MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.....

We'd like to wish you all a very, merry Christmas tomorrow. We hope you are safe in your travels, and welcome in the new year with love, peace, family and open arms.

We count this past year as the best of our lives, and are grateful to each and every one of you for being a part of our "family".

Too Cute

We just got this picture in an e-mail of adorable picture of toddlers with their pets (Thanks Bud!)......this was our favorite!!!

New Member of the Family

Yep, we've been HORRIBLE at keeping up with this blog for the past few weeks. Our apologies. We can use the excuse of getting ready for Christmas, work and tons of other things that have occupied our time (all of which are true), but the bottom line is that we just haven't taken the time to sit down and write anything.

My work schedule has been crazy, to say the least, the past few weeks. I've been busy working some nights until late in the evening, or coming home too tired to look at another computer until my weary eyes can rest for a few hours.

All in all, it's been a good past few weeks. Today, we were trying to finish up our Christmas shopping, and ran into this cute little pup. We named him KAS, and in the cart he went! Once home, we introduced KAS to the "kids". Digby sniffed all over, and accepted him pretty easily (of course with treats), but little Prinnie was scared to death of him. She would barely be in the same room as him, but wouldn't come within 5 feet of him OR her treat! The picture below is the closest she came, and you can tell by her look that she wasn't all too happy about it.

We were just talking about how it's been nearly a year since we adopted Prinnie, what a joy she has been and how happy we are to have her. One thing we have really come to learn is that she LOVES routine, direction and consistency. She is a dog of habit, and does best when she knows exactly what is expected of her, and what will come next (Don't we all!). When her routine is altered, she gets scared, which for her means tons of barking and running around in what most would call psychotic circles.

We tried to tell her that KAS won't hurt her, but he is something new, and new for Prinnie is like jumping out of a plane for most of us. The best part about KAS????????? I was able to convince S that KAS is a GREAT addition - no pooping in the house, no barking, and no shedding! Phew! I think I made it through this year with no more live critters!!!

A True Gift...

We received an incredible gift today from our friends in New Mexico. The package was sent as part of a "Pay it Forward" surprise. We, as anyone, love to get surprises at our door. This one was special. This box was for our whole family, and each one of us knew it.

We scurried to the dining room where Shar placed the box on the floor. Prinnie, Digby and Peanut Butter huddled around to see what was inside. As she began to unwrap the box, the kids assisted with their snouts and paws, as if to say that she wasn't opening it fast enough. Once opened, they each took a turn poking their head inside and grabbing a perfectly wrapped gift with their name on it.

Digby found a pouch of treats, and as if he knew they were for him and Prinnie, took off with the bag in his mouth for a mad dash to the living room. Prinnie, with help from mommy, grabbed a gift and began to paw at it, hoping it would magically open.

By now, Peanut Butter was off batting around her new mousey, as Digby had taken his new squeaky bone to another room to play. Prinnie began to roll her new ball around the floor, chasing it with a vengeance!

Shar and I were able to have a brief moment to open an incredible CD on Hot Air Balloons - one of our favorite things, and read the accompanying letter from our friends. We looked around at our little family, and I swear everyone had a smile from ear to ear. Such kindness, such thoughtfulness went into these gifts. There was even a special new tradition started for us by our givers - a "Places" leash with the first of what we hope will be many, many pins from all of the places we hope to visit. Our first pin was that of a hot air balloon from New Mexico. Prinnie, as if knowing it would fit her perfectly, begged for a walk on the new leash, to which we had to oblige.

Today was a gift....a gift of knowing that we are worthy of a special friendship with very special people. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts Siku, Susan and Steve.

We are already preparing our "Pay It Forward" surprise!

TGIF

It's great getting back to our blog, and knowing that we are helping a few of you live vicariously through our crazy antics. Poor things, but we'll do our best to make your lives full and exciting!! :)

I'm afraid we don't have anything really exciting for today. See, we bought a flat screen TV about 3 weeks ago. At the same time, we also bought a new entertainment center for the TV to sit on. We brought the TV home that night, but the entertainment center had to be ordered, and was scheduled for delivery today! YEA! Finally we would have both items together instead of the "pretend" table we had the new TV on until now.

Just as we were getting all excited that our living room would return to a fully furnished space, THEY called! THEY said that the entertainment center was being loaded on the truck for delivery, and was damaged! Not just slightly damaged, but kaput damaged! When asked how long it would be before we could get a new one delivered, they quickly responded that we can expect to get it in early 2010! CRAP!!! OK, only kidding, but it really will be another week or two.

We also spent the day frustrated as heck with our medical insurance company and health care providers (one in the same, of course) after ping-ponging phone calls. It's really a hard place to be in when you don't want to tick off your surgeon BEFORE they rip your guts out, but really want some answers and feel you aren't anything more than a number on their schedule.

So see, those of you who say you lead very boring lives, you really aren't any different than us on a typical day. Maybe we flop out of kayaks a little more than you, but a day in our life is pretty boring at times too.

Speaking of a typical day, Prinnie was having her after dinner cuddle time with mommy tonight. This picture was too cute not to share. Brother Digby felt left out, so we snapped a pic of him so that he could be "part of" too!

The White House Pet

For you animal lovers who may not have seen this clip on the View today, you missed a good one. This is a letter to President-Elect Obama from Whoopi Goldberg's cat, with some solid recommendations to aid their selection of the "first pet".

Click here to go to the video, and skip ahead to 2:18 or so...

Prinnie Thanks White Dog

Prinnie was given this VIP award today from her favorite Eskie, White Dog (Siku Marie) from New Mexico. White Dog gave Prinnie this award because she understood what a hard time Prinnie had while we were in Maui. So, so sweet!

THANK YOU WHITE DOG!!! Prinnie asked me to make sure you know how much she appreciates your award, and understanding.

California Day 3031

Well, we are back home after a late night flight. It was great to see the "kids", but sad to leave such a beautiful place. Who's going to bring us lavender scented, chilled facial towels at the pool?? Wait....what pool?? Who's going to bring us breakfast in bed?? Ugh...reality is setting in!

At least we have our incredible memories....oh yea, and over 1,000 pictures. We love pictures, and with two cameras with us nearly constantly, we snapped away. We were talking on the flight back about how "back in the olden days", before digital cameras, we all had to buy film, and wait to get it developed until after we were back from vacation. At the rate we took pictures, we figure it would have cost us over $500.00 to develop the pictures we took. Thank god for modern technology!

Our first reports on the kids were that Digby was a perfect little gentleman and Peanut Butter was good too....BUT.....dear Prinnie....well, she wasn't so good. She pottied in the house at least twice a day from the moment we left. She was definitely sending a message.

Anyhow, we are back, but not in reality yet. We are still living on "Maui time", a phrase coined by our outrigger canoeing instructor. I hope we can stick with Maui time for another few months, but I guess a few extra days would do!!

Maui Day 8

Today was our last day in absolute paradise. What a vacation this has been - truly what dreams are made of. We have been pampered beyond anything we ever expected, soaked in the beautiful sun of this pacific heaven, and relaxed our minds and souls on the beach. We are, as anyone would be, sad that we have to go home.

We've had an absolute blast, and hope you have enjoyed our trip as much as we have. Here are some final pictures for our last posting here before we head back to reality. Look closely at the picture with the bush, and see who is hiding in there....

ALOHA!

Maui Day 7

We always seem to start off by saying "What a day", but WHAT A DAY!!!

We went on a Blue Hawaiian Helicopter tour this morning of western Maui and the islands of Molokai and Lanai. Holy maloly! First off, K was scared to death because this was the first time either of us had flown in a helicopter before and she is scared of heights. As we entered different valleys (and I mean we ENTERED them), we thought for sure we were going to crash into the mountain side. But the beauty and spectacular views of the waterfalls, lush green landscape and the breath-taking views of the shorelines around the islands made us quickly forget how terrified we were. We have just a sliver of the hundreds of pictures we took below.

We then came back to the resort and hung out at the pool for the rest of the afternoon, sipping on Lava Flows....really great drinks that are supposed to represent lava flowing. Whatever - they were great. We took a stroll along the beach, which was amazing. Then we came back to the room, had a wonderful sunset dinner on our lanai overlooking the ocean, and later headed down to Wolfgang Puck's restaurant, Sprago's, which is here at the resort, for some desert and cappuccinos.

We finished off the night with another stroll to the beach to hear the crashing waves - something has been stirring up the surf progressively stronger as the day goes, so the water is now crashing ashore with a thunderous roar, with perfectly shaped curling waves - by far the biggest waves we have seen since arriving.

It's late, and we have an early day tomorrow, so enough for tonight. Here are some pictures of the day......