tales from a far-land

The Farrell-Landers clan has been wanting a new dog to our family for the past year.  Since I am allergic to most dogs, including our current fifteen year old dog, Capone, we wanted to make sure that our next one would be suitable for me.  Typically, these types of dogs are not available through shelters or rescue facilities and so we were seriously looking to obtain our next dog through a breeder.  However, last week, Josh's sister, who was also looking to get a new dog, spotted a dog for us through one of her web searches and immediately emailed Josh, who, in return, emailed me.  Here is his profile from Petfinder.com: After viewing his information, I immediately told Josh we should contact the rescue and check him out.  Josh emailed the contact and after much back and forth over the course of three days, we finally made an appointment to meet Hootie last Saturday morning.  He was so precious and good tempered.  My only concern was his size. ...

Ten years ago in July, six of my college sorority sisters and I decided to celebrate turning 30 years old with a trip to the Big Island, Hawaii.  It was so much fun that we wanted to do it again for our 40th. This time we choose Central California as our destination locale.  We rented a house near Grover Beach (near San Luis Obispo) and spent five days enjoying each other and the beautiful area.  It is truly amazing that, even though we do not see each for extended periods of time nor do we speak to each other daily, when we all get together it is like time has never passed.  Twenty years of friendship is truly incredible!  I cannot wait to start planning our 50th birthday trip.  Where shall we go this time?

Last Thursday, Madi had her last swim meet of the summer season.  It was held at Roadrunner Pool and three pools (including hers) competed.  The meet started at 6pm, right in the heat of the day. We came prepared though with snacks and tons of water. Throughout the entire summer season, Madi has really enjoyed herself.  Always smiling, making new friends and working hard to better her strokes.  This last meet was no exception.  She did awesome and brought home three 3rd place ribbons and one 4th place ribbon.  Such a huge improvement over last year.  We are so proud of you Madi! All ready to swim ...  Getting prepared for her first relay race  IM Relay ~ 3rd Place  Staying focused ... apparently not! Backstroke Individual ~ 4th Place  Ready for race #3  Individual Butterfly ~ 3rd Place  Last race ... ready to swim Freestyle Relay ~ 3rd Place  Official Team Swim Photo IM Rel...

Madilyn had her second swim meet on Thursday, July 7th.  This meet was held at our home pool, Sunnyslope. She did great in all four of her events -- two relays and two individual races.  The selected individual stroke (besides freestyle) was breaststroke.  This is not Madi's favorite stroke, but she still did pretty good. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend this particular meet, so, thank you, to my husband for taking photos and capturing this night for me. Waiting to warm-up Photos after her races.  She did amazing! Madi in action ...  

This year, we spent the 4th of July in Phoenix.  We spent most of the day just lounging and relaxing at home. Our afternoon/early evening was spent at Paige's parent's house for swimming, water balloon fights, food, ice cream, fun and sparklers.  We didn't stay for the fireworks, but luckily, Moon Valley does there fireworks display on the third, so we were able to watch them from our front porch the night before.  It was a very low-key holiday, but sometimes those are exactly what makes it so much fun.. Happy 4th of July Enjoying ice cream by the pool Enjoying cupcakes too! Sparklers!

On the Friday of soccer summer camp in Munds Park, Coach Tamera always schedules the kids to participate in a World Cup mini-tourney.  This is mostly so the parents can see how much the kids have learned in a week, but also because the kids just want to play.  And so the kids were divided into teams, boys versus the girls.  They all played so well and in the end the game ended in a tie.  Aiden was able to do a couple break-away dribbles, but Madi was a pretty good goalie and blocked many of her brother's attempts to score a goal.   Warming up and stretching with Coach A pep talk with Will Aiden loves Coach Ready to play Brother and sister Goalie Post-game cheer Playing time...