Merlin's Great Adventure...

OK...I've been meaning to post this for a few days now....but it was a busy holiday weekend followed by a busy week back at work!!

So this past weekend was quite an eventful one for our little family!  We celebrated the 4th of July weekend by visiting Jason's family and so there was lots of fun for everyone....including Merlin who got to go on his first big boy road trip.....AND visit with quite a few puppies---most of whom are part of Merlin's extended family!!

We were leaving on Saturday evening to head to Jason's parents' house in Central NY (about an hour and a half south of Syracuse...so about a 2.5 hour drive from home).   This was going to be the first time that everyone except Jason's step-sister, Bridget, had met Merlin-----AND his parents live in a rural area with lots of trees and tall grass----so we decided we wanted to make him look spiffy by giving him a bath and then also giving him his first flea/tick treatment before we headed up there......

Merlin update

Merlin in one of his new little doggy Tshirts.

OK....so for those of you who have been anxiously awaiting updates and more pictures of Merlin.....here's your fix for this week! *smile*


Merlin has had a pretty eventful couple of weeks since he moved in......

Something to be excited about OTHER than our puppy....

I know that many of you who read our blog have been waiting for more updates on our new puppy, Merlin....and I promise they will come soon (we have more pictures and he had his first grooming appt. and vet appt. this past week, too...so there are new haircut pics, etc.----but we have to load them off the camera and stuff).

However, right now Jason and I have something even more exciting to celebrate than our new puppy (although I know that's probably hard to believe *wink*)-----and that is that tonight in the late hours before the NY State Senate closed its session....we won same-sex marriage in NY State by a 33-29 vote (we only needed 32 votes to win)!!

I certainly don't presume to believe that everyone who reads this blog because they love our Disney trips or our stories about our new puppy necessarily supports the cause of same-sex marriage....but I do hope that no matter who you are, if you have gotten to know me and Jason (either personally or through our blogs) that you know what an important issue this is for us.  I was literally in tears as watched the senate session vote live on TV and it became clear the vote would go in our direction.  Words really can't express how profoundly this moves us.

So.....anyways....for those of you waiting for more Merlin-related posts, yes they are coming....soon I promise.  BUT....there will also be other adventures to blog about in the near future, as well----like our September trip to Disney and Cruise on the Disney Dream.....AND A BIG GAY WEDDING SOON, TOO!!!!

Merlin's first few days at home!

Me & Merlin on the drive home from picking him up

WARNING:  I am becoming one of "those people"-----you know, the annoying ones who share tons of pictures of their puppy thinking everyone wants to see them....and talk incessantly about their puppy and his habits and quirks and potty successes and failures and thinks others want to hear about them. LOL

I'm sorry, I can't help it.  MERLIN IS JUST TOO CUTE!!! *smile*

So anyway....Merlin finally, after months of waiting, came home for good this past Saturday.  I would have posted about it earlier except I seriously could not pull myself away from him long enough really to even check emails...much less write posts on this blog!! *LOL*

So anyway...he came home on Saturday and it's been great so far.....

Puppy Prep---the next phase!!

So here is the most current picture of our new puppy, Merlin, that we've gotten.  Isn't he adorable?!?  We can't wait for him to finally come home and live with us full time----which I learned this past week will happen THIS COMING SATURDAY, JUNE 11TH!!! HOORAY!!

Of course that means that we have to kick the preparations for Merlin to come home into high gear!  We have already done quite a bit....

Our weekend....

...of relaxation and puppy preparations!!

I had a rare weekend off from the gym and coaching this weekend (because the gym was closed for a tournament) and so I was able to spend all weekend at home with Jason....like a mini "staycation"!!

On Friday night when we got out of work we decided to go see the new Pirates movie (opening weekend) in 3-D.  I have to say that I liked it quite a bit----I'm not an avid fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise...but this was probably one of my favorites of the films.  I'm pretty sure it's because mermaids were a big part of the story and film and I love mermaids...but whatever...it was a nice way to spend a Friday night.

After that relaxing evening out....it was time to knuckle down and get some work done...

Souvenirs galore....

OK, so I know I promised while we were still on our vacation that we would post some pictures of our magnets and other souvenirs from this trip (and I know at least one reader out there is hoping to see a picture of the new Tigger figurine I got). 

So here goes....a few of the things that we got to remember this trip by:

Update on our puppy, Merlin...

We got a call from Mary Jo yesterday.   Mary Jo is Jason's step-sister's future mother-in-law and is the one who breeds the family of yorkie puppies where Bridget (Jason's step-sister) and Sheila (his step-mother) got their puppies....and that's where our little Merlin was born and is living until he can come home with us!  Mary Jo just called to give us an update that Merlin is doing very well, playing a lot, eating well, socializing with people and the other dogs (and cat) in his home well and is even already crate trained to pretty much sleep through the night and potty-pad trained and has started going outside to potty as well...so the process of house-training him not to have accidents has already started.  He will go for his second round of shots after Memorial Day and then we can bring him home in early to mid June.  We're so excited----and look how cute he is in this picture they sent us of him hiding under the coffee table!

Some more portraits from our trip....

So we've finally gotten around to going through our CD of professional images and portraits from the second half of our vacation.  We ended up with a CD that had about 150 pictures (maybe a few more).  The pictures ranged from character photos to our regular dinner attire to our formal wear to some casual clothes to some VERY casual clothes (like PAJAMAS! hehehe)....and even some unique and fun poses----by this point in the trip we were really having a good time with the photographers and we go a bunch of new favorite pictures.....

The case of the missing comments.....

Hey readers----So I logged on this morning (it's been a few days since I was on the blog because life has been a bit hectic) to catch up with comments on the blog.  I know that some comments were left because I got email notices about them----but they seem to have vanished!  I don't know if it's a technical glitch or what, but it appears that if you left a comment on or after May 11th, it didn't make it onto the blog and is lost....so I can't reply to any of them!  If you did leave a comment or question and want to try to post it again, feel free!!