Easter in SugarLand

For the 2nd year in a row we spent Easter Sunday over in the SugarLand area with Bobby, Paula, Jason, Diana, Sophia, Illiana, and Isabella.  This year we went over to Diana's parents house.  It was a joyous, fun-filled day with family, food, and Eggs!  It was a fantastic day and a yearly ritual that we truly do enjoy, and look forward to again next year.  After we left, we went to Whole Foods and did some grocery shopping.  We then spent the rest of the evening at home catching up on some DVR'd shows and playing with Lena.  All in all I would have to say it was an awesome day!

Sophia getting the eggs on the trampoline!

Illiana and her eggs...she wouldn't let that bag go for anything!

Isabella looking cute!

That cute smile was just a ruse...Cracking an egg over Grandma's head!

Randi wasn't safe from the confetti filled eggs either!

Sophia getting ready to wail on the pinata!

OMG this is Awesome...

OK first off let me tell you it is really hard to type with dog paws.  But I just had to tell somebody about the day I had last Sunday.  It started like any other normal Sunday, I woke up around 6:30 and used my nose to wake up my human because I had to check and see if those darn rabbits were in my back yard again, oh and I had to pee.  But then after that it got so weird but so cool at the same time...So my humans finally got out of bed and started to do their normal Sunday things, they made some coffee, watched The Biggest Loser, showered and got ready to go wherever they go on Sunday's.  Then as I was preparing myself to go into my crate and take a nap, the big human asked me if I was ready to go!  I was like hells yeah..where are we going...so I got into the truck and I was so pumped I could hardly contain myself, they kept talking about the Astros?  What the heck are the Astros?  Long story short, we got to downtown, got out of my truck and started walking towards this huge building with a bunch of oranges on it...they kept saying Minute Maid?  As we got to the big building I saw some of my peeps and finally figured out it was Dog Day at the Ballpark...well if you asked me everyday is Dog Day!  Anyway because of this Dog Day at the Ballpark, I got to go down on the field with my humans, they are pretty awesome, and then go to sit in the Ballpark and watch the baseball game with them and a bunch of my peeps...here are some pics from my Awesome day....

Chillin' with my humans out side of Minute Maid

It was nice of that other human to take some pics of us!

Me and the one they call Randi on the field...I really wanted to run into Right Field!

That was me on Jumbo Tron!

I was pretty tired of pics by the end of the day!

OK one more with these two...They are awesome...I love them....

After the day at the park I was pooped so I went home and took me a nap...well I see my humans coming... talk to you later....

Lena (Woof!)

Our Li'l Graduate...and Rebellious teen!

Well our li'l girl is growing up...and asserting her independence...

Last Saturday, April 2, Lena attended her final beginner class at Petsmart with her trainer/teacher Amy.  During her final class Lena needed to navigate an "obstacle" course.  At specific stations she needed to demonstrate all the skills she has learned during the 8 weeks.  There was a station for sit,come, down, leave it, stay, and "trick".  She went through the course 3 times, once with Amy, once with me, and finally once with Randi.   She performed magnificently all 3 times, with the exception of "stay", she just can't handle sitting still that long.  After competing her course work it was time to celebrate her graduation, complete with treats and a hat!  Once the celebration was over and all the pictures of the special day were taken it was time to get her enrolled in "middle school" her intermediate classes, which begin the end of April.

Practicing down and crawl!

Spinning is fun!

So much fun I'll do it again!

Graduation Time!

We're so Proud of our li'l girl!

Acting crazy with Amy!

Her Diploma

Lena took part in the "Paws for a cause" dog walk on Sunday April, 3.  It was a 3K walk...which I am counting as my April event...to benefit cancer research in dogs...she was a very good girl the whole time...she even let us put a green bandana on her...it actually tired her out for a couple of days...After the walk we came home and made some steaks for dinner, and had s'mores for dessert, and Lena got some peanut butter...

Ready for our Walk!

Makin' Friends!

Who wants to walk in a silly ole' straight line...zig zags are way more fun!

MMM S'mores!

Can I have a taste?

Now that she's starting "middle school" she's acting more and more like the "teenager" she is...

We recently stopped crating her at night, giving her free range of the house during the night, she stays in our room and very rarely, if ever, gets off her bed.  She does wonderfully well at night, with the exception of an occasional cold nose in my face at 3:00 AM...I roll over and go back to sleep and she goes straight back to her bed. However this has created a bit of a problem with crating her during the day, while we are at work.  All week long Randi would coax Lena into her crate before she left for work.  Then on Friday Lena would NOT go into the crate, for 10 minutes Randi had to struggle with trying to coax her into the crate.  Finally Randi had to grab her and force her into the crate, giving herself a bruise in the process.  Once in the crate she was fine all day long...SO needless to say we are currently experimenting with letting her out while we are not home.  This past weekend we left her out while we went out to lunch and ran some errands, about 3-4 hours each day.   When we got back we were worried, the only thing out of place were 2 blankets that had been moved from the couch to the floor (Both Days!).  So it looks like she can handle being on her own...but can she makes it 10 hours while we are at work...stay tuned!!!

Tuckered out after a LOONG weekend...but I will be back to my old tricks soon enough!

The Best Day EVER!

There are many dates that have significance to me: 6-24-1975, 6-9-1978, 3-3-1980, 12-7-1981, 10-14-1984, 10-27-1985, 10-15-1988, and 11-20-1992 (do you know the significance of all these?) There are many more like 6-14-2010, 1-9-2011 and I know there are more still to come 9-30-2011??

There is however one day that comes to mind…3-27-2009…If not for the events on that day, everything since and still to come would not be…

March 27, 2009 was a Friday, particularly rainy Friday at that. Now as a baseball coach a rainy Friday usually means a day of watching the radar and wondering if the opposing team remembered to tarp their field. That is exactly what I did from 7:00 AM until about 2:00 PM. At 2:00 the first of two important phone calls happened, it was the head coach at Lake HS calling to say that their field was too wet and the JV and Varsity games we gonna need to be moved to Brook and played on Saturday, the Sophomore game was being completely scrapped! So now it’s 2:30 school is over and I have nothing to do on a Friday night…Meanwhile the weather had cleared up and it was a beautiful SE Texas afternoon and about 5 miles away from my apartment Randi had taken the afternoon off to do some shopping and was walking outside of Old Navy.

I took a deep breath found Randi’s number in my phone and called her for the second day in a row, we had talked for about an hour the night before. She answered, we exchanged pleasantries, I told her about the cancellation of my game, and I asked her if she’d like to get some dinner. I was pretty sure she was gonna say yes, but when the words actually came out of her mouth I still got that rush of adrenaline and could physically feel my heart begin to race. We decided to meet at about 7:00 at BJ’s Restaurant. I quickly showered, think I shaved, got dressed and then tried to relax for a bit so my heart rate would come back to normal.

We met outside the restaurant, had to wait for a table, enjoyed a beer, and talked and talked and talked. We were eventually seated, ordered, and continued to talk and talk and talk… When the food came my order was wrong but I didn’t care, I was lost in conversation hanging on her every word. Nearly 3 hours later were finished with our meals and the evening was coming to an end, I walked her to her car, we said good night with a hug and went our separate ways. As I drove away from the restaurant I remember thinking to myself: that lady is special, someone like her only comes along once in a lifetime…

Well most of you know how this story continues (6-14-2010, 1-9-2011)…
But beyond that 3-27-2009 will always be special to me because it is the day I found my best friend, my partner for life, the person who has and continues to make ALL my dreams come true…

On Sunday 3-27-2011 we celebrated two wonderful years together by getting up early, watching “The Biggest Loser” on DVR, driving an hour to go shopping at Costco for dog food and a 2nd dog bed (amongst other stuff), then enjoying dinner at the restaurant where it all started…It was a perfect day capped off with us talking and talking and talking…until she finally fell asleep.

Outside "Our" Restaurant

I no longer worry about rain on game days, or care if the opposing team tarped their field. I know great things can happen because of rain outs!

The last two years have been Amazing…I am looking forward to the next 64 years…and soaking in every last second of it by Randi’s side!