October Week 3

So, I had no idea this weekend was sweetest day. We planned a wonderful Saturday. We woke up around 6:30 planning on leaving the house around 7:00. Our plans was to head to Campmor in Paramus, NJ (outside of NYC). Jason needed to purchase some items for his upcoming trip with Jacob and I wanted to get some new winter hiking shoes along with a winter jacket. Campmor was tons of fun. A huge store. I told Jason we only had 1 1/2 hours in the store because we were going to head to the NJ coast to visit a light house. I found very nice Merrels for 99.00 that are Gortex. They are high tops, which I'm not fond of, but the more I wear it the more comfortable they will become. After the store we headed toward Highlands NJ to visit the Twin Lights. They look like a castle and are really cool. We hiked to the top of the light (which wasn't far at all). Afterwards we headed over to a Fish Restaurant along the ocean front. It was such a nice and relaxing lunch we had. A view of the ocean and also a view of NYC. It's hard to believe that I live in such a cool place where we can take a day trip to the city or the ocean. Afterwards we headed home. We got home just in time to let the kids out to potty and then headed out again to visit the corn maze with Jacqui. We planned on doing it at night. We got there around 6:00 and started a little before 7:00. It only took about 1 hour to make our way through. We had a blast too.

October Week 2

1/2 way through the week my breathing started coming back to normal. I was very excited to finally be able to catch a full breath. Well, full on my terms. This weekend I knew JaCob and Trishcabob were coming to visit and I would finally meet the wonderful Dakota. Dakota is such a treat. I really enjoyed visiting with her. I also missed Jacob and Trish so I was so thrilled to be able to visit with them again. Even though it was short. We went to Kings for a late night dinner. Then tried to watch Stick It. I was exhausted so ended up going to bed 1/2 way through the movie. When we woke up on Sunday we had breakfast at Front Street before Jay, Jacob, Trish, Dakota and Kenzie headed out for ta few days. They planned on hiking the NJ highpoint and also the NY highpoint. I was very jealous that I couldn't go but honestly, I probably couldn't have kept up. I'm not the fastest hiker in the world. Mainly because I can't breath. I totally would have slowed them down. They all had a great time though. Jason shared photos and stories with me. Maybe next time.

Oh yeah, I forgot, we also hooked up the hot tub on Saturday. That's why I was so exhausted.

Wow am I far behind. I didn't realize it until a few days ago. I have not blogged in 3 weeks. So, to make this easier I am going to split this blog into 3 different posts.

October Week 1

This week was a tough week on me. My mom called me in the whee hours of the morning on Wednesday telling me that my cousin Stephen had passed away. This came as a shock to me since he is only 21. Our families used to be really close and then we kind of grew apart. I don't even remember why. I think as we got older we just started to do different things. Anyway, so I told Jason that I wanted to head home for the funeral. We left after work on Thursday and started the trek home to Ohio/Indiana with all 5 of our furkids. We ran into traffic around State College which put us really far behind. We arrived on Friday morning around 3:00 - 3:30am. I knew my little sis was going to pick me up around 9:00 so I went straight to sleep. Obviously I didn't sleep much. Stac arrived around 9:00 and we headed out for breakfast. I was sick however I decided that it was worth it to visit my favorite hamburger spot Frisches. So, for breakfast I had a Big boy. Umm, was it tasty. I knew I couldn't last that long in the car so Stac and I timed our driving home to Indiana by the gas stations I could stop at. When I got to moms we sat and hung around just talking about how weird it was. How could someone so young die? And why? That evening we headed down to Jeff and Wanda's (Stephens parents, my aunt and uncles). It seemed everyone was there. Family from Cali, family from NY. We all had come together again. Danny and Bruce got out there guitars and started singing hymns. It was so nice and relaxing. Jeff and Wanda has not been to church in a while so it was nice to see Jeff getting together and singing again with everyone.

Saturday was the funeral. I HATE funerals so I was not excited to be there. Not to mention I seen my dad, whom I have not seen in a long time. Jeff was really having a tough time with Stephens death. He came up to me and my sis and told us to go and give dad a hug and tell him that we loved him. That was a really hard thing for me to do but I felt that I needed to for Jeff. Dad has never really loved Stacy and I. Our Christmas cards consist of him telling us "Love you, Eddie" Now why wouldn't a father call himself dad instead of Eddie? So the whole time he was telling us about how he bought a new house and was trying to be debt free. He can never ask us how we are doing. Seriously, he doesn't care. My sis has always had a time trying to make ammends so she ran off crying. I went off to be with her. The both of us have had such a hard time. Why doesn't he love us? Did we do something wrong? Why couldn't we have a normal life? So Stacy and I spent the rest of the funeral in the closet. I know that sound stupid but we found a closet and kind of sat and talked. The funeral was so tough because I've always thought, how would I feel if something happened to dad? Would I blame myself? Have I tried hard enough? I think this funeral was a wake up call for me. I'm spending so much of my time trying to make him love me. You can't make someone love you that cannot love. So, after speaking to many people about my situation I have decided to seek the help from a psychologist. My first appt is in a few weeks and I'm kind of nervous. However I think this is a healthy step for me. I need to do this for myself.

With all my crying I started to have problems breathing. More problems that normal. It was so hard that I started to have a panic attack. I was worried that I couldn't catch my breath. So, I'm also going to have some tests run. Hoping that I can finally get help with my breathing problems. My first appt isn't until Jan 2nd. I'm kind of nervous but also excited. How am I going to feel if I get this surgically corrected? What exactly would life be like if I could breath like a normal person? Imagine how I would love hiking even more than I do now. I could maybe fulfil my dream of hiking to the Everest base camp.

Ahhh.......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRAZY CARIE!

I'm Having Problems with this one......

That was the funny statement I made this past weekend. Jason and I have been working on installing the hot tub. It's been way too long since it's been up and running and it's almost winter. So, we spent all weekend digging a trench to bury the wire. The trench had to be 2 feet deep. Seems like a small task however we live in a place where the rain fall grows rocks. I'm not kidding either. These are huge boulders. So we basically spent all day Saturday digging a trench 5 feet long by 2 feet deep. I was helping with my trowel. Yes, I looked dorky with the smallest shovel known to man but the trench shovel was hard for me to handle. My arms were not long enough. So, here I am with my trowel. Trying to place it underneath what I thought was a small piece of slate I could break up. Ha. We ended up having to dig the whole much bigger than planned. The boulder the huge that we pulled out. This was the biggest one yet. So, hence the title of this blog.


Let's see, what have we been up to? Well last weekend was an agility trial down in Doyelstown. Doyelstown is just north of Philly. The trial site was very nice. We set up our camper just about 200ft or so from the ring I would be in all day. I had planned on blogging after the trial and uploading a piece of video from it. However, my new camera sucks and the file extension is not readable using my editing software. So basically all the footage I have shot since February is crap. Very very sad and disapointing. I plan on selling it on Ebay and spending some time looking for a different one. Anyway, Chase Q'd in jumpers giving us 2 legs. Woo Hoo. She also rec'd a 1st place. Taylor Q'd in her jumpers run giving her 2 legs in Excellent A and placing 2nd. Woo Hoo for her too. Standard runs were a different story for the both of us. Let's just say one of these days I may get my NA. I really can't complain though. Chase has come a long way. She's starting to listen very well to me. She's a great dog and I'm very proud to be her mom and handler. Also, I'm always talking about Chase, Sam and Taylor's Boyfriend Jynx. Here he is, jumping like a frog. Isn't he the cutest? Sam and Chase especially are in LOVE with him. He's a womanizer.

Let's see, now onto all of my friends......

Congrats to Jacqui and Gy. Gy was recently named the #1 PBGV in the country. He was invited to the AKC Invitationals being held in California this year. I was very excited to learn about good Ol Gy.

Congrats to Tammy on getting her NA with Simi. FINALLY! I feel your pain. Both of us have spent a year in Novice Standard. Maybe this month Chase and I will get it.

Congrats to Kim and Foster for getting all those 1st places this weekend in Franklin. I sure miss trialling with you two.

Now onto 2008 Traveling Plans and ideas........
2008 should be the year for our National Park visits. For those who don't know Jason and I have a plan to visit all the 56 scenic National Parks in the US. Now we have only been able to get 3 so far but our recent move to PA has put us a little bit behind. So, we plan on getting Shenendoah and Cuyahoga Valley this year. Shennendoah we may get this weekend. We have not decided 100% on that yet. Cuyohoga Valley we plan on getting Christmas time. Next year, however will be awesome. We are planning to visit Washington State late Sept early October and get the North Cascades, Olympic, Mt Rainier National Parks and Mt St Helens National Monument. I spent most of the evening last night starting to jot down our plans. We planned on backpacking 30+ miles of the Wonderland Trail however after discussions we decided to play tourist and visit the parks. We'll still backcountry camp but we'll just hike in and hike out the next morning. We'll day hike several trails in each park and hit come scenic spots along the way. I'm getting very excited about this trip. I have never seen a Rocky Mountain before. Not to mention a snow covered one.

Let's see if this works......

Arr, I want to suck your blood

A cool photo of a Transformer that we seen while in Dallas.

CONGRATULATIONS

Congrats to Crazy and Carie and Chris on the birth of their new peanut Sutton Christopher.

I can't wait to meet the little guy and teach him all sorts of naughty things.

Carie/Trish - Have you introduced the future love birds to one another yet?

September 11th

This is always a tough week for me. In my lifetime September 11th was the worst thing, in my mind, that has ever happened. So many people have forgotten......I never will. One thing I have done every September 11th is watch the 9/11 Documentary about a firefighter just starting his probationary period in NYC. Each September 11th I sit down at the TV and spend 2 1/2 hours watching this video. I think back to that day and I can't imagine what those firefighters, policemen, emergency responders, family, friends, visitors......I can't imagine what they felt. For those who have never seen this video I encourage you to watch it.


September 11th......We will never forget........I will never forget

Our Quest for 46

This weekend we began our Quest to become 46ers. We left town on Friday right after work. We had planned on arriving at my aunt Shirleys around 10:00 however after a tree fell on our neighbors power line and blew her transformer we decided to stick around until she was able to get ahold of PPL before we left. Her hubby was gone and we wanted to make sure nothing was going to catch fire. We ran into a bit of traffic up near Binghampton. Around 9:00 we called Shirley letting her know our plans had changed and we wouldn't be arriving until 1:00am. We arrived at the Schroon Lake Service Station around 1:00am, used the restroom, let Kenzie stretch and then went to sleep. We woke up around 6:00am. It was so beautiful. The sun was rising over the mountains, the weather was cool and the fog was starting to lift. Ahh, I LOVE THE ADIRONDACKS!

We drove to the trailhead and started our ascent around 7:15 - 7:30 am. We had to hike 2.8 miles to the first summit with a total elevation of 1920 to gain. Needless to say this was a very steep and rocky trail. I had read this was the easiest of the 46 trails however I found it quite difficult. So, I pushed along, stopping every few hundred feet for a breather. Kenzie was helping pull me up some of the boulders. (My little legs had a tough time climbing them). A little over 1/2 way up the trail I was getting kind of tired and wore out. Someone had left this little note on a rock and it really encouraged me to keep going.

When we reached the first clearing I just kind of stood there in awe. It's really hard to describe what you see when you hike. The pictures do not show you the beauty of the surroundings. Jason, of course, had to take a photo of me. Marcy was in the background and the clouds were just beginning to clear away from her peak.We had a little over 200 feet left to go before we reached our first EVER summit. When I reached the rocky top I have to say I was a bit worried about making it to the top. I have never scrambled before. Jason and Kenzie headed up first and I followed slowly behind. When we reached the top I felt something I had never felt before. I had reached my first summit. I now know how all the other hikers/backpackers/and peak baggers feel and why they do it. We looked around for the USGS survey marker and snagged a photo of it. You can check out the rest of the photos from the top.
Cascade Mountain 4098 ft.

After sitting, eating lunch, and taking in the scenery it was time to start our hike to the second summit of Porter Mountain. We had a little over 1 mile from summit to summit. Once we arrived at Porter we searched around for the second USGS summit marker. Either this one was not marked or someone took it. Porter is our second summit at 4059ft.



The rest of the trip we spent with my aunt and uncle. Robert was celebrating his birthday so Jason and I was able to celebrate with him. We're already talking about a second trip. Maybe in October to hit a few other peaks.

For tonight Jason and I need to sit down a fill out our trip report so we can mail it to the Historic Society. That will officially begin our 46er journey with 2 already complete. Then we'll sit down and watch Blades of Glory. Then I'll be packing my bags for the rest of the night getting ready to head to Dallas tomorrow.

Oh Boy do I have a lot to talk about. First off, Happy Birthday to my bestest sister in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD! She turned 24 on a day this weekend. He he he.

Next up.....Very good news on the video camera front. It has been found. I didn't know whether it was stolen or if I just lost it. Luckily I found it. I have no idea how it was placed where it was but it has been found. I was so excited I jumped for joy, gave Jason a huge hug and screamed. Yes, that's right, Screamed. Woo Hoo! You ask, where did I find it? Well the drawer to my filing cabniet wasn't shutting. I thought maybe a computer cord was caught. I was cleaning this weekend and I kept trying to shut it. Finally I looked down and seen a strap. I picked it up and there was my camera. Now I can start video taping my dog shows again and sharing it with the world. I need a You Tube account :-) I think I'll start one tonight.

This weekend was a very hot weekend. Not as hot as my friends are down in MS but it was around 96. I woke up on Saturday really wanting to go hiking. We decided to take Taylor and Chase. Tay needed to take a trial hike before we made the final decision to take her backpacking this weekend. She failed. After 2 miles of hiking she was exhausted. Both the shelties were actually, which is surprising. I did get some really cute shots of them though and of the falls. We had planned on hiking the full 8 miles but ended up stopping about 1 mile in where the rivers meet. We stopped for the longest time at the 3 waterfalls. I tiptoed across rocks to get closer to feel the mist. Since it was just us we took the Shelties off leash. They started running around like mad dogs. Chase ran a little too far and ended up in a very deep pool of water. Poor thing wasn't expecting to go for a swim. She was just kicking and kicking. She had this look of fear in her eyes. Once she calmed down I kept calling her over to me and finally she came. Check them out....The Plunge

Tay waiting on Chase to arrive back on land
I absolutely love this photo.

Labor Day Plans......
Speaking of Labor Day, Carie, wouldn't it be funny if you had little Peanut on LABOR DAY! Ha, I crack me up.

Ok, so I told you all we decided not to go to Maine. We're heading to the Adirondacks. Jason and I have decided to become 46ers. A 46er is someone who hikes all the 46 tallest peaks in the Adirondacks. Each trip you take you fill out a report summarizing the trails you hiked, how you felt, weather, etc. Then you send it in and they keep track of your summits. 20 of the 46 do not have trails so once we get our GPS we're going to start bush wacking and getting those. I'm very excited to become a 46er. Luckily the summits are not very high. Marcy being the highest at 5344 feet. We packed our bear bin (which is required) and packed our bags.....Oh wait....

All My bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standing here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye

I'm leaving to go hiking
I don't know if I'll be back again

Nope, not drunk or high, just a little crazy tonight.

Well I better stop right there. He he he

First off Happy Birthday to Jacqui. You're younger than Jason is! He he he.

Now to catch you guys up on what's been going on.....

Farewell to Maine, Hello Adirondacks
We did some research and spoke to several people in the area about our trip to Maine. We found out it was going to take a heck of a long time to get their. Longer than we had originally though. So we decided to save Maine until next year when I have more vacation time. Now we're heading to the Adirondacks. We're both really excited because it's been a really long time since I've been to my favorite place in the world. We've decided to hike the Hurricane Mountain and stay for the night. Since we've chosen the Adirondack park we had to purchase a bear bin. They require it. Actually, if you are caught without one they will make you head back. So, we picked one thats approved for both black and grizzly bears. I can't wait until next week when we head out. We've also decided to leave Kenzie at home and take Taylor for her first backpacking journey. I hope she'll enjoy it.

Sad disappearance of my video camera....
That's right, it's gone. I don't know if it was stolen or if I lost it. The last time I seen it I was at the DOCNA trial. It sucks too because I just got it back in February. I'm not sure if I'll get another one. It was a lot of money to lose. But, then again, I miss taping our agility trials. We'll see.

Port Jervis Agility Trial
On Friday we headed to Port Jervis, NY for a agility trial. We arrived about 7:30 or so. Just in time to set up camp before dark. The trial sight was beautiful. We positioned ourselves where we had campers only on one side and then the woods on the other. For more than one reason too (no bathrooms in the camper). So, I went in the woods all weekend :-) I waited until dark too so no one would see where I was going. Friday night we had a rough storm. The camper was rocking like crazy but it only lasted for about an hour or so. Then it was sleepy time. On Saturday our first walk through wasn't until around 10:00 so we slept in, well 7:30 was sleeping in. When we woke up we noticed that Tasha was acting strange. She wouldn't go outside we had to place her outside to go to the bathroom. Normally she follows the pack in and out. When she's cold too she's the first at the door to come inside. When we called the furkids in she just sat their and shivered. We tried calling her but she couldn't hear us. So, Jason had to pick her up. When he put her down she immediately laid down by the door and wouldn't move. Normally she just sleeps, eats and potties but this time she really wasn't moving. I was very scared. So we left and went to the trial. I talked to Jacqui and her mom about her symptoms and figured she wasn't going to perk up and possibly this could be it. When we went back for lunch Jason was checking her out and noticed that her eye was shut and it was oozing. When he opened it up it was white. So we knew we had to take her to the vet when we returned. Oh yeah, no Q's for us on Saturday :-( Chase did have a very good Jumpers run, we were so close. She also had a wonderful start line stay. Something I do not work on enough. On Sunday Tasha was feeling much better. She was moving around like normal and her eye wasn't oozing. We slept in until around 7:30 again. Then headed over to the trial. Jason ran first and got his first Ex A Q with a first place. It was really nice on a VERY hard course. When it came time for me to do my jumpers course I was kind of scared about the course. When I walked it I realized my fear. This judge was nasty. I walked the course and knew for sure we wouldn't Q. I hate to go into a course thinking that and honestly, this was the first one that really made me totally feel this way. So, time to run.....I told Chase to stay. I needed to lead out and head at least 2 jumps ahead. She broke the stay so I took off. At first we did ok but then I was lost. I've also never been lost in a course either. I told Jacqui I have added this judge to my list that I will not go to trials when they are their. After all of us finished it was time to load up. Before we loaded the Jeep we celebrated Jacqui's birthday with some cake. Umm was it good. (Jacqui, I think you should have asked who looked older) he he he. Did I mention it was cold all weekend? Weird.

Let's see, what else......

Oh yeah, we bought Dark Side of the Moon and Wizard of Oz and played them together. That was tons of fun :-)

It's been raining all day today. If it's nice on the weekend it will be a great time to hike Ricketts.

OH yeah, I was talked/forced into joining a weight loss challenge. My team could win 1,000.00 though so I guess it's worth a try. I'm sure we'll lose though. I like food way too much. My weight today was 155. I'm telling everyone this so you guys can keep on me and help me lose the weight. Ahh, twinkies never looked so good...

Congrats Jacqui on Gy double Q. Just a few more to go. :-)


Too all my Memphis Agility buds.....Anyone up for a trial in Dayton, OH end of November? It's the weekend after Thanksgiving. I'd love for the clan to get together again. Jacqui will be judging so we're heading down. We'll be able to visit with the family and stuff. If not, maybe next year we can all meet up somewhere 1/2 way.

Birthday's, Q's and a great time!

Please come back tomorrow. I have no energy to post tonight. :-) I have tons to talk about though.

I couldn't share this earlier but for my momma's birthday I made her a collage. I thought it turned out really cute. I wanted to post the collage earlier but I knew she reads my blog. Mom you sure did have a couple of hotties :-)
So work has been a little crazy. Thank goodness I can goof off during the insanity. My good friend Cheryl brought me a present the other day. It's called Flarp. I honestly about cried when she gave it to me. I've been wanting a jar forever. It's kind of like puddy or jello feeling. When you stick your finger in the jar it makes a farting noise. A good one might I add. So today I wanted to let a "flarp" go. It sure made a good one too. My boss Lesley told me I could only "flarp" once a day. If I did it any more than that my flarp would end up in Toy Jail. I started crying from laughing so hard. Toy Jail????? So all of us collect experiments and all sorts of noise makers and things you can throw. Sometimes when we use them too much or it gets out of hand Lesley takes our toys away and puts them in jail for a few days. I swear, we're a bunch of little children. We also sell this thing called a keg at work. They make great wiffle balls. We hit them at people, throw them at people, you name it, we do it. Ahh, I love my job! I don't think I've ever said that before.

CONGRATULATIONS to Jacob and Trish and their new baby girl Dakota. Trish and Dakota are doing great and looking beautiful. See photos on Trish's blog:

http://www.thesolemates.blogspot.com/

I can't wait for her to meet Aunt Tonya when you come in October :-)

First off my good ol "Preggo" friend (as some people call them) is in labor right now. Trish and Jacob are due to have little Critter any time now. I'm excited for them and can't wait to meet Critter when they come and visit us in October. More news on the labor front tomorrow. :-)

Jason and I have had a wonderful weekend. On Saturday we cleaned the house and kind of goofed off all day. Then we watched a 2 movies, 300 and The Contract (which was stupid). I really liked 300. I kept telling Jason how much I enjoyed the lead guy saying "Spartans" His voice was the coolest. The Contract had 2 of our favorite actors in it. Morgan Freeman and John Cusak. While the scenery was incredible, not to mention they were backpacking, the story was horrible. Jason fell asleep and I watching the whole thing wondering, what's next? Then when it ended I found myself saying "I can't believe that's it".

Sunday we decided to skip church. We slept in until 9:00 which never happens. Then we headed out for bagels and then to Hickory Run. I really hadn't planned on hiking much however we ended up hiking 7 miles in like 2 hours. Needless to say I didn't carry my pack, nor my bladder so I was dehydrated. Jason had 2 nalgene bottles that we shared. We also had to share with Kenzie. Our destination was Boulder Field. It was the coolest thing ever. You're hiking in the woods and then all of a sudden it gets really rocky and then.........100 acres + of nothing but boulders. WEIRD! How did they get their? They looked placed. Anyway, we walked a while on them. You really had to watch your footing because some shifted. The noise that they made when it shifted was indescribable. It was the coolest noise ever though. You could tell their were several layers of boulders underneath the ones you were walking on. Kenzie's feet started to hurt so we headed back. We then headed to the Leigh Gorge to check out the river. They had released the dam so the water levels were floatable. We spoke to a couple of whitewater rafters just asking about the type of paddling. Now Jason and I are searching for a new boat. We're thinking inflatable kayaks so we can take them anywhere with us. Tune in later on in the year or early next year to see what we end up with.

Anyway, check out some of the photos from our hike.

Yes, there are boulders over their too! He he, actually he was pointing out the only tree in the field (see below)

Reminds me of the Tree in the courtyard in Lord of the Rings

Here's a collage I just completed of Kenzie. It will hang downstairs in the dog area. Isn't it cute?

THE WORLD OF FUNNY FACES.....
By Tonya McKenna (he he he, professional, eh?)

I absolutely love making funny faces. Here are a few to make you laugh.


Oh Please make my mom go away! Ha, just kidding

This is a favorite of mine

Sweet and Innocent

Congrats to us on a fun filled AGILITY WEEKEND!

First off, let me start by saying, screaming might I add "SAM GOT HER JUMPERS TITLE" . I never thought this day would come but for some reason my precious Sam just loves DOCNA. Maybe it's because she spends a lot of time with her Boy Toy Jynx. He was a little bit away but I think she knew he was up their was was on fire. :-) I was so excited for Sam. She also received her first Q in Intern. Poor Sam is exhausted now and laying downstairs. Actually, she won't get up she's so tired.

To sum up the weekend I took off work early on Friday. Of course I really didn't work hard because I had other things on my mind. After I left I headed straight over to the fairgrounds to help set up the show. First I set up the camper because I wanted to get it up before it started raining. Set up was fun. Darrel had some funny music playing and we were all dancing. Then after numerous calls to Jason (I forgot stuff) I finally felt like nothing else needed to be brought. People were starting to arrive and I was starting to get more and more excited. We only did 3 runs, if I remember correctly. A standard run, Jumpers and I think Traditional Gamblers. All the kids did really well. That night we went to sleep, or tried. Poor Taylor was irritated and was barking every few seconds. Jason finally decided at 2:00 am that he had enough and was going to head home. I told him to stay and he did. I was very excited because we had a good Saturday. Besides being exhausted all day Saturday was a good day with a few more Q's. After the show I headed over to the Breed/Rally/Obedience show. Oh my gosh, I didn't stay long at all I was so bored. I felt myself knodding off and shaking my head so I went back to the camper. Once I got back I really felt like roller blading. So, Kenzie and I went out. Everyone was shocked that I was rollerblading because they were all tired. TONYA NEVER GET'S TIRED! So we rollerbladed a few rounds and then headed back. Poor Kenzie just couldn't take it any more. After I dropped her off I went out for another lap and decided to call it a night.

Sunday was a fun day. Still tired but we all were so of course we are all a little nutty at this point. We had 4 classes and around 100 entries, I think, so I knew the show would be over quick. We ran one of my favorite things, Trigility. Jacqui's dad John ran Taylor (and did a fabulous job), Jason ran Sam and I ran Chase. We didn't Q but we had a great time. One of these days the McKenna team will get our Trigility titles. Jumpers was at the end of the day. I moved Sam up to intern and she rec'd her first Q. Woo Hoo. I was sad to see the show end but I was glad to be home so I could rest.

Sorry I didn't post this earlier. I was exhausted and didn't feel like blogging. :-)

Family Vacation

So where in the world do I begin.......What photos do I post? Which are my favorites? Well, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to sum up our whole vacation and then post all the photos on a photo viewing website so I do not have to pick and choose which ones to display.

Day 1 - Friday
My family arrived just as I was leaving work. They met me in the parking lot, which was cool. We drove to Quaker Steak and had dinner.

Day 2 - Saturday
Today Jason and I took Stacy to NYC. We drove her their so she could visit some of the museums since we would not have time on Wednesday and Thursday. When we arrived she loved the city so much she did not want to go to a museum. So, we ended up walking to Times Square, checking out some stores and we also went on top of the Empire State Building since the day was so clear. On the way over to NJ on the ferry we got to see something so wild. A passenger helicopter crashing into the Delaware River. It happened so fast that Jason wasn't able to pull his camera out in time to photograph the crash, however we did see it and took photos after the fact and during the rescue. Everyone escaped saftley but they was a little shaken up. Jason tried to get his photos in the NY Times, however they didn't use it. Blasted NY Times people.

Day 3 - Sunday
On Sunday we went to Gettysburg for the Reenactment. It was going to be 105 that day. We stayed for a little bit of the reenactment however I was started to get sick because of the heat so we decided to leave early. I was very sad because we missed the best part, Picketts Charge. Oh well, maybe next year. Since the heat was horrible we decided to tour the Hershey Factory. Now that was really neat. We also see the worlds largest chocolate, the Hershey Kiss. It had to be like 10 - 11 feet tall. Guiness was their on Saturday measuring it for their records.

Day 4 - Monday
We drove to Philly today. Again it was suppose to reach 105. The heat was almost unbearable. When we decided to visit Philly I wasn't expecting to like it. I was expecting a very dirty and unsafe city however I really liked it. It was very beautiful. We visited the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Reading Station (which was awesome), Betsy Ross's House, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We left the city around 4:30 and headed for Millville. We checked into our hotel and drove to Cape May to watch the sunset. Then we ate at the most horrible restaurant ever. Imagine me and my family eating in a ritzy restaurant. First off, I had my swim suit on and just raggy clothes. We all had planned on swimming. We walked in and immediately felt uncomfortable but decided to go ahead and eat. The ladies behind us talked to one of the wait staff about how rich they were. So, I was very aggravated and said out loud so everyone could hear "Why don't we go to the beach house later my fine fellows". I think they got ticked off because they didn't leave much later than that. The waitress was horrible and didn't like us. Oh well.

Day 5 - Tuesday
On Tuesday we went back to Cape May and decided not to stay long. To many rich people and who knows what I would have said to them. We drove to Wildwood and checked out the lighthouse. Then drove to Atlantic City, what a horrible dirty nasty place. Ghetto.....Then we drove to another light house, forget the name. Then we headed to Lyndhurst to stay the night.

Day 6 & 7 - Wed - Thurs
We spent both days in NYC. It was so much fun. By now I was sunburnt and was in a lot of pain. Let's see, we checked into our hotel, then purchased tickets for the sightseeing tours. Our first stop was the Empire State Building. My family we up and we walked to B & H photo. The coolest camera shop in the world (no kidding). Second stop was the WTC site, Third stop was the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Our first stop was suppose to be the Brooklyn Bridge however it started to pour so we headed back to the hotel. I have never been so wet in my life. We had to ride on top of the double decker bus. We held our heads down because it felt like knives on our faces. That night we ate at Ellens Stardust Cafe, my favorite.
On Thursday we boarded the bus again and headed to the Brooklyn Bridge. On the way we got to see the Naked Cowboy. I was very sad that none of us was able to get a photo of him. It was so cool. Then after the Brooklyn Bridge we headed for Central Park and then home.

Oh, I forgot to mention, we headed into NYC and planned on taking the Ferry over. Mom and Jack missed the exit and was able to drive through the Lincoln Tunnel and into NYC. I was scared, mom was hysterical but she made it out ok.

Friday - Everyone headed home and we picked up our furkids. I sure did miss them.

This weekend, we had planned on going to see the 4X4 festival however I'm exhausted and thinking about sleeping all weekend.

Check out my photos of our trip:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mckennasndogs/FamilyVacation?authkey=jL9yhfp4kFk

To wrap up the weekend Jason had to work on Saturday. I had signed up for a agility show close to town so I took all the furkids down for the day. It was a beautiful day. Low 80's with a nice breeze. Chase and Tay had some really good runs however Sam was whistled off the course both times. Which, has made me think about pulling her from agility for good. It's such a tough decision. Sam's my favorite, everyone knows that, however I'm losing a lot of money when she can sniff in the yard. Sorry, had to get that off my chest.

I have a praise, Jack was able to get out of Jury duty so I will be able to see them again in like 10 days. I found out while I was at work today and almost cried I was so excited. Thanks to everyone who has been praying.

Our basement is almost finished. Jason did a wonderful job at drywalling, even though he'll say he didn't. We painted the projector screen wall black, which looks really cool. Once the basement is cleaned I'll post photos up for all to see.

Hum........what next.........Well, I guess that's it. Life has been mainly cleaning the house and getting it ready for when my family comes. I hope all is well with everyone and I'll post photos soon.