Before I tell you about my trip... I want to tell Lisa Jo and my daughter Candice my heart is full of worry for poor JD and Buddy... Lisa Jo I truly hope a miracle happens tonight and you do not have to put Buddy to sleep in the morning... I had to do that with my Dalmatian Domino and although my head knew it was the right thing to do at the time... my heart on the other hand was broken... So please know you both are in my thoughts and prayers...
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Big Sigh......
Ok...
We got a pretty late start on Tuesday because Sam decided he wanted a cup of tea at 9pm on Monday night after watching a GREAT Monday night football game -
Wow it was exciting... Sam picked the Patriots to go to the Superbowl this year... and they are 12-0... playing for a perfect season... however even he was cheering for the Ravens on Monday... it was a crazy game...
anyway so after drinking the cup of tea... Sam was up all night and couldn't sleep... I woke up at 4:30am and said "Isn't it hot in here?"
"Yes, turn the heater down... I was going to but I was feeling like I was FINALLY falling asleep and didnt want to get up"
30 minutes later... it's hotter than hell in our room... and I sleepily hear grumbling about how I turned the heater all the way up instead of down! I am use to the air conditioner and turning it off by pushing the lever to the right and 90 degrees...
uh... oops...
So Sam finally fell asleep at 5am...
[Sam, Kam, Kieffer and I] finally got out the door to Newport/ Redondo at 11am...
At 1pm we arrived and paid the hauling guy
[he has been there 3 times hauling construction debris]
We thought Greg [our foreman]
remember the guy from my ghost story...
had done a final clean up... but you look at these pics and tell me if you think this was a final clean up? 
Sam was not happy...
Anyway... I hear "Hey Mom, come here.... I gotta show you a painting of an obscene green guy".... So I walk over to the garage where the last tenant left some paintings...
[Candice check this out... Craig painted this... maybe you were right!!!]
Kameron says "You should ebay these Mom!"
I laughed "Ya right, what am I going to call him?"
Kameron says seriously "Obscene, Green Guy... no wait... his name is 'Earth Man'... its on the back of the painting"
So what do you think... should I ebay them?
They did leave w/o paying for the last months rent!!! Hhhhmmm
Later we check into a motel because we still had to go to Newport in the morning... 
The waves were HUGE... 
They came down from that Big Storm in the Pacific Northwest... I guess Oregon got 12" of rain in one day...
Then we rented some beach cruisers... and rode down the strand...
Kameron was doing wheelies, and Kieffer was swinging his back tire around and doing little burnouts! [with 26 stitches in his arm and 4 in his leg... but you'd never know... they were acting like 5 year olds on new bikes]
We took the boys to where Sam use to surf everyday... and took these pics
The next morning, we went to a place called Good Stuff in Hermosa Beach...
We had breakfast and watched 3 teams of volleyball players in the sand...[shorts and bikini's mind you]
I left my camera in the room... darn it... the picture would have been called
"December in Southern California" it was amazing...
After checking out of the hotel... we drove to Starbucks... for some reason the guy couldn't get our order right...
so Sam said "Sorry, we're not from around here" [like it was our fault]
"that is OK... no worries!" we started laughing...
when we pulled up to the window Sam says "Hey.. isn't Disneyland around here somewhere off PCH?"
[It is no where near Pacific Coast Highway]
This really stumped the Starbucks guy!
So Sam says "Oh never mind we will look at the map"
they gave us our coffee and said
"Have fun at Disneyland"
I almost pee'd my pants laughing... My husband can make me laugh at the stupidest stuff!
Then we headed to the carpet place and bought carpet for Prospect [in the bedrooms only] then on to Newport to see the paint job the new guys have done... [it sucked... they are coming back next week... I swear if you are not on a jobsite 24/7 they will try to get away with crappy work! WTH? In this economy I would do excellent work and get more jobs... but what do I know... I just live here!]
Kieffer has been fighting off a cold the whole time we are gone... So I notice him just sitting on the grass... 
I know he doesn't feel good... I have my camera and start taking photos of him...
"Work it... Work it... Your a Lion in the Jungle" 
I got this shot... what do you think...
"Kameron come here and take a picture with your brother..." that lasted about 4 minutes... 
then Kameron started hitting Kieffer with a leaf and singing
"Mama said there'd be days like this, [whap] 
there'd be days like this [whap] 
there'd be days like this... my Mama said" [whap] 
Kieffer and Kameron start rolling around in the grass [they are 16 and almost 20 but sometimes I swear they are 5 and 9 sometimes]
Anyway... that was my trip in a nutshell... minus the phone calls to Candice all day about her dog... he is onesick Pup... Parvo is not a good thing! So keep sending prayers...
Lisa Jo... I am so sorry to hear about your Buddy dying overnight! I believe he waited till you were at work knowing it would have broken your heart to watch him die...
My heart broke when my beloved Domino died when Rider was a puppy... I miss him alot but now I have my GiGi [sometimes I swear she is Domino reincarnated... she does alot of stuff he use to do... I know that sounds crazy but sometimes I wonder!]
You want to know something else that happened that sounds crazy... he would lay at the foot of our bed and when he would finally lay down the bed would move... For a week after Domino died... our bed still moved like he was there... I thought it was just me noticing it but Sam did too... So if you notice anything like that... Maybe sometimes they stick around to make sure we are ok...
Time will heal your heart... and I believe Buddy will be in heaven waiting for you when it is your time to cross to the other side...
XO lj