Celebrating Dog-sitting and our 35th Anniversary in Kansas City

After the 90th birthday party, it was time for us to head home towards our motor home again. Our first leg of this journey was the 6.5 hour drive to Kansas City. We took turns riding with our son Luke, as the three of us were traveling in two cars. Luke lives an exhausting schedule during his residency at Children's Mercy Hospital. He is up at 4:30 each morning, and doesn't get home until around 7:00 p.m. most nights. There is only a couple waking hours at home before he has to go to bed and continue the cycle. So it was good to spend some extra time with him in the car on the way back to Kansas City.

But one of our main missions for this stop was to take care of their puppy, Avett. He is a Golden Doodle--a cross between a golden retriever and a standard poodle. He has the happy disposition of a Golden Retriever and he doesn't shed.

We picked the puppy up at the surgery center as we drove into town. He had major surgery last week to remove a blockage in his intestines. That is one mean 10-inch incision!

He has to wear a cone around his neck to be sure he doesn't try to lick the incision, and it's a sad sight to see.

He has to be watched all the time if the cone isn't around his neck. Because of all his stitches we are supposed to keep him from jumping and playing. We found that it is almost impossible to restrict the activity of an 8-month-old Golden Doodle that is happy to be home. He is the official door greeter, and you can see Denisa just outside the front door.

When he whined that first night in his kennel, Mark took him outside for a potty break. We were pretty sure that this is completely against puppy training policy, but Mark spent the night in the chair with Avett the rest of that first night he was home.

Denisa stayed up from around 12:45 to 2:30 a.m. with Mark and Avett. Then Mark sent her back to bed as we told each other "Happy 35th Anniversary!" What a romantic way to start an anniversary! We have problems thinking of more-than-usually-fun-things to do on special days like birthdays and anniversaries. Since we lead a pretty exciting life every day, we don't mind just eating a deli lunch from the local grocery store for an anniversary meal.

Jordan got home from her maid-of-honor trip, and Avett was certainly glad to see her. I think that having her home will help his recovery more than anything.

Mark spent the second night downstairs close to the kennel as well--just in case Avett would need him in the middle of the night. The two of them also napped together in the afternoon. I think they are forever buddies now! In this pose, Avett is showing off the space on his front legs that was shaved for the I.V. that was inserted for his hospital stay. He had a rough week, so Mark thinks he deserves some extra TLC this week.

So we had an interesting 35th Anniversary in Kansas City. We didn't have plans for the day, but we do intend to celebrate with a "vacation from our vacation" some time later this year. For now, it was more important to enjoy spending time with two of our favorite people and a very special puppy.