Matt Claims First Major Victory in Almost 14 Years of Marriage

On Friday afternoon, I dragged Xander around Costco, loaded up the basket, waited in line for 30 minutes, loaded up the car, buckled Xander in, started the car and went to release the parking brake and the release felt like it had broke off in my hand. Actually the cable had snapped and the car was stuck with the parking brake on. I tried to fish back into the dashboard and release the brake myself but soon realized that I wasn't going anywhere.

While I waited for Matt to come to my rescue, I decided to take Xander over to Petsmart to kill some time. The Humane Society was there and so was this little (really not so little) guy. He's a 4 month-old lab mix-I'm mortified that he may be mixed with Great Dane. We named him Jackson and have been calling him Jack. (If the name worked for the Ingalls family, it should be good enough for us!) I'm starting to think that 'Clifford' might have been a better choice.

He's doing really well with the kids and we saw him play well with other dogs at the pet store so we have grand hopes of 'puppy play dates' with the neighbors' dogs. He had a 'procedure' on Saturday morning and we picked him up that afternoon. He came home with 'Kennel Cough,' fleas and worms which hasn't enhanced the bonding experience much for me but I'll come around. He's being treated for all three and once we can give him a much needed bath and let him play in the back yard in a couple of weeks, he will be much easier to have around.

He is a really sweet dog. I can't wait to take him along camping, hiking and biking. Matt loves him and the kids are about to bust out of their skins they are so excited to finally have a dog. More pics in the next post. Blogger is being a pain.

And for the record: Lisa, Melissa and Erin-this is partially your fault. ;o)