Happy New Year!

We had a great Christmas. Grandma and Grandpa S came the week before and then spent Christmas in Hawaii with S and H. Both the girls sang in the children's choir at Christmas Eve mass and G had a solo. We spent a quiet Christmas day with just our little family- packing. The kids and I left the day after Christmas for Virginia to spend the week with my brothers and their families and my parents. What an eventful trip!

3 hours into our 15 hour drive we hit a piece of metal on the road and blew the drivers side rear tire.

We spent the rest of the day in Auburn AL trying to find a place that was open that had our tire, on Sunday, the day after Christmas. The next morning at our second stop we found a tire and were back on the road only to have to stop again 3 hours short of our destination due to icy roads.

Once we finally arrived we had a great time and the kids really enjoyed getting to spend time with their cousins. We went to the Aquarium and celebrated Noon Years Eve at the Children's Museum. But the big surprise was Grandma's. For Christmas she took us all to Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg to spend 2 days and 1 night at their indoor waterpark. All the kids had a blast "surfing", riding the water slides, playing on the lilly pads, and just soaking in the hot tub!

The way back was a little less eventful we made it in only 2 days and the only incident was E getting sick at the hotel. But things got interesting when we got home. I had been telling W that I wanted a puppy for my birthday. We got home Sunday and W suggested we go get a puppy on Monday since he had the day off. I started looking on the internet for shelters that had puppies and were open on Monday and found "Bear" at the Hotel for Cats and Dogs. They have a 24 hour waiting period to take you pet home but it was 5 pm and they were open till 7. We loaded the kids back in the car and headed to the shelter. "Bear" was just as cute and sweet in person as she looked in her picture and the kids were so excited about her that the shelter director let us take her home! After a stop at Walmart for a collar and leash GONZO was home to stay!

Everyone is adjusting well to the new puppy, even T who is not a big dog fan loves her. Gonzo was already "crate trained" when we got her so it is no surprise that she hasn't pottied in her crate at home but she has slept through the night both nights without whining. She has pooped in the house twice but has always waited to go out to pee. We train by putting a bell on the door where we want the dog to go out and then we ring the bell every time we take her out. It doesn't take long for the dog to learn to ring the bell to go out. Gonzo is not ringing the bell yet but she does come to the door and wait for me to put her leash on when I ring it so I don't think it will be long.