No Buster!

Actually, Buster has been a pretty good puppy. We've had a few accidents here and there but I think between crating him at night and taking him out literally every hour or two...he's getting the hang of it! Of course, he hated being out in the rain. And he's quite the little biter. Depending on his mood, it can be little nibbles if he's just being quietly playful, but if he's all revved up--especially with the kids--his little razor teeth can pack a good little whallop. So far, no crying children so that's a big plus.

Here are some differences between Kirby and Buster.

Kirby never really minded loud banging noises or thunder...I think Buster is going to be afraid of them.

Kirby was never a fan of climbing under furniture...he never had that cozy, enclosure feeling that dogs are supposed to have! Buster will go under our bed on one side and come out on the other. Maybe he's making new friends with the dust bunnies.

So far, Buster has no romantic interest in pillows...I have my fingers crossed he'll stay that way. I think Kirby was a freak of nature.

Buster likes to play "fetch" a little bit, but I think Kirby might have been the best canine shortstop or goalie that ever lived.

Meanwhile, on the two-legged front, Quinn is doing great and is gearing up for his 3-sport spring. Once the temperature gets out of the 30s, we'll be ready to go!

Sunday, March 13th

Well, I wasn't able to hold Matt and Quinn off any longer. Yesterday, Matt looked at the newspaper and decided we should all take a road trip and look at a toy poodle in Colchester. It was love at first sight. He looks exactly like Kirby except that his coloring is a little more brown. He's a very pretty sandy color. He might be a little bit more a city dog whereas Kirby was definitely a country dog. We decided to stick with the name "Buster" that we had come up a few days earlier. Buster seemed overwhelmed by the open spaces in our house. I think he was pretty confined at the breeder's cluttered home.

I predict that Buster will have a very different personality than Kirby. He seems kind of mellow. His favorite activity it to crawl around behind your neck and lick your face to death. I just hope he eventually will be a ball chaser like Kirby. This puppy also seems like he might be a little bit more of a chewer than Kirby (one of the few bad habits Kirby didn't pick up). We'll have to see how he turns out! This week we'll get him to the vet and make sure he's on the right track with the "potty" training. So far he is doing very well! Last night he cried when we went to bed and left him in his crate, but he stopped after a while and seemed fine today. I think he'll get used to the routine quickly. Quinn is adorable with him. He held him in the car and was very gentle with him. Definitely a good age for a boy to get a dog...even if he does get tired of playing with him quickly, I'm sure he'll be a good addition to the family.

One last note: Grammy is away getting ready to surprise Aunt Cake for her 80th birthday. Wait until she sees who is waiting for here at home! Hope she doesn't mind our new addition.

Today is Wednesday March 2nd. On Saturday, Walker got married to Abbey in Cape May, NJ. We had a great time. The reception was at Congress Hall, which is where we stayed. I think we had the most slanted room in the hotel. Quinn and I were taking balls and rolling them down the floor without pushing them. But the hotel had a lot of interesting history and charm and the banquet hall for the reception was beautiful. The "Tiffany blue" color was really gorgeous. The cocktail hour was in the "Boiler Room" and it was definitely the basement! Quinn and Grammy both didn't care for that room too much. I thought it was cozy....it was probably even better suited for the after-party because there was a band playing and the acoustics were really good.

The weather for the day was really nice...about 45 degrees and very little wind. I still don't know how all of those women manage without coats. I went into the church with no coat and I was freezing outside! Quinn did a fantastic job as ring bearer....I was so proud of him I could hardly stand it. He ended up standing up for the entire ceremony next to Uncle Rob. I think Walker and Abbey appreciated the levity he brought...especially when he covered his ears when the minister began to speak about love! Barb and Grammy both laughed out loud.

At the reception, Quinn had to turn down many offers to dance. Some of the women really refused to take no for an answer and one of them actually picked him up, carried him to the dance floor and started swinging him around. He was a trooper about it...I think he might have secretly enjoyed the attention, otherwise we might have seen his "angry face." Two other highlights of the reception were Uncle Rob's best man speech...it was really emotional; and the entrance of the bridal party...each couple did a unique entry, such as a chest bump, etc. it was really clever. And of course, Walker and Abbey entered to the tune of "Brass Bonanza."

I thought Cape May was really pretty...too bad it's so hard to get to. And it probably gets warmer ocean water much quicker than Cape Cod. The first (or last) hour of the drive to get to Cape May is very open with a lot of water and marsh land. It was really pretty.

One other note to remember, Cape May had really good prices on lobster! We had a lobster lunch at the Ugly Mug that was really good. I think if I really wanted to, I could convince Matt to go back to Atlantic City and Cape May for a few days...we would just have to be strategic with going off-season to avoid traffic and high costs.