My Boys and Me

Where oh where have they gone?  I’ve been SO incredibly busy.  I will post an entry soon- if nothing else some pictures (although I haven’t even taken any since Disney)

Stay tuned…..

Meet Rocky, the newest member of our family.  He is 6 weeks and 3 days old and is a MALE pure-bread German Shepard.  For those of you who have know us awhile, you must think I have lost my mind allowing another puppy into our lives considering how much it did NOT work when we got the lab a few years ago.  Well, like the title says, I love my husband and getting Rocky has made him so happy! He grew up with a German Shepard and ever since I met him, he has talked about wanting a German Shepard for our family.  Apparently they are one of the smartest, most loyal, protective dogs who especially watch over small children. I have never been a pet person (kinda hard to enjoy pets when you are a neat freak with severe OCD) and in fact spent all of my child-hood terrified of dogs.  I am still leary of certain dogs and that is why if we HAD to get one, it had to be as a puppy so the boys and I could get used to him before he got big.  As adults, they are intimidating and scary looking (remember, these are the same dogs that Police use for their K-9 unit, and the same dogs that are trained to smell for drugs and bodies).  While we will not train him to be mean, I just hope our training him not to pee in the house, jump on people or bite will be successful.  We got him yesterday and he has done pretty well.  He is smaller than he looks in the pictures (about half the size of Mikey).  He and Mikey will take awhile to get used to each other since neither one understand the concept of “gentle” yet.  Braeden takes after me and so far is not interested in him.  He locks himself in the playroom when Rocky is out of the crate.  I do think this will be a much better experience than we had with the lab.  He is a LOT smaller and younger than the lab was when we got him (we got him from the SPCA and they were not sure about his age).  We got Rocky from a breeder who had all the information about him and gave us a lot of tips on training and caring for a German Shepard.  Nothing against labs at all (we know several people who have them and they are beautiful dogs), but they are not very smart, are VERY hyper, chew, jump and dig a lot.  We met Rocky’s Mom yesterday (yes I was nervous when she came up to me) and she was very calm, did not jump, lick or bother us.  She did sniff like crazy being that we were strangers and she was protecting her owner, but she was also very obedient.

So…..now I am outnumbered 4-1 and training a busy toddler and puppy at the same time.  I am realizing that their training involves a lot of the same things. If only Rocky wore diapers.

We had the most wonderful time on our vacation.  I truly have to say that the entire trip was more enjoyable and fun than I imagined.  Both boys behaved so well and had a lot of fun. We left Charleston last Sat at 8pm and drove until a little after 1am.  Night driving is the BEST time to drive with kids- they slept the whole way.  We stayed in Gainsville for the night and then met my parents in St. Petersburg at a resort on the beach.  This part of the trip was especially exciting for me as I was able to take a walk down memory lane.  Every year for about 1o years straight, my family vacationed in this part of FL.  One night we took a ride (about 5 miles) to see the places we’d stayed and it brought back so many fond memories.  Its been over 1o years since I’d been there and it was really neat that I remembered so much.  Here are a few highlights from the beach part of our trip-

-Mikey LOVED the sand (which is a whiter, but much more shelly than the beaches here) and ocean (which was probably warmer than his baths) SO much!  The waves didn’t bother him at all.  Mike took him out pretty far a couple times.  He didn’t care much for the salt water, but didn’t let it deter him.

-Braeden was a little fish and would have swam all day if we let him (which we pretty much did).  He was so exhausted the second night, that he fell asleep at the dinner table (see pic).

-Mikey began his new habit of waking up at 5am to sleep in the bed with us.

-Being in a room with all of my boys, I discovered that they ALL snore.

-Braeden LOVES paddle-ball (one of Mama’s favorite beach games and something I played a LOT on our family vacations).

-It rains at least once every afternoon on the beaches in FL which helped cool everything off.

-Mikey has a hard time walking in the sand

After 2 days and nights at the beach resort, Mike, the boys and I headed to Disney for 5 nights.  My parents joined us for 2 nights later in the week.  This was BY FAR the best trip to Disney ever for me (and thanks to my parents, I’ve been close to 20 times).  First of all, God was definitely looking out for us where the weather was concerned.  It was gorgeous, breezy and not really that hot.  We almost cancelled our trip because we thought it was going to be miserably hot (which it normally is in August).  We also thought that we would have to break in the middle of the day to take Mikey back for a nap, but he cooperated SO well and slept in is stroller at least twice a day for over an hour each time!  Being that I’d been to Disney so many times and Mike had only been once (when he was really young), I let him and Braeden ride all the rides that Mikey couldn’t get on.  Mike and I were utterly SHOCKED that Braeden rode all the “Big Kid” rides with Mike.  One of Mike’s best friends got married at Disney (the main reason we planned the trip) and we felt so lucky to be a part of the celebration, as well as spend time with them at the parks.  They live in TX so we don’t see them that often.  Since they were staying until the 8th and had a pass that allowed them to go to the parks multiple days, Trish let me ride the rides with Mike and Braeden at Animal Kingdom (the newest addition to Disney and the only park I’d never been to).  Here’s something to laugh about- We were on the ride Everest (roller coaster that goes fast, has sharp turns and goes backwards) and while I screamed, Braeden consoled ME.  I about ripped the skin off his arm gripping him so hard.  He was SO tough and didn’t seem scared at all.  The little scaredy-cat boy that I know did come out when we went on the Haunted House at Magic Kingdom.  The preciousness and innocence of that child was more than obvious as he cried and shook, thinking that it was all real.  Bless his sweet little heart.  Here are a few more highlights of the Disney portion of our trip-

-Mikey did NOT like the characters, any ride that moved, was in the dark or had loud noises, or the fireworks.

-The rain never lasts long and helps cool things off even more.

-It is impossible to stick to a budget at Disney.

-The Luau we went to for Adam and Trish’s wedding reception was the BEST show I’d ever seen.  We had a table up front and the best seats.  The food was phenomenal and the drinks were all included (Mike took advantage).

-The animals they have at Animal Kingdom were better than most zoos.  Disney also provides everything the animals need to recreate their natural habitat.

-I think during the summer, Disney is filled with 98% foreigners.  It was so neat talking to some of them and hearing their accent.  There were a lot of people from England where apparently their dollar is worth about $2 American.

-Adam and Trish treated us to a Character Dinner at one of the resorts the last night we were there.  It was so much fun and the buffet had the best food.  SO worth it and something we will do again next time.

Thanks Mom and Dad for all your help with the boys while we attended the wedding and thanks Adam and Trish for everything you did for us and the boys!  We feel so lucky to have you as friends.

Now……get ready for some (just a few) pictures!

Congratualations to our dear friends Jennifer, Kenny, and their boys Zac and Nicholas on the newest addition to their sweet family! Charlie was born Thursday July 31st at 6:28 pm.  He was a healthy 8lbs 4 oz.  We can’t wait to meet him some time this week (we were out of town when he arrived).

Stay tuned to hear all about our vacation and to see lots of pictures…..