Much has happened lately, both good and not so much so. It's the not-so-much- so part that has kept me from posting. As mentioned in my previous post, I was one of the presenters at the CHN Family EXPO this year. First let me just plug this event a bit.
If you live in California, especially if you live in SoCal, I can not recommend the Family EXPO enough. This was our second year attending and it was just so much fun. We look at the weekend as a family vacation with benefits. The benefits include the following:
- A hotel full of like minded homeschooling friends, around 1000 of them!
- A "family village" full of fun things for the kids to do... All Day Long: keva planks, arts and crafts, puppet shows, dress up, various classes like paper airplanes, stomp rockets, volcanos.
- game tables set up in other hotel areas
- a little kid area with blocks, games, story times, and lots of chairs for the grown ups to sit and chat with others!
- all day chess room
- amazing and inspiring sessions, just what you need to recharge for the fall
- a packed vendor hall with all sorts of goodies to drool over
- pool fun with lots of friends
- poolside dinners
- hotel staff that loves that we are there
- Fun Fun Fun!
I also want to say that if you are not a member of one of the 3 statewide homeschool groups, join one (or all) today. The yearly cost are minimal and they are a fantastic resource. With all that has happened with the court case in this last year it is important for homeschoolers to show the state that we are strong, we are united and that we are a force to be reckoned with. The best way to show our numbers is to join a group. I am a member of both CHN and HSC, I plan on looking into CHEA as well. Look into it. Now.
One of the things I have not mentioned (aside from on Twitter, and as far as I know only a few of you follow me there) is that about 4 weeks ago my baby dog Bungee was dx'd with lymphoma. He turned 15 in March and up until then had been doing pretty well for such an old guy. A little stiff, a little slow, but happy and loving. When we got the dx we decided that we would do chemo for him and see how he would respond. He responded GREAT! His throat, which had been so swollen it was hard to eat, shrank after on treatment. He had a total of 3 treatments and was scheduled for his 4th when we got back from the EXPO. Our very good friend C stayed at our house and watched the dogs while we were gone. I left him a long novel about his care, what meds to give and when. Our vet office knew we were going and had Chris listed in their computers.
Saturday evening C called to say Bungee was refusing his meds and wouldn't eat. He's done this here and there, so I wasn't too worried. Well, this time it was different. Sometime around 11pm Bungee started throwing up foam. After a while C realized that this was not good, Bungee was in pain. He took him to our local 24 hour vet ER.
X-rays showed that Bungee's gut was twisted. C called us round 1 a.m. to tell us. It was a horrible thing to be over 2 hours away. We knew at that point that the best thing for Bungee was for us to let him go. At that point he was on morphine and completely out of it. It broke my heart that I was not with him the last 3 days of his life. I know that I was with him through out his life, but still. I missed his birth by hours, I missed his death by a day.
There is some good in how and when it happened. The kids didn't have to be there to see him. But they also didn't get to say goodbye. I didn't either. That hurts. We were in such a rush to get out the door that I don't know if I got in a good "see ya later". I just keep reminding myself of the good though. I still cry, I still miss him terribly, but I know it is ok and I know he feels so much better. His ashes arrived Friday. That sent me over the top too, but I am glad he is home. We are thinking of taking him to a nearby beach that he used to love and letting him go there.
It is funny how things work. We have some very good friends who moved up to Salinas 3 years ago. We went up to visit them in their first year, but haven't been since. My friend A is a dog person, she always seems to have wayward dogs. She had known Bungee most, if not all of his life. She was one of the first friends I called once we were home and settling in to our life with out Bungee. A week or so ago my PDA chimed me a little reminder that it would be her husband's birthday soon. I mentioned it to Ben and he said, "What are they doing? We should go up!" I called up A and asked what their weekend plans were. As it so happened, she was planning a surprise party for her dh. We worked out the details and made our plans. It was at this point she told me about her recent acquisition. A 4 moth old black lab currently named Ben-10. Guess what kind of dog we have talked about getting in the future? A black lab or black lab mix, puppy in age. I don't know that now was when were were thinking we would want one but there it was. A told us how cool and different this little guy was. She is not a lab person (too much shedding) but they were planning to keep him- if we didn't want him. He was just that cool. Well we went up for the weekend and had a chance to meet him. He was pretty darn cute. And mellow. He reminded me of Bungee as a pup. Bungee was the most mellow dog ever. He was a lab/shepherd mix. But not very lab like in the energy department.
After spending all day with Ben-10 and watching him interact with the kids and our other two dogs, we decided to bring him home. We have to change his name- not that it isn't cool, but since dh is Ben, we thought it'd be less confusing. I picked the name Buka (long u, pronounced Boo-Ka) I got the word from Olivia. That is what she called the computer for the longest time. I just loved the way she said it and was sad when she finally got the word "computer" down. It is also the name of one of our favorite restaurants in Universal City- Buca de Beppo. In that case Buca means "basement or hole" in Italian. For those of you that know what Ben does for a living, "hole" is sort of appropriate!
We got home late last night- well later than we intended anyhow. All dogs survived the drive and there was minimal complaining from the kids. Buka traveled well and seems to be settling in. We need to get him a tag, get him registered with the city and maybe get him a bed. He likes to chew, so the kids are learning real fast not to leave toys on the ground.
Our weekend with our friend was great she has a horse (not on her property) and we got to go out and ride her both Saturday and Sunday. That was a real treat! Ben also finally got to use his golf clubs that I bought him for Christmas...8 Years Ago! He had fun, and is looking forward to taking lessons with the kids at some point. I had fun visiting with my friend- I miss her and hate that they are so far away. The kids loved playing with her boys- they get along really well so it is lots of fun to be around them.
I have a picture of Bungee and me from when he was about 6 weeks old. I need to take it upstairs and scan it in to the computer to share with you! For now here is one of the two of us taken July 9. You can see how puffy his neck is, this was a week or two before we got the dx.