Doing a little catching up

I figured I owe it to the blog to do some catching up and at least post some pictures of things we have done in the past few months.

Sidney took up volleyball this year and has really enjoyed it. It's awesome to see how much she has improved over the course of the season. The season will be wrapping up in the next couple weeks, just in time for us to move. Here are some pictures from earlier this season. Some of the pictures are a bit blurry, so I'll be sure to get a few more in the last couple games.

Angie and I have had a few outings with our good friends. We're truly going to miss them.

And this past weekend Alex came up from the Air Force Academy and joined us for a chilly night at Coors Field for a Rockies game.

From Rockies v. Pirates

Wow it's May already?

OK OK OK

Absolutely no excuses. OK I have excuses, but you may not buy them. Things are a bit crazy at the zoo. In fact I'm not so sure we can call it a zoo anymore. We're down to Howie and Kitty as our only pets.

In other news, the zoo is on the move. After being recruited for the past few years, we've finally agreed to take up our roots and move to Beverly...Hillbillies. Actually we're moving to San Jose, but everytime I think about it, I hear the Beverly Hillbillies theme.

We made our final decision at the beginning of the year and have been overwhelmed by move stuff since. We actually don't have much to do since Google gave us an amazing relocation package, but we still have lots to arrange. A few weeks back Angie and I spent the week in the Bay Area finding our new home. We found a great neighborhood in Willow Glen (San Jose) that is going to be perfect. It met all our requirements and even has a dog door to the backyard for Howie. He is going to love it!

Since our house hunting trip, we've been very active in move preparations. We're shipping both our cars, but are going to rent a minivan and drive out over a few days. I'll commit to blogging about our adventure.

In other amazing news, Alex will be graduating from the Air Force Academy Prep school in a couple weeks. She will be moving up the hill as a Freshman cadet this Fall! We're very excited. She gets a few weeks off after graduating for vacation before reporting back for basic training. Busy girl! We are so proud!

I'm not going to end this post with promises of regular updates, but I will definitely try. I already committed to blogging our move road trip adventure, hopefully from the road, so look for more news on the moving zoo in early June!

Happy January

Now that the holidays have passed it's time to catch back up with the blog. It feels like we've had so much going on over the past few months. Of course we had the holidays, which we kept pretty low key this year and just spent it at home together.

Angie has been very busy with work. As many of you know, she recently went to school to become an esthetician and she has been working for the past several months at a spa not far from home. She loves it! Earlier in January, she was able to take some time off to go back to Iron Mountain to attend Grandpa Marv's birthday celebration. I've included some pictures of the event courtesy of Roxann (Lady Jane).

While Angie was out of town, I got to play Mr. Mom to Sidney running her to school, her friend's, and everywhere else she needs to go. She is one busy girl! I think we both enjoyed being able to spend the time together.

Way too Long

So it's been waaaaay too long since my last update.  I can't even begin to recount all the events that have gone on during the past 6 months....really? It's been that long? Sigh.  Anyway, the good news is I am renewing my commitment to keep this blog up to date.  Maybe I need to work on a means to fine myself when I go too long without posting.  Maybe a token amount to our family fun fund?

 I blame Facebook...really I do.  But now I've even been neglecting posting there.  So back to the blog I come.

I won't go into details of all the goings on over the past 6 months, but suffice it to say we had a fabulous summer, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and everything else.  The zoo is very much looking forward to the holidays and while we aren't trekking away from home, each of you will be in our thoughts.

I promise to at least have a Christmas posting, if I don't provide one before that.

Emotional Day

Today we said goodbye to our great friend and family member, Titan. We have spoiled him the past few days. Last night he had steak for dinner and Frosty Paws ice cream for dessert. We spent this morning at the dog park and then bid our farewells. He went very peacefully, looking as if he was simply laying on the floor like he does at home.

After a day of grieving, laughing, and crying, we were treated to Titan smiling down over our home in the form of a beautiful rainbow. On a day that called for no rain, we had a few showers followed with an amazing double rainbow directly over our house. We know in our hearts it was a special request from our best boy ever. All our love. We miss you Titan.

Sweet Titan...

Many of you received an email from Angie earlier letting you know of our painful decision to let Titan move on to the next stage. I'm sure I can not express our true feelings any better than Angie already has, so I will just copy her email here:

Hello All,

As most of you know, our sweet Titan has developed a neurological issue since November of last year. We have decided to let God take over and leave it to his hands. Titan has lived a full, blissful, happy 11 years and it is time where we believe his life isn't quality enough to continue the battle. This decision has been hard not only because we are losing a best friend, but he is mentally fine. As a family, we will lead Titan into another world Saturday morning. He will be deeply missed but we are excited for his journey.

Titan sends his lasting love.

Since Angie's email, we've received a number of replies providing support. Thank everyone of you for you thoughts and prayers. While this has been a difficult decision, we know it is for the best. Titan is being spoiled for the next few days before he goes to his favorite dog park to play with all his new friends. One day we will all be together again.

The Travelling Man

Pictures from NYC

This quarter has been a busy travel one for me. I've been out of town 4 of the past 5 weeks, visiting Mountain View, CA, New York, and Dublin. Travel is one part of my job I really enjoy, but when it all comes at once, it can be overwhelming. Add that to starting the process of selling the house, Angie finishing up school, taking tests, and Alex graduating has proven to be very busy times for us.

Pictures from Dublin