Family visit

Recently we had a short but nice visit from several of our family members from the DC area.

Spouse's sister, brother-in-law, their 2 sons, their daughter, son-in-law, and their 3 children all came for a couple days at the beach.  (In case you're doing the math, that was 6 adults and 3 children under the age of 5.)

In addition to lots of beach time, they also went to the boardwalk for games and unhealthy but tasty food. The joke around the house was that they couldn't go more than 45 minutes without a meal or substantial snack, so there were a couple trips to the grocery store, delivery food, and restaurant visits.  While I was at work during most of that, I think I gained weight just hearing about all the food they ordered/bought/made/consumed.

Unfortunately I didn't take many photos at all (I was not with them at the beach) but I did get these 2 cute ones.

Our nephew David and Marvin making himself King of the Pillows

Me and my boys

 It was a very nice visit and we all had a good time!

Happy birthday!!

Saturday was Spouse's birthday!  And Walter's birthday!

This year I planned a very social weekend away for Spouse's birthday but kept all the details a secret.  I told him to simply pack casual clothes and don't try to figure everything out.

So Sat morning we drove to the DC area where we used to live and arrived just in time for lunch at the Taco House with our friends Jeff, Shaun, Brandon and David.  Spouse was happily surprised to see them, and of course equally happy to eat at our longtime favorite Mexican restaurant.  I'd emailed in advance to be sure the owners (who are also friends) Juan & Gloria would be there, so we had a nice reunion with them too.  Unfortunately I took no photos.

Next we drove over to have a short visit with our good friends Bugsy & Roger.  It had been about a year since we'd seen them at our house so we enjoyed a nice, relaxing visit at their home.  Again I took no photos.

Then we drove several miles south to the area where I grew up, but that has changed quite a bit.  Spouse knows that our friend Carl lives there so he guessed we were either going to Carl's house or meeting him somewhere for dinner.  But instead, we arrived at a hotel and checked in.  After a few minutes of relaxing and changing our clothes, we went to a hip bar/restaurant nearby.  Waiting for us to arrive was Carl, Kerry & Hugh, Kelly, Kim, Justine & Liz, Harriet & Bob, Ana & Jose, Javier, and Emily & Brandon!  This time I managed to take a few photos but they're pretty bad.  

L-R: Kelly, Javier, Harriet, Bob, Jose, Ana, Hugh, Kerry

L-R:  Carl, Kim

L-R: Kerry, Justine, Liz, me

The birthday boy

I didn't give people time to look at the camera or smile, I just snapped away.  As you can see from the table, alcohol was involved which likely contributed to the (non-)quality of the photos, but at least its better than no photos.

About 3 hours later everyone left except Kerry & Hugh and Carl, so the servers moved us to a smaller table where we ordered a couple desserts to share and continued visiting.  We had a lovely, lovely birthday dinner, as well as a fun day overall.  We got back to the hotel and crashed.

The next morning we showered, checked out, and headed back north to Spouse's sister's house.  Waiting for us there was his sister, her husband, her 2 sons, and Spouse's brother and his wife.  'The family' had a yummy brunch and visited for a couple hours before heading home to DE.

Spouse complimented me on the terrific birthday weekend and said it was probably his favorite ever.

Sharing Spouse's birthday, although completely overlooked this year, is Walter who turned 5 years old.  We adopted him in Sept but were told he was born on July 20, the same day as Spouse.  That is why Walter's middle name is the same as Spouse's first name.

National Love Your Pet Day

Today is National Love Your Pet Day!

If you've been reading this blog for even a few weeks, you know that Spouse & I do indeed love our pets, so on National Love Your Pet Day I can't resist sharing some adorable photos of Marvin & Walter for you to enjoy.

Gift

I received a lovely gift in the mail from Anne Marie!

How adorable is this Chihuahua bag?!?! And how sweet and thoughtful of Anne Marie to send it to me!!

I must admit, Marvin & Walter were a bit jealous.  I heard them talking in the other room (they didn't think I could hear them) saying "I thought WE were enough.  But now Daddy & Papa have OTHER Chihuahuas in the house."

So I made sure to tell them both how much we love them, that no Chihuahuas on a bag would change that, and gave them extra head scratches and belly rubs.  All seems to be right in the home again.

Homecoming

Happy Homecoming Day, Walter!

On this date 4 years ago we brought Walter home to join our family.  While some refer to this as an adoption day or 'gotcha' day, I prefer the term homecoming day.  Indeed, Walter is home forever.

Walter's 1st day at home, age 2 months. Shortly after this photo was taken he peed on my shirt.

Walter learns where to go pee pee from his big brother Marvin.

Walter giving Joe P some kisses, Halloween 2014, 3 months old.

Sleeping on Daddy's shoulder.

Enjoying the back porch, about 1 year old.

One ear up, one ear down, waiting for a treat.

Sleeping in the crook of my leg.

Selfie with Daddy.

Bath time.

Nap time.

Walter & Marvin on Papa's lap.

Summertime

...and the livin' is easy.

My boys relaxing and enjoying the sites and smells of the yard from the comfort of the porch yesterday.

Patrick's visit

My long-time friend Patrick arrived Wed evening, and he and Spouse were talking out on the back porch when I got home from work.  We chatted on the porch for a little while, then I changed out of my work clothes and the 3 of us met up with Steven & Thad for dinner at Jimmy's.  Patrick had met them on previous visits so we all had a nice time catching up over dinner.

Yesterday (Thurs, my regular day off) we had coffee on the porch and Patrick got some special lovin' from Marvin & Walter.

I suggested lunch and a walk on the boardwalk which Patrick quickly agreed.  On our way to the restaurant my phone rang 4 times.  While I'd hoped to disconnect from work the entire day to spend uninterrupted time with Patrick, unfortunately I kept getting calls and emails from clients to whom I'd shown homes earlier in the week.  Patrick was very nice about it and understood, but I was annoyed.  After handling what I needed to over lunch, we went to the boardwalk.  As if someone had flipped a switch, the sun went behind the clouds, the temperature dropped, and the wind picked up.  It was so chilly we actually had to cut our walk short.  As we were driving away from the beach, again as if someone had flipped a switch, the clouds broke, the sun came back out, and the temperature warmed back up!

We returned to the house and talked some more, and then I went into the office to meet with my clients and write a contract.  This can often be done via telephone and technology, but these clients are kind of 'old school' and wanted to talk and sign the contract in person.  2 1/2 hours later I returned home to Patrick and Spouse, and since I had a taste for pizza we decided to order delivery. After dinner we just hung out together, with 1 eye on the TV and 1 eye on Facebook, relaxing.

This morning Patrick & I had breakfast at a local diner together, and then he headed home and I headed to another real estate appointment, even though I had planned to be off that day so Patrick could stay as long as he wanted.  While our visit wasn't 'uninterrupted' as I'd hoped, it was still nice to visit with my old friend.

Tags

I'd seen on Facebook a sponsored ad for Tags for Hope and really liked the concept. They make hard plastic ID tags for your pets that look like your state's drivers license.  Some proceeds from each tag is donated to no-kill shelters.  How can you NOT love that??

So I had to order them for our boys.

The interface made them super easy to upload your photos and enter your phone number, address, and idenitifying info for your dog. There's even a spot under their photos for extra info so Walter's says "My nickname is Little One" and Marvin's says "My dad calls me Pee Wee".


They arrived while we were away so the boys have been wearing them for almost a month now with no issues.  Previously Walter has chewed other tags but not this one.  They're heavy-duty plastic so I think they'll be really durable.  

I think they're super cute!!