Today Scott and Chase attended an outdoor Boy Scout event called Klondike. The Boy Scouts actually camp out all weekend but Chase is still a Webelo for another week, so he just went for the day.
The troops each designed and built a sled to race. The troop that Chase will be joining hung a hammock on theirs.
He had a great time and we're all looking forward to the adventures he'll have when he moves up to Boy Scouts.
| You Are Boston |
 Both modern and old school, you never forget your roots. Well educated and a little snobby, you demand the best. And quite frankly, you think you are the best. Famous people from the Boston area: Conan O'Brien, Ben Affleck, New Kids on the Block |
Chase is happy with his new best friend.
This is our oldest son, Conner and his dog Dakota. Somehow Scott and I became convinced a few years back that it was a good idea for each child to have their own pet at some point. You know, it teaches responsibility and yadda yadda...
Anyway, we thought 10 might be a good age. So we talked a lot with Conner before then about what kind of animal he might want. We had lost our beloved family dog, an awesome Golden Retriever named Malibu, about a year and a half before. So Conner thought a dog would be good.
We planned to wait until he turned 10 but a few months before his birthday, the sister of a friend told us we could have the last of her dog's litter of Labs at a low cost. Since we knew her and loved Labs, we decided to go for it.
We had to drive a few hours to her home in Ogalalla, Nebraska to get him. He was super cute and we instantly fell in love. Conner named him Dakota and he has been his friend and primarily responsibility since then.
When Chase turned 10 last year, we looked at various kinds of animals. He ended up picking out a chameleon. He named her Tera.
We bought all the needed supplies to make her comfy in her new aquarium. He worked very hard to keep her environment the right temperature and humidity and fed her crickets. Eww.
But unfortunately she died after a few months. We found out from the vet that we had blundered by buying her at a pet supply store instead of a reptile store, and this particular store has a bad reputation for selling sick reptiles. I wish we'd known.
Chase was understandably upset. We had a nice burial for her in the yard.
We told Chase we'd get him another pet but not immediately. At some point we all decided another dog to keep Dakota company might be a good idea. The holidays came and things got busy, but once the new year arrived we started looking.
A couple weeks ago we visited two shelters. We saw a lot of great dogs but none that fit our criteria. We had thought to get a smaller dog this time and didn't want a puppy. We weren't set on a particular breed or gender. We all prayed for the right dog for our family.
Today we visited another shelter whose website we'd been frequenting. They do a great job of keeping it up today and even putting up videos of the dogs so you can see them in action. Chase had his eye on a dog last week but we didn't have the time to go up there and she was adopted quickly.
So today we decided to just head up there and see what they had. We spent a few hours and took about 3 of the dogs out to the yard to meet and play with them. By the time we left we had placed a hold on one. He was bigger than we'd planned but he won our hearts. We've decided we're just a large dog family. We wanted to come home and pray again and sleep on it before the final decision.
But so far it looks like tomorrow we'll have a new additon to our zoo -- I mean family. As long as he gets along okay with our dog and cats, it should all be good and I will post a picture tomorrow.
Wish us luck!
But she can't stay mad at this face
