Got away

Time got away from me. It's been a fast summer so far.

We spent a wonderful weekend in the UP of Michigan over the 4th of July. Visited Copper Falls to camp and hike, a night in Copper Harbor, another night in Hancock. Just wish we had more time.

We also spent a long weekend in Grand Rapids, MI for the in-laws 40th wedding anniversary. That was fun, minus the 4 hour trip to the urgent clinic for pink eye. Seriously, it was insane. The dr. at this clinic refused to just accept my diagnosis..which was that Baker had pink eye...and instead made the child put some glow in the dark oooze into his eye's, looked with the microscope at his eyes, made him take an eye test (he can't even read all of his letters yet), and then decided on prescribing the standard drops for pink eye AND oral antibiotics AND childrens Benadryl AND Patanol eye drops. Overdoing it a bit???? I thought so, so we just used the drops, and it cleared up as expected. Can't wait to get the bill from the clinic!

Jared proceeded to get pink eye and then so did I. Top on a couple of high fevers and the last two weeks have been a blast!

We are on the upswing now though! Packing August full of fun. Cabin weekends, time with friends, all good stuff.

The garden is a neglected mess of weeds. Yet somehow we are still getting tomatos, zuccini, basil, dill, cucumbers, peppers, and some very cabbage worm infested napa.

And what would a post be without some recent pictures:

The "Hoola Hoopin Arm" Band sings us a song titled "Dad Mowing in the Lawn in His Red High Top Shoes"Brave Sir Romeo , aka Romeo Salsa or Smelly Cat or The "Fat One"

RIP Bear

As many of you know, Bear has been in a downward decline lately. The poor dog has lost a lot of weight, and on Monday of this week he stopped eating. The vet has tried with iv fluids, etc. to spark some interest in eating again...but no luck. We've tried turkey, hamburger (yes in our vegetarian household), peas, cheese, beer, cheetoes, crackers, beans, anything and everything. No luck. All he has eaten since Monday is about 1 tb of turkey and 12 peas. Prior to that he was on a roast beef only binge for 2 weeks.

Bear is certainly the best dog any family could ask for. We were very lucky he found his way into our lives when he was already 7 years old. We've enjoyed having him in our family for nearly 6 years. He truly is the perfect dog. No issues at all. Really, never.

Last night we said our good-bye's. Some funny conversation was had with our boys while we were in bed trying to fall asleep. We talked about some fun memories of Bear. The boys asked alot of questions around his impending death such as what would be done with his body, etc. It was a pretty insane conversation but it was also funny. He was a quirky dog in a quirky family.

As I write this, Jared is preparing to take the most humane step of bringing Bear to the vet's office to allow him a quick peaceful death. To say Bear will be missed is an understatement.

This has saddened Jared and I more than either of us expected. Even knowing he has been getting old and more sick hasn't made this easier.

I can't recommend enough to everyone that reads this that you should go to a shelter and adopt an older dog. Even though our time with him was shorter than we would have liked, he was truly a blessing to our family and I would do it again 100 times.

we love you bear!