Showing 5 posts from November 2009
Every since we adopted Thani in October 2006, I have volunteered with the local Rhodesian Ridgeback Rescue group. I mainly perform homechecks and sometimes transportation from foster home to foster home. The day before Labor Day weekend, I received an email from the group asking if anyone could take our senior foster dogs, Sara (12yo) and Cooper (10yo), for the weekend. I had seen them on the website and thought that they were very cute, especially Cooper.
For some reason, M agreed to let us take them over the weekend.
Here they are - the first night home with us. They were very nervous. We stayed with them all night. Every hour or so, they would get up and pace around the house. And whine and whimper.
Thani, Rita and Cooper on a hike at a nearby lagoon Labor Day weekend.
Cooper - love that face.
Sara and Cooper - always excited and hopping for their dinner.
Thani trying to give Cooper kisses. It was very interesting to see Thani as part of the pack. He definitely was a follower. (Sara was the pack leader but was very dependent on her younger brother Cooper.) At first, Sara and Cooper hung out together and slept near each other. Thani was on the other side of the room. But eventually, they all warmed up to each other and would pal around together.
Cooper.
Sara and Thani. 
For some reason, M agreed to let us take them over the weekend.
Here they are - the first night home with us. They were very nervous. We stayed with them all night. Every hour or so, they would get up and pace around the house. And whine and whimper.
Thani, Rita and Cooper on a hike at a nearby lagoon Labor Day weekend.
Cooper - love that face.
Sara and Cooper - always excited and hopping for their dinner.
Thani trying to give Cooper kisses. It was very interesting to see Thani as part of the pack. He definitely was a follower. (Sara was the pack leader but was very dependent on her younger brother Cooper.) At first, Sara and Cooper hung out together and slept near each other. Thani was on the other side of the room. But eventually, they all warmed up to each other and would pal around together.
Cooper.
Sara and Thani.One issue we did have with Sara and Cooper is their inconsistent interest in Yoshi the cat. At times, they didn't seem to care one bit that she was part of the family. At other times, they would try to chase her. Once early on, Cooper pinned her down but she tricked him and got away. Yoshi ended up staying upstairs alot - under the bed and hiding in her room.
The pack sleeping.
Besides working ALOT in September, at the end of the month Rita and I went to Portland to visit with Aoife & Jeremy and family. It was a nice, girls getaway weekend!
The pack sleeping.There were a few families interested in Sara and Cooper so we decided to keep them longer than the weekend. Unfortunately, none of the families checked out so we decided to keep them (alternatively they were going to be split up) as a long-term foster situation.
We took them to the vet and had them checked out. Endured Sara's accidents in the house. (Turns out she had a bladder infection.) And after two or three weeks, their paperwork made it to our home, and we learned their story. Sara was adopted in ~1997 from a shelter in Palo Alto, CA when she was two years old. Cooper was born the same year and adopted directly from a breeder. For 11 years, the family - with Sara and Cooper - lived in California, Nevada, Colorado and Hawaii. Finally they moved back to California and had to downsize their home (to 1700 sq ft) and dropped off Sara and Cooper with the rescue group. I can't imagine the circumstances that lead to that decision.
So, our 12yo and 10yo foster dogs were actually (almost) 14yo and 12yo.
The story continues in October ....
Besides working ALOT in September, at the end of the month Rita and I went to Portland to visit with Aoife & Jeremy and family. It was a nice, girls getaway weekend!
Yesterday, Rita was naughty -again- at her afterschool camp.
(We've had a bunch of issues this year which I'll eventually write about.)
So last night at the dinner table we talked about what happened and how we are going to make things better.
(Bringing her into the solution was suggested by a therapist we went to. I'll eventually write about that too.)
I suggested some different options on how she can work through the situations she is having with the children. Then I asked her if she had any ideas. She thought for a moment.
"You can put one of those collars around me like "J" and "M" (holding her neck) and whenever I do anything bad you can push the button."
("J" and "M" are German Shepherds. Our neighbor was trying to train them with those shock collars. About a year ago.)
Really? I can't believe she remembered that! And to associate a treatment of dog misbehavior as a potential solution for her. (She doesn't have a history of abuse so I wasn't concerned that she brought this up as a solution.)
(We had a big laugh together.)
I told her that training using pain or shock wasn't something we were going to do in this family. Either with the dogs, or with the humans.
(We've had a bunch of issues this year which I'll eventually write about.)
So last night at the dinner table we talked about what happened and how we are going to make things better.
(Bringing her into the solution was suggested by a therapist we went to. I'll eventually write about that too.)
I suggested some different options on how she can work through the situations she is having with the children. Then I asked her if she had any ideas. She thought for a moment.
"You can put one of those collars around me like "J" and "M" (holding her neck) and whenever I do anything bad you can push the button."
("J" and "M" are German Shepherds. Our neighbor was trying to train them with those shock collars. About a year ago.)
Really? I can't believe she remembered that! And to associate a treatment of dog misbehavior as a potential solution for her. (She doesn't have a history of abuse so I wasn't concerned that she brought this up as a solution.)
(We had a big laugh together.)
I told her that training using pain or shock wasn't something we were going to do in this family. Either with the dogs, or with the humans.
So, I had to go to the UK for work in August ... right around the same time as our planned family vacation. I planned a trip to Las Vegas ... a week of relaxation by the pool, shows, good food, ... Then Michael had a business reason to go to the UK too. So we bagged our Las Vegas plans and decided to all go to the UK. Specifically, Manchester. I lived in Manchester from 1997-2001 and attended graduate school there. I hadn't been back since 2002 so I was anxious to bring my family and revisit my old haunts.
On Wednesday, we took the train to Chester. We went on a walking tour of the city walls. For the most part, Rita was a good traveler but by this time we realized that by mid-afternoon she was really struggling with overstimulation and being tired. So the next day we started a routine of an afternoon nap between 4-7PM.
Thursday we were back in Manchester. Our hotel in Manchester was wonderful. It was right in the city center and served an "all-you-can-eat" continental breakfast AND you could order a full english breakfast. I still haven't lost the five pounds I gained on that trip! That day, we went to Castlefield, home of the Museum of Science and Industry.
That night we went to my favorite chinese restaurant in the whole world... Little Yang Sing. Delicious special chow mein! Nothing like it anywhere!
On Friday, we took the train to York. We spent a couple of nights there in a B&B. I love York... the old city center and cobblestone streets. Betty's for tea and scones. The second evening, we went on a ghost walk.
York city wall. The weather was hot and sunny!
Sunday afternoon we took the train back to Manchester. The next morning we all went to the airport together. Michael & Rita headed back to San Diego. I headed up to Glasgow to spent a week at our UK office.
Our UK office is about 30 minutes outside of Glasgow. Here's a picture of the hotel and pictures below of the surrounding countryside. It's beautiful, isn't it? Too bad I had to work all day and had business dinners or conference calls every evening.
It was an intense week of work so I was happy to get home after being gone almost two weeks! My luggage ended up sitting in London for a week but eventually it made it back to San Diego. 
Here is our third grader! 
First day. Rita and I in front of Manchester Cathedral. We walked around the city centre (so much had changed I hardly recognized things at first) and ended up going out to La Tasca for dinner (spanish tapas restaurant). Afterwards, we went down to West Didsbury and walked around my old neighborhood and saw my old flat.
The next day, Michael had work meetings so Rita and I just hung out. In the evening, we went out to dinner with the potential business partner Michael had come over to visit. He took us to a lovely Italian restaurant in the city center.
On Wednesday, we took the train to Chester. We went on a walking tour of the city walls. For the most part, Rita was a good traveler but by this time we realized that by mid-afternoon she was really struggling with overstimulation and being tired. So the next day we started a routine of an afternoon nap between 4-7PM.
Thursday we were back in Manchester. Our hotel in Manchester was wonderful. It was right in the city center and served an "all-you-can-eat" continental breakfast AND you could order a full english breakfast. I still haven't lost the five pounds I gained on that trip! That day, we went to Castlefield, home of the Museum of Science and Industry. 
That night we went to my favorite chinese restaurant in the whole world... Little Yang Sing. Delicious special chow mein! Nothing like it anywhere!
On Friday, we took the train to York. We spent a couple of nights there in a B&B. I love York... the old city center and cobblestone streets. Betty's for tea and scones. The second evening, we went on a ghost walk.
York city wall. The weather was hot and sunny!
Sunday afternoon we took the train back to Manchester. The next morning we all went to the airport together. Michael & Rita headed back to San Diego. I headed up to Glasgow to spent a week at our UK office.
Our UK office is about 30 minutes outside of Glasgow. Here's a picture of the hotel and pictures below of the surrounding countryside. It's beautiful, isn't it? Too bad I had to work all day and had business dinners or conference calls every evening.
It was an intense week of work so I was happy to get home after being gone almost two weeks! My luggage ended up sitting in London for a week but eventually it made it back to San Diego. And school was starting on Monday ...
Here is our third grader! 
We were pretty well prepared this year for Fourth of July. Rita decorated her bike in advance of the neighborhood parade; and she practiced enough on the bike so she was able to ride by herself in the parade. And despite the water restrictions, we were lucky to have a neighborhood fire truck come out and let the kids play with the fire hose for a while.Later that night, we brought along a picnic and enjoyed the fireworks at the Four Seasons Resort which is located about 10 minutes from our home. They open up the golf course to the locals and put on a really nice fireworks display.
I'm always working on some sort of "project" and seem to need some sort of crazy factor in my life (examples - move across the U.S., getting married, adoption, host a foreign exchange student). My latest thought (in July) was ... rhodesian ridgeback puppy! So we visited a local breeder and played with her pups one afternoon.
I'm always working on some sort of "project" and seem to need some sort of crazy factor in my life (examples - move across the U.S., getting married, adoption, host a foreign exchange student). My latest thought (in July) was ... rhodesian ridgeback puppy! So we visited a local breeder and played with her pups one afternoon.Needless to say, they were EXTREMELY adorable but I realized that we probably aren't ready to commit to a puppy. I think Michael was relieved that I independently came to this decision.
Then we had Michael's birthday. We decided to take off work and go to Disneyland! We got there at 11:30AM and didn't leave until 10PM. We had a blast!
Over the summer, Rita participated in a variety of summer camps with the local Y. She took two weeks of surf camp, girls softball, girls soccer, swimming and gymnastics. She loved every single camp. She's a very athletic girl and did well in all of them. We were particularly impressed with her soccer skills.
Summer Olympics 2016?
Then we had Michael's birthday. We decided to take off work and go to Disneyland! We got there at 11:30AM and didn't leave until 10PM. We had a blast!
Over the summer, Rita participated in a variety of summer camps with the local Y. She took two weeks of surf camp, girls softball, girls soccer, swimming and gymnastics. She loved every single camp. She's a very athletic girl and did well in all of them. We were particularly impressed with her soccer skills. 
Summer Olympics 2016?Next up - August and our trip to England!
Yes.
I've recently been inspired to get back into the blog world. Not that I have been very far away anyways....
I don't think it's a secret anymore that my company is very interested in participating in social media. And since I'm in charge of marketing for one of the businesses, and I have a history of participating in social media, I have been working on getting things going within my company. For the business I cover, I even have a Twitter account and there will be much more activity coming in November and December. It's sort of a secret so I can't say much more.
(And I must apologize for all of my friends who I "blocked" on my Twitter account. I originally set-up the account to learn more about Twitter but then had to morph it into my corporate account. And because I wanted to get an accurate "follower" count due to what I am doing at work I wanted to delete the personal stuff.)
So, I've been around but not in the adoption world. I miss blogging about life post-adoption. We have some good stories around this house and without documentation my small brain will surely forget them. So I need to keep going here.
Another inspiration for the blog rebirth is another adoptive mom who I met at our agency picnic a few weeks back. Turns out she was a long time reader of this blog (during her adoption) and although she didn't know us before the picnic ... recognized us at the picnic! How cool is that?! I love how blogging starts and maintains friendships with people it would be impossible to connect with in real life.
ps. I am working with Elle to figure out what is going on with the graphics so please bear with me.
I've recently been inspired to get back into the blog world. Not that I have been very far away anyways....
I don't think it's a secret anymore that my company is very interested in participating in social media. And since I'm in charge of marketing for one of the businesses, and I have a history of participating in social media, I have been working on getting things going within my company. For the business I cover, I even have a Twitter account and there will be much more activity coming in November and December. It's sort of a secret so I can't say much more.
(And I must apologize for all of my friends who I "blocked" on my Twitter account. I originally set-up the account to learn more about Twitter but then had to morph it into my corporate account. And because I wanted to get an accurate "follower" count due to what I am doing at work I wanted to delete the personal stuff.)
So, I've been around but not in the adoption world. I miss blogging about life post-adoption. We have some good stories around this house and without documentation my small brain will surely forget them. So I need to keep going here.
Another inspiration for the blog rebirth is another adoptive mom who I met at our agency picnic a few weeks back. Turns out she was a long time reader of this blog (during her adoption) and although she didn't know us before the picnic ... recognized us at the picnic! How cool is that?! I love how blogging starts and maintains friendships with people it would be impossible to connect with in real life.
ps. I am working with Elle to figure out what is going on with the graphics so please bear with me.
