Life without Sammy

Well unfortunately we never could find Sammy a new home. We tried several avenues over the past 6 weeks. We even tried to reintroduce Sammy and Chloe to each other at my parents house over Labor Day weekend and that did not go so well. Luckily we were able to avoid any stitches this time. So unfortunately we had to do the really tough thing of surrendering Sammy to the Hamilton County Humane Society last night. It was extremely sad especially for me (Kyle). I am man enough to admit that I was crying quite a lot.

The Hamilton County Humane Society is a great place. They are a no-kill shelter, no matter how full they get. Last night the place was packed and in just the short 20 minutes we were there I saw a couple of adoptions in progress. So hopefully a nice family without other dogs will come through and see how great Sammy really is. She's beautiful, has a great personality, and loves every person she's been around. If you know of anyone interested, please send them there and have them ask about Sammy.

Thankfully we are allowed to call periodically to see if she has been adopted or not. We are praying that it happens soon. Before we took her there last night, we took some pictures. We also tried to make her last few days in our house memorable.

From Sept.2009

From Sept.2009

From Sept.2009

From Sept.2009

From Sept.2009

From Sept.2009

Touring Wrigley Field

This past weekend we went to Chicago with our friends Rob and Kristen to tour Wrigley Field. This is something that we've wanted to do for oh so long, but its difficult because tours don't happen often when the team is in town. There were still some parts of the field and stadium that Kyle wishes they would have let him see, but all in all it was very memorable. We have all the pictures in our August 2009 album to the right. Here are just a few.

From August2009

From right field bleachers - there was a HS All American game going on.

From August2009

In the press box

From August2009

The famous Wrigley organ!

From August2009

Inside the Cubs clubhouse. Wrigley is very old so the clubhouses are extremely small. Unfortunately plastic had been put up because the Iowa Cubs (AAA) were coming in town the next day to play a AAA game and they didn't want the minor league players messing with the big boys stuff. Nonetheless it was great just picturing the guys in my mind sitting around before a game and I remember the video footage of the champaign celebration last year in there when the clinched the division.

From August2009

Ryno's Hall of Fame frame in the hallway on the way down to the dugout.

From August2009

In the dugout. Much smaller than I ever imagined. Very easy to hit your head on the ceiling.

From August2009

The greatest scoreboard in sports, a view from the field.

From August2009

From the field view. Normally packed with 40,000+

From August2009

Behind home plate

From August2009

The brick backstop.


We had a great time and it was well worth the trip!

July Recap

Here is a recap of our July. We have been lazy in getting pictures up, but please enjoy this slideshow recapping our month. You will see pictures from the 4th of July, swim class, our buddy Jackson's 1st birthday, lake day with church friends, The Children's Museum with cousins Ellie and Penny, Ryne mowing the lawn with Daddy, George Strait concert, Cubs game, and our last weekend in Morton saying goodbye to family! For even more pictures, check out our July and August picture links to the left.

The copycat age

Ryne is hitting what we are calling the copycat age. He is starting to try and do whatever mom and dad are doing. It really keeps us on our toes to make sure we are not passing on any unhealthy habits. Here are two recent examples of something that Ryne has started copying

From July 2009

By the way, we are still looking for a home for Sammy, read the below post for more information.

The sad time has come...Sammy needs a home

3+ years ago friends of ours found a beautiful dog on their front porch. She had obviously been abandoned. We were looking for a second dog at that time and this one seemed like a great fit. She was beautiful, well groomed, and well behaved. She seemed mostly house trained and she got along with our other dog Chloe.

Over the 3 years Sammy and Chloe have gotten into a few of fights. Most of them have not been too bad, but a few have been worse than others. Any time it had happened we had to keep them separated for a few days but they would eventually start acting like best friends again. A recent fight has convinced us that our two dogs are not compatible and that they both need to be in a single dog family.

It is such a sad time for us. Sammy has been such a big part of our family. She is absolutely incredible with people and even more so with our son who is now 15 months old. He climbs on her, pulls her hair, and can do anything he wants to her. And she just smiles. Sammy loves attention and will need some from a new owner. She is about 45 pounds but thinks she is a lap dog. Kyle loves laying on the floor or couch with her.

We are not exactly sure how old Sammy is but the vet estimates about 4 years old. She has a beautiful coat and we suspect she has Golden Retriever, Shepherd, and some type of smaller breed in her.

She is up to date on shots, is spayed, and has no issues outside of not being able to get along occassionally with our other dog. They are both alpha females unfortunately.

We are looking for a nice family for her. We'd recommend that the family not have any other dogs. She is easy to care for and house trained. A fence would be highly recommended as she is used to having one. Please contact us if you are interested by leaving us a comment. Attached is a slideshow of her.

Ryne playing with his Pooh lamp

What a goof ball!

Videos, Videos, Videos

Yes, Kyle got a new iPhone 3GS over the weekend and quickly snapped several fun videos. Here are just a few of them.

Ryne and Ellie spending time together...

Ryne in his 4th of July outfit, and answering a phone call, "hello".

Godzilla Ryne! Notice at the end how he has to knock off every last block.