Packing Up

It's getting empty!!

Kayaking in the Potomac

Stuart took Joe and I on quite an adventure on Saturday! We went kayaking in the Potomac River! We had such a great time. It was a nice warm day.

Lincoln Memorial in the background.

Washington Monument in the background!

Okay, so then Joe had a little mishap. Of course, he blames it on me, because apparently he was trying to push my kayak away from his kayak, and when he did that, a wave hit him and he tipped over!

It was so scary because he couldn't get a hold of the kayak, it kept barrel rolling on him. But he handled it like a pro. Stuart tried to help him turn the kayak back over, but it was filled with water, so Stuart ended up toeing Joe to shallow water where they both could get out of their kayaks and turn it over.

Of course, instead of helping, I took pictures:

Stuart toeing Joe to shore.

The boys standing in the shallow water.

It's definitely something we will be talking about for a long time! The only real bad thing was that Joe had my purse in the kayak with him, so I may have lost use of my cell phone and iPod. Everything else in my purse will just have to dry out.

Fun times! Definitely one of the coolest things we have done in the city. :-)

Ray's Hell Burger

On Friday we went to Ray's Hell Burger for dinner (thank you Cindy for directions!). This place is famous and it was one of the places we had to go before we moved. You might have heard of it, because Obama and Biden went here for lunch a while back.

It's this hole-in-the-wall place in Arlington where they sell big-ass burgers and that's about it. They don't sell fries, which I thought was weird at first, but when you get there you see why. It's less of a burger-and-fry joint and more of a backyard-BBQ joint.

You can order sides of corn, coleslaw, or macaroni and cheese, and you can get root beer straight from the tap!

I had a side of mac n' cheese (they do NOT believe in veggie burgers, I am sure) and Joe got a burger.

Look at that monster!

That is one happy man.

No Longer Homeless!

We drove up to Connecticut on Thursday to interview with the woman who owns the condo we wanted to rent. We left at 6:00 a.m. and I thought I would sleep all the way up, but I was so excited and nervous, that I stayed awake the entire trip.

The dogs didn't know what the heck was going on!

Jack sleeping in Ava's bed - so cute!

When we got to the real estate agent's office, we both changed our clothes, I put on makeup, and we made ourselves look as responsible as possible. The woman must have liked what she saw, because we immediately started going over the lease when we got there.

We signed all the paperwork and felt SO good! It was finally behind us - we had the place!

After we signed everything, we drove out to the condo to look around. I hadn't actually seen it before... Joe had been inside and just knew it was the place for us. I trusted his choice, but was very happy to see it finally for myself - and was he right! It's an awesome place! We are going to be so happy there!

The outside.

Hardwood floors, and three stories!!

The living room. (We don't get to keep the stereo, haha)

The kitchen.

Outside of the kitchen is a nice deck that leads to a small but nice back yard. It isn't fenced, so we can let Jack run loose, but we figure we can put a baby gate out on the deck so at least they can go outside.

It's such a great place and we are so excited! Since we have the place secured, we are both a lot less stressed and are just getting excited to get up there, move in, and start our new chapter!

Just the Fab 4 Again

Even though Ava and Jackson were so great when Honey was with us, I think they both are happy to have their mom and dad all to themselves again!


P.S. - We found out today that the owner of the place we REALLY want to rent in Connecticut is now calling our references. We are hoping that is a good sign and we will hear soon that we got the place! All fingers crossed, please!

Rescue Weekend & A 3-Inning Game

We spent all day on Saturday inside the apartment caring for poor Honey. She was truly a sport, though - she really came through surgery well and was just her happy self. We were supposed to drop her off at her foster home around 5:00 on Saturday, but never heard from the woman, so we just hung out waiting...

These dogs are pros at just hanging out!

We had tickets to the Nationals/Cubs baseball game at 7:00 Saturday night and as the night went on and we didn't hear from Honey's foster mom, we figured we were going to miss it. Finally, we heard from her at 5:30 and rushed Honey up to her house (about 30 minutes away). It KILLED me to drop Honey off there... I know she was so happy with us!

We then booked it back to the Metro so we could head down to the game. Well, they were doing track maintenance on our line, so what is normally a 35 minute ride took about an hour and a half. We thought we were going to miss the entire game for sure, but when we finally got there, it was the top of the 6th inning. We at least got to watch three innings!

It was a fun game, and felt good to be in a ballpark again! We haven't been to a game since our last game in Seattle right before we left.

Sunday we woke up early and started a busy Rescue-filled day. First, we picked up one of our dogs, Lili, from her foster home. That was emotional in itself because the foster mom cried as she gave her up. It's so heartbreaking, and I totally understand what she is feeling. It's so hard to foster these dogs, fall in love with them, and then have to give them up.

We took Lili into Richmond to meet a possible forever home. It was a great match! Lili is now adopted and living in Virginia Beach with her new iggie sister, Ocean. I think she will be very happy there.

Lili curled up on my lap during the drive to Richmond.

Lili and her new sister, Ocean.

Once we left Lili with her new forever home, we headed into downtown Richmond for a home visit. The woman we visited has a really sad story. She boarded her iggie a few weeks ago when she had to go out of town and the kennel lost her dog!! Somehow the dog escaped and still hasn't been found. She has put up over a thousand posters, hired tracking dogs, coordinated search parties - anything and everything you could think of to find this dog... all to no avail. Talk about heartbreaking! (I have heard a few of these horror stories lately, about kennels losing dogs. I just would never trust one to take care of my babies. Thank goodness my mother is a pet nanny - and a great grandma! I can usually leave them with her for long trips.)

Anyway, this woman investigates every possible sighting she hears about and during one of them she ended up finding another iggy... it wasn't her lost iggy, but she couldn't bare to leave it, so she took it in and has been caring for it. He is very old with bad teeth and a bad eye, but she took him in. I just love people, sometimes! She is probably going to foster the old boy for us so we can find him a great new home!

Anyway, it's been a very busy weekend, but rewarding. Hope everyone else had a good one, too!

Honey Has a Prison Tattoo

So, Joe picked Honey up from the vet yesterday and she was pretty drugged up. That poor girl has just been through total crap lately. She has been juggled around more than any other dog I have personally had in Rescue. From original home to temporary foster home, to vet, to temporary foster home, to foster home, to us, to vet, back to us, and now we are dropping her off at her permanent foster home today. I asked Joe if we could just keep her and foster her until we move, and he said no. I just feel so bad for the girl!

And to make matters worse, when Joe dropped her off at the vet yesterday, they said that they provide a free service during all spays where they will tattoo the dog on the leg so that she can be easily identifiable if she ever got lost. They said it was an alternative to microchipping. We thought - great! What a great thing!

She came back to us yesterday with the biggest tattoo on her leg EVER. We thought it was going to be this little tiny tattoo that you would only really see if you were looking for it - trying to identify her. Oh no, it's HUGE and it takes up most of her thigh! We are calling it her prison tat - and I hope she feels bad ass with it, because that would be the only positive at this point.

Check that out!!

They also didn't send her home with a cone, so I was up with her all night making sure she wasn't licking at her stitches. I had horrible flashbacks to my Sophie when she had her surgery. I felt so bad for her with that cone on, so I decided I would take it off of her at night. She couldn't possibly do any damage at night, I thought, and even if she started doing something, I would feel her and stop her.

Yeah - WRONG. I woke up the next day and Sophie had tore out one of her stitches, leaving this hideous gaping hole in her abdomen. She had to go back in for staples, and they told me to LEAVE THE CONE ON!! Learned my lesson there.

But Honey's incision is much smaller than Sophie's was, and she didn't seem to do any damage last night. Please everyone send out good thoughts for her, though. She needs to find her permanent situation soon!!

Ava Shares Her Bed

Ava is being so sweet to Honey! Joe stayed home with them today, and sent me this picture. Too precious!

A Possible Apartment and a Foster Dog

Joe got home this morning around 1:00 a.m., just completely wiped. I don't think I have ever seen him fall asleep that fast. He ended up seeing five different places available for rent and only found ONE that was worthwhile. Actually, he saw four super rundown, dirty apartments in the ghetto, and one perfect, clean, and new apartment in a great part of town. I guess it's perfect - exactly what we were looking for.

The only problem is that the owners are actually trying to sell it (so they don't know if they want to rent it right away or wait to see if they get a bite) AND they are unsure about renting to someone with two dogs. Joe tried to reassure them that our dogs were not going to be an issue, but they are still hesitating. This place is where we are meant to be... so please send out good vibes for us!

So, when Joe got home at 1:00 a.m., he was greeted by one of our Rescues - Honey! Sometimes I don't know why he sticks around. Like we don't have enough going on, right? Well, Honey needs to have her spay done on Friday and her current foster home was going out of town for a few days for a dog show. I couldn't find anyone else to take her for those few days, and I have a soft spot in my heart for her, so I said we would take her!

Of course, I work all day, so really it's Joe who gets to take care of her...

She's such a sweet girl and came to us in pretty poor condition (I always have a soft spot for the hard cases). Her teeth were rotted and she already had to have most of her teeth pulled. She has recovered from that surgery, and just needs to get her spay done before she will be ready to be adopted. And I want her to get adopted soon!

They say these dogs are velcro dogs - meaning they stick by you 24/7 - and Honey is like the stickiest, most durable velcro ever! She just follows you around, waiting for you to sit down, and then launches herself at you and cuddles up as close as possible. She just wants to be loved and I hope I can find her a family who will do that.

Ava is actually very patient with her, which is awesome. Honey is taking up a lot of "mom-time" and "lap-time", but Ava just kind of makes her way around Honey like she understands she needs some of the love and attention Ava gets on a daily basis. I'm so proud of her!

Jack was very interested in her at first, but quickly realized that it was just another one of those damn iggies around and is pretty much ignoring her now. :-)

Anyway, I guess it's time for me to get ready for work. I've been up since 6:00 a.m. when Honey decided she needed to pee... Wish Joe luck today! And send us good thoughts on that apartment!

Looking for a Place to Live

Joe is heading up to Connecticut tomorrow to look at housing options for us. He has 5 or 6 apartments/duplexes/townhouses that he is scheduled to look at. Unfortunately, there are not many places that accept dogs.

Send good thoughts our way! We really, really, need to secure a place to live because one way or the other we are moving there on August 1st and I would really rather move into our new home than a hotel. :-)

We have already packed a lot of boxes! We are doing a little bit every night, and last weekend we spent all day Sunday packing. I want to get as much done as possible before we leave so I'm not stressing about getting everything done last-minute.

The dogs keep following us around from room to room, as if to say, "You're not going to forget to pack us, are you??" We keep reassuring them that there is NO way we would ever leave them behind.


Crazy, huh?

Free Billy and Elton Concert

We had quite an interesting night last night. Billy Joel and Elton John played a concert at a stadium right next door to Stuart's apartment. Stuart has a rooftop pool and deck, so we decided we should go up there during the concert to see if we could hear any of the concert.

Joe and I headed downtown early to beat the crowds and did a little more sightseeing before heading over to Stuart's. There are a few things we want to do here before we leave, and need to fit it all in in three weeks.

On this trip, we visited the Capital Building, which is something we never got around to seeing before.

Then we headed to Stuart's. His parents are here visiting, so we all had dinner and drinks and headed up to the rooftop deck. It was so much fun! We could hear the concert and see the light show - we were all singing along to our favorite songs and had a great time. I was pretty excited with Billy Joel sang We Didn't Start the Fire!

I know this is a weird picture, but I thought it was funny that Stuart and his friends got in the pool during the concert. :-) He has the life, I tell you!

You probably won't be able to hear much from these videos (they were taken by Joe's phone), but I thought I would share anyway.

Moving to Connecticut

Yes, we are moving again!

Joe has been looking for other opportunities, since he has been putting out so much effort and not seeing any return. He randomly got an interview in Connecticut and it seemed like a great fit. So, we took a trip up there together to meet the doctor and her husband.

It was a fun road trip! We drove right by Manhattan!

I know this is a terrible picture because we were in the car, but this is the NY skyline. So cool!

The dogs did very well on the trip. We are so lucky that they are such good travelers! But it's funny, because we have a nice high car bed for Ava and a nice big car bed for Jack.... and sometimes they switch.

Ava curled up on Jack's bed.

Jack happily scrunched into Ava's bed.

We of course didn't take any pictures of the actual town we went to visit - the town where we will be moving. We were so busy and it was such a whirlwind trip, that I didn't even think about it. But it was a nice town. Small, but nice. I think we will find a lot of happiness there.

And the doctor Joe will be working for was absolutely great to us. She took us to her home, took us on a tour of the town, and took us out to dinner. She was great with our dogs and obviously very interested in having Joe there. We were happy the feeling was mutual!

When we got back home, we went into the city and met up with Stuart to tell him the news. He wasn't very happy, and I'm so going to miss him! But he promises to come visit often. I got sentimental and took a couple pictures...

So, we are moving at the end of the month. It will be hard to leave the city, and my job, but I really believe this is a great opportunity for Joe, and therefore a great opportunity for us. We look forward to the new chapter in our lives!