Jack: One Month Update

So Jackson has been part of our family for one month already! The time has seemed to fly by because we've been so busy. However, Jack has really seemed to settle in well! Here are some things we've learned about Jack in the past month:

• He is scared of rain. He won't go outside if it's raining. One time we were driving home and had Jack in the car. During the ride home it started to rain. Once we got home Jack flat out refused to get out of the car. Miguel had to lift him up and carry him inside. 
• He loves to eat grass.
• He isn't completely potty trained. This is a big bummer. It's not from a lack of taking him outside often. I take him out about every hour. He just hasn't learned how to communicate to us when he needs to go out. Sometimes when he's outside he is much more interested in playing than doing his business. 
• He is a stinky boy! That puppy can produce smells that shouldn't be possible! And he is totally not ashamed of his poots. When Emma toots she gets frightened and looks ashamed... Jack, not so much. He is such a boy.
• He isn't the brightest of dogs. But what he lacks in wits he completely makes up for in desire and willingness to obey. We can let him out in the back yard without a leash. 
• He loves people and likes to jump on them when they first meet... despite our many "no"s and "down"s.
• Every morning when I take him out of his crate he bites my wrist and tries to walk me to the back door. 
• He wouldn't bark if Emma wasn't barking. Even when Emma barks and Jack joins in it is soft and he looks confused like he's not sure if he should be barking at all. 
• Jack wants to be with all the time. Emma doesn't go through doors that are cracked open. Jack on the other hand pushes every door open to try and get to you. I can no longer use the restroom alone. 

• Jack LOVES the car! Almost every time I take him outside he goes straight to the car door and then looks back at me, wagging, as if to ask, "where are we going?". He always sticks his head out the window whenever we roll it down, no matter how fast we are traveling.
• He doesn't like to share cuddles with Emma. If I'm on the ground giving Emma some loving, Jack will barge his way in and push her out of the way and then lean on me. 
• He loves to play with Emma, but at the dog park he can be a little shy. 
• He goes in his crate without any struggle or fight. We say, "go to bed" and he goes straight in. 
• He likes to sleep underneath my feet. 
• He never whines or whimpers when he is in his crate... unlike Emma ;)
• He is a cutie patooty and and I can't imagine life without him in it now! 

Weekend Visit to Bob-Bob's!

Over the fourth of July weekend Miguel and I drove down to Jupiter, Florida to visit my grandpa, Bob-bob. It was so wonderful to spend time with Bob-bob. His health is doing really poorly. My family planned this trip with the knowledge that this is probably the last time we will all be together as a family. It is still hard for me to stomach. I know I will always cherish the memories we made over the weekend. 

My sister and brother-in-law flew in Saturday morning and Miguel and I timed our arrival so that we could pick them up from the airport. The four of us then headed to Bob-bob's... after a brief stop to get some Chick-fil-a for Sarah, since they don't have them where they live in Seattle. After spending a brief visit with Bob-bob he needed to go rest. Sarah and Jared also needed sleep because they didn't get any on their red eye flight from Seattle. So we all spent the afternoon catching up on sleep. When we woke up a couple of hours later Bob-bob was still sleeping. The four of us headed down the street to go to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center. The Loggerhead is a local rescue for sea turtles. The admission is free and it's something I always enjoyed doing any time I'd go visit my grandpa in the past. It was Jared and Miguel's first time visiting. We spent some time in the museum, but most of our time we spent out near the tanks where the turtles were. They had a couple of large sea turtles with various health problems ranging from a fin missing to iron deficiency. It's always fun to see the turtles, especially the TINY baby ones! Some how I didn't get a picture of those little guys though. We goofed off some and had a good time. 

After we left the sea turtles the four of us decided we wanted to go to the beach. Sarah and Jared don't get to see the ocean all that often so I'm glad we went. We didn't spend too much time there. We just took off our shoes and walked in the sand and stuck our feet in the water. The weather was a little too hot. It would have been nice if we had been in bathing suits with the option of cooling off in the water though. 

For dinner Bob-bob took us to one of his favorite local spots. Dinner was fun. I really enjoy spending time with family and laughing. After dinner the five of us headed to the jetty to watch the boats come in. They have to drive really fast to get in and out because of the strong water. The Jupiter lighthouse is also right there. It's pretty views and we took some pictures. 

Way to sneak in there, Miguel. 

After dinner my grandpa need to rest so Sarah, Jared, Miguel and I played a game called Bananagrams. I had never played it before. Basically it's a word game where you form a crossword-like object using tiled letters. It was a lot of fun... except I attempted to use the word "freezed"... oops! It had been a really long day, okay ;) After a few rounds of the game, we got bored and the boys and I started to make a domino string with the tiles. Sarah played Angry Birds. =) 

"freezed"

My parents flew in late Saturday night after we had already gone to bed. Sunday morning the whole family drove up to the next town to go to brunch at the Seminole Inn. It dates back to the 1920's and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor visited in the past. The Duchess, Wallis Simpson's, family owned the inn. The history was really neat to me. The upstairs halls of the inn has murals documenting the Seminole Indians and their chiefs throughout the years. Brunch was very enjoyable. I especially liked the live music and relaxing on the porch.

My parents headed home Sunday afternoon and the four of us kids got up bright and early to head home Monday morning. It was indescribably hard to say good by to Bob-bob. Literally heart crushing. Again, I am so thankful for the time we got to spend together. I know I will always look back on this weekend with fond memories for the rest of my life!

"And God Saw That It Was Good"

Here are some of the beautiful flowers and plants where my grandpa lives in Florida. God is so creative! 

Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.