St. Lucia

A fabulous vacation! Beautiful water, warm, great food, lots of fun, very relaxing... I savored the sand on my feet up until the very last moment before we had to head off to the airport.

A tasty beverage on the beach at the Sandals Grande.

Fresh steamed rock lobster at the "Jump Up" street party.

Our perfect stretch of beach at the Sandals Regency... soft sand & crystal clear 80 degree water.

On a catamaran tour to the Piton volcanic mountain.

Visiting the waterfall at the Botanical Gardens.

Riding the zip lines through the rain forest.

A beautiful sunset before dinner.

It seems impossible to have such an incredible week and then have to come home to rainy cold weather. I'll be counting down the months until next summer and my next opportunity to lay on a beach with a cold beverage and a good book.

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Hellish Rock 07/08 Helloween - September 23, 2008 - Ram's Head Live!

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GAMMA RAY

Intro: Welcome

01. Into The Storm

02. Heaven Can Wait

03. New World Order

04. Fight

05. Empress

06. Valley Of The Kings

07. Rebellion In Dreamland

08. Heavy Metal Universe

09. Ride The Sky

10. Somewhere Out In Space

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11. Send Me A Sign

HELLOWEEN

Intro: Walls Of Jericho / Crack The Riddle

01. Halloween

02. Sole Survivor

03. March Of Time

04. As Long As I Fall

05. A Tale That Wasn't Right

06. Drum Solo

07. Mr. Torture

08. Eagle Fly Free

09. If I Could Fly

10. Paint A New World

11. Dr. Stein

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12. Medley:

- I Can

- Where The Rain Grows

- Perfect Gentleman

- Power

- Keeper Of The Seven Keys

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13. Future World ( w/ Gamma Ray )

14. I Want Out ( w/ Gamma Ray )

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Lenny's Surgery

The surgery was successful... but scary...


Lenny had to go to the vet for surgery today. Many of you know that some of his nicknames are "Mr. SnaggleTooth" and "Mr. StinkyBreath". Well, at his last vet visit a few weeks ago, the decision was finally made that he definitely needed some dental work. To what extent, we weren't sure b/c Lenny hates having his mouth touched and the only way to survey the damage would be to put him under general anesthesia. In addition, Lenny developed a lump of fatty tissue on his underbelly about 2 months ago and we elected to have it removed (even though the vet thought it was fine) since he would already be asleep and we didn't want to put him through a second surgery a year from now.


So after tons of snuggling and dozens of hugs and kisses and having Mommy sing him his favorite song ("Beautiful Boy" by John Lennon), he marched to the vet's office in true "General" fashion. He was out for several hours, had 14 teeth pulled, the rest were sandblasted, the lump was removed, a mole at his ear and the mole on his upper lip were removed. He is currently recovering and most likely enjoying the painkillers. I'm sure he'll be back on his feet soon enough - scanning the perimeter of the yard, barking at anyone that passes by the front window of the house, and humping the life out of his stuffed doggie.

He will remain Mr. Snaggletooth (with the few teeth he has left) but hopefully no more Mr. StinkyBreath.

So my words of wisdom for all you dog owners out there... start brushing those teeth early! Get them used to you sticking your hands in their mouth and touching their teeth! If it's part of their routine, it is sooo much easier... the same with cleaning those ears and clipping the nails.

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Pugs - Zoey and Lenny

I can't get enough of these guys! They don't care about anything except giving love, getting food and sleeping... What a life!

I dare you to try to get me out of this bed!

Peek-a-boo!

Mommy & Daddy already got out of bed but it's still sleepy time! So glad we have each other to lean on!




Taking a nap with Daddy... Zoey has her little pink pig and Lenny has his doggy. How cute!!

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Last Big Party of Summer 2008

This past weekend was Labor Day Weekend and we hosted our 3rd Annual Labor Day Party. There were close to 30 adults and 6 kids. Lots to eat and drink and plenty of activities. A good time was had by all and a few lessons learned as well...

1. Need to establish "House Rules" for beer pong. Lots of confusion here... still not sure what the issue is but apparently some are more competitive than others... Isn't the object of the game to just have a backdrop for drinking?

2. Need to enforce age limit on Slip 'N Slide. Although this can be entertaining for people of all ages (when used properly), the object of the slip 'n slide was for the little ones who are too small to be in the pool with the big kids but still have fun getting wet... when not enforced it is (1) too dangerous for bigger kids and (2) I'll be nursing my grass back to health till next spring. ugh!

3. Obtain extra gladware to distribute leftovers... If I see another baked bean or macaroni, I might just go into convulsions. And we all know that I didn't need half a 7-up cake to finish off myself... a score for the tastebuds but negative score for the thighs. (No, I didn't actually finish it all off... just a piece... okay, two pieces.)

4. CAMERA?! Didn't realize until much too late that I never got the camera out... thus no pictures in the post or to add to snapfish, facebook, myspace, etc. (although... this means one less thing to do!)

Well, that's a summary of some of the lessons that we'll have to incorporate into next summer's parties. For this year, the pool will only be open a few more weeks... and the Tiki Bar will close shortly after... and then the holidays will be here. How depressing! Click Here to Read More..