Number 200

This is the 200th post here at Sand and Tsunamis...and to celebrate, pictures of my children.

Charlie chose to lay down partially in a filthy puddle, so he is on his way to a bath once this gets posted.

He had fun, though he was bullying a girl bulldog a bit...probably just flirting. Bella had a good time too, and I let her out of the baby backpack to wander since there were a lot fewer dogs than normal. Last night's rain and the 45 degree temps kept them away. At one point, though, she tripped and fell, missing a pile of poo by mere inches...whew. Close one.

Charlie got back yesterday from boarding school, and now he is a much more well-mannered, refined young dog. Seriously, he's been much calmer, and a model citizen. I'm happy with the results, and we practice his learnings several times daily to make sure they stick. Sit, stay, down, shake, roll over, sit up, crawl, come...he's pretty consistent with all of them. Next, we work on "slippers" (bring, not eat...He's already got that down.).

Bella, Icky Leaves, and a Stick

Seattle to See Mommy

Well, we just got back from a trip to Seattle to see Melody. We had originally intended to spend this week there, but when she got a late notice of a guaranteed 48 hour pass, we moved our trip up by a week.

We left last Thursday, and flew thru Denver to Seattle. The trip was pretty easy, and Isabella did great. She's really a very easy traveler. We stayed in a cabin on American Lake, just bordering Fort Lewis, where she's been training. We checked in, ran a few errands, and got a chance to see her on Thursday night for an hour or so. Initially, Bella was surprised to see Mommy, and was a little frightened. After not seeing her for a month, I'm not sure what she thought. But, she warmed up by the end of the evening.

After Melody was done with training on Friday, she was able to spend the whole weekend with us. Saturday was spent in Seattle, doing the tourist thing, and eating some great seafood and shwarma. We had fun wandering around. Sunday, after heading to Mass, we just lazed around the cabin and enjoyed being together as a family.

There were ducks and geese who lived at the lake, so we spent a fair amount of time feeding and visiting with them. Bella loved feeding them goldfish, and they in turn loved eating them. I am happy to report there were no goose attacks, although the goose in this video clearly is considering it.



Before we left, we got to talk to my cousin Paul, and had a chance to visit with one of my buddies from Japan, Mike, who has been battling lymphoma for about 5 years. He is hanging in there, but he realizes more than anyone I know that each day we get is a gift. It was great to catch up.

Melody will be on her way by the end of the week. We've been very fortunate so far that she's been still in the US, as it's made commo very easy (relatively). We've had a chance to test drive our Skype sessions, and get used to different time zones. Afghanistan will be a bit more challenging...however, we're just ready for this phase to start so we can just get it over with.