Lost

All right for all you Lost fans, the two hour season finale, which I hope you saw, was awesome! Questions from this season were finally answered, but as always in the end we were left with more questions. John Locke is Jeremy Bentham! Who knew? And, now Jack must get all 6 back to the Island. How will he convince them, where is the Island now and how will they get back??? We knew Ben got off the Island, remember he was in the desert wearing that Jacket. Did the people on the life boat make it to the freighter before the bomb detonated or were they heading back to the Island and made it before it was moved??

Mitch and I can't wait until next season starts!! This has got to be one of the best shows on TV.
:)

Happy Memorial Day

Ahh...Serenity. We celebrated Memorial Day with our good friends Ernie and Deb. We headed out to Oakencroft Winery in Charlottesville. They are celebrating their 25th year. The drive was very relaxing. Sitting by the pond with the breeze blowing, band playing and a glass of wine in our hands was serenity. Oakencroft is a beautiful winery. If you have never visited, I would suggest you take a trip. Mitch and I don't really care much for their wine so we brought our own.

Mitch and I enjoying our wine.
This couple decided to sit on the other side of the pond away from everyone else. I guess they would rather be by the geese than the people. Maybe they are just old and set in their ways. Or maybe they enjoy people watching and figured they had the best seat in the house to do that. :)And, here are our very good friends Ernie and Deb enjoying the festival.

We hope everyone had a safe and happy Memorial Day.

A Prayer for our troops.

Gracious God, I ask that your hand of protection be on all those who are serving our country. It is hard to endure the separation from the ones we love and our hearts feel ragged with worry at times because of the danger they might be in. While our hearts are filled with deep love, our love alone cannot bring them back to us safely. So, I pray that you will do for them what we are unable to do. I pray also that when they are troubled by fear, confusion, loneliness, and doubt that you will wrap them in your embrace until the time of turbulence has passed. May your love bring them peace and strength and the certainty of knowing they are loved. I ask this in your name. Amen.

Susie Q

I got up early on Saturday and met the hauler to pick up our foster dog Susie (M's Foxy Susie). She is 3 1/2 and is a sweetheart. She will be staying with us until she finds a home. This should not take long. Just look at her sweet face. How could you not want to take her home with you? She is very easy going and a quick learner. She has already mastered the stairs and has had no potty accidents in the house. Whoo hooo!! That makes our lives sooo much easier! She slept through the night too!! She is curious about the cat, but we are working with her on this. She has some weight to gain also. It was a beautiful day today. The kids enjoyed the nice warm weather. It was a little hot this afternoon so they found the one spot of shade in the yard.

Of course the majority of the time Cueball spent working on his tan.
I was not up to anything mommy. I swear....I was not digging a hole in the yard.
The kids did run for a little bit. Booyah shows how graceful he is. What a handsome boy he is.
Maggie would rather play with her new stuffie first.
And then run later. She likes to give the boys a head start. The fun part for her is the chase.
Here's my sweet girl enjoying the sun. She is my heart. :)

The kids and I had a very nice weekend. Mitch and I are heading out to Oakencroft Winery in the morning. We don't particularly care for their wine. We are going so that we can spend time with some good friends and to enjoy the atmosphere. It is a beautiful winery, but we are bringing our own wine.

Hope everyone has a Happy Memorial Day!!

Bunny

We have been seeing a lot of bunnies in our yard this year. They are pretty neat to watch. I would rather see them in the front yard then in the back. :)

The kids would disagree, but at least they can watch them from the kitchen window.

Fish Bone, Park Cookout & Record Breaking MG

Our weekend was full of fun activities. We spent Friday evening with Ernie and Deb celebrating Deb's birthday. Mitch and Ernie drinking a beer before we head out to dinner.We went out to eat at Fish Bone. It was yummy! We had Calamari, Tuna Sashimi for our appetizers and I got the Sea Bass and Mitch got Grilled Scallops and Shrimp. Good friends, good food and good wine! :) Happy Birthday Deb!!








Saturday afternoon we went to Kristen and Gyeong's cookout. I did not count, but there had to be at least 25 greyhounds in attendance. Below are a few shots from the gathering. A large fenced yard to run around did not seem to phase the hounds much, they were on the deck most of the time getting some love.
Maggie enjoyed the square dog beds.
Cali and Booyah.
So many hounds. :)
They were all very tired when we got back home.


We had a great time! The food was scrumptious and the company was grand!! Thanks for the invite! :)


On Sunday, we attended VAGA's monthly Meet and Greet in Richmond. We broke a record in donations....$140 raised for the hounds! Whoo.....hooo!!! That is awesome. :) The hounds drew the crowds in and we talked with so many folks. Paws crossed for applications.

Abby, she is super sweet, but did not know quite what to think about the event.


Gracie and Abby. Such sweet girls!!
Power loves people and dogs! He enjoyed all the attention and love. His tail was always wagging and he walked right up to folks. He is a great meet and greet dog. =)
A nice lady, who was very interested in the hounds, took a group picture of us.

From left to right: Jamie and Power, Debbie and Gracie, Linda and Abby, me, Maggie and Booyah and Mitch and Cueball.

It was great day! It did rain a little bit, but we had some shelter and the hounds were troopers. Today is our 7th wedding anniversary. And, what better way to spend it then by doing what we love!

Picture of the day....

What the heck was this person thinking?

Random pics of the kids and Congrats Noelle

Random pics of the kids in a moment, but first a big Congrats to Noelle, who graduated from Nursing school today. Whoo....hooo!!!! Way to go. We are sooooo proud of you and soooo happy for you!! Your long 2 years are over girl!! Congrats, Congrats, Congrats and best of luck working in the NICU. :) Hope to see you around the hospital.










Okay.....now some random pics of the kids. Just out in the yard practicing with the new camera, which by the way, I LOVE!!Black stud. That says it all.
Maggie says "make sure you get my good side mom".
That can't be comfortable Zola.
Cueball enjoying the sun. He loves to lay in the sun.

First Attempts

We did it. We decided it was time to upgrade to a better camera. We are not quite ready financially nor are we ready for all the functions a SLR has to offer, so we bought a "new to us" camera instead. Thanks a zillion Trina! Enjoy your new SLR! We are enjoying our "new to us" Canon Power Shot. I just got the camera on Monday, so bare with me. I am still learning the functions and settings. Yes, I am actually reading the books that came with the camera. Can this count as my book I read for the month Ramona? :)

Anywho, finally we have some decent action shots! Well compared to the Fuji anyway. They will get better once I learn how to use this camera properly. Practice makes perfect, right?

So far, I am loving it!!!! And, what better subjects than 4 graceful greyhounds?

So here are some photos of my first attempts using our new camera.

Hey is my form right Cueball? I am following you.This one would have been an awesome shot if I had zoomed out enough to include Booyah's head. In time I will get better.
Booyah and Zola in graceful stride. She has been staying with us this week. She fits in super with our pack. She is a regular at Ridlon dogie camp. :)

Zola tries to get Cueball going. It does not take much to entice him to run. And look at her hammies! :) She still has that track physique.
After a long day of running around the yard, Cueball takes a moment to practice his poses. He wants to be model when he grows up. He has got potential. Don't you think?
We had a nice weekend. I got up early on Saturday (5:45 a.m.) and cleaned the house. I was finished by 1:00 p.m. I did not feel like cooking and we had a hankering for sushi, so spur of the moment we went out to eat. We could not even remember the last time just the two of us went out for dinner. It was very nice!! This morning Mitch got up early and cut down the pine that has been interfering with our satellite. It's about time too. I have been missing lots of my favorite shows (Lost, Grey's anatomy, Desperate Housewives and House. just to name of few) because of that tree!! Now the kids and I are relaxing and watching a movie I have not seen in years, The Outsiders. Watching this takes me back. Sigh....kinda of makes me want to take out the jean jacket and put on some converse shoes. :)