it shows an "anomaly" - either a break or a bad bruise of the bone. I didn't know you could bruise bones.  He's on crutches and meds, off the ankle and not playing football until he's x-rayed again in 2 weeks......and he's been warned he'll need to do some rehab.



He needed his love hug on Thursday. Friday found him on the sidelines....but still on the team....BTW - Rico, tall boy on the left....was hit by a TAXI riding his bike home from practice last week. He's on the sidelines too....they seem to keep getting injured at the same time....and I guess it was quite the sight when they visited the snack shack....and tried to get their food back to their spot. LOL

Playing - We've had dinner with a friend, spent an afternoon catching up with a friend and her kids who had been stateside for a few weeks, spent an afternoon at the lake with another friend and one of her sons, Arielle and Jared had Cross-training Kickoff (youth), enjoyed football games.....


Misc - I visited with a few ladies.....we've had another Japanese lesson, I've worked on fall rally details and then began pulling notes and  thoughts together as I'm now in charge of sessions at the fall rally, caught up with Mike once on Skype this week.....bugs....frogs....all sorts of zoology happening around here. 



It's been a full week..... BTW I've not forgotten that I need to blog about Goshogawara and Hirosaki....but I want to do it right and that is going to need to wait until I have a bit more breathing space. 

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Thirty-six!


36 perfectly packaged peaches @ Y498 each - about $6.10 each. These are often given as hostess gifts and such....and 36 days we'll seek to live to "perfection" as we wait for "reintegration". 


Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...