Goodbye Old Friend

It's been a rough day today. Our much beloved and VERY old family dog passed away today. It was very hard and traumatic for the kids, and if possible, even more difficult for me. Milo and I had been together for 14+ years.

When I tell people that I didn't know exactly how old Milo was they always thought that he was a rescue dog. That's true to a certain extent, but I'm pretty sure the rescue was the other way around. I had just broken up with the girl I was living with and we were getting kicked out of the house we were renting anyway, when Milo just showed up at the door one day. He was a scrawny little puppy, part pit-bull part something and just the sweetest dog ever. We lived by a truck stop and I'm sure that he was just a truckers puppy who had enough. He had obviously been mis-treated (emotional scars he would carry for the rest of his life), but always had the sweetest disposition. Anyway, I didn't know where I was going in life, or what I was going to do, but now I had this dog to do it with.

I stayed with my Mom for awhile to get some debt paid off and figure life out. Milo couldn't stay with us, so I boarded him at an obedience farm in the hills. Since I was paying so much for him to be there for so long, they threw in lessons for free. I would go see him and work with him on the weekends. Eventually, when I got my life together and bought my house in Tracy on my own, Milo came home with me (very well trained by then).

The house had a huge yard and Milo loved it there. We rode to Home Depot together in the truck on weekends and he would keep me company while I remodeled the house little by little. He was my constant companion while I worked thought this hermit phase of my life. We went everywhere together, he slept in my bed with me (under the covers - he was a wimp in the cold) and eventually, he and I pulled me out of my funk.

When Marisa found my profile on line - Milo was there in my profile picture with me. When she came over for one of our first dates, Milo was there while I cooked us dinner. When we decided to buy our house in Livermore, Milo came with us.

Milo lived thru some of the biggest uphevals in my life with me. Our remodel/addition in Livermore (complete with built in dog-door/tunnel in the blueprints). First Jake, then Tanner, then Faith. The move to Idaho. He was always there, my dog. He became my family's dog, our first dog.

Milo lived a very happy and long, healthy life by doggie standards. He was healthy every day and I like to think happy as well. Much to Marisa's consternation, he was denied nothing by me his entire life. If he wanted on the bed, he got on the bed. He was allowed on the couches. The AC was left on when we weren't home for him. He was never banished from our bedroom (My threat always was, the dog has been here longer then you, if you don't like it, you sleep in the other room) which she always took in the good-natured way it was intended, but he still had his corner.

Milo was not much of a dog by normal dog standards. He didn't play fetch. He would chase the ball, find where you threw it and then leave it there and come back. He didn't like to romp. Didn't like to play with other dogs. As he got older he wasn't much for walks (he would tire after a block or so) but he was always game to give it a shot. His favorite thing to do, for most of his life, was to wake up from a nap, have a BIG doggy stretch, then go find a new spot to go back to sleep.

Anyway, now he's gone. I'll miss you bud. Thanks for the rescue.

God if you're listening, please give him a scratch behind the ears (he liked that). He doesn't need much, just a spot in the sun on a comfy couch if you wouldn't mind. You'll enjoy him, he's a really good dog.

Baseball and Hockey

Yesterday Marisa called into one of the local radio stations and won a contest for four hockey tickets for the Steelheads game last night. Since Faith is still three (at least for a little while more) she is still free. Originally, she said she didn't want to go to the hockey game and was going to stay with Nana while we took the boys. But as zero hour approached, she changed her mind and came with us at the last minute.

We went out to our local "by the slice" pizza place for dinner and then drove downtown to the arena. We had seats up high in the second deck where we haven't sat before. We were in the first row, so we had this awesome view of the entire rink. Aside from being a little concerned that Tanner and Faith might fall thru the railing, the game was great. We have done the four for $40 plan before, and that what we won. Four tickets, four hotdogs and four cokes. Pretty cool free night out.

As usual, we did sleepover night, this time with all three kids on our floor. They slept in late, but again as usual, the morning was marked by fits, crying and yelling. Aside from never going out, I don't know what to do about that as the cause and effect is so obvious. So we announced that everyone would be taking naps, which provoked more crying and yelling....talk about a no win scenario.

In between fits, I took Jake and Tanner down to get them signed up for Little League. Jake is playing AA this year (kid pitch) for the first time and Tanner is staring T-Ball. I will be coaching Tanner's team and am really looking forward to it. It was 25 degrees and icy out this morning when we left, and really hard to believe that pitchers and catchers report in 30 days!

Ski Lessons

All three of the kids were in ski lessons last week. Tanner and Faith were in a small group together in the Mighty Mites program at Bogus and Jake was in a larger group learning to snowboard. They had lessons from 945-12 Thurs, Fri, Sat, and Sun. This was a huge commitment as it meant we left the house each day at 8AM and by the time we had lunch at the lodge, changed into "napping clothes" for the ride home, and drove back down the mountain it was 2PM.

Originally we had signed up to do lessons in February- one lesson each week on Sundays- but when we were given the gift of a trip to Hawaii mid-Feb we changed plans and this was the only session left. It made for a crazy week but it was also a lot of fun. I have of course always been proud of my kiddos but after seeing them in action this week on the slopes- their willingness to try and to persevere through the extremely cold weather (2 degrees for Thurs/Fri!) I have even more respect for them.

We were all exhausted each afternoon and spent the remainder of each day playing Wii, watching football, and coloring quietly at the table. Brian and I even napped each day- I love that the kids are old enough now to just take care of themselves for an hour!! It definitely wore us all out. The prep for getting all three kids ready for lessons, the car packed, mittens sorted, jackets on, boots on, helmets on, hand warmers in, skis dropped off, etc.... was huge.

On Thursday we dropped Faith and Tanner at the Mouse House expecting some tears or trepidation but they both seemed happy as clams. Jake, of course, was raring to go and had no qualms about his lesson. After getting them all to the right spots, Brian and I headed inside to watch from the warmth of the lodge where they wouldn't be able to see us.

We saw Faith and Tanner trudging out of the Mouse House holding their instructor's hand, bundled up tightly so with hats and gloves and turtlenecks and goggles that only their chins were visible. Right away Faith started to cry. We could see her sobbing. The instructor kept bending down to hug her and comfort her and we watched, hoping it would get better. Tanner, on the other hand, got right into the swing of things and did everything the instructor showed him with no fear. After watching from afar for a few minutes we headed outside. We tried to hide so Faith wouldn't see us and we listened to her crying "I want my Mama! Please let me go inside to see my Mama!". Yeah, that was hard to see and not jump in to fix. She was clearly miserable- but I figured if I rescued her that first day she would never go back the next day and maybe not even next year without trepidation so I surreptitiously took her teacher aside and was told to go inside, not let her see me, and know that she would be just fine, that there were always one or two that cried the first day. OK. So I headed inside to watch from afar.

She cried the entire two hours. Never stopped. However, when Brian picked her up at noon and asked how it was, she said, "Good!". I found out later she only said that because she thought she was done and didn't realize she had three more days to go. Tanner said he loved it and Jake, even though he spent a lot of the time on the ground, said he loved it, too.

Days 2,3,4 were WAY better. No tears from Faith. She ended up loving it and even asked me this morning if we could go skiing again today. The instructors were so amazing with the kids and Tanner I guess was really really helpful with his sister. After the first day his teacher wanted to put him in a higher level class because he was doing so well, but Tanner wanted to stay in the same group so he could help Faith. They are still so sweet together, those two.

Jake's snowboard "report card" that they gave us gave him a glowing review- especially for being the youngest in class by far. Both Tanner and Jake sobbed last night, saying that they missed their teachers and were so sad that they would never ever see them again. Tanner insisted on sleeping with his skiing "report card" that had a picture of his ski group in it. The drama gene is clearly alive and well in our middle son, too.

So now our next step is to figure out how to actually ski with the kids- being outnumbered it is a little tricky. Our plan is to take Grandma up with us this month. Brian will snowboard with Jake while I take turns skiing on the little slope with Tanner and Faith. Mom can entertain whoever is not skiing at any particular time in the lodge. We'll see how it goes and evaluate if it is something I can do on my own with the two little ones.

New Years 2011

It has been many years since Brian and I have had plans for New Years. Generally it is a night like many others- in bed early after a marathon of Mad Men or West Wing, The Wire, Lost, Dexter, or whatever TV show we happen to be addicted to that particular year. Babysitters are hard to come by and really, we're not that social. Dinners out on New Year's are too expensive and neither one of us are big drinkers.

However, this year we planned a Grown Up Game Night at one of our neighbor's houses- Grandma was in town to watch the kids and we were ready for some champagne and adult company after spending practically all waking vacation hours with the children! It was just four couples, but we all brought appetizers and champagne and games and had a great time- all the women even got fancy "2011 HAPPY NEW YEAR" hats. Most of the game time was devoted to Taboo- really funny!

I have to admit, we did not make it up until midnight, we all decided to celebrate New Years on Central Time instead of Mountain. So, at 11PM we used the noisemakers and the English crackers. We were home, asleep at midnight our time, but that's the closest we've come to bringing in the New Year in a long time!

In 2011 we have lots to look forward to: a trip to Hawaii in February with Kim and her family, a 40th b'day celebration at Discovery Bay in August, as well as YMCA Family Camp with friends. Our day-to-day life will remain blessedly the same: both Brian and I working out of our home, spending time with the kids, looking forward to the sports seasons as they come and go (both professional and kids sports!), continuing our newfound passion for fitness with good ol' Tony Horton, and enjoying our relatively simple life here in Boise.

The kids have resolved to eat crust in 2011 (OK.... we resolved it FOR them, actually) while we have resolved to simplify our lives by de cluttering and cleaning out every part of the house- basically trying to make do with LESS and appreciate it MORE.

Happy 2011 to all of our friends and family! We hope that it finds you happy, healthy, and grateful.